SS05-01-05
“SEEKING GOD’S PURPOSE.” GENESIS 12: 1, 2-3, 4-5a, 5b-7, 17-18.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO GENESIS 12.
Abraham was one of the great people of the Bible. God promised that Abraham would have many descendants, but at that time he had no son and heir. Today Abraham is honored by three of the world’s great religions: Judaism because of his son Isaac, Islam because of his son Ishmael, and Christianity because of his faith.
The Bible teaches that we become children of Abraham by exercising a faith like his. His faith is seen in his closeness to God and his obedience to the Lord. He is an example of the meaning of Prov. 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
In this five lesson study we will look at five ways Abraham met the challenges of following God. In the first lesson, “Seek God’s Purpose,” we will look at God’s call to Abraham and his response. This study is designed to help us respond wisely to change in light of God’s purpose and presence.
What would you say to God if He appeared to you and simply said, “I want you to go somewhere”? You would probably respond with a question of your own: “Where?” People want to know the details of their move before they make it. What is the school system like? Will my family be happy there? Will I make enough money? What about housing? But when God commands us to do something, the only appropriate response is “Yes!”---Even if, He provides no details.
Abraham demonstrated the kind of faith that simply obeys, even before all the questions are answered or the details are given. This is the kind of faith believers need to have today as well.
God promised Abram not only that He would bless him but also that Abram himself would be a blessing to others.
In general a blessing is passed from a greater to a lesser entity. In Gen. 49 a father blesses his sons; in 1 Kings 8: 14 a king blesses his subjects. Blessings ultimately come from God. The Hebrew word bless refers to bestowing success and prosperity. When God promised to bless Abram, He was making a commitment to make him prosper in several different ways.
Abraham would be the father of a great nation, and his name would be revered and remembered. God even promised to bless and prosper the people who would bless Abram. While the O.T. includes many examples of humans blessing other people, they can only do so in the name of God. All blessing comes from God because of His covenant-keeping nature.
TEACHER WILL READ GENESIS 12: 1. “The Lord said to Abraham: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12 is one of the most significant chapters in the entire Bible. Calvary’s tree is rooted in God’s revelation of Himself to Abram. The rest of Scripture needs to be studied in light of this chapter. The first mention of God’s special relationship to the land of Canaan and to the people of Israel occurs here.
This chapter also explains why Jesus Himself came as a Jew in fulfillment of God’s promise that the entire world would be blessed through Abram. God’s dealings with Abram, also serves as a reminder that God uses ordinary men and women. Abram was not a superhero or a young man with great potential. He was an ordinary person whom God called to fulfill His redemptive purposes. This demonstrates that God can use anyone and that He does so to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Abram is the son of Terah, and founder of the Hebrew Nation: His family descended from Shem, the son of Noah. Tereh had 3 sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran. After his introduction Terah is not mentioned again, probably because he did not share Abram’s faith. You might want to read the genealogy of Terah in Gen. 11: 27-32. He died when he was 205 years old. The family may have been involved in Moon-worship, since Ur and Haran were important centers for worship of the Mesopotamia moon gods.
Stephen in Acts 7:2 said that Abram’s native land was Mesopotamia and that was where Abram first heard God’s call. According to Gen 15:7 and Nehemiah 9:7, Abram heard God’s call in Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia.
Ur was a city in southern Mesopotamia. It was an ancient city even in Abram’s day. It was a center for moon worship. Thus Abram grew up amidst paganism. Joshua 24:2, indicates that Abram’s family were idol worshipers. Joshua wrote, “Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the (Euphrates) River and worshiped other gods.” Yet under such conditions Abram believed in the one true God, whose call he heard and obeyed.
Abram was married to his half sister Sarai; they had the same father but different mothers. After the death of Nahor, Abram and his family, including his nephew Lot and his father Terah, left Ur to go to Haran, a city further north in Mesopotamia. We are not told why the family made this move. Abram remained in Haran until God renewed His call to go to a land that He would show him. The Bible does not explain why Abram stopped in Haran. When Terah died Abram was 75 years old.
