Deep Dive - Genesis Part 4

English Standard Version Chapter 11

31

English Standard Version Chapter 11

31

MAP REFERENCE: about 400 miles from Ur to Haran, then about 300 miles from Haran down to the area ofCanaan near Shechem

God Calls Abram

God Calls Abram

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the

English Standard Version Chapter 12

12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the

“and make your name great,…” here we see that God is promising to Abram what the people of Babel were seeking.

They wanted to reach heaven, make a name, and not be scattered

Now we see Abram will be blessed from heaven, given a great name, and through him all will be blessed

This should make it apparent to us that the divine plan will always outweigh and outshine anything from man

We know this as the promise of Christ coming to be born from the descendants of Abraham.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an

English Standard Version Chapter 12

7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an

We see a continuation from last week, that Abram is continuing the organized worship of the Lord that was started back during the time of the children of Seth, and we see it referred to in this way, “calling on the name of the Lord.”

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

Abram and Sarai in Egypt

They are going to Egypt because of a famine, this of course lays our symbolic path for later when Israel and will come to live in the land of Egypt because of another great famine.

We also see that Abram has a bit of growing to do spiritually:

He is willing to take up his family and everything they own and cross entire nations at the command of God, yet he is still afraid of the power of the men in the land where they are going

Of course this is something that is easy to point out, but much more difficult to live out. We see Christ still trying to teach this in Matthew’s Gospel

English Standard Version Chapter 10

28 And do not

English Standard Version Chapter 10

28 And do not

Now we do see that this ends up working out well from Abram because he is given sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants, and camels from Pharaoh seemingly as a dowry from Sarai, and then once God afflicts Pharaoh’s house with plagues, he sends them back North and out of Egypt.

Abram and Lot Separate

Abram and Lot Separate

They’ve headed back into Canaan, and no we see something very interesting take place. The shepherds of Abram and Lot are not getting along, so Abram has an idea:

English Standard Version Chapter 13

8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you?

English Standard Version Chapter 13

8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. 9 Is not the whole land before you?

Abram gives Lot first pick of all of the land before them, but what’s most interesting is that at this time Lot is the only heir that Abram has. God has promised to make of him a nation, but even now Sarai is still barren. So, if something were to happen to Abram, most would assume all of his wealth and workers would pass to his nephew.

But that is not what is going to happen, the Lord promised to make a nation of Abram and He intends to uphold that covenant.

English Standard Version Chapter 13

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of

English Standard Version Chapter 13

10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of

We see Lot make his choice which is going to set up most of what we are going to discuss in the next part of this series.

English Standard Version Chapter 13

14 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring

English Standard Version Chapter 13

14 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring

And of course, God’s word is fulfilled because we have God tell Abram to look at the land He will give to him and his descendants, which fulfills the part of God’s promise where He said He would “show him the land.”

English Standard Version Chapter 13

18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at

English Standard Version Chapter 13

18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at

Again we see Abram settle down, and always importance is given to building an altar for the Lord.

Next week we have our WWW, but we will continue this series the week after that.

Tonight we know that we are blessed beyond even that of Abraham because we don’t need an altar to offer sacrifices to God, we can speak directly to Him through His beloved son who was willing to die on the cross for our sins, rise on the third day, and now intercede for us in heaven.

If you have not been added to Christ’s church tonight we offer His invitation with His gospel as the church has done for almost 2,000 years now. It is as true and available today as it was back then.

If you just need prayers, and the support of your family we can do that too.

Whatever your need…