The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)
This sermon was preached on 21/2/2010
We have seen in previous studies in Genesis how Moses, under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, was guided to describe several events that together provide a framework for understanding where we are today.
We noted that initially the human race was made in the image of God, with holy characters and position of status as God’s representatives. But we were told that there was also an evil power present (Satan) who succeeded in tempting the original human pair to turn from God. This rebellion resulted in a range of judgements, including death and the curse on creation.
Nevertheless God revealed that a future deliverer was coming. So grace was there along with judgement. This resulted in the human race being divided into two groups represented by the line of Cain and the line of Seth, with the former being rebels against God and the latter being worshippers of God. Eventually, the outlook associated with the line of Cain became so dominant that only one family was left that feared God (Noah and his family). Evil had developed to such an extent that God judged the race by destroying them in a universal flood, with only Noah’s family being safe.
After the flood subsided, Noah and his family began a new stage in human history. Once again, God blessed the human race, repeating many of the commands and promises he had given at the beginning to Adam and Eve. He also gave a promise that he would not destroy the earth again by a flood, with the rainbow a reminder of this commitment.
We live today under the terms of that covenant that God made with Noah. It requires that the human race respect human life, administer justice, populate the earth, and develop its resources.
We also live with the effects of the judgement at the Tower of Babel, which was the imposition of many languages by God to prevent a unified rebellion against him. As we noted, this judgment was, as far as each person then living was concerned, immediate, and irreversible.
If this was all that Genesis had to give for a framework, we would not be encouraged regarding the prospect of God’s kingdom on earth. Thankfully we are also given details of another covenant that God made, one which has universal consequences, and that is the covenant that he made with Abram. Details of this covenant are expanded in later chapters in Genesis, but we have important aspects of it detailed in 12:1-3. In these verses, we have described God’s call to Abram.
Who was Abram?
It is evident from the amount of space that is given to Abraham that he is an important figure in the Bible. In addition, he is mentioned in the New Testament on many occasions. But who was he?
In Genesis 11, we read that he was a descendant of Shem through Terah, a family who lived in Ur, an ancient city in modern Iraq. Joshua reminded the Israelites in Joshua 24:2: ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.’ Abram was an idolater.
Stephen tells us in Acts 7:2-4 how Abram received a divine visit: ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.” Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.’ This is where we find him and his family at the end of chapter 11.
This is a reminder that God often acts in a surprising manner. There were other individuals who God could have used. For example, Shem was still alive and he probably was a worshipper of the true God. Later on in Abraham’s story, we meet Melchizedek who was a priest of a community that worshipped the true God. Yet the Lord did not begin his work with established believers. God often does this. He used David and not his brothers; he used Gideon, a man lacking in bravery; he used Saul of Tarsus, an enemy of the gospel. When he converted a petty thief in Germany, no-one thought that George Muller would become a living example of faith in God, not in Germany but in England.
Connected to the surprising aspect of God’s will is the fact that God often acts in a secret manner. I suspect his visit to Abram in Ur was not a public one. This is an amazing feature of God’s ways. Although he is the almighty God, when he works he can do so in a manner that causes no great disturbance. This is why we are often surprised when a movement of God appears from nowhere. To us it seems sudden, but in reality God was working in secret long before.
Of course, what covers these details of surprise and secrecy is God’s sovereignty. He took the initiative in the case of Abram, just as he has done and will do in the case of all his people. His sovereignty has many aspects to it, but one is that we have no idea when he will turn up in a community. Many others may have arrived in Ur that same day, but what made it an important day for Abram was that God appeared to him. He has appeared sovereignty in our midst today because wherever the gospel is preached, it is evidence that God has sovereignty chosen to speak to the hearers. The sovereign God has come to us today to demand that you trust in his Son, Jesus Christ.
His sovereignty is seen in other ways. In this message to Abraham, God says ‘I will’ seven times, which is a reminder that he accomplishes his purpose whatever the barriers or the difficulties. God said to Abraham that he would be the ancestor of a great nation, so he would have a people (both a physical one [Israel] and a spiritual one [the church]; he would receive prominence because God would make his name famous (he died in a tent in an obscure locality, yet he is one of the most important people in history); he would be under God’s protection (his enemies would be cursed); and he would be the ancestor of Jesus.
This aspect of sovereignty is further amplified when he see that God intends to act in a saving manner. He could have displayed his dominion by acting in judgment. Previously he had done so, and there was no reason in Abram why God should not have punished him for his sins. Yet the Lord resolved to have mercy, not only on Abraham, but on the nations that he had previously judged. From the line of Abraham was to come the Saviour who would prove to a blessing to the world.
Further, God’s sovereignty will ensure that he will act in a successful manner. God informed Abram that eventually all the nations would be blessed. It would be a process lasting several centuries but the day would come when from every family there would be those who trusted in Jesus. We will see the fullness of God’s success when the innumerable crowd will gather around the throne of Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ, at the end of human history.