The Scripture does not explain how or why God appeared to Abram. The story gives no divine motive or meaning, only the divine mandate. When God revealed Himself to Abram, He gave him one great command and a sevenfold promise.
God’s command was simple; Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house. God gave Abram no other command. He did not tell him where He wanted Abram to go, how far it was, what it would be like when he got there, or what to do when he arrived.
One of the great evidences of genuine faith in God is a willingness to follow God’s leading, even without knowing the details or the specific direction where God may be leading.
Scripture is clear that God was leading Abram both toward the new and away from the old. When God directed Abram to the land he did not yet know, it meant that Abram had to leave the land and home he did know.
Abram had to leave his land inheritance, some of his wealth, and all of his security behind. Abram had to travel to the unknown, and through this experience he learned that God would have to be his security and wealth.
Abram’s experience demonstrates two basic truths about salvation. First, Abram had to turn his back on his old life of idolatry (see Joshua 24: 2) to follow the one true God who had revealed Himself to him. A person cannot turn to the Lord without turning away from his or her self-righteousness. No one can turn to Christ without turning from sin. Second, God invites people
To follow Him in faith. This often means we must move out of our comfort zones to follow His call.
PLEASE READ GENESIS 12: 2-3.
After God’s demand that Abram leave his land and follow His leading, He then gave him an unconditional promise in seven parts. I will make you into a great nation was a particularly significant promise because Abram was already 75 years old and Sarai, his wife, was about 10 years younger. If God planned to make a great nation of Abram, he would have to become a father. But he and his wife could not possibly have children at their age, could they? But God’s promise went well beyond the assurance that they would become parents. He told Abram that he would also father a great nation.
God also promised Abram that He would bless him. God let Abram know that He would prosper his way and give him great wealth. The rest of the Book of genesis shows that God kept His Word. Abram eventually had so many servants that he could mount an army large enough to defeat five kings and their armies. He had flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and camels.
But God’s material blessing of Abram does not mean that God always gives wealth and prosperity to His children. Some of the most wicked people in history have had great wealth, but that was not a sign that they belonged to God.
Many believers have suffered great poverty. Jesus Himself was born into a poor family, but God loved Joseph and Mary greatly. While God certainly blessed Abram materially, the heart of the blessing he received was the promise of Jesus.
God also told Abram, I will make your name great, meaning that God would give him posterity and a legacy. Not only would Abram become the father of the Jews but he would also be known as the father of faith. His legacy reaches down through the centuries and goes around the globe since Christians, Jews, and Muslims consider Abram to be their father. The Lord here grants to Abram the delightful prerogative of dispensing good to others; through the Jews we have a Bible, a Savior and the Gospels.
God not only saved Abram, He also used Him. He promised to bless Abram and that he would be a blessing. God needs no one, but in His grace He uses the very people who most need Him. Isn’t God wonderful to allow His followers to be a part of His plan and purpose? God could save others apart from human means if He chose, but He has decreed and willed that the gospel should be carried and preached by ordinary people whom He has saved.
After swearing that He would bless Abram and that He would use Abram to be a blessing, God added another blessing: I will bless those who bless you. God’s protection and favor of Abram extended to those who would bless him.
God’s hand remained on Abram wherever he traveled and whatever he did. The corollary to this promise was given as well: I will curse those who treat you with contempt. One cannot love God without loving God’s people, and one cannot have favor with God while mistreating the very ones He has chosen and saved.
The final portion of God’s unconditional oath to Abram is that all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. The clearest fulfillment of this promise occurred in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abram. He has brought Gentiles into Abram’s family not through physical birth but through the new birth that comes by faith.
Paul wrote in Gal. 3:6 that “those who have faith are Abraham’s sons.” He then explained in vs. 9 that this is how all nations would be blessed through Abram because “those who have faith are blessed with Abraham.” The promises that God made to Abram are fulfilled in Christ and are for believers today because of Him.
