Genesis 12
Book of Genesis • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The middle and end of Genesis 11 is more genealogy and in it we see some information about Abraham and lot that I find helpful. have you ever wondered why Abraham brought Lot when God called him to leave his family? In Gen 11 we see that Lots father died young and it looks like Abraham took lot in to help raise him. In essence it would seem that Lot was an adopted son.
When we move to chapter 12 we see God come to lot and begin setting somethings in motion and that is where we are going to be today.
Abraham is from the land of Ur of the Chaldees which is in modern day Iraq. If we read Joshua24:2
2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Long ago your fathers—Terah father of Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.
We see that Abraham was not a child of a godly man, Terah and likely Abraham worshipped false Gods. We find from this information that God did not necessarily come to Abraham because he was such a good guy and followed God. God came to a group of Idol worshippers and called one of them out to follow him. I can’t help but think of Jesus when I see this. How Jesus came to Tax collectors, sinners and fishermen and called to them to follow Him.
This is important to note that Abraham just like us, did not deserve to be used by God. God came to a normal every day pagan and spoke to him saying, Hey I have big plans, and if you follow me, you will be a part of seeing it happen.
Lets start looking into how God chose to use Abraham.
1 Now 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 shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So much we could unpack here. God speaks to Abram for the first time we know of and just says: hey, get up, leave everything you have ever known and go where I tell you. God, gives Abram a series of promises, notice what they all start with… I! The God of the universe is going to perform some great things, Abram is just along for the ride.
God says, I will make a great nation. God is going to build a great nation. Abram will be there but God is going to do the work. So what is Abrams Job in all this? To believe God and follow him… now think of that. on the surface, that is easy! I have worked in very demanding environments where I had to write very complex computer code and I had a very short time to do it. how much easier would it be if my boss just said, hey come sit next to me and I’ll write the code for you. When its done, I’ll give you a pay raise, a new house and a new car, just for sitting here watching me do all the work.
With this promise of a new nation is also the promise of land, protection, blessings and being used to bless every family group in the world. This is pretty amazing.
4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. 8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
God takes Abram to the land of Canaan and Promises that this land would be given to Abrams descendants. This may have seemed odd to him because at this point Abram was at least 75 years old and had no children. From the look of things Abram was not going to have descendants. Abram, may have assumed Lot would cary on that name, I’m not sure what he thought at this moment but he chose to stop, build and altar and worship God.
In a valley between Bethel and Ai He built another Altar and it says he “called on the name of the Lord” We are not given what that conversation was about or even if the Lord answered, but what we do see is Abraham desiring to hear from the Lord and even get direction from God. After he called on the Lord, Abram traveled south.
After they travel south they stay there for a period of time before we get to the next verse.
10 Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was getting near to Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know you are a beautiful woman. 12 Therefore, when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will then kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister so that I may be treated well for your sake. Then my life will be spared because of you.” 14 So when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into Pharaoh’s house. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake and he had sheep and livestock, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Abram’s wife, Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now here is your wife; take her and leave.” 20 Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Notice in verse 10, there was a famine so Abram went to Egypt, we are not told He called on the name of the Lord, as he did when he left the previous valley. As they get close to Egypt he becomes fearful for his life. Did he forget God’s promises? Did he loose faith? he decides to instruct his wife to lie and say she is his sister so they don’t kill him and take his wife.
Just as Abram expected pharaoh commanded Sarai to be brought to him. instead of being killed Pharoah pours out his wealth on Abraham. But God did not want Sarai to be taken and become the wife of Pharoah, so God sends plagues on Egypt until pharoah gets the hint that this woman is not just Abrams half sister, but also his wife. God’s promise of protection on Abram and his descendants is seen in action for the first time, even though the only reason Abram needed God’s protection was because his faith went through a week spot and he did not seek wisdom from God. As we study Genesis we will see this happen again and we will see God’s promise of protection kick in again.
in Genesis 15:6
6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
we see that God considered Abraham to have a right relationship with Him because he believed God. I suspect at this point a couple decades earlier, Abraham seems to be struggling to know how much he can trust God. What we read today is the start of a great relationship Abraham had with God. the relationship with God was not great because Abram did anything, it was great because over, and over God was faithful to Abram even when Abram messed up. did you know, the God of Abraham is the same God we server today? did you know that God is faithful in his promises even when we mess up? Did you know, when Abram got weak and reacted in fear, God’s promise was not taken away? did you know when you react in fear or the flesh, God does not remove His promise of salvation?
When you put your faith in Christ and become a child of God, God gives us the Holy Spirt as a down payment of salvation. That promise does not get taken away when we mess up, God steps in and lovingly redirects us back to Himself.
13 In Him you also, after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and after believing in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Life is difficult, and can be scary. but God is with us, just like He was with Abram. Waiting for us to look to him for wisdom and direction. God is there to help us pick up the pieces when we fail to look to him and go in the wrong direction. God’s promise and salvation never left, we just forgot they were there.
If you are walking through hard or fearful times, God is there, His salvation is still there, and he is waiting for you to stop trying to fix your mess and just come to him and let him do the work!