A Unique Promise

If you are anything like me, you have been on an emotional roller coaster this week. Some have made police to be heroes, others have blamed law enforcement (seemingly more than the perpetrator) for the extent of the atrocity in Uvalde.

This was a domestic situation where those who responded to combat evil and were shot at were law enforcement officers. Other times in our history those on the wrong end of a weapon were our soldiers, sailors and airmen. This weekend is a time when patriotism runs a little more intense than most. The sacrifices made by thousands on behalf of others can be misconstrued to somehow merit Heaven. Battleground cemeteries are filled with bodies of many who are not in the presence of God, regardless of their heroic sacrifice.

Your expectations on this holiday weekend can get a preacher into a lot of hot water. If I say too little about those we remember then you may think I disrespect our military or our country. If I say too much about deceased soldiers I may be accused of exalting America’s military over God’s universal and eternal kingdom. If a Christian, a brother or sister in Christ, attended this service, who would he or she conclude is our hero?

What does all this have to do with Abram? You can read the Bible from cover to cover and never see the United States of America named. God has never made any covenants directly with the United States of America. However, God has instituted principles that lead to blessing such as:

Proverbs 14:34 ESV:2016

34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

Deuteronomy 11:26–27 ESV:2016

26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today,

Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV:2016

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

Many of your loved ones who sacrificed for our freedom would scarcely recognize the America we have become.

Today’s passage clearly teaches that there IS a group of people to whom God made a directed and everlasting promise. [To the best of my knowledge there is only one person who regularly worships with us who traces his lineage back to Abram. But there are many other individuals who have been blessed by a descendant of Abram and have been grafted into these blessings by being found in Christ.] But as a group, others (such as the USA) can only be grouped into that blessing depending upon our cooperation with God’s purpose for His chosen people.

Transition: Join me in Genesis 12 as we see the direct promise and the 2nd level blessing.

To close out chapter 11, in v.31 Abram’s father takes the family out of Ur (Bagdad) and moves them to Haran (southern Turkey) Chapter 12 begins with God telling Abram to leave Haran and head south. We will see the cities of Shechem, Bethel and Ai identified and a region known as the Negeb.

The Lord Promises a legacy of Population (12:2a)

I will make of you a great nation

This use of nation is not limited to a government within a geography. One resource in my library defined this word as “A people group sharing a common ancestry and/or sociopolitical identity.”[i]

There are many leaders in our own country who do not keep Torah and have never been to Israel, maybe even who do not acknowledge YHWH, yet identify as a descendant of Abram.

There are many Jews who have never been to Israel. The Jewish people were a distinct group even when their land was occupied by other geopolitical powers.

There are many Jews who choose not to be part of National Israel, yet Israel as a nation is the only people descended from Abram’s child of promise who lay claim to this territory.

Just as an American citizen abroad is no less an American, a Jew outside of Israel does not lose any of his Jewishness.

God made a unilateral promise to Abram that he would have a son and the offspring of that son would become a great people group, not matter where they were located.

Transition: The individuals of this great family are also part of a great heritage. If the first promise is a promise of quantity, next we see a promise of quality.

[i] Matthew Minard, “Gentiles,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

The Lord Pledges a lovely Prominence (12:2b)

I will …make your name great.

I don’t know of any other people group who has been more attacked, yet come out any more on top.

The Egyptians tried to crush this family through slavery.

The Assyrians will dissolve the northern kingdom through compromise.

The Babylonians will try to squeeze them into obscurity through assimilation (as seen in Daniel and his 3 friends).

The Persians will try to mediate their influence by containing them to Jerusalem.

The Roman Emperors will restrict them through backroom deals with the High Priest. Then make Christianity the official religion of the Empire.

As Christianity then Islam increase, the Jewish people will be disregarded.

The Nazis will exterminate millions in the name of the third Reich.

Through all of this persecution, the people maintain a prominence in the hand of God until they are recognized as a country in 1948.