These first three verses mark a pivotal point in Genesis and in the history of redemption as God begins to establish a covenant people for Himself. The progress of God’s redemptive plan is evident in His setting Abraham apart and making Israel into a great nation. It climaxes in Jesus Christ, the true seed of Abraham, who brings salvation to the world. Many are to receive God’s blessing through the Seed of Abraham. People’s response to this seed of Abraham (Jesus Christ) determines whether they receive eternal life or everlasting condemnation.
The promise to bless Abram and make his name great, were also promises to the great nation of his descendants. These words are set over against the sinful goal of those who built the tower of Babel. They said in Gen 11: 4, “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name.” They were trying to become great by building a brave new world without God. God promised that only people of faith in the great God would know true greatness.
PLEASE READ GENESIS 12: 4-5a.
Abram was 75 years old when God called him from Haran. Just when he was ready to think about retirement, God had other plans. Instead of social security Abram got a heavy dose of social insecurity because God told him to leave the only home he had ever know, most of the family he had enjoyed around him for all those decades, and all of the comforts that his hometown afforded him.
We are not told why lot went with Abram. After the death of Lot’s father, Haran, Abram seems to have assumed responsibility for his nephew. This is apparent in some of the later stories regarding Lot. Later events would test Abram’s love for his nephew. Abraham also took all of their accumulated possessions and the people that they had gotten in Haran. These were probably servants, since Abram had many servants. Abram was a wealthy man. His age, 75 years, is mentioned here and in several places later in the biblical record. One purpose in this was to show how he and Sarai continued to age, making the birth of the child of promise more unlikely by human standards.
Because of his age, his comfort, his family, and even his religion, Abram could have argued with God and refused to leave Haran. He may have experienced great turmoil and anxiety about his decision, but the Bible clearly states that Abram went, as the Lord had told him.
Those few words are packed with significance since Abram obeyed the Lord. This is the bottom line for all of us when God tells us to do something—Obey Him! Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated. These three aspects of Abram’s move indicated that he shared his commitment with his family. Genesis 11:31 says that Abram did not follow God alone. God appeared to Abram, but Abram told his loved ones about the God who had appeared to him, The fact that he took all of his possessions is not meant to suggest that Abram was greedy, but that He left nothing behind to hold back or draw him back. Abram was totally committed to following God’s leading.
Abraham even took all the people he had acquired in Haran, those servants who tended all of his flocks and herds. They must have caused quite a stir and raised a significant dust as their caravan headed west. Surely no one in Haran understood why such a wealthy man who had such a comfortable life could possibly want to leave and head into the desert. Finally, long after Abram had left his homeland, God told him where to go---so they set out for the land of Canaan.
Life with God is always adventurous, but always safe. The world may seem dangerous, but the believer is not really in the world. He is in God’s care. For the believer the environment is always controlled. God is always watching over His own, just as he watched over Abram and the caravan that went with him into the desert in search of nothing other than the will of God.
PLEASE READ GENESIS 12: 5b-7.
It may seem odd for the text to say that when Abram and his people arrived in the land of Canaan that the Canaanites were in the land. But the original readers of Genesis, much like modern readers, probably tended to idolize Abram and to forget what a struggle life must have been for this elderly man when he arrived in Canaan.
This was a dangerous place. The Canaanites were wicked people and under God’s curse. They probably did not welcome these newcomers with open arms. Abram and his people would only be more competition for water, food, and land.
Obeying God is not necessarily easy, and serving God is almost never easy. Abram found the decision to obey God very simple---he just packed and moved—but he did not find it easy. For the rest of his life he would encounter obstacles, having his faith tested, endure hardships, and never even get to build a house in the land that God gave him. Such is the nature of faith that leads to obedience.
