The Call of Abraham - Genesis 12

Copyright February 17, 2019 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

As we come to Genesis 12 we reach a turning point in our study. Up to now Genesis has focused on beginnings. In chapter 12 we begin to see God's plan of redemption starting to form. In the first part of Genesis we were looking through a wide-angle lens. In chapter 12 God zooms in and the focus is narrowed. He chooses one man, brings him to faith, and then works through that man a plan that took several thousand years to implement. It culminated on a hill called Golgotha outside of the city of Jerusalem. That one man was named Abraham.

The story is set up for us at the end of Genesis 11,

27This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. 29Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. (Genesis 11:27-30)

Normally when we read a genealogy in the Bible our minds turn off. It is like sitting down and reading the names in a phone book. These names however, are quite significant. They figure prominently in the rest of the book of Genesis. So, let's take a moment to fly over and see the significance of these people.

Terah is the dad. He has three sons: Abraham, Nahor and Haran. Haran died before Terah died (so he died young) Now hang on, now it is going to get complicated.

Abraham married Sarah his half-sister (same dad, different mom).

Abraham's brother, Nahor, married his niece, Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran (who died).

Milcah and Nahor's Grand-daughter, Rebekah, married Abraham's son, Isaac.

Milcah and Nahor's son, Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel both of whom married Isaac and Rebekah's son, Jacob. Jacob was the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.

So Abraham was the Great Grandfather of Jacob's 12 sons, His brother Nahor was the Great-Great-Grandfather of the same 12 sons, and his other brother Haran was the Great-Great-Great Grandfather of the 12 sons.

Making Terah the Great-Great Grandfather, the Great-Great-Great Grandfather, and the Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather . . . of the exact same people!

And you thought some of your family ties were strange! There is actually a word for this (other than "creepy"), it is the word endogamy: the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe. It was a common practice in those days.

The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9)

You may not know this, Abraham grew up as a pagan. He worshipped many Gods. We know this because in the book of Joshua we read,

2Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. 3But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac.[1]

When we read about Enoch we were told, "He walked with God and God took Him." With Noah we were told he was blameless and found grace in the eyes of the Lord." We don't read any such thing with Abraham. We don't know why God chose this man. God certainly had His reasons, we just don't know what it was.

Returning to Genesis 11 we read,

31One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.

Then we read,

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

4So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him.

Ur was located in what today is known as Iraq. Haran, where they made their first stop was in Syria.

There is some question about chronology here. Acts 7:2 says God called Abraham while he was still in Iraq. That raises some questions. Did Abraham share his encounter with God with his father and dad decided to go along? Was Abraham unwilling at first to leave everything behind and so he enlisted his dad and Lot to go along with him? These are questions for which we do not have answers.

God's Promise

Abraham was a pagan who may have been reluctant to follow the One who called to Him, yet God made this promise (or covenant) with him.

2I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

This is not contingent on Abraham's performance. God says He is going to do all these things. God promised Abraham would become a great nation (even though he was middle-aged with no children). He said He would bless Abraham. He would give him material blessings. And He would give him land (we'll see that a little later).

Not only this . . . God will bless those who are kind to Abraham and curse those who are not. In other words, God was going to be like a big brother looking out for Abraham. These are astounding promises that are made independent of the ability of Abraham.

Abraham followed the Lord's leading until he reached the land of Canaan. God told him all that land was going to belong to him and his descendants (this was the land of Israel). Abraham (who, by the way, is still childless) worshipped God for His goodness and grace. Abraham never saw all of these promises come to pass. But, as we follow the story, God was faithful in everything He said He would do. Abraham had to learn how to believe and follow.

We will follow the story in the weeks to come. Let's look at some applications we can draw from this story of Abraham.

First, God Calls to us BEFORE we have our Life in Order.

Perhaps you have heard people say to you: "I plan to come to God when I get my life in order." Or "I can never be a Christ-follower because my life is a mess." God called Abraham before he had it all together. He called Abraham while he was still "worshipping other Gods." I think one of the things most fascinating about the life of Abraham is watching his faith develop.

God is calling You right where you are. He did not choose you because of your performance, He chose you because of His grace. You do not need to be Holy, He will give you His Spirit to produce holiness. HE will change your life. His invitation is for you to take the broken pieces of your life and bring them to Him to make them into something that has eternal significance. The point you need to embrace is this: God wants you to be part of His family . . . even with your bruises and failures. He asks us to trust His grace. Have you ever taken that step?

Trust is scary. It is like a high wire performer working without a net. When Abraham headed out to "the land God would show him" he did not know where he was going. He didn't know what he would find when he got there. All he knew was for some reason he trusted the voice of the One who spoke to him.

We don't know the road God will take us on. . . only that He will be with us.

We don't know the difficult circumstances we may face . . . but He will give us the strength we need to overcome those circumstances.

We don't how long it will take to see His blessings in our life but since God controls the future, His promises are sure.

Speaking of promises, that leads us to the second application.

