How Did We Get In This Mess In Our Lives – Part 8
GENESIS 12 – 24 – THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM
THE “GOSPEL” WAS FIRST PREACHED TO ABRAHAM
GALATIANS 3:6 – “Even as ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, and IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
GENESIS 15:6 – “AND HE (ABRAM/ABRAHAM) BELIEVED IN THE LORD; AND HE (GOD) COUNTED IT TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS”.
* Abraham was in “Right standing with God” (Had God’s righteousness in his life) – A DECADE BEFORE HE WAS “CIRCUMCISED” (THE PHYSICAL MARK OF BEING A HEBREW) AND 400 YEARS BEFORE “THE LAW” WAS GIVEN TO MOSES! So neither his “CIRCUMCISION” NOR “THE LAW” – PLAYED A ROLE IN ABRAHAM’S SALVATION (JUSTIFICATION)!
* “IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM” OR “IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM” – This is a “Bookkeeping” term, which means: “To credit to someone’s account”. What was the “IT”, which was “COUNTED OR RECKONED”? The “IT” refers to the fact that Abram: “BELIEVED GOD BY FAITH”, which, though it is not specifically mentioned here, is mentioned in ROMANS 4:9.
WHATEVER IS “COUNTED OR RECKONED”, TO A PERSON, CANNOT HAVE BEEN HIS “ORIGINALLY OR NATURALLY”. Abraham was credited before God as being “Just or Righteous before Him (God). Was it because of his “Circumcision” or his “Good Works”? “NO”, the text is clear that which was not his “Originally or naturally”, was credited to him through “FAITH” alone (GALATIANS 3:6-9).
ROMANS 4:3 – “For what saith the Scripture? Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and it was counted unto him for righteousness”.
JAMES 2:23 – “And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and it was IMPUTED (PUT IN HIS ACCOUNT) UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS (RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD): and he was called the FRIEND OF GOD”.
*WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT ABRAHAM “BELIEVED IN GOD”, IN GALATIANS 3:6; ROMANS 4:3; AND JAMES 2:3?
* WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE IDEA OF “FAITH” OR “BELIEVING” IS NOT SIMPLY ACKNOWLEDGING OF HISTORICAL FACTS!
JAMES 2:19 – “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; THE DEVILS (DEMONS) ALSO BELIEVE, AND TREMBLE”.
“BELIEVED” IN GENESIS 15:6 – IS THE STRONG’S HEBREW WORD # 4100 AND MEANS:
* (1). A FIRM CONVICTION WHICH PRODUCES A FULL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD’S REVELATION OF TRUTH:
2 THESSALONIANS 2:11 – “And for this CAUSE (NOT BELIEVING THE TRUTH OF GOD) God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe A LIE (THE LIE – THAT YOU CAN BECOME LIKE GOD)”:
2 THESSALONIANS 2:12 – “That they might be damned WHO BELIEVED NOT THE TRUTH, BUT HAD PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS”.
* (2). A FULL AND PERSONAL SURRENDER TO THE TRUTH OF GOD:
JOHN 1:12 – “But as many as received Him (Christ Jesus), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them THAT BELIEVED on His name”:
LUKE 9:59 – “And He (Christ Jesus) said unto another, Follow Me. BUT he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father”.
LUKE 9:60 – “Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury the dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God”.
LUKE 9:61 – “Another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; BUT let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house”.
LUKE 9:62 – “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”.
* (3). A PERSONAL CONDUCT, INSPIRED BY AND CONSISTENT WITH THAT SURRENDER TO THE TRUTH OF GOD:
2 CORINTHIANS 6:14 – “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness”?
1 JOHN 1:7 – “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin”.
* “BELIEVING” IN THE WORD OF GOD – BRINGS “RESULTS” – IT BRINGS A WALK WITH GOD AND “GOD MOMENTS” (MIRACLES) THAT HAPPEN AUTOMATICALLY WHEN WE WALK IN THE TRUTH OF GOD!
MARK 16:17 – “And these signs shall FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEVE; in my NAME (AUTHORITY) shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues”;
MARK 16:18 – “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover”.
MARK 16:19 –“ So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat on the RIGHT HAND OF GOD”.
GALATIANS 3:7 – “Know YE THEREFORE that they which are of faith, the same are THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM”.
GALATIANS 3:8 – “And the Scripture, forseeing that God would JUSTIFY THE HEATHEN (GENTILES) THROUGH FAITH, PREACHED BEFORE THE GOSPEL UNTO ABRAHAM, saying, indeed shall ALL NATIONS BE BLESSED”.
GALATIANS 3:9 – “So then they which be of FAITH are blessed with faithful Abraham”.
The Apostle Paul concludes his argument by stating that though PROVISION was made for “ALL NATIONS (GALATIANS 3:8), ONLY those PERSONS, WHO HAVE “FAITH”, receive the BLESSINGS OF “JUSTIFICATION”.
Aside from Moses, no other Old Testament character is mentioned more in the New Testament Bible than Abraham. JAMES REFERS TO ABRAHAM AS “GOD’S FRIEND” – A TITLE GIVEN TO NO ONE ELSE IN THE BIBLE! Believers in all generations are called the “Children of Abraham” (GALATIANS 3:7). Abraham’s importance and impact in” God’s Redemptive history of mankind” are clearly seen in the Scriptures.
“ABRAM’S NAME MEANS ‘EXALTED FATHER’ BUT WAS CHANGED TO ‘ABRAHAM’, WHICH MEANS ‘(EXALTED) FATHER OF A MULTITUDE OR CHIEF OF A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS’”. HIS NAME WAS CHANGED BY GOD, IN GENESIS 17:5:
GENESIS 17:5 – “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE THEE”.
