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How Far Do YOU See?
Several years ago on a Thanksgiving Monday evening I was on a flight over Lake Erie en route to Tulsa Oklahoma - via a connecting flight in a city in northern Texas.
SGA leaders had prayed for a way of serving and helping national churches to be more strategic and fruitful like the Church in Antioch -
Met, prayed, studied the Word of God
Asked the Lord and each - Was there something more that we could or should do?
Tulsa Bible Church
Antioch Initiative
As we ask ourselves and each other, “How Far Do YOU See?” through the Word of God, let’s walk alongside of Abraham and step by step, begin to see who far God sees and wants us to see.
Gen
Looking back if the centuries and the generations, the writer of the Book of Hebrews would remind us that like those who preceded him and lived after him, what Abraham did, he did by faith.
Heb 11:
Heb 11:
For Abraham and each of those listed in , faith was not only about believing but also about doing.
Later, the Apostle James explained it succinctly this way,
James
Returning to where we began in , let’s continue to ask ourselves, “How far do you see?”
Asking ourselves that question, with our Lord’s help, let’s continue to ask that question until step by step of faith, we see as far as God wants each of us to see.
As a beginning we do well to note two words at the beginning of
LORD - Yahweh - not nanna - moon god
A reference later in Genesis makes it very clear that Abram understood who Yahweh was.
Gen
said - had said - KJV, NKJV & NIV.
It is understandable for us to why some translators translators translated the Hebrew in the past (said and others in the past perfect (had said).
OT Hebrew does dovetail that exactly with English.
Past Perfect in English - had - action in the past that is not resumed - God said - communicated to Abram and did not repeat that communication
Perfect - God communicated in the past one or more times.
The bottom line would be with the portions that I will refer to later like in , when Stephen testified that God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia and delivered the same message that we read here in , it would clearly indicate that God spoke to Abram in both Mesopotamia and Haran.
If we feel that God revealed Himself and spoke to Abram on more than occasion, then the past inferring “said” and “said”again is probably more accurate.
On the other hand, if we believe that God appeared and spoke (had spoke) to Abram once and want to stress that , then “had said” makes more sense.
Because the Genesis context seems refers back to time in Haran, rather than pre Haran - Mesopotamia - I would lean toward “said" Another reason would be in the wider context of God’s Word, God repeatedly taught His children, His people the same truths again and again - trust me - Abram, Moses, Joshua; obey - 10 commandments - and 34.
Christ went over some of the same truths many times - must die, would die and rise again.
Because they were slow to understand, he taught them and spoke to them more than once.
Abram was no better and neither are we.
NIV.
Hebrew “amar”.
This was used of in , , , , , , & 26 - “And God said.
Hebrew “amar”.
This was used of in , , , , , , & 26 - “And God said.
& 6 - It was used of both people and talking to each of other and God speaking directly to a person.
Tends to verbal communication or a reference to past verbal communication that has been committed to memory or written record.
KJV translators used more than 30 words when translating “amar”
answer - 98 X
command - 29X
speak - 168X
With Abraham, one of the first truths that and we see is that,
When we see as far as God sees, we will see that His promises and blessings are to be shared.
IN YOU ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED
What God was calling Abraham to do was not only about Sarah and him.
It was about a land that he had not seen yet.
It was about a family and people that had not been promised or born as yet.
It was about a family and land yet to be named
It was about steps of faith that would become clearer with each step of faith.
It was about faith trusting God not only for Himself but also for others who would be blessed because he stepped out in faith and believed.
The steps of faith that we take or do not take impact others.
While faith and a personal relationship with Christ, our personal faith impacts others.
Our steps of faith are not taken in a vacuum.
For Abram and each of us our steps of faith have a family, a faith, a historical and a geographic context.
Hebrews 11
provides a bit of context of Abraham’s call and seeing as far as God wanted him to see.
Father Terah and Abram’s siblings Nahor and Haran - 11:26
Haran was also a place at the north arch of the fertile crescent - 11:32
God called Abraham from serving other gods
God called called Abraham when Abraham was in Mesopotamia - where Ur of the Chaldeas was located.
Our steps of faith of faith are seldom one big step but rather a series of smaller steps in the same direction.
Acts 7:
Ur and Haran were centers of moon worship - archeological and history records affirm cathat.
Nanna was the name of the moon god - large ziggurat in Ur dedicated to Nanna
Saw cylces of the moon as symbols of stage of life - birth, growth, decay and death.
from your land and from your kindred
While God called Abram, Genesis 12:31 indicates that Terah initiated and led the move to Canaan via Haran.
We are not told why they settled in Haran for while.
Perhaps it was Terah’s health, Perhaps it was Haran’s health.
Terah died in Haran - Gen 12:31
Haran had died in Ur - Gen 12:27
In reading the Word of God, we must remember the cultural and ethical setting of the time.
In that day and for most of recorded history, respect and care for ones parents and extended family was expected, required - a non negotiable.
To leave vulnerable family members without protection and care was unacceptable
.
With Haran having died in Ur, and Abram’s brother Nahor and his wife only only been mentioned, care for the family rested on the shoulders of Abram.
With the death of Terah, God affirmed to Abram that the next steps of faith that he needed to take
Step 1 - - Mesopotamia before Haran
Step 2 - - Haran to Canaan
Before we move on we probably need to remind each other that within the Body of Christ, their many who for reasons that they cannot always publicly cannot take the next or every step of faith that they feel God is calling them to.
Unsaved or spiritually cool spouse
Rebellious children
Opressive family situation
Health
Economics
With God’s CALL for next step faith for Abram - many facets:
God called - spoke to - Abram
One commentator (Derek Kidner) noted:
“The history of redemption like that of creation begins with God speaking; this in a nutshell differentiated Abram’s story from his father’s.
The call to forsake all and follow finds it parallel in the Gospels(which in some ways are nearer the patriarchal pattern than the law - cf ), and Abram’s early history is partly his gradual entanglement
From your country - place of birth and ethic origin, from your kindred - extended family, relatives, offspring - family connections , from your father’s house - umbrella identity and security.
As yet, Abraham and Sarah had not children.
Other than family and servants, who would care for them in a new land or when they died?
YAHWEH
What we have come to refer to as the Abrahamic covenant unfolds this way:
to a land that I WILL show you
From this portion and other references like what would was not so much about God/Yahweh blessing what Abram did but rather Yahweh stepping and working.
That is what faith is about - by faith obeyed and allowing God to work in and through us.
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