Promises to Abraham (Genesis part 23)
Text: Genesis 12:1-9
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Abraham is probably one of the most important characters in all of history. All three monotheistic religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) revere him as the father of their faiths. National Geographic magazine credits Abraham with the idea of monotheism (that’s the belief in one God, rather than polytheism which is the belief in many gods). They say that he’s the one who came up with the whole idea, and that’s why he’s such an important figure in history. But what we see in Genesis isn’t that Abraham came up with this idea, it’s that God showed him the truth. And the reason that we as Christians see Abraham as such an important figure in our faith, is because first of all, Abraham is given to us in the New Testament as an example of someone who had faith. The Apostle Paul tells us that Abraham was justified by faith, not by works, and so he’s an example of true, saving faith. But also it’s through Abraham that God is going to reveal His purpose and goal for all mankind. In his promises to Abraham, God revealed that He had a plan to save us, and a plan to bring about the promised seed of the woman.
Now everything that we’ve been reading and studying the past few weeks has been leading up to this point. And there’s a lot that we could look at here, but today I just want to focus on three or four things as we have time.
The first thing I was us to look at is the covenant of grace; so let’s look at verses 1 – 4 again, (Read). Now remember, Abram’s father, Terah takes Abram, Sarai and Lot out of Ur, and they moved to the land of Haran and lived there for a while, until Terah died and then God calls Abram to depart from there and go to a land that He is going to show him. And you notice that in those verses God is saying to Abram, “I’m going to bless you. I’m going to make you a great nation. I’m going to make your name great, and I’m going to make you a blessing to others. I’ll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” But all of those promised blessings… they’re all hinging on verse 1. They are all hinging on Abram’s obedience to the call of God. And if we look, we can see that in our own lives. There are times in life when Satan will try to get us to believe that by obeying God and living for God is going to be dull and boring, and we won’t have any fun or fulfillment. He’ll tell us that satisfaction and contentment can be found outside of God’s will, but wheat were seeing here in our text, and throughout the Bible is that true happiness and contentment are actually by-products of dying to ourselves and trusting in Christ, and following His will and His ways.
So what we’re seeing here in our text is the commands to the covenant and the promises of the covenant. The first command that God gives to Abram is to “GO!” the Lord says, “Get out from your country, from your family, and from your father’s house…” That’s the first command required in this covenant God is making with Abraham. The second one is found at the very end of verse 2. Now most of our Bibles say something like, “and you will be a blessing.” But in the Hebrew that’s an imperative. For all you who struggled with English out there, and imperative is an expression of a command. So basically what God was saying to Abram was, “Go… and be a blessing.”
And so from Genesis chapter one until now, God’s focus has been funneled to a point and a person. It started off with the vast universe and then narrowed down eventually to Noah and his three sons, and specifically his son Shem. Then it narrows even more by focusing on Terah, one of Shem’s descendants, and now it’s zeroed in on Abram. The best way I can describe it is like a funnel, and Abram is the very end of that funnel. But while God’s focus is zeroing in on Abram, we’ve also seen a separation going on in the first 11 chapters. And this call of God to Abram begins with a separation, he’s supposed to come out from his father’s house and from his country. But again, it’s not a removal like some people think, because look… God says to him, “You’re going to be a blessing TO THE NATIONS.” So on one hand, Abram has to separate from the world, on the other he is called to be a blessing to that very same world. Jesus was basically calling us to the same thing in the New Testament when He says we are to be salt and light, or a city on a hill. We are to be different from the world in order to be a blessing to the world.
So God calls Abram to go and forsake everything he knows; his way of life, the people around him… We see Jesus do virtually the same thing when He calls the disciples in Matthew’s Gospel. That’s how God works. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. Right here in Genesis 12, Abraham begins the process, and we’ll see him working through that process as we continue our study in Genesis over the next few weeks. But that’s the pattern we see throughout the Bible: God calls those who would follow Him, and they are to separate themselves from the world and worldliness. As Christians we should think differently than the world does, we should have a different world-view that is shaped by Scripture rather than politics or economics. We should have different priorities and different agenda’s. We are to be distinct and set apart. And in turn; by doing all of this, we turn around and bless those in the world, and make a difference in the world.
So we as followers of Christ who is God in the flesh, are called to separation from the world, and we are called to be blessings to the world. They problem is that we have a hard time finding the balance. You’ll meet Christians who do a really good job of separating themselves from the world… so good that they are so far removed that they can no longer be a blessing to the world. On the other hand you’ll find Christians who want to draw the world to Christ so badly that they decide the best way to do that is to become just like the world, and they end up losing their distinctiveness… or as Jesus would’ve said, “Their saltiness.”
Let’s move on… We’ve seen the two commands:
1. Go forth from your country, and
2. Be a blessing
Now let’s look at the promise of the covenant. First off; God promises to make Abraham a great nation. That’s a promise that Abraham will have children, but not just any children… his children will become a great nation – that means numerically, economically, and militarily. Secondly; God says he will bless Abraham. We’ll see more how God blesses Abraham as we go along, but for sake of time today, let me just tell you that this means that God is going to show Abraham special favor, special or uncommon grace; and again we’ll see that more and more as we go along. Then God tells Abraham that He is going to make his name great. We talked about that when we looked at the Tower of Babel – about how Nimrod and the people of Babel were trying to make a name for themselves and how they were trying to do it in their own strength.
But here its God Who is saying He is going to make someone great, and give them a great name. Fourthly; God says, “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.” That’s pretty self-explanatory. The 5th promise of the covenant is that through Abraham, all the nations of the earth will be blessed, that’s a direct reference to Seed that’s going to come through Abraham. We know Him as Jesus Christ. And the final promise that God makes to Abraham in this covenant is that He will give Abraham a land. We see that in verse 1 and in verse 7.
Now I want you to see something here, and we’re going to have to look at a couple of Scriptures in order for us to get a good picture of it. So turn with me to Romans chapter 4:13-14 (Read) and look at verse 16 (Read).
13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
Now turn with me to Galatians chapter 3:15-16 (Read) and look at verses 26-29 (Read).
Who were the promises made to? Abraham and his seed. Who is the seed of Abraham? Christ, and if you are in Christ, and if YOU ARE CHRIST’S then YOU ARE Abraham’s seed!
We’ll talk about this more as we go along, but there’s one more thing I want to show you and then we’ll close. In verse 4 it says, “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him…” Abraham is called the father of our faith for a reason. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. There always corresponding works that go along with it. Here in the United States, in the buckle of the Bible Belt, we have all grown up knowing about God, maybe not in faith, maybe not in Christian homes, but we’ve know about God, we’ve known about the Bible, we’ve known about Jesus. Everywhere you go in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Alabama, Tennessee, you name it… everywhere you go in the South, the Midwest, or the Southwest, there are churches, and there are people who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Abram didn’t have that. He had grown up around idol worshipers, in a family of idol worshipers, just south of Babel, but God calls him at 75 years of age… and he goes. He even sets up an altar next to his tent. How’s that for imagery? A tent is a temporary dwelling place; the altar however, is a permanent testimony of God’s promises.
Lord, let us be more like Abraham. Help us to be more like Abraham.
Let’s Pray