From November 1917 until May 1948 movements within the British Empire surfaced to provide a place of their own in Palestine for the Jewish people.

Against the objections of the Arabs, in May 1948 the UN declared Israel an independent state with David Ben-Gurion as prime minister. On that date both Harry Truman on behalf of the USA and Joseph Stalin on behalf of the USSR, the 2 world superpowers after WW2, both recognized the right of Israel to be an independent state.

The Prominence demonstrated in God’s protection of these chosen people is now being recognized by other world leaders.

Transition: Even when America claimed to be a Christian nation, and the Soviets claimed atheism, leaders had to acknowledge what God proposed in 12:3)

The Lord Proposes a limitless Preference (12:2c-3)

This is where our Nation can be found in this text

1. God gives Abram’s descendants the ability to bless others.

· You will be a blessing

2. God directly blesses those who recognize the Jews as special.

· I will bless those who bless you.

3. Abram’s descendants deserve preferential treatment. Those who extend this preference can receive God’s promised blessing.

I watched an interesting interview this week with some who specialize in polling about attitudes toward Israel. The identified 3 distinct groups of American evangelicals. For this purpose they identify an evangelical as a non-Catholic who identifies as part of Christendom. One group that emerges in their polling is those “evangelicals” born before 1990 who tend to view Jews as the victims who were victimized by the Nazis and other anti-Semites and are favorable toward national Israel. The second group identified as “evangelicals” was those born since 1990 who tend to view Jews as the agressors and Palestinians as the victims and are generally opposed to pro-Israel positions. The third group is those whom I would identify as true Evangelicals—those who give authority to the Word of God above their own perceptions. These are those who support Israel because of the preference extended in Gen 12:3.

Application

Whether the media tries to persuade another way, or politicians try to diminish support for Israel, those who read Gen 12:3, conclude it is in our best interest to give a preferred position to Israel at the table of World politics.

Transition: It is one thing to say that Jews ought to be able to observe their religion wherever they may be located, It is another to recognize that…

The Lord Provides a location of Property (12:7)

I will give this land.

Moreh (12:6) is like BETO Junction, it is the center of 4 points. Mediterannean Sea to the West, Jordan River to the East, Sea of Galilee to the North, and Dead Sea to the South.

Bethel (12:8) is a couple miles from Jerusalem

Negeb (v.9) is further South.

This land will be given more specific boundaries (Joshua 14, 18, 23) when Joshua leads the conquest (roughly 700 years later).

Politicians may argue based upon possession that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestine. But I would argue based upon Proclamation by the one who created (and thereby owns) the earth, that those portions have been given to Abram’s descendants through Isaac extending all the way to the gulf of Agaba.

A topographical map reveals that Israel’s Prominence and Preference means that they have almost all of the lush ground from Hebron to the Syrian border. I believe they deserve it all.

Transition: I realize this sermon may seem like a lot of history, geography and politics. But in a time when there are many different visions of what America should be, there are some absolutes that you would be wise to consider.

Conclusion:

As an individual you can be assured that you are given preference by God if you are found “in Christ” by trusting in Him alone for your relationship with God. (Gen 12:3c)

As a country, we can be assured of God’s blessing to the extent that we bless His people. The moment any nation turns their collective back on the Jewish people, is the moment God’s blessing is rescinded. (Gen 12:3a & 3b)

As a society, we can receive God’s blessing by turning away from a culture of death and choosing life. Recognizing God as the author of life from conception until natural death. (Deut 30:19)

As a people, we can receive God’s blessing to the extent that we obey what He has instructed us. (Deut 11:27)

There is only so much we can do about our country, our society, and our people, but as an individual you can know today that you are “in Christ” and that His Spirit is in you.

It is this communion with the God who is, the Son who died, and the Spirit who indwells that we celebrate at the Lord’s Table. Listen to these 3 minutes from revered theologian J.I. Packer.