Abraham
Man of Faith
Genesis 12 – 14
In the first 11 chapters of Genesis, we were introduced to four crucial events in Earth's history. Namely, the Creation, the Fall, the Flood and the Tower of Babel. We learned that three of these events were directly initiated by God and one, the Fall, gave us the story of God's deep involvement at that historic turning point in the human race when he intervened as both Judge and loving Redeemer. Now, in the rest of the book (12 - 50), we will be introduced to four very important people in God's past dealings with our fallen human race. Namely, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. This entire second section centers around the Abrahamic Covenant as it was given by God to Abraham and then passed down to his descendants. In chapter 12, we have God’s general promise to Abram. Then, in chapter 15, we will see how God formally made it into an irreversible, unconditional and all important covenant that has affected all of mankind down to our present day.
As we study this section, it would be helpful to ask ourselves, "Why is this chapter or event recorded here?" or "Why did God put this account at this point in the narrative?" At times, we may struggle to see how the pieces fit. But, in the end, it will present us with a beautiful picture of the will and ways of God as he has related to these four men who he chose to be vessels of the revelation of himself to all mankind.
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12:1-4
" Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out
of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I
will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless
you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will
bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram
departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and
Perhaps the first thing to notice here is how often
God chooses his people from the most unlikely
places and under the most unlikely circumstances.
Abram and his family were just a
family of ordinary old idol worshipers down at
"Thus says the LORD God of Israel:
'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham
and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of
the River in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took
your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the
Abram was a fellow from a heathen home who married their half
sisters. When God called him, he was living in
The second thing I would have us notice here is that God often leads his chosen people into hazardous and very insecure places.
It is in the hard places, the insecure places,
the dangerous places and the unknown
places that God’s children really get to know him. For example, when Jesus
recruited his disciples, he told them, "Follow me and I will make you
fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). Wasn’t that a wonderful call? But, do you
know where he immediately led them? He led into a storm.
And, had they not obeyed and followed him, they would have
missed out on one of the most amazing displays of the power of their God and his
Word that has ever been seen by the eyes of men. More importantly, they would have missed out on
the beginning of the unveiling of who Jesus Christ truly was. Mark's
account of it says...
"Then He arose and rebuked the
wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ And the wind ceased
and there was a great calm But He said to them, ‘Why
are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they feared
exceedingly, and said to one another, ‘Who can this
be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!’"
So it was with Abram as well. By faith, he obeyed, moving out
of
Here in opening verses of chapter 12, we have four great promises that God made to Abram when he called him to himself. Later, they would be formalized into the Abrahamic Covenant. Let’s look at them. God said:
1. I will make you a great nation. At this point in time, Abram had no children. In retrospect, we know that God did exactly as he promised but Abraham didn’t know that. Yet, he believed God and from Abraham has descended the Jewish people, a great nation, as well as all the other Arabic nations.
2. I will bless you and make your name great. Most people in our world today know who Abraham was. The entire Jewish, Christian and Islamic world hold him up as a key figure in their religions. Again, in retrospect, we can see that God has been true to his word.
3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who
curses you. Two illustrations of how this promise has worked itself
out in history are found in the Bible books of Esther and
Obediah. In the book of Esther, an Assyrian named Haman plotted to
have all the exiled Jews in
May I chase a rabbit here for a moment? Do you think that this
promise is still in effect? It is. A promise is a promise and the book of Romans
says that the gifts and calling of God cannot be revoked (Rom.11:29). Look what
happened to Hitler. You know, I truly believe that a major reason for the
blessings that our own nation has experienced also finds its source in this
promise to Abram. Since our founding as a Christian nation, we have had sympathy
for and have offered a friendly hand to the Jewish people. This is a natural
thing for us Gentile Christians since our roots are entwined with those of God's
Jewish people. Our Savior was a Jew and our salvation is tied to his New Covenant
with his Jewish people into which we Gentile believers have been grafted
(Rom.11:11-25). Currently, the enemies of
"For thus says the LORD of hosts:
‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for
he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. For
surely I will shake my hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their
servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent
4. In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Don’t you wonder what Abram must have made of that
promise? Surely he wondered, "What did God mean by that … and how will he do
it?" Again, in retrospect, we know that God was speaking of the wonderful
blessing he would send to all mankind when he would send his Son, Jesus,
born from Abraham’s seed, into the world to open the door to God’s great salvation to every
person in every nation on Earth. One resulting fulfillment of this promise is
seen in the amazing event at God’s throne in Revelation 5, where we read...
