In You All the Families of the Earth Shall Be Blessed
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
Intro
Intro
Last week, we discussed
genealogies and timelines from the time of Noah up until Abram
We looked at differences in dates between the Masoretic and Septuagint and evidence supporting both
and why I believe the Septuagint lifespans are more convincing.
We also discussed how Terah began the journey to Canaan from Ur of the Chaldeans, taking his son Abram and his wife Sarai, and his grandson Lot.
But they only made it to the city of Haran before Terah died.
We discussed the spiritual implications of Terah not completing the journey to Canaan
How it is an example of warning to us,
to completely forsake our idols
and run the race of faith
until we make it to our destination.
To not quit before obtaining the promise.
Body
Body
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The call of Abram
Abram was instructed to leave his homeland, his people, and his father’s house.
And there is no indication Abram knew where he was going.
We’re told ‘Canaan’, but that was Moses writing it into the narrative.
Abram just journeyed until God told him to stop.
But God Promised him 6 things:
I will make you a great nation
Though he was being cut off from being a wild olive branch of the Chaldeans,
he was being made into the root of a good olive tree
I will bless you
Either Specific blessings of fruitfulness and increase that he had previously blessed Adam and Noah with
or general blessings
Trust me and be blessed
I will make your name great
Though he was leaving a people and a place that would be the root of powerful cities, civilizations, and empires of antiquity
God would make the name of Abram even greater.
Abram means “exalted father”, thou he had no children and his wife was barren
God would change his name to Abraham, which means “father of a multitude”, literally exalting his name
But not in name only
Nearly every person alive today has heard of Abram/Abraham
Most Religions point to him as being a significant figure.
Judaism and Islam claim to be descended from him
Christianity teaches that he is the spiritual father of all christians.
meanwhile, only a minority that pay attention in history remember any of the empires and civilizations that came from the people Abram left.
You shall be a blessing.
Henry- “Thy life shall be a blessing to the places where thou shalt sojourn.” Good men are the blessings of their country, and it is their unspeakable honor and happiness to be made so.
I will bless those that bless you and curse those who curse you
James 2:23 “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.”
God was truly Abram’s friend.
Only a true friend will enter in to such an arrangement to make your friends their friends and your enemies their enemies.
Now imagine God is the one promising you this.
In you all the families of the Earth Shall be blessed.
The promise that crowned all the rest
A promise that would be unimaginable to Abram
How could all the tribes of the Earth be blessed through him?
A 75 year old man with a barren wife?
Now we know this promise is fulfilled in Christ.
Through Christ’s redeeming death, burial, and resurrection, every tribe and tongue has been grafted into the true vine; Jesus Christ.
As God called Abram out of his people and made him into a new nation, Christ calls all believers out and grafts them into true Israel; a new nation.
God’s calling does not erase our nature; Abram is still a descendant of Eber and is father to the people called ‘Hebrews’
But God is calling him to a greater purpose
Similarly, God calling us His people does not mean we lose our natural affections.
We still are to love our people and place, but we have a higher love for God,
which in comparison, should make our love for people and place look like hate.
Luke 14:26 ““If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
As I’ve mentioned many times over the past year, we are supposed to have natural affections.
It is good to love your wife more than other women
your children more than other children,
your parents, your town, your nation more than other nations.
But our supreme love must be for Christ.
“In you all the families of the earth Shall be blessed” has implications for global evangelism.
We have the promise that every tribe and tongue will be reached.
So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
It is unclear of God spoke part or all of this promise to Abram in Ur and then repeated it to him later in Haran
or if it was only given to him in Haran, which was still considered part of the land of the Chaldeans.
Either way, Abram was 75 when he set out from Haran towards Canaan.
Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot.
After Haran’s death, it is likely Abram became something of a father-figure for his Nephew
note: there does not seem to be any relation to the city of Haran and Abram’s brother Haran.
Haran died in Ur and then they journeyed to the already established city of Haran
no indication one was named after the other.
