Genesis 12,1-9
In coming to the chapter twelve in Genesis we move into the period of recorded history. The events surrounding Abraham occur about four thousand years ago. Abraham is of supreme importance to the whole plan of salvation and to our understanding of the Christian faith. For Abraham is our father in the faith.
Now as you were reading along this morning in Genesis you will have noticed that Abraham was in fact referred to as ABRAM. Now God changes his name later in the story as part of the covenant. It will however be easier I think if we stick with the name Abraham in our study.
What I would like to do this morning is to take a brief overview of the nature and character of Abraham. For the next two weeks we will digress from our study of Genesis and look at the first Chapter of Matthew and we will resume our study of Genesis in the New Year. SO today I would like to try and set the scene.
Now let's look at the character of this great patriarchal figure.
What kind of God did Abraham believe in?
Well as we go through the various references what emerges is this:
In Genesis 17v1 " I am the almighty God" and in Genesis 21v33 we read of the eternal or everlasting God. In Chapter 14v22 we find Abraham declaring that the Lord is the Most High God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. And as we go through the book we find the following characteristics revealed or acknowledged.
God was: The Lord of Heaven and Earth
The righteous judge of all nations and of mankind
To him Yahweh was just,wise, righteous, good and merciful
He accepted the judgements of God but was also prepared to argue with him
He communed with God and was granted special revelations in visions and in visits
from angels.
How this all contrasts with what was going on around
braham. His singular devotion to the one almighty God is in stark contrast to those around him who were involved in polytheistic paganism and in some case child sacrifice.
The thing however that marks Abraham out as special is his absolute faith in the Lord. We see this in his ready obedience to the Lord's commands, He is called to leave Ur and he does so a point emphasized by Stephen in Acts. Similarly he was guided to leave Haran. He became a semi-nomadic pilgrim when the land of Canaan had been promised to him. He was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and was willing to do so even although it seemed to fly in the face of everything that God had said or promised.
He tried in so far as it is humanly possible to be obedient and willingly faithful to the things of God.
He also had his weak and sinful side just as Noah did as we will see quite clearly as we make progress through the chapters.
But what is the significance of all of this. Well this call to Abraham is the call of God that marks the beginning of the Plan of Salvation. The rescue plan. The true beginning of the Church. Abraham was the founder of Israel, the direct ancestor of Jesus and therefore of us as the Church. What is special and important about Abraham is not so much the long line of descendants but rather his faith. Abraham's faith was the type that Paul picks up on in Romans 4 - the faith that leads to justification. His was faith in action.
He is of supreme importance. He is the beginning of the whole plan. Through him God brought about our very salvation. He was an essential cog in the great machinery of the plan.
But what then is his significance to us?
Well it should be obvious. This man was no better that we are. No different. He sets us an example in faith.
As the writer to the Hebrews puts is in Chapter 11 "It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them and admitted openly that thy were foreigners and refugees on earth."
Abraham believed. He trusted absolutely. He knew that God would not fail him or let him down. He may not always have understood exactly what God was doing but he trusted him completely to fulfil his promises. And that is the kind of faith we are called upon to have and we have seen so much more that Abraham ever saw in his lifetime. We have the advantage of knowing it all to be true. How much easier it ought to be for us to believe and to trust is God.
Now the other aspect of this story of Abraham that we might fruitfully investigate is the whole business of the CALL of God. What is it? How do I recognise it? How do I know what it is? Is is just an urge to do something or a case of following my fancy? What is a call from God?