"And they sang a new song, saying:
‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were
slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue
and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God;
and we shall reign on the earth." Rev.5:9-10
May I ask a question, dear saint? Are you really into the
promises that God has given to you like Abram was into the promises that God
gave to him? As you have it in
II Peter 1:2-4...
"Grace and peace be multiplied to
you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given
to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of
him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us
exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the
world through lust."
Each one of us believers in the Lord Jesus Christ has personally taken hold of at least one promise of God. Namely, the one which says, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts16:31; John 3:16). But, that was just the beginning of entering into his promises to us. Do you know any others? Have you tucked them away in your heart? Do you cherish them and is your hope placed solidly in them? As the famous hymn puts it...
"Standing on
the promises, I cannot not fail,
When the howling storms of doubt
and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall
prevail,
Standing on the
promises of God!"
There are two very important principles here in this regard.
First, it is vital that each child of God know what the promises of God are. They are all right there in the Word of God. Find them. Memorize them. They are there for you.
Second, to experience and have real victory, each child of God must act upon the promises God has given them. This is where the men are separated from the boys. Here lies the great difference between a babe in Christ and a mature saint. Mature believers know the promises of God and they stand upon them.
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12:5-8
"Then Abram took
Sarai
his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had
gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in
Driven by the remembrance of God’s command, promises and the Shikinah glory he had seen in
"By faith Abraham obeyed
when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an
inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going."
Real faith is a wonderful thing. It always demonstrates itself,
by the way, by ... obedience. The book of James speaks of a sham faith that acts
in the opposite. I
like to call it, "lip service faith". It always lacks follow-up with good works
and obedience. As
you have it in
James
2:17-20...
"Thus also faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have
works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even
the demons believe; and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that
faith without works is dead?"
Abram’s faith was the genuine article.
It was demonstrated by
his obedience in leaving
As soon as Abram moved out in obedience,
he received another great promise from
God. The Lord appeared to him again and told him, "To your descendants I will give this land."
Wow! Later, this promise too was embodied in a formal covenant was then re-iterated
to Isaac and then Jacob and, again, to all the people of
I get the impression that the land of Palestine belongs to the Jews, don’t you? However, their actual possession of it has been quite another matter. They lost possession of it through disobedience and sin and the rejection of their God and Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). And, they will never fully possesses it again until they repent and turn back to that one and only true and living God and acknowledge him. Their God is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Then, He will bring them once again into their land of promise that they may possess it forever, never to be uprooted and displaced from it again (Psalm 10:20-22; 12:11-12; 53:6; 102:13-22,28; 106:45-48; Isaiah 27:6, 12-13; 30:19; 35:8-10; 43:5-7; 51:11; 54:7; 60; 61:1f; 66:19; Jeremiah 12:14f; 16:15; 23:1-8; 30:1-11, 17-24; 31; 32:37-44; 33; 51:5; Ezekiel 28:25-26; 34:11-31; 36:8-11, 22-38; Hosea 2:14-23; Amos 9:11-15; Zechariah 8).
One more thing here, notice Abram’s response to this new promise of the land that he received. Immediately, he built another altar and worshipped. Again, this was the outward response of his inward belief in the word of God that had just been given to him. Everywhere this man, Abram, went, by the way, he always had his tent and his altar. Worship was a big part of Abram’s life and a bedrock expression of his faith. So it also is with all who truly believe in and love the Lord.
