Genesis 12.6-9-Abraham's Journey Through Canaan

Sunday November 13, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 12:6-9-Abraham’s Journey Through Canaan

Lesson # 60

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 12:1.

This morning we will study Genesis 12:6-9, which records Abraham’s journey through the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised to Abraham and his descendants.

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.”

Genesis 12:2, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing.”

Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

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.”

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.”

Abram’s traveled through the land of Canaan and first stopped at “Shechem,” which is approximately thirty-five miles north of Jerusalem and became revered by the Israelites since the Lord appeared to Abram there.

“The oak of Moreh” was a well-known landmark in the days of Abram and probably a pagan site of worship.

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.”

The fact that the Lord “appeared” to Abram is a “theophany,” which is a theological term used to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of the Son of God before His incarnation in Bethlehem (Gen. 32:29-30; Ex. 3:2; 19:18-20; Josh. 5:13-15; Dan. 3:26).

The Lord appeared to Abraham three times (Gen. 12:7, 17:1; 18:1) and twice to Isaac (Gen. 26:2, 24) and once to Jacob (Gen. 35:9).

The Lord identifies the land of Canaan as the land that was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:1.

Now, remember, this promise was not yet fulfilled since the Canaanites were still occupying the land, thus Abram had to continue to trust the Lord to deliver on His promise.

Many times the promise often seems long and delayed and the believer must simply continue trusting the Lord day by day and trusting that His timing is always perfect.

Psalm 37:34, “Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.”

Henry M. Morris writes, “Until the opening of the larger door and the accomplishment of His specific and ultimate will in our lives, there are daily opportunities for service and witness wherever we are, and in whatever circumstances. There is still a testing time, when God must teach us patience and submission; and such a training often is long and slow. ‘He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much’ (Luke 16:10) (The Genesis Record, page 296, Baker Book House).

Throughout his lifetime, Abraham had to rest in the promise that the Lord made to him that he and his descendants would posses the land of Canaan and he had to trust the Lord to fulfill this promise in His perfect timing.

Genesis 12:7 records that Abram built an altar in order to worship the Lord and this is the second time in the Bible that we see a believer building an altar to the Lord.

The first instance was recorded in Genesis 8:20 when Noah left the Ark.

Abram’s first act after the Lord identified the land of Canaan as the land promised to him in Genesis 12:1 and that his descendants would possess it, was to worship the Lord.

By building the altar and offering sacrifices to the Lord, Abram was expressing his gratitude to the Lord for giving him and his descendants the land of Canaan.

Psalm 9:1, “I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.”

Abram responded to the Lord’s love and grace in promising his descendants the land of Canaan by worshipping Him.

Worship is adoring contemplation of God as He has been revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Person of Christ and in the Scriptures.

It is the loving ascription of praise to God for what He is, both in Himself and in His ways and is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and reverence before Him.

Genesis 12:8, “Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.”

The phrase “pitched his tent” indicates that Abram was a tent dweller and lived a nomadic existence, moving from place to place and never settling one specific area.

“Bethel” literally means, “house of God” and is identified with modern Beiten, approximately ten miles north of Jerusalem, which became one of the two capitals and cult centers of the northern kingdom and only Jerusalem is mentioned in the Old Testament more than Bethel.

“Ai” (ay) literally means, “the ruin” and was a large city east of Bethel.

Once again we see Abram building an altar to the Lord in response to the Lord’s graciousness in promising his descendants the land of Canaan.

This is the second time in Genesis that we see someone said to be calling upon the name of the Lord, which is a reference to prayer.

The first time the Bible records people calling upon the name of the Lord is in Genesis 4:25-26, which records that after the birth of Seth, that men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

The term “Lord” is applied to the Father (Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; 20:42) and to the Son (Rm. 5:11; 1 Cor. 15:31) and the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17).

In Genesis 12:8, the Father is in view since all prayer must be addressed to the Father (John 14:13-14; 16:23-27; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 2:18; 3:14; 5:20; Col. 1:3, 12; 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 1:6).

Prayer must be made in the name or Person of or through intermediate agency of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14; 16:23-24; Eph. 5:20; Col. 3:17).

The believer is to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because it is through the merits of His impeccable Person and Finished Work on the Cross and Advocacy with the Father as well as the believer’s union with Him that gives the believer the privilege to boldly approach the throne of God in prayer.

Praying in our Lord’s name means that we are to pray to the Father consciously aware of our exalted position where we are seated at the Father’s right hand because of our eternal union and identification with Christ.

Prayer must be made in the power of the Spirit or by means of the power of the Filling of the Spirit (Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Jude 20).

Prayer is an expression of the believer’s worship toward God, as well as an expression of his confidence and total dependence upon the character and integrity of his heavenly Father to meet both the spiritual and temporal needs of himself and others.

In Genesis 12:8, we see Abram worshipping God the Father in prayer and the sacrifices on the altar indicate that Abram understood and acknowledged that he could only come to the Father in prayer through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who was portrayed in the animal sacrifices.

Every church age believer is commanded in Scripture to pray.

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Make it your habit to pray.”

There are five essential elements to prayer: (1) Confession (2) Thanksgiving (3) Worship (4) Intercession (5) Petition.

Confession: 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Thanksgiving: Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”

Worship: Psalm 18:3, “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Intercession: Ephesians 6:18, “By means of every kind of specific detailed reverential prayer requests, all of you make it your habit to pray at each and every opportunity while in fellowship with the Spirit. Now, for this very purpose, all of you make it your habit to stay alert (in prayer) with every kind of persistent specific detailed requests with regards to each and every one of the saints.”

Petition: Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

In Genesis 12:8, Abram is entering into these five essential elements to prayer.

He confessed his sins, and offered his thanksgiving and worship to God and interceded for others and offered up his own requests.

Prayer is asking for what God wants and must be according to His will in order to be effective and productive for God.

1 John 5:14, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

1 John 5:15, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

Abram is praying according to the will of God, asking God that this promise to give his descendants the land of Canaan would be fulfilled.

Answered prayer demands faith on the part of the believer (Mt. 17:20; Ja. 5:15) and here we have Abram is offering up his prayer in faith, trusting that God would come through on His promise.

Genesis 12:9, “Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.”

The region of the “Negev” extends roughly from a line drawn from Gaza through the modern political boundary of the southern West Bank, extending south to the mountain ranges of the Sinai and through the Arabah to the Red Sea.