Battle For The Truth (Part 50)

Genesis 12:1-3, “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."

Introduction

As we begin Genesis 12, we have reached another major biblical milestone. A milestone may be defined as a significant point in development. And Genesis 12 marks a significant development in Scripture—both OT and NT. For it is here that God initiates His plan to fulfill His promise in Genesis 3:15, concerning the Seed of the woman. God said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Ever since God pronounced this curse upon Satan (which doubled as a blessing to mankind), Satan has been on a mission to invalidate the promise and plan of God. Even though Satan knows he is a defeated foe, he continually attempts to sabotage God’s established order and word of promise. Satan was successful in causing Adam and Eve to disobey God in eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. With sin now a part of the human experience, Cain murdered his brother Abel. As a result, God gave Seth to Adam and Eve to replace righteous Abel.

After this, Satan made every effort to corrupt the Sethite line provoking God to destroy the entire world by a flood of waters. Only eight souls survived the flood (Noah, his wife, their three sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their three wives.). After the flood, because of the sin of Ham, Noah curses his grandson Canaan, passes his blessing to Shem as the blessed line for the coming Seed of the woman, and pronounces blessings upon Japheth.

At this point, man begins to exhibit the same characteristics and attitudes that resulted in the Great Flood. For under the ungodly leadership on Nimrod, we notice the continual rebellion of humanity against God culminating in the failed construction of the Tower of Babel. We learned that God confused their language at the Tower of Babel which caused man to scatter throughout the world according to their spoken language. Satan must have been feeling rather confident since the line of Shem was also corrupt, as revealed through Terah, Abraham’s father, who according to Joshua 24:2, served other gods.

Nevertheless, the faithful God of promise always has a small remnant of believers who will obey Him, makes an astonishing move. God calls Abram, son of Terah and descendant of Shem to initiate the fulfillment of His promise. You see, our God is faithful to His promises. Let me share with you what Scripture has to say about the faithfulness and promises of God:

Deuteronomy 7:9-10 – “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (10) And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.”

1 Kings 8:23 – “And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart:”

2 Corinthians 1:20 – “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

2 Peter 3:9 – “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So, for the next few minutes, we want to look at the Call of Abraham.

V.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:”

After the death of Terah, God turns His attention to one of Terah’s sons. The heavenly spotlight has now turned to Abram, who will later be renamed Abraham in Genesis 17. God speaks to Abram and gives him clear instructions: “Get thee out,” or “Go forth from...” From where? “From your country, your kindred, and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” This is a remarkable event in biblical history. Through His own divine prerogative, God chose Abram as the progenitor of the coming Messiah. Why did God choose Abram and not Nahor? That is a good question. The answer is, because God is gracious and plenteous in mercy, which is the same reason He chooses any man for salvation. Amen somebody. Theologically, this is referred to as the doctrine of predestination and election.

The land that God is going to show unto Abram is the Land of Canaan. We learned in Genesis 9 that because of Ham’s sin, Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan. The Canaanites were cursed to be a servant of servants(i.e., slaves), and as you may know, a slave does not own anything—not even himself. Amen somebody. The Land of Canaan, also known as the Promised Land, is part of what geologist call the Fertile Crescent, which contains some of the richest soil on earth. In addition, it has an ideal climate perfect for agriculture and raising animals. The problem with the Canaanites is that they were an idol worshipping and sexually deviant people. Much later, after entering the Promised Land, Israel was warned not to engage in the idol worship and sexual immorality of the Canaanites to which they were exposed in Egypt and Canaan (see Leviticus 18:3).

Side Note: This marks the first time that God commanded a person to leave his country, his relatives, and even his father’s posterity. The only thing Abram had to go on was his faith that God was real, and God’s word was trustworthy. In other words, God said, “You do the goin’, and I’ll do the showin’.” It takes great faith to believe what thus saith the word of the Lord. The NT gives us an explanation of the faithful act of Abraham:

Hebrews 11:6, 8-10, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (9) By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: (10) For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

Romans 4:3 – “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

V.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:”

Here is another promise. God declares to Abram that He Himself will make or create of Abram a great nation in reputation, materially, and spiritually. Furthermore, in making Abram’s name great, God would cause him to be a blessing.

Side Note: One of the motivating factors at the building of the Tower of Babel, was that the builders wanted to make a name for themselves. However, instead of their efforts resulting in fame, it resulted in folly. Jesus said in Luke 18:14 – “...for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Amen somebody.

V.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."

Here is another promise. God promises to bless those who bless Abram, and curse those who curse him. Furthermore, through Abram all families of the earth would be blessed. This is where Jew and Gentile are included in God’s plan of salvation. Praise God, this promise was fulfilled in the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

History is a witness that every empire, nation, or people who cursed Abraham(that is, Abraham through the promised seed of Isaac and Jacob. This distinction will be made later.) were defeated (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, Germany, and others) and those who were a blessing to Abraham have prospered (the USA and Great Britain). Nevertheless, during the great tribulation period that is coming, Jesus declared in Matthew 24:9 that all nations, (including the USA and Great Britain) will turn against Israel. Hear the words of Jesus, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”

Side Note: If you are following national and world events closely, you will notice a growing trend of anti-Israel sentiment, even among current ally nations and people. Specifically, there is a global movement against Israel that is gaining support here in the USA called the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions or BDS. The goal of this movement is to delegitimize and end international support for the nation of Israel. In other words, they want to destroy Israel. Even the reestablished Taliban regime in Afghanistan stated that they are willing to work with every government in the world except Israel. Saints, the hate is real and growing, but the good news is, God is still on the throne and His truth is marching on. Amen somebody.

Conclusion

Saints, we have the benefit of being on the fulfillment side of these promises. The question is, did God keep His promise? Well, I stopped by today to tell you that, yes, He did. We know this is true because of the arrival and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew reminds us of the 42-generation lineage of Jesus in his gospel. Matthew 1:17, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.” Can you not see now why the accuracy of the genealogies is so important? They document how the plan and promise of God are fulfilled. What a mighty God we serve!

Finally, saints, we should understand the following truth. Any, so called plan of salvation that does not begin with God and Abraham is illegitimate. Now up to this point as it pertains to Abraham, there would be unity among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is what comes later where Muslims part ways with Jews and Christians. We will cover this critical point later, which means this is all we have time for today. So, until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved. Amen.