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12:9-20
"So Abram
journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to
The Bible is full of history. So, it
always tells
it like it was. It doesn’t gloss over flaws, mistakes and sins.
It just faithfully tells us the story. Abram
made a good number of critical missteps that are recorded here in chapter 12 and
we are given some insight into just what God had chosen to work with when he
called Abram. This incident
began when a famine came upon Abram’s home in Canaan.
I believe that God sent it. Have you noticed that God refines the faith of his
children through trials? Peter says that this process of refining our faith is like gold being refined in a furnace.
As you have it in I Peter 1:6-9...
"In this you greatly rejoice,
though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various
trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious
than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise,
honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen
you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy
inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith; the salvation
of your souls."
Abram was a man of great faith who had seen the glory of God. Yet, like all of God’s children, he was far from perfect. He still resorted to his own thinking and schemes to deliver himself from his troubles. Sound familiar? He was not all that different from you and I, was he? We all have a long way to go, don’t we? Yet, how well our Lord knows us! So he allows us to learn and grow by sending trials into our life so that our faith, being more precious than gold, can be refined. Ultimately, it is going to turn out for our great good and be found to praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Worried about his life and safety, Abram concocted a plan. He
would go down to
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13:1-4
"Then Abram went up from
Abram returned to the place where he had stepped out of the will of God. It is often an axiomatic principle that, before a child of God can go on in his walk with the Lord, he must first go back to where he left the will of God in the first place. This is the basic principle behind First John 1:9.
"If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
First John, by the way, is a book that is all about fellowship with God. It teaches that our fellowship and walk with God is broken when we sin. When that happens, God has turned his back on us. Rather, we have turned our back on him. The road back is, like Abram, by returning to where we left our Lord in the first place. We do that by simple confession of that which we allowed to turn our backs to God and break our fellowship with him. By humbly confessing of our sin, like Abram, we return once again to the place where we went astray and our great and gracious Lord is always there to welcome us back into fellowship with Himself. His arms are always open to his children ... never, never closed.
Abram was instructed to go to a land that God would show him.
He went and arrived there. God said, to your descendants I will give this
land. Abram was never told to leave that special place of promise. But,
he looked at the
circumstances and left on his own. The hardship of famine was enough to cause
him to step out of the will of God and leave the place where he was supposed to
be. Now, he had to return to the place where he should have been all along. Upon
his arrival,
immediately his fellowship with God was restored at the altar at
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13:5-11
"Lot also, who went with Abram, had
flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support
them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great
that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of
Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of
Here, we get another good look into the character of this man Abram. Although he was rich, he was generous, peace loving and not at all materialistic. Jesus said, You cannot serve God and money (Matt. 6:24). First John 2:15-17 says...
"Do not love the world or the
things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. And
the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God
abides forever."
We are also given a good look at the character of Abram’s
nephew,
"And I, brethren, could not speak
to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in
Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not
able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still
carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you
not carnal and behaving like mere men?"
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13:12-18
"Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and
pitched his tent even as far as
Right off, we find a hint here that the
end result of
Proverbs 13:20 says...
"He who walks with wise men will be
wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed."
First Corinthians 15:33 says...
"Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’"
Unfortunately, the deliberate breaking of these basic principles would
play themselves out in very disastrous ways in the life of
God appeared again to Abram and told him to look around in every
direction. Then, God said, "Everything you see I give to you and your
descendants ... forever". In addition, God promised
Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the ground! Then,
the Lord invited Abram to go on a walking tour of his possession. "Everywhere
your foot trods is yours," is yours, God said. Some
promise, aye? Some gift, aye? I’m reminded of
James 1:17...
"Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
So, again in obedience, Abram began to walk, moving everything on down to Mamre where he built an altar there unto the name of the Lord.
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14:1-12
"And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch
king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer
king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of
Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah,
Shemeber king of Zeboiim,
and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
All these joined together in the
The next trial of the faith that came
into Abram's life was war. It began when
four city-kings invaded Abram and
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14:13