Genesis 12.1-The Call of Abraham

Sunday November 6, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 12:1-The Call of Abraham

Tape # 56

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 12:1.

This morning we will study Genesis 12:1, which records the call of Abraham.

In Genesis 10-11, we saw that after the Flood, the descendants of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth began to repopulate the earth but in their unbelief, rebelled against the Lord and under the leadership of Nimrod began to establish a one-world government and state religion that was opposed to God.

The bond that unified this rebellion was their universal language and the symbol of their independence from God was the Tower of Babel.

As we saw the Lord dispersed this rebellion by confounding their universal language into many languages and dialects, thus with nothing to unify them, the human race dispersed throughout the world.

These nations were godless and only a few individuals such as Job and Melchizedek and others continued to worship the Lord and remain obedient to him.

Yet, as we noted in our study of Genesis 10-11, God is not only the God of Israel but also the Gentiles and these Gentile nations spread throughout the earth were in need of a Savior.

Thus, God calls a man named “Abram” (his name means, “exalted father”) and from him, God would build a nation called “Israel” and from this nation, the Savior, Jesus Christ would originate and from Him the Gentile heathen nations of the earth would be blessed with the gift of salvation through faith in Him.

With Abraham, God is going to build a new nation that would be responsible for carrying out God’s revelation to other men and through whom the Redeemer could come into the world to execute the Father’s plan of salvation and for this purpose, God chose Abram, a descendant of Shem and a son of Terah.

Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you.”

“Abram” is the proper name `avram (sr*b+a^), which means, “(The divine) Father is exalted.”

“Go forth” is the imperative form of the verb halakh (El^h*), “to leave” and the preposition le (lamed of interest or ethical dative), “your benefit” and the 2nd person masculine singular pronomial suffix, “yourself,” thus it can be translated, “leave by yourself and for the benefit of yourself.”

Thus indicating that the command that the Lord issued to Abraham was not a sharp command but rather a gracious invitation and a call to separation and isolation and disassociation from his idolatrous family members and countrymen.

The fact that Abraham’s family were idolaters is confirmed in Joshua 24:2.

Joshua 24:2, “Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.’”

Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise or the worship of the Lord through visible symbols (Hos 8:5-6; 10:5).

Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).

1 Corinthians 10:14, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

“Your country” is “not” a reference to Ur of the Chaldeans but rather “Haran” since Genesis 12:4 records that after receiving this gracious invitation from the Lord, Abraham left Haran.

Haran still exists in and is located in northern Mesopotamian, a commercial city on the Balikh River, sixty miles from its entrance into the Euphrates.

The city was on the busy caravan road connecting with Nineveh, Asshur, and Babylon in Mesopotamia, and with Damascus, Tyre, and Egyptian cities in the west and south and was a natural stopping place for Terah and Abraham on their trek to Palestine and was a center of the moon god cult.

The phrase “from your relatives and from your father's house” indicates that sometimes God commands us to do things that will challenge us to put His will first in our set of priorities ahead of spending time with our family members.

It indicates that sometimes God will command us to do things that will demand that we sacrifice time with family members we love in order to do His will or even to completely separated from them.

Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.”

The command “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house” indicates that Abraham had a very difficult time putting the Lord’s will for his life ahead of his love for his family.

A comparison of Acts 7:2-4 and Genesis 12:1-4 indicates this as well since Abraham received two commands to leave his country, once while in Ur of the Chaldeans and one while in Haran.

Abram received this invitation from the Lord in Genesis 12:1 while yet in Haran according to Genesis 12:4.

Genesis 12:4, “So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”

Acts 7:2-4 indicates Abram received the invitation the first time while in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is in Mesopotamia.

Acts 7:2, “And he said, ‘Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran.’”

Acts 7:3, “and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’”

Acts 7:4, “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.”

Therefore, Acts 7:2-4 records the Lord first invitation to Abram was while he resided in Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia whereas Genesis 12:1-4 records the Lord second invitation to him while he resided in Haran, which was six hundred miles to the northwest of Ur.

The reason why the Lord had to issue the invitation twice to Abram was that he had a hard time separating from his family and friends in Haran and the fact that he stopped in Haran and did not continuing moving indicates this as well.

Now, when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, he did not know where he was going according to Hebrews 11:8.

Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Hebrews 11:8 is a reference to both the Lord’s initial call of Abraham while he was in Ur of the Chaldeans and the second call he received while in Haran since in both places, the Lord did not tell Abraham where he was going.

According to Genesis 12:5-7, it wasn’t until he was in the land that the Lord identified to Abraham that He was giving to him the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12:5, “Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.”

Genesis 12:6, “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.”

Genesis 12:7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.”

Before we close and segue into the communion service, I want to note one more phrase in Genesis 12:1.

Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you.”

The phrase “the land I will show you” is a reference to the land of Canaan, whose natural boundaries as expressed in the Bible extend from the Negev in the South to the northern reaches of the Lebanon Range in Syria and the land west of the range and of the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.

This leads us to the communion service.

So could we have our deacons pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to mediate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is a commandment given by the Lord Jesus Christ to every church age believer to bring into remembrance His Unique Person and Finished Work on the Cross, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other as members of the Body of Christ.

In the communion service, the bread portrays the sinless humanity of Christ, which was sacrificed for us and the wine portrays His spiritual death as our Substitute, both of which serve as the basis for fellowship with God and each other.

1 Corinthians 11:23, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread.”

1 Corinthians 11:24, “and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”

1 Corinthians 11:25, “In the same way {He took} the cup also after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink {it} in remembrance of Me.’”

1 Corinthians 11:26, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”