1: Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4: So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
1. This is the second time that we have recorded that the Lord had to call Abram. Steven gives us the first account in Acts 7:2 when he says “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran”. We are not told what God said to Abram the first time He called Abram and it would be pure speculation to believe or think that the second call is identical to the first. However Stephen clearly states that God had called Abram before this and there is not a positive answer to the call. Joshua 24:2 “Abram was taken from Ur to Haran by his father Terah, who was an idolater in an attempt to flee idolatry”.
2. The first time God called him it would appear that Abram was caught up in the world around him and not ready to answer the call. There are many today who hear the call of God and yet the call falls among thorns where Jesus says in Matt. 13: 22: He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. It also could have been because of his father. Not wanting to leave until his father had passed on. But when God calls us we have to answer the call.
3. However God does not make any mistakes. God has a purpose for everyone that He calls. “1Cor:1:27: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;”. Even Abram who had been surrounded by idolaters and those who served false gods; found grace in the sight of God. There was a desire in his heart to serve God and be a part of God divine plan. I say this because Abram was a very prosperous man who had men and women servants, yet had no heir or child of his own and was nearing a physical age where he would soon not be able to have a child. His wife Sarah is now past her child bearing age.
4. This had to bother Abram as God had said to the man and women after he created them in Genesis 1:28 “: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth”. Abram had not fulfilled the command of the Lord by multiplying and replenishing the earth as God had commanded and this caused him to seek for an answer. The natural thing for him to do would be to look at idol gods for comfort and found out that those gods can neither see, hear nor move, but the one God, The true and living God says “behold I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him.
5. I believe that Abram started to knock on heaven’s door for an answer to his problem. It is no strange thing that many a believer, not to mention unbeliever will go to any length that this world has to offer before they finally realize that all the solutions to life’s problems can be found in Jesus. We will go into debt to get out of debt, we will seek peace by causing turmoil and strife, We look for love in outward appearance instead of looking at the heart. The devil will suggest to us that the world goods are far better and sufficient for all our needs, But Jesus says “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”. Even though it is unwritten we can see that Abram had a need that only God could fill. This need was so great that when God called him the second time he was ready to listen to Him.
6 When God calls us we must answer the call. The call is not without a personal sacrifice on our part. God requires that we give Him our all in all. That we be willing, as Jesus said, forsake all and follow Him. Not arrive at some lame excuse as the scribe and other young man in Matt. 8:19-22 “ The one said master I will follow you wherever thou goest and Jesus said “birds of the air have their nests and foxes have their holes but the Son of Man hath not to lay His head, in other words following Him because of a false of riches and honor on this side. On the contrary the one who answers the call will face many disappointment as well as seclusion for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. And another said Master I will follow but let me first go and bury my father, Jesus said “Follow me and let the dead bury their dead”. To answer the call might mean that there is divisin in the family because of the Gospel. Jesus tells us in Matt. 10:35-36 “35: For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36: And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
7 To answer the call is not without sacrifice yet it is filled with blessings. God tells Abram that he will show him a land that he can call his own. More land than Abram could ever purchase on his own, a land that he could never inherit from his father or gain from war without the help of Almighty God, a land that is a good land and able to support a nation, not only support a nation but raise up a nation that will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.
8 So Abram answered the call and God fulfilled His promise to him. Abram believed God and had his need met in God giving him a son 25 years later named Isaac, who had two sons; Esau and Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve tribes of Israel, who were God chosen people. Yet in these twelve tribes God promise to Abram was not completely fulfilled. The one promise that all families would be blessed. Abram could not bless all families for he had lied to the king of Egypt in saying that his wife Sarah was his sister, Isaac could not bless all families for he lied to the king of the Philistines in saying that Rebekak his wife was his sister, Jacob could not bless all families of the earth for he stole his brothers blessing and yet I hear God saying in Jer:5:1: Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
9 Jeremiah could not find one even thou he looked far and wide and there was non that could stand and bless all families. And just when it seem that all was lost and there appeared none to Answer the call a voice cries out “Prepare me a body and I will go down and redeem man from sin”. Who is this man to Answer the Call, None other than the Lion of Judah, The Rose of Sharon , The bright and morning Star, The lilly of the Valley and the prince of Peace, None other than Jesus of Nazareth, The Saviour of the Word.
