Eternity Daily Bible Study

The Life Of Abraham


Number: 546

Verses: Genesis 12:1-3

Topic: God Calls Abraham

Date: 28th November 2005

 

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Genesis 12:1-3 MKJV And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.  (2)  And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing.  (3)  And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.

 

Abraham was blessed in order to be a blessing. “And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing.”  This was a new paradigm, God blesses those who trust Him, so that they in turn can be a conduit of blessings to others.

 

In fact, God took Abraham and made him so great that all Jews, Muslims and Christians honor his name as the ancient founder of their faith and all three claim to be “the true religion of Abraham”. Abraham became the father of both the Jews (through Isaac) and the Arabs (through Ishmael). He unites Christians, Jews and Arabs as the great man of faith. Now Abraham did not become great because of his own cleverness or through his own intense sweat and striving, rather Abraham became great because God blessed him. Abraham was a God-made man.

 

Now as we saw in Romans Abraham was not blessed because he kept the Law, for the Law did not come for another 430 years. Nor was Abraham blessed because he read the Bible (there was no Bible back then) or because he made a pilgrimage, or attended a mosque or synagogue or church. Rather Abraham was blessed because he totally trusted the one God who was the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

 

Genesis 15:6 MKJV And he believed in Jehovah. And He counted it to him for righteousness.

 

The success that came to Abraham came because he trusted God and walked with God and because Abraham cooperated with God's agenda. God did not bless Abraham's agenda. In fact, God set Abraham's agenda. God told him what to do and where to go: And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.

 

God made the plans, and as Abraham entered into those plans he was blessed and became a blessing. God calls the shots. God is the General who commands us. Our job is to obey and to take our place in the plans that He has made. It is as we obey, that we are blessed.

 

Just a quick note about the concept of “blessing”. Blessing is more than just favor or kind regard. Blessing tilts reality in our favor, life gets easier, the plants bloom, the crops are abundant. Blessings is a “Easy Button” that makes life easy. If we put in ten units of work, instead of getting ten units of production, we get 100 units of production. If we do a day’s work, we get a week's worth of results. The field that used to yield x amount of wheat yields eight times as much – and so on. Blessing makes us to be fruitful, to multiply and to have dominion. It makes life work much, much better.

 

When Abraham was blessed he became a 'mighty prince' (Genesis 23:6) with herds and flocks and great wealth (Genesis 13:2). On top of that he had close fellowship with God, and a great name, that is still remembered today some 4000 years later. Blessing thus eventually totally outstrips even the most vigorous human effort – for who remembers the kings and nobles of Abraham's time - except as they are connected with the man of faith? Without blessing we eventually fade away to nothing but with blessing we endure and “become a great nation”.

 

The curse is the opposite of being fruitful, multiplying and having dominion. Cursing brings barrenness, division, reduction, powerlessness and humiliation. The curse makes life unbearably hard. Now God said to Abram: And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. We see this in the rise and fall of nations, first those that opposed the Jews such as Assyria, Babylon and Edom, and later those that opposed Christians such as Rome and Russia. Nations like Saudi Arabia and China that persecute Jews and Christians will eventually suffer the consequences! I believe the water shortages, pollution, civil unrest and instability in China is a direct result of its policies with regard to forced abortions, persecution of Christians and its manifest greed and corruption. If Scripture is any guide, China must either reform or collapse.

 

Abraham is not just a Jewish figure, he is an international blessing: “And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  This blessing came through Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham, and extends to all who have faith as Galatians 3 makes abundantly clear:

 

Galatians 3:6-9 MKJV Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.  (7)  Therefore know that those of faith, these are the sons of Abraham.  (8)  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations be blessed."  (9)  So then those of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

 

Galatians 3:14 MKJV so that the blessing of Abraham might be to the nations in Jesus Christ, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

 

Galatians 3:28-29 MKJV There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is no male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29)  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

 

Thus through Jesus Christ the blessings of Abraham came to the whole world, including the Gentile world, and became available through the indwelling Presence of God, the Holy Spirit, who is promised to all who believe. Christians enter into fellowship with God, just as Abraham had, and into great and very precious blessings which we inherit, because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. Let us enter into these blessings by obediently walking with God, by faith, as Abraham did.

 

 

 

Blessings,

 

John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph)

 

 

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