God has Made Astounding Promises to Those Who Put Their Faith in Christ

For those who put their trust in Him, God makes additional promises

He will give us Peace with God (Romans 5:1)

He will Forgive our Sin (Isaiah 55:7)

He will Provide for our Needs (Phil 4:19)

He will give us the words for our lips (Matthew 10:19)

He will bring us all the way to the finish line (Phil 1:6)

He will give us a future Home in Heaven (John 14)

He will give us a place of significance in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12)

He brings a purpose and blessing in every trial (James 1:2)

He will never leave us (John 14:16)

He will put His Spirit in our life to guide and direct us (John 16)

He will always be available to those who call to Him (Psalm 91:15)

He will sanctify us (make us holy) (1 Corinthians 1:21)

These are amazing promises! They are much bigger than those given to Abraham. These are much better promises than those who declare God wants us to be rich, completely well, and comfortable. He did not call us to be comfortable, but to be faithful.

God is not like a politician who promises everything to everyone. I don't know about the Biblical basis for this idea, but Steve Brown said he believes God allows believers and unbelievers to get cancer, to experience birth abnormalities, to wrestle with mental highs and lows, to get Alzheimer's disease. He does this so his people can show the world the difference between the way a believer and unbeliever handles these things! I don't know if there is any truth to his supposition but I like the thought. As Jason Gray wrote, God wants us to "glow in the dark."

We are Called to Trust Like Abraham

We are not saved by making promises to God (many of which we will not keep). We are saved by trusting His promises to us. We are recipients of the blessing of Abraham's faith. And our faith, good or bad, is going to influence those who come after us. Are we leading people to depend on the Lord or on themselves?

The issue of commitment has largely been replaced by expediency. We are concerned primarily with what works . . . or what will get us what we want . . . right now. If we are not satisfied at any time, we reserve the right to back out. That attitude is everywhere.

We have desperately confused our roles. He is God and we are not! A half-hearted faith is not really faith at all. If faith is determined by our feelings, our faith is not in God but in our feelings!

Warren Wiersbe wrote,

Most of us are not commanded to pull up stakes and go to a strange country, but the challenges to our faith are just as real. Sometimes there are serious problems in the home, on the job, or in the church; and we wonder why God has permitted these things to happen. If you are to claim your spiritual inheritance in Christ, you must display faith in God’s Word and obedience to God’s will.

Wherever Abraham went in the land of Canaan, he was marked by his tent and his altar (Gen. 12:7–8; 13:3–4, 18). The tent marked him as a “stranger and pilgrim” who did not belong to this world (Heb. 11:9–16; 1 Peter 2:11), and the altar marked him as a citizen of heaven who worshiped the true and living God. He gave witness to all that he was separated from this world (the tent) and devoted to the Lord (the altar). Whenever Abraham abandoned his tent and his altar, he got into trouble.[2]

Let's conclude by doing a little personal inventory. What is the nature of your faith? Do you trust God or don't you? Are you consistently faithful or do you have a roller coaster faith . . . sometimes up and sometimes down? I suspect most of us have a roller coaster faith. I know I do. I believe I would do anything God asked me to do . . . until He asks me to do something outside of my comfort zone.

As you read through the Bible, you will see that a roller coaster faith was common even in the heroes of the faith. They had good moments and bad moments. Our goal is to have more and more good moments and less bad moments.

For those of us who are sporadic, how do we increase our faith? Allow me to make some humble suggestions.

Make sure you are right with God by embracing Christ as your only Savior and as your Lord and leader in life. Stop believing you can earn your salvation and admit you are helpless apart from God graciously reaching out and transforming you. Receive the offer of salvation God extends to you.

Ask God to help you. It's not like He doesn't already know you are struggling. Let's be like the man who encountered Jesus who said, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." He doesn't expect us to be able to act in faith without His help.

I find it helpful to ask myself the question "Do you trust Him or don't you?" When I answer "I do," I say, "Well then, truth Him!"

Recall God's track record. Don't just look at His faithfulness in Scripture, look at His faithfulness in your life. Recall all the times He gave you strength and you survived what you did not think you could survive or endure; insight when you did not know what to do or how to respond; the right words to say in a tense time; or the times He provided for a need in a way you didn't expect.

Study the character of God. The more you know about God the easier it will be to trust Him. Remember, faith in God is not the same as a positive attitude. We trust God's character not our ability to think positive or to muster enough faith. Our hope is in His strength and consistency, not our own.

Study the lives of faithful people in the Bible, in history, and those living around you.

Memorize the various promises of Scripture that relate to the area where you are having difficulty.

Look for encouragement from other faithful believers. Sometimes hearing even a promise you already know from someone else, will strengthen you.

Abraham did what God told Him to do. He dared to do something that seemed crazy because He trusted the voice that told him to go.

What is God telling you to do? Is He telling you to repent? to forgive? to give? to take a step way outside of your comfort zone? What is he asking you to do?

You may say, "But I don't know where God is leading me" Neither did Abraham. However, you may know the next step in the process. It is likely something simple. Like in life, we must be able to take a few steps before we can learn to walk. The simple acts of obedience exercise our faith.

Do what God has told you to do: forgive, love, lend a hand, show compassion, honor God in all that you do. And if you are faithful in all the little things, one day you will look back and discover God has been using those little things to accomplish more than we could have ever asked or imagined. We will see this illustrated as we study the life of Abraham and all those descendants who came from inter-marriage.

[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), Jos 24:2–3.

[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Obedient, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1991), 18–19.