All their possessions
They left nothing of value, providing no excuse to return
People whom they had acquired
literally ‘souls’
servants, slaves, whatever you want to call them, Abram owned people
God’s friend, Abram, left his father’s idols, but took the people he owned.
Whether you like it or not, slavery is not a sin.
We cannot let our morality be formed by modern sensibilities.
Our morality ought to be formed by the one who is Good.
Canaan was about a 400-600 mile journey from Haran, which traveling 10-20 miles per day would take between 20-60 days to travel.
So they came to the land of Canaan
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.
God brought Abram to the promised land of Canaan, but it was already occupied.
But God appeared to Abram and promised it to his descendants.
The descendants that it did not seem likely the he would have.
Yet Abram trusted God to be true to His Word.
So Abram built on Altar and worshiped him.
Abram was so convinced by the glorious appearing of God, that though he had no hope in the flesh of bearing children of his own, he believed God that his offspring would dispossess the Canaanites from this land and worshiped God.
He then journeyed further south and built another altar and worshiped God again.
Worshiping is not a one time event
it is something we do continually through the duration of our lives.
Abram, almost everywhere he goes, builds an altar.
We think about the age of exploration, the Spanish, the British or the French discovering new lands and planting their flags
Or of the Apollo missions and America planting her flag on the moon.
Instead of planting a flag, Abram builds an altar, physically establishing a monument to his faith that this land belongs to God and God will give it to his descendants.
Conclusion/application
Conclusion/application
This passage of Scripture is often used to justify unwavering support for modern Israel
There are several other verses that can be used, but basically the argument goes: as descendants of Abram and fulfillment of these promises that God gave, Israel deserves a special place, especially for Christians.
Christians should bless Israel, and the main way that happens is by supporting the modern nation of Israel.
Almost every Republican that claims to be a Christian will echo this sentiment in some way.
This is a misapplication of this verse for several reasons:
Theologically, True Israel is Jesus
Romans 9 talks about this
Romans 9:6–7 “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.””
Jesus makes the same argument earlier in John 8
John 8:37–47 ““I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he…”
John 8:56–59 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”
There are biological descendants of Abraham, and then there are spiritual descendants.
So even though Israel might be able to claim they are biological descendants of Abram, that does not entitle them to the blessing of Abram.
That belongs to spiritual descendants.
Morally, to encourage someone in their sin is not “blessing them”
If someone is going to rob a bank, it is not a Christian blessing to pray over that endeavor.
A Christian cannot ‘bless’ a same-sex mirage.
You can’t “bless someone” in the continuation of their meth addiction.
To encourage or aid someone in sin is to curse them.
To discourage or prevent someone from sin is to bless them
Following that argument, Christians are not obligated to support the nation of Israel.
The nation of Israel is one of the most pro abortion and pro LGBT sexual perversion states in the world.
even more than America.
To provide unwavering support to such a sinful nation is to curse a nation, because it is just asking God to judge them as they did Sodom.
Instead, if we really care about the nation of Israel, we want them to repent.
We want them to turn from their perversions, from their hatred of Christ, and to trust in Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
For us Spiritually, Abram is a beautiful example of the Christian life.
God calls us out of the world to follow him.
We obey that call, forsaking our sin and following after Christ.
Hebrews 11:8–10 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Hebrews 12:1–2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
And though God brought Abram to Canaan, he wasn’t able to possess it in this life.
For us, God has brought has salvation.
We have been justified,
we are being sanctified,
we will be glorified.
We are experiencing a very similar already/not yet to what Abram experienced
But when Abram arrived in Canaan.
The first thing he did was build an altar and sacrifice to God.
He worshiped.
It wasn’t a small thing to build an altar, in a foreign land.
He was a stranger.
how would you feel if someone started stacking rocks in your front yard?
I don’t think they would just call the sheriff.
Isaac and Jacob, many decades later, would build their own altars at some of these same locations.
What do we do as our worship that is lasting?
Would anyone have any evidence of us worshiping God?
What does our worship cost us?
Will our children and grandchildren be able to find any evidence that we worshiped God here?
