God’s Great Salvation – The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12)

Preached on 13/7/2014

We all know that we can never tell what a day will bring. Abraham was seventy-five years of age when he first met God. Prior to then, he would have had many important days. There was the day when he married Sarah, for example. His name Abram could suggest he had a prominent role in system of pagan worship practised in Ur, and if that were the case there would have been a time when his career commenced. He also had important days after meeting God. Many of them are recorded for us in the Bible: the day he arrived in Canaan, the day he met Melchizedek, the days he had encounters with God, the day that Isaac was born, the day that Rebekah arrived, the day that Sarah went to heaven, and the day that he went there himself. But it was the day when he first met God that made all the difference.

When we think about Abraham, we have to consider him in two ways or levels. First, there is the level of him as an individual believer and, second, there is the level of him as a prominent participant in the unfolding of God’s great plan of salvation. Both these aspects are mentioned in the promises made to him recorded in Genesis 12. We can think about the latter first.

Abraham, the prominent participant

God came to Abraham the pagan with an amazing promise about his future. What makes it so amazing? Centuries later, recorded in Joshua 24:2-3, God reminded Israel through Joshua about the origins of his people: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.”’ When we read that description of Abraham’s family we should see why it was an amazing promise.

As we look at this promise in Genesis 12 from God’s point of view, we can identify several details that should help us appreciate his great plan of salvation. The first detail is God’s control of history, or of events that happen in history. He says to Abraham that his descendants will become a great nation. At that time, Abraham was an old man, unlikely to have much of a family numerically. But that was not a problem to God. There is a sense, of course, in which every great nation can be traced to a small beginning. The point that Abraham is reminded of here is that God is in control of whatever happens in the future.

The second detail is God’s concept of history. When I went to school the maps of the world in the classrooms had lots of countries identified in pink, a reminder that Britannia ruled the waves. That was before the days when she began to waive the rules. Looking back, we now know that a lot of it was fantasy at that time and instead of seeing the maps as indicating the parts of the world over which Britain ruled they actually were pointing out the parts of the world that Britain was about to lose control over. Nevertheless the maps depicted a British concept of how things were, or a concept of history. The fact that it is now gone does not mean that it once was not there. God too has a concept of history, except what can be said about it is that it will not need to be changed. What is his concept or focus?

The driving feature of the Lord’s view of history is salvation. Salvation is the key to understanding everything that is promised in this statement in Genesis 12. It was the coming of salvation that marked the changes in Abraham’s circumstances and it was the coming of salvation that focussed on the existence of the nation of Israel (there were other nations in existence that were larger and more powerful in their reach than Israel was, but they did not contribute to God’s plan of salvation). Salvation, of course, is the message of the only book that records the progress of God’s kingdom, and that book is the Bible. It commences with the promise of salvation given in Eden and it ends with a song of salvation in heaven.

Third, this verse from Genesis 12 reminds us of God’s commitment to history. Why is God the controller of all things allowing all things to happen? The answer is that his eye has a global perspective. Here he informs Abraham that the blessing promised will eventually extend to the whole world. How many families of nations was Abraham aware off? He was not aware of that many, certainly not the number that we know today. We can think of all the families of nations that exist today. God had them in mind when he gave this great promise to Abraham. Have you ever thought, when you see some recordings of what occurs at the United Nations meetings in New York, that God is committed to a plan that will bring greater blessings to those families of nations than that organisation can ever hope to bring. We in the twenty-first century have so much evidence of the Lord’s commitment to history.

Fourth, the promise to Abraham here also reminds us that the Lord connects history to Christ, the seed of Abraham. This particular detail is enlarged in later promises that the Lord made about how salvation would be provided. One would come from the line of Abraham who would be the means of how this promised salvation would be provided. There would yet be a Descendant of Abraham who would be the Saviour.  When that Saviour himself appeared, he would claim that Abraham rejoiced to see his coming and that thinking about that coming made Abraham glad. When would he have started to think about? I suspect on the day that he was given this amazing promise of what God would do through him in working out the great plan of salvation.

So Abraham as a public participant reminds us of God’s control of history, God’s concept of history (salvation), God’s commitment to history (global effects) and God’s centre of history (Jesus). Every time we read about Abraham we should remember these four details.

Abraham the individual believer

In addition to having this prominent place in the outworking of God’s purposes, Abraham also was a person who had to believe in God as an individual sinner. So we can consider him as an example of how a person comes to faith as well as how a person lives by faith.

