ABRAHAM.
Chapter 12 God's Call to Abram
In reading the Old Testament we must be
guided by the New Testament writers and our Lord Himself. Read with a sense of poetry and vision. Paul said: “The letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life (2 Cor. 3:6). Some read
with a veil over their face, but faith in Christ takes away the veil. Remember the God of the OT Church is also the
God of the NT Church. God called Abraham
to be the Founder of a Spiritual Family.
The Church is a community of sinners whose heart God has touched. The Bible shows us all the warts & wrinkles,
the stumbling, falling, rising and falling again, but holding fast to the
vision they have been granted and on which they base their lives and hope.
Abram – Abraham. Name change has meaning. God was giving His blessing. “Your name will no longer be Abram, but
Abraham, because I am making you the ancestor of many nations.” Gen 17:5 (TEV)
“Through Abram's faith and family, God
began restoring the blessing. God called Abram from a pagan world to begin a
new nation; his promises to Abram later became a covenant (Gen 15). • God's
call to Abram later helped convince the Israelites to leave Egypt
“The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your
country, your relatives, and your father's home, and go to a land that I am
going to show you. 2 I will give you many descendants, and they will
become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you
will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse
those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations."
4 When Abram was seventy-five years old, he started out from Haran , as the Lord had told him to do; and Lot went with him. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his
nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran , and they started out for the land of Canaan
“Abram's Journey to Canaan
(12:1-9).
Traditionally, "Ur of the Chaldeans" (11:28, 31; 15:7) has been identified with Ur in
Mesopotamia (southern Ur), a chief city of ancient Sumer Haran
“Mesopotamia was the region now called Iraq Haran
was a city in what is now called Syria
“This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and
fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in
Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran Haran
“It was faith that made Abraham obey when
God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He
left his own country without knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he
lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in
tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God. 10 For
Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city
with permanent foundations. 11 It was faith that made Abraham able to
become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have
children. He trusted God to keep his promise. 12 Though Abraham was
practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars
in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the seashore.” Heb 11:8-12 (TEV)
“It was faith that made Abraham offer his
son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one
to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a
sacrifice. 18 God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that you will
have the descendants I promised." 19 Abraham reckoned that God was
able to raise Isaac from death—and, so to speak, Abraham did receive Isaac back
from death.” Heb 11:17-19 (TEV)
“The Lord says, "Listen to me, you
that want to be saved, you that come to me for help. Think of the rock from
which you came, the quarry from which you were cut. 2 Think of your
ancestor, Abraham, and of Sarah, from whom you are descended. When I called
Abraham, he was childless, but I blessed him and gave him children; I made his
descendants numerous.” Isaiah 51:1-2
(TEV)
“The Lord had already established a
relationship with Abraham (12:1-9) before he made a formal covenant
with him (ch 15). God took all the initiative: He approached Abraham and spoke
to him in a vision. God presented the impossible promise that the old man would
have a son through whom his descendants would eventually be as numerous as the
stars of heaven. Abraham believed God (15:6), and his faith proved to be an act of
righteousness—faith is righteousness, and faith produces righteousness in
covenant relationship with God (see Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; 4:3,17; Gal 3:6,11; Heb 10:37-38). The covenant of ch 15
includes a royal grant (15:18-21) in which God, the king, gave land
to Abraham, his subject, as a possession and an inheritance. (In the ancient
Near East, kings sometimes granted land or other gifts to loyal subjects.) At
the end of that day, Abraham knew that his own and his descendants' future was
firmly in the hands of the covenant God. Later, the grant would be transferred
to his descendants.”—NLT Study Bible
“When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God. 14 For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God's promise is worthless. 15 The Law brings down God's anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law. 16 And so the promise was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God's free gift to all of Abraham's descendants—not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all; 17 as the scripture says, "I have made you father of many nations." So the promise is good in the sight of God, in whom Abraham believed—the God who brings the dead to life and whose command brings into being what did not exist. 18 Abraham believed and hoped, even when there was no reason for hoping, and so became "the father of many nations." Just as the scripture says, "Your descendants will be as many as the stars." 19 He was then almost one hundred years old; but his faith did not weaken when he thought of his body, which was already practically dead, or of the fact that Sarah could not have children. 20 His faith did not leave him, and he did not doubt God's promise; his faith filled him with power, and he gave praise to God. 21 He was absolutely sure that God would be able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why Abraham, through faith, "was accepted as righteous by God." 23 The words "he was accepted as righteous" were not written for him alone. 24 They were written also for us who are to be accepted as righteous, who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from death. 25 Because of our sins he was given over to die, and he was raised to life in order to put us right with God.” Romans 4:13-25 (TEV)
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