God did not forget Abram after he arrived in Canaan: The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” God revealed to Abram for the first of many times that He had given him the land of Canaan as his inheritance. But Abram would only receive it by faith. Even though God gave him the land, God never told the Canaanites who lived there that their land belonged to Abram’s offspring. But Abram now knew that his descendants would get it. As far as we know, Abram never legally owned any of the land, except the burial area for his family.
The author of Hebrews stated in Heb. 11: 9-10 “By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Abram may not have built a house, but he was not disappointed. He knew that the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise was in heaven. God kept His word, for Abram’s descendants conquered and occupied the land---many of them live there today.
But Abram had faith that saw beyond the immediate circumstances. When others would have complained that God has let them down, Abram simply trusted God to fulfill His promises.
In recognition of God’s leadership and goodness, Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Abram had not been a follower of the Lord for long, but he knew that he could only relate to this holy God through sacrifice. The animal Abram sacrificed could not and did not save Abram, but it pictured that his faith was genuine. The sacrifice demonstrated that Abram knew he was a sinner and that God was gracious to him.
Abram dared to believe that God would keep his promise to him and his descendants. He lived by faith in the word of the unseen God whose promises were as yet unfulfilled. The Canaanites had gods that they could see, and they already had what they considered fulfilled fruits of their religious practices. What did Abram have: He had only the word of a God who allowed no images to be made of Him, and His bright promises were yet to be fulfilled.
Another aspect of pilgrim faith is that it is a mobile faith. It is not tied to one land, location or building. Thus, wherever Abram went, he built an altar and worshiped God. Some people have felt that a tent and an altar symbolize Abram’s life. He lived all of his life in a tent and during significant times in his life he built an altar. After Abram arrived in Canaan and passed through the land…the Lord appeared unto Abram. After God promised to give him the land Abram built …an altar unto the Lord. By building the altar, Abram recognized the presence of the Lord with him. A person of true faith worships God wherever he or she moves.
Jesus died on the cross and made the atonement for sins once for all, so N.T. believers don’t have to sacrifice animals as Abram did. Christ’s followers should emulate Abram’s immediate recognition of God’s grace and providence. Whenever God shows Himself especially gracious, believers should spiritually build an altar and acknowledge God for what He has done.
This may mean simply having a time of prayer and thanksgiving or giving a special offering to the Lord. Regular worship in a local church is also an important way to have a fresh encounter with God. While God may not speak to us audibly (as He apparently did to Abram), He does speak to us through His Spirit and His word as we worship.
Being a follower of Christ means trusting Him with no reservations or limitations on what He can do in one’s life.
PLEASE READ GENESIS 12: 10-16.
When Abram arrived in Canaan, he must have felt a strong contrast between the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia that he had left and the drought-stricken land of Canaan. Perhaps he felt a temptation to question God’s goodness in giving him a land that seemed so desolate. When there was a famine in the land, Abram’s response was to go to Egypt.
Since he was responsible for so many servants and animals, he sought food and water in Egypt. The text does not condemn Abram for his actions, but neither does it say that God led him to go to Egypt. In fact, he did not even inquire of the Lord. He had trusted the Lord with his life, but he was unable to trust Him to give him his daily bread. As Abram looked at the situation, he saw only two alternatives: He could either remain in the land, and starve; or he could go to Egypt and hope to live. He did not consider the possibility that there might be a third alternative; that he might stay in the land and trust God to provide for him. And so, he showed his lack of faith by deserting the Promised Land.
While we cannot know for certain if God was displeased with Abram’s journey to Egypt, we do know that during the journey Abram’s faith faltered. Just as he had not trusted God to get him through the famine, he did not trust God to protect him in Egypt.
Although Saria was up in years, she was a beautiful woman. She lived to 127 years. And now at 60, she was in middle life, light in complexion, and therefore marked among the dusky people of Egypt, who would thus be attracted to her.
Abram feared that someone would kill him to get her, so he came up with a half-truth to save his skin. He told Sarai, “Please say you are my sister…and my life will be spared.” Even though God had promised to protect Abram, he relied on his own resources rather than seeking God’s help.