God will fulfilled in purpose and it all began with one solitary individual. We live in a society in which numbers count. The success of meeting is judged by how many come and not on who comes. There were not many at the meeting that day in Ur of the Chaldees, but we don’t need human empowerment if God is with us. It is better to be on the side of God than against him.
Abraham personally
Although Abraham was called to play a leading role in God’s plan of salvation for the world, it is worth looking at him as an individual as well. As we noted earlier, he was a sinner needing forgiveness from sin. I want to suggest some ways in which he is a picture of how we can know God.
First, the call of God came to him in a convincing manner. Recall that Abraham was an idolater and he knew that they were insubstantial things (a term the Bible uses for them is vanities). But one day the God of glory – that is the God of substantial weight, of dignity, of power – revealed himself to Abraham. He knew the difference between a dumb idol and the living God. We too have our idols, whether sportsmen, pop stars, film stars. I used to have them, and do you know I cannot even remember the names of most of them? At one time I envied them and listened to their opinions. But that stopped when I met a man with real credibility who had something worthwhile to say. That one was Jesus Christ. I heard that he had done things so great that all the achievements of my idols disappeared from view.
What had he done? First, he is the creator of all things, visible and invisible. Second, he is the redeemer of his people, the one who suffered on Calvary that they would be forgiven. Third, he is the conqueror of death, the one who possesses resurrection power, and he has promised to raise all humans from the dead. Fourth, he is the future judge, before whose judgment seat you and I and everyone else is going to stand. Fifth, he is yet to remake the sad, curse universe into a Paradise in which his followers will live for ever.
Do you not think that he possesses what is substantial? Is he not of more weight than all the idols of the twenty-first century? The same God of glory, who appeared to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees, also appears to us and reminds us of his worth. Are you convinced that Jesus Christ is worth following?
The call of God comes in a challenging matterIn what ways was the call to Abraham challenging? First, it was a call to leave all his comfort zones (his surroundings, his family). Second, it was a call to trust the bare word of God. Third, it was a call to live in the present in light of the future.
These same challenges come to us. What are our comfort zones? There is the lifestyle we engage in, there are the friends we admire, there are the plans that we have. Abraham left his comfort zones, and what a blessing he received. He could have lived on in Ur, but he would have been a loser. He obeyed God and became a winner.
All he had to go on was the bare word of God, but it is the word of the One that cannot lie. He fulfilled all the promises that he made to Abraham, even although many of them seemed impossible. He will do the same for you if you live according to his word.
Because God had given him great promises, he looked forward. The passing of the years were not a threat, decreasing his opportunities. Rather they were the means by which God carried him towards the fulfilment of these promises. ‘By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God’ (Heb. 11:8-10).
We noted that initially the human race was made in the image of God, with holy characters and position of status as God’s representatives. But we were told that there was also an evil power present (Satan) who succeeded in tempting the original human pair to turn from God. This rebellion resulted in a range of judgements, including death and the curse on creation.
Nevertheless God revealed that a future deliverer was coming. So grace was there along with judgement. This resulted in the human race being divided into two groups represented by the line of Cain and the line of Seth, with the former being rebels against God and the latter being worshippers of God. Eventually, the outlook associated with the line of Cain became so dominant that only one family was left that feared God (Noah and his family). Evil had developed to such an extent that God judged the race by destroying them in a universal flood, with only Noah’s family being safe.
After the flood subsided, Noah and his family began a new stage in human history. Once again, God blessed the human race, repeating many of the commands and promises he had given at the beginning to Adam and Eve. He also gave a promise that he would not destroy the earth again by a flood, with the rainbow a reminder of this commitment.
We live today under the terms of that covenant that God made with Noah. It requires that the human race respect human life, administer justice, populate the earth, and develop its resources.
We also live with the effects of the judgement at the Tower of Babel, which was the imposition of many languages by God to prevent a unified rebellion against him. As we noted, this judgment was, as far as each person then living was concerned, immediate, and irreversible.
If this was all that Genesis had to give for a framework, we would not be encouraged regarding the prospect of God’s kingdom on earth. Thankfully we are also given details of another covenant that God made, one which has universal consequences, and that is the covenant that he made with Abram. Details of this covenant are expanded in later chapters in Genesis, but we have important aspects of it detailed in 12:1-3. In these verses, we have described God’s call to Abram.
Who was Abram?
It is evident from the amount of space that is given to Abraham that he is an important figure in the Bible. In addition, he is mentioned in the New Testament on many occasions. But who was he?
In Genesis 11, we read that he was a descendant of Shem through Terah, a family who lived in Ur, an ancient city in modern Iraq. Joshua reminded the Israelites in Joshua 24:2: ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.’ Abram was an idolater.
Stephen tells us in Acts 7:2-4 how Abram received a divine visit: ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.” Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.’ This is where we find him and his family at the end of chapter 11.
