I Will Bless Them that Bless Thee
Genesis 12:1–4 NKJV
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
We now come to the Second Sunday in Lent, which is a time for introspection and repentance. By giving things up for Lent, it reminds us that the Lord is the giver of all good things. We also remember that what isn’t of God needs to be purged from our life. Even earthly gifts and blessings can be a problem if we neglect the most important relationship there is, to be child of God. On the day before Ash Wednesday is a day known as Shrove Tuesday in which the flesh is feasted before this time of special reflection. Many churches have pancake suppers on this day in which we all over-indulge on food, which is good and a gift of God. But eating can be abused. I can personally attest that such over-indulgence led to my getting diabetes which has caused me much sorrow. But others celebrate carnival (Mardi Gras) in which sinful lusts and actions are indulged in. It makes me wonder why to have Lent at all if we desecrate it by this indulgence. The life which we remember that a Christian should live is to be our life 365 days a year, not just 40. Think upon this during Lent.
The Old Testament text which we are to reflect upon this Sunday comes from the Book of Genesis and the call of Abraham. How can our reflection upon this text improve our Christian service and relationship with God and our fellow Christians. How can this text make us better witnesses of Jesus Christ to a world lost in the indulgence of the flesh?
We are introduced in the text to a man named Abraham. Most of the world has heard of Abraham, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others. Truly, in even secular circles, the name of Abraham is famous and fulfills part of the promise that the LORD gave to Abraham, whose name at this point was Abram which means “exalted father.” This is odd, as at this point we are told that he was seventy-five years old and was not yet a father. What else do we know Abraham. We will only cover what the Christian Bible says about Abraham which is the only authoritative account about him.
We know that Abraham was a Semite, a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah. Taken in proportion, this means that one-third of the world’s population is Semitic. In fact, when we consider intermarriage with the descendants of Ham and Japheth, virtually everyone on earth could be called a Semite, as they would have Shem for an ancestor. The definition today of who is a Semite has been narrowed down to one group of people. We must not forget that other groups like the descendants of Ishmael and Esau are Semites. Do were the six sons of Abraham’s descendants from his second wife Keturah also Semitic. And Shem also had other descendants than Abraham and his seed.
Abraham was not Jewish or even an Israelite. Israel was not born for more than 100 years, whose original name was Jacob, a deceiver. This promise was given exclusively to Abraham and not to the nation of Israel. It is true that a later promise to Abraham tells us that he would be the father of many nations whose seed would be numberless like the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea. Note that nations is in the plural, not the singular. Not just Israel, but all of Abraham’s descendants if taken strictly as physical descendants. So anyone who curses ANY of Abraham’s descendants is cursed, and the one who blesses any of his descendants is blessed.
The end of the Book of Joshua tells us that Abraham and and his fathers worshiped false gods when they lived in the area of Babylon. The call of Abraham was not by merit. Abraham was a sinner like everyone else. the basis of his call must have had a different basis which is the purpose of God and grace. Abraham responded in faith by first believing in the LORD and obeying his command to remove from Haran to the land of Canaan. this has very important repercussions for our faith and how we stand before God.
The later promise that in his seed. all the nations of the earth would be blessed after he had obeyed the LORD in presenting his only son, Isaac, for sacrifice. Of course, the LORD was not interested in Isaac being sacrificed. He had a substitute for Isaac in mind. the words “The LORD shall provide HIMSELF a sacrifice.” We now not that this substitute for Isaac was the LORD Jesus personally who made atonement for the sin of not just Israel who had not yet been born. Isaac was indeed a special son to Abraham. But was not Ishmael a son? But Isaac was not the promised seed, which Paul in Galatians tells us is singular, not a group of people who were special descendants of Abraham but to Christ alone. He is that special seed who blesses all nations. In earthly terms, I would guess that the vast majority of people can claim Abraham as their ancestor in earthly terms. But even to those who are not, all nations means everyone.
Even though we can see, in an earthly sense, the earth has been blessed by God because of Abraham and his descendants, this is not the primary concern of the Christian. For the Christians, the promise of a great nation is not the earthly land of Israel or of Jerusalem their capital. It has been the tragedy of Christendom when we have pursued possession of this territory through crusades and war. That Jerusalem which is supposed to be a city of “peace” has seen little peace over her history. The valley of Megiddo, (Armageddon) was full of the bones of many dead soldiers, even in Ezekiel’s day. We have been promised occupancy of the New Jerusalem which is created by God without human hands and protected by One who is far greater than any army. Abraham himself looked for this and not some earthly city or land as the Book of Hebrews tells us. This does not deny that Abraham was called out to a real land which God showed him, the land of Canaan (merchants). He had been called out of a great city and sojourned for a while in Egypt. He prospered greatly by the hand of God. But he also was faced with many challenges as well. For our part, we might count our earthly blessings. For some, this might be abundant. But, whatever we might gain or lose in this life, the blessings to come when Jesus returns renders these blessings to be insignificant. this is what we must contemplate in Lent.
We are not called to be great in this world. For the purpose of witness, he might place some in places of earthly influence. Abraham was powerful and influential among the Canaanites. Yet for all this, the only land he would possess was the cave where his wife Sarah was buried and where he would be buried at Hebron. Whatever he possessed in this life was left behind. He left a legacy of faith to his children, which if they followed in the faith and example of Abraham, they, too, will be blessed. What ultimately matters is not blood descent from Abraham but spiritual. We might think that the material world is the real world; therefore, we should pursue earthly things which are tangible. Spiritual blessings are secondary as when we think something which is spiritual is not fully real. Just think of when someone who can’t be there for an important event in your life says: “I will be with you in spirit.” YouTube is full of videos about surprise reunions. For example, a deployed soldier who is not expected to be at their child’s graduation because he is deployed surprisingly shows up to his and his family’s great joy. Obviously, this shows us just how powerful physical presence is.
The Christian has this realization. we know that the LORD physically left this earth when he ascended. Those who witnessed his physical life have also left us. Abraham no longer walks the streets of earthly Canaan. These things make us long to be physically in His presence. But He has given us the Holy Spirit, who is a real person, and who physically dwells in and among us. He reminds us of what lies ahead for those who believe on the LORD as Abraham did who saw His day and was glad. There will be resurrection day for the believers. We shall not be spiritual souls floating in the ether but perfected human beings. We shall eat, even as Jesus ate with the Apostles after the resurrection. He had flesh and bones. It is a spiritual body even though it is also a perfected physical body. It will be a total reality event.
So while we observe Lent, part of which is giving up something tangible like our favorite food to contemplate spiritual matters such as reflection and contemplation, we realize that the spiritual realm is real in every sense and necessary. We need to eat bread, but we cannot live on bread alone. Indeed, a far greater reality is coming in which we will be like Jesus and see Him as He is. We were not able to experience His life on earth, but that will not matter when we see Him. Soon, He will call us as He did Abraham to come to the place which He has prepared, a far greater Canaan, a far greater Jerusalem.