The life of Abraham takes up a good portion of the Genesis narrative, from his first mention in GENESIS 11:26, all the way to his death in GENESIS 25:8. Although we know much about Abraham’s life, we know little about his birth and early life. When we first meet Abram, he is about 75 years old.
GENESIS 11:28 records that Abraham’s father, “Terah”, lived in the city of “Ur”, which means “Flame” and was the center of the worship of “SIN”, the “MOON GOD” – who supposedly was the “Judge of the underworld”. The primary temple in “Ur” was “Ekisnugal”, which means: “House of Great Light”!
“Ur” was an influential “City-State” in the southern Mesopotamia (Iraq), that was situated on the Euphrates River, about halfway between the head of the Persian Gulf and the then-modern-day city of Babylon, and about halfway between Nineveh and Damascus.
God called “Abram” out of his home city of “Haran”, which was in the city-state of “Ur”. “Haran” was also the name of the youngest son of “Tarah”, brother of “Abram” and father of “Lot”.
GENESIS 12:1 – “The Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy Kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee”:
GENESIS 12:2 – “And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing”:
GENESIS 12:3 – “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”.
“TARAH” – ABRAM’S FATHER MEANS: “TO DELAY,” BUT ABRAM’S HISTORY WAS THAT WHEN HE HEARD FROM GOD – HE DID NOT “DELAY”.
God makes three promises to Abram: (1) The promise of a land of his own, (2) The promise to be made into a great nation, and (3) The promise of blessing.
These promises form the basis of what will later be called the “Abrahamic Covenant”, established in GENESIS 15 and ratified in GENESIS 17. What really makes Abraham special IS THAT HE OBEYED GOD – “WITHOUT DELAY OR HESITATION”! GENESIS 12:4 TELLS US THAT “ABRAM DEPARTED AS THE LORD HAD SPOKEN UNTO HIM” – HE WENT AS THE LORD TOLD HIM!
The author of Hebrews uses Abraham as an example of “FAITH” several times, and refers specifically to this impressive act: “By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go into a place which he would later receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went” (HEBREWS 11:8).
Another example of Abraham’s life of faith is seen in the birth of his son, Isaac. Abraham and Sarah were childless, a real source of shame in that culture, yet God promised that Abraham would have a son (GENESIS 15:4). The son would be the heir of Abraham’s blessings, which God blessed Abraham with, and more importantly, he would be the heir of promise and the continuation of the “Godly line of Seth”. Abraham believed the promise to Abraham in GENESIS 17, and his faith was rewarded in GENESIS 21, with the birth of Isaac.
Abraham’s faith would be tested regarding his son, Isaac. In GENESIS 22, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, as a ‘Burnt Offering”, on the top of Mount Moriah. We don’t know how Abraham reacted initially to this command. All we see is Abraham getting up “Early” and faithfully obeying “The God who was his shield” (GENESIS 15:1) and who had been extraordinarily gracious and good to him up to this point. As with the earlier command, to leave his home and family, Abraham obeyed God (GENESIS 22:3). We know that the story ends with God holding back Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but imagine how Abraham must have felt. He had been waiting decades for a son of his own, and the God who promised a child to him was about to be taken away. The point is, Abraham’s faith in God was greater than his love for his son, and he trusted that even if he sacrificed his son, Isaac, God would be able to bring him back from the dead (HEBREWS 11:17-19).
But to be sure, Abraham had his moments of failure and sin, as we all do, and the Bible doesn’t shrink back from relating them. We know that on at least two occasions, Abraham lied, regarding his relationship to Sarah as his wife, to protect himself, while in potentially hostile lands (GENESIS 12:10-20; GENESIS 20:1-18). In both of these incidents, God protects and blesses Abraham and Sarah, despite his lack of faith.
We also know that the frustration of not having a child was on Abraham and Sarah. Sarah suggested to Abraham that he should have a child with Sarah’s servant “Hagar”, on her behalf, and Abraham agreed (GENESIS 16:1-15). The birth of “Ishmael” not only demonstrates the futility of Abraham’s folly and lack of faith but also the grace of God in allowing the birth to take place and even blessing Ishmael.
Interestingly, “Abraham and Sarah” were, at the time, called “Abram and Sarai”. But when Ishmael was 13 years old, God gave “Abram and Sarai”, both new names, along with a “Covenant of circumcision” and a renewed promise to him, of a son to “Sarai”, to whom God also gave them new names (GENESIS 17).
Abraham had “Physical descendants” BUT he also has “Spiritual descendants” and ALL, who put their faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ – are all accounted as “SPIRITUAL HEIRS”, of Abraham (GALATIANS 3:29). The father of the faithful had his moments of doubt and disbelief, yet, he is still exalted among mankind, as a example, of the “Faithful life to God”!
Abraham was an exemplary individual, not so much for piety or perfect life (He had his spiritual shortcomings, as we all do), but because his life illustrates so many truths of the “Christian life”. Abraham was a “Friend of God” and was “Justified” and “Saved”. Not because he left his country, his relatives, his father’s house, not because he was circumcised, not because he stood ready to sacrifice his own son Isaac, his beloved son. ABRAHAM WAS JUSTIFIED BECAUSE HE BELIEVED THE COMMANDMENTS AND PROMISES OF THE WORD OF GOD!
God called Abraham out of millions of people on the earth to be the object of his blessings. God used Abraham to play a pivotal role in the outworking of the “Story of Redemption, culminating in the birth of Christ Jesus. Abraham is a living example of faith and hope in God’s promises (HEBREWS 11:8-10). Our life should be so lived that when we reach the end of our days, our faith, like Abraham’s, will remain as an enduring legacy to others.