One clear detail of the initial experience of Abraham is that the Lord often selects an unlikely person in order to bring about an important stage in his purpose. Abraham was an unlikely choice whether he lived in the southern Ur or the northern Ur. He was an idolater, which was not the expected background of one who would become a prominent person in the development of God’s kingdom.

Yet is this not the way that God often works? The history of the church is filled with examples of unlikely persons who became useful servants. We can think of Saul of Tarsus, the fierce persecutor of the early church. Or we can recall Martin Luther, the dedicated monk desperate to find God in a decedent church, whom God had purposed to use as a catalyst in the Reformation. Then there is John Newton, the slave trader who became the author of Amazing Grace and an exceptional Christian leader. We should never be marked by unbelieving surprise when God uses an unexpected person in his work (although there is such an outlook as believing, glad surprise). In addition to individuals whom we can recall because of their prominence there are descriptions in the Bible and elsewhere of churches, as in Corinth and Ephesus and in countless other places, composed of unlikely disciples who met with God in surprising ways.

A second clear detail is that God knew where Abraham was in Ur. When that occasion took place, it was the first time that Abraham, even if he had engaged in religious activities as a pagan worshipper, had thought about the true God. But it was not the first time that God had thought of him. In fact, God had his eye on Abraham for every second of his life, watching him, working on him, developing his natural talents, giving him bodily strength, arranging all of his providences and leading him to this moment even although he was ignorant of God. Without Abraham being aware of it, the Lord had been at work, anticipating the time when he and Abraham would have their first conversation.

Third, it was an act of surpassing condescension when God appeared to Abraham the idolater. The Lord was so determined to have Abraham become his servant that he was willing to humble himself to bring this about. Sometimes we ask ourselves, what would God have to do in order for me to worship him? Perhaps he could throw a few universes into existence before my eyes. I would certainly be impressed, but I think I would want to worship such a God from a distance. But if after making these universes, the almighty God was to take on a form whereby he could draw near to me and speak to me, then I would not only be amazed by his power but also attracted by his condescension, and I would worship him with respect and intimacy.

In whatever way, God appeared to Abraham, it caused the idolater to immediately change his practice of worship. The information he discovered about God made him the priority in the life of Abraham. This explains why it was straightforward for Abraham to do what God requested of him.

Fourthly, we can note the requirement that God made of Abraham. It was a divine call requiring separation and a divine promise assuring security. Obedience to this divine command also required an element of sacrifice on the part of Abraham. Yet the Lord assured him that the recompense of his dedication would be great. He would receive territory from the Lord, land that would be his by divine gift. Abraham was called by God to respond in faith, which he did, but his faith was governed by the visit he had received from God and the words he had heard spoken to him by the Lord. Therefore, Abraham explained the situation to his family and immediately left Ur, with some of his family going with him.

Some applications

I have four applications. First, the call of Abraham is a reminder that God chooses unlikely people through whom to fulfil his purposes. Perhaps we think that God would never use us. If we think that, we are guilty of an assumption that may be very wrong. We do not know what God can use us to do. The only proper response is to make ourselves available for him to use, whatever our age, wherever he wishes to place us. He may give us a ministry of prayer that will change the destiny of our country. He may give us the opportunity of influencing in spiritual ways a person or persons who in later years may become spiritual giants.

We noted too that the Lord knew where Abraham was in Ur and came down to his level. In a far more profound way, God has also done this for us in Jesus. The Lord of glory became a man in order to reveal to sinners who God is. The One who formed the universe took on our frame and came and spoke to us about God and his great plan of salvation. As he said himself, any who had seen him had seen the Father.

Third, it was the sight of the God that led Abraham to begin his spiritual journey. We have a greater sight to consider, the sight of a suffering Saviour taking the place of sinners on the cross of shame. In addition, we have the sight of the exalted Saviour, now in heaven and reigning triumphantly forever from God’s throne. There he enjoys eternal glory, and it is his desire that sinners should share it with him forever.

Fourth, as God did with Abraham, Jesus comes to us with a call to separate from what is sinful and with a promise of secure territory. He calls us from an environment of spiritual danger and from the prospect of eternal destruction. We are urged to leave a world of sin and begin a journey to the heavenly city, and we are urged to begin the journey now. Jesus gives us the promise of secure territory in the new heavens and new earth as an incentive to make the choice.

For Abraham, that day was a life-changing and a destiny-changing day. Have we had one like it?