This is a reminder that God often acts in a surprising manner. There were other individuals who God could have used. For example, Shem was still alive and he probably was a worshipper of the true God. Later on in Abraham’s story, we meet Melchizedek who was a priest of a community that worshipped the true God. Yet the Lord did not begin his work with established believers. God often does this. He used David and not his brothers; he used Gideon, a man lacking in bravery; he used Saul of Tarsus, an enemy of the gospel. When he converted a petty thief in Germany, no-one thought that George Muller would become a living example of faith in God, not in Germany but in England.
Connected to the surprising aspect of God’s will is the fact that God often acts in a secret manner. I suspect his visit to Abram in Ur was not a public one. This is an amazing feature of God’s ways. Although he is the almighty God, when he works he can do so in a manner that causes no great disturbance. This is why we are often surprised when a movement of God appears from nowhere. To us it seems sudden, but in reality God was working in secret long before.
Of course, what covers these details of surprise and secrecy is God’s sovereignty. He took the initiative in the case of Abram, just as he has done and will do in the case of all his people. His sovereignty has many aspects to it, but one is that we have no idea when he will turn up in a community. Many others may have arrived in Ur that same day, but what made it an important day for Abram was that God appeared to him. He has appeared sovereignty in our midst today because wherever the gospel is preached, it is evidence that God has sovereignty chosen to speak to the hearers. The sovereign God has come to us today to demand that you trust in his Son, Jesus Christ.
His sovereignty is seen in other ways. In this message to Abraham, God says ‘I will’ seven times, which is a reminder that he accomplishes his purpose whatever the barriers or the difficulties. God said to Abraham that he would be the ancestor of a great nation, so he would have a people (both a physical one [Israel] and a spiritual one [the church]; he would receive prominence because God would make his name famous (he died in a tent in an obscure locality, yet he is one of the most important people in history); he would be under God’s protection (his enemies would be cursed); and he would be the ancestor of Jesus.
This aspect of sovereignty is further amplified when he see that God intends to act in a saving manner. He could have displayed his dominion by acting in judgment. Previously he had done so, and there was no reason in Abram why God should not have punished him for his sins. Yet the Lord resolved to have mercy, not only on Abraham, but on the nations that he had previously judged. From the line of Abraham was to come the Saviour who would prove to a blessing to the world.
Further, God’s sovereignty will ensure that he will act in a successful manner. God informed Abram that eventually all the nations would be blessed. It would be a process lasting several centuries but the day would come when from every family there would be those who trusted in Jesus. We will see the fullness of God’s success when the innumerable crowd will gather around the throne of Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ, at the end of human history.
God will fulfilled in purpose and it all began with one solitary individual. We live in a society in which numbers count. The success of meeting is judged by how many come and not on who comes. There were not many at the meeting that day in Ur of the Chaldees, but we don’t need human empowerment if God is with us. It is better to be on the side of God than against him.
Abraham personally
Although Abraham was called to play a leading role in God’s plan of salvation for the world, it is worth looking at him as an individual as well. As we noted earlier, he was a sinner needing forgiveness from sin. I want to suggest some ways in which he is a picture of how we can know God.
First, the call of God came to him in a convincing manner. Recall that Abraham was an idolater and he knew that they were insubstantial things (a term the Bible uses for them is vanities). But one day the God of glory – that is the God of substantial weight, of dignity, of power – revealed himself to Abraham. He knew the difference between a dumb idol and the living God. We too have our idols, whether sportsmen, pop stars, film stars. I used to have them, and do you know I cannot even remember the names of most of them? At one time I envied them and listened to their opinions. But that stopped when I met a man with real credibility who had something worthwhile to say. That one was Jesus Christ. I heard that he had done things so great that all the achievements of my idols disappeared from view.
What had he done? First, he is the creator of all things, visible and invisible. Second, he is the redeemer of his people, the one who suffered on Calvary that they would be forgiven. Third, he is the conqueror of death, the one who possesses resurrection power, and he has promised to raise all humans from the dead. Fourth, he is the future judge, before whose judgment seat you and I and everyone else is going to stand. Fifth, he is yet to remake the sad, curse universe into a Paradise in which his followers will live for ever.
Do you not think that he possesses what is substantial? Is he not of more weight than all the idols of the twenty-first century? The same God of glory, who appeared to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees, also appears to us and reminds us of his worth. Are you convinced that Jesus Christ is worth following?
The call of God comes in a challenging matterIn what ways was the call to Abraham challenging? First, it was a call to leave all his comfort zones (his surroundings, his family). Second, it was a call to trust the bare word of God. Third, it was a call to live in the present in light of the future.
These same challenges come to us. What are our comfort zones? There is the lifestyle we engage in, there are the friends we admire, there are the plans that we have. Abraham left his comfort zones, and what a blessing he received. He could have lived on in Ur, but he would have been a loser. He obeyed God and became a winner.
All he had to go on was the bare word of God, but it is the word of the One that cannot lie. He fulfilled all the promises that he made to Abraham, even although many of them seemed impossible. He will do the same for you if you live according to his word.
Because God had given him great promises, he looked forward. The passing of the years were not a threat, decreasing his opportunities. Rather they were the means by which God carried him towards the fulfilment of these promises. ‘By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God’ (Heb. 11:8-10).
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