Technically, Sarai was Abram’s sister. In Gen. 20: 12 Abram said she was a daughter of Tarah but she had a different mother than Abram did. Nevertheless, a half-truth told to deceive is still a lie. Further, Abram’s claim that Sarai was not his wife was clearly a lie. Abram let fear dominate his actions. He was thinking of saving himself from harm by placing Sarai in harm’s way. He feared that he would be killed so that others could take his wife.
Pharaoh did notice the sister of the refugee from Canaan and took her into his palace and rewarded the man who claimed to be her brother. “Lesser love hath no man than he that would lay down his wife to save his own skin.”
No defense can be offered for a man who merely through dread of danger to himself; tells a lie, risks his wife’s chastity, puts temptation in the way of his neighbors, and betrays the charge to which Divine favor had summoned him.
Just as Abram had predicted, when they entered Egypt…Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh. Then Sarai was taken to Pharaoh’s house. So now Abram was not only a liar but also a coward since he would rather let his wife be taken to another’ man’s harem than risk his own life. Abram even profited from the deal since Pharaoh treated Abram well because of her, and Abram acquired flocks and herds…donkeys…slaves, and camels---all adding to his growing wealth.
When in Egypt, do as the Egyptians do, or so Abram assumed. If they might kill for his wife, then he can lie for his life. Abram had made a physical journey of some 1500 miles from Ur, but his spiritual journey ended somewhere near the Egyptian border. He brought his wallet for buying food but left his heart in Canaan.
The long journey through the desert from Canaan toward Egypt left Abram both road and faith weary. Abram entered Egypt, and what is worse Egypt entered Abram. Abram, Sarai, and company walked many miles on their journey into Egypt. The first faith family took one giant trip down into Egypt and three small steps down into sin.
First, Pharaoh’s officials saw her. Second, they praised her to Pharaoh. Third, the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house. As his wife walked silently toward Pharaoh’s house, Abram counted the costs of his disobedience. Abram acquired animals, servants, and a bad reputation among the Egyptians.
PLEASE READ GENESIS 12: 17-18.
God was not willing to see His work miscarried right from the start. He intervened not to punish Abram for lying and failing to exercise faith but to rescue him from his predicament. The Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
Like a patient daddy, God used a supposedly worldly Pharaoh as a rebuke for a supposedly faithful Abram. Pharaoh’s meeting with Abram was short, terse, and direct. Three brief questions blew across Abram’s face like a sandstorm.
First, Pharaoh asked a question about the plagues’ origins. “What have you done to me?” Second, Pharaoh asked a question regarding Abram’s motives. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? And third, in vs. 19, there was a question of Abram’s morality. “Why did you say, “She’s my sister?”
This strange scene shows a man of faith being rebuked by a pagan ruler. Pharaoh placed great value on telling the truth. This is a low point in Abram’s life; A pagan ruler lectured him on the honor of truth and the shame of lying.
From these verses we learn a truth based not on what Abram did but on what he should have done. When the famine came upon Canaan, he should have sought the Lord’s will and followed what God told him to do. “Yet all the indications are that Abram did not stop to enquire, but went on his own initiative, taking everything into account but God.”
One of the greatest arguments for the authenticity of the Bible is that the lives of its heroes are never whitewashed or glossed over.
Abraham, the father of faith for God’s people, committed a petty, selfish sin. But this is what makes grace so amazing. God did not choose or use Abram because he was perfect: God saved Abram so He could display His own grace. God did not abandon Abram, and He does not abandon believers who fall into sin. God will do whatever He knows is necessary to bring His children back into fellowship with Him.
People of great faith and obedience to God are still sinners and capable of moral failure. But God does whatever is necessary to bring them to repent and return to fellowship with Him.
NEXT SUNDAY FROM GENESIS 17 & 18 “CAN WE BELIEVE GOD WILL KEEP HIS PROMISES?” A.V. DAUGHERTY <altav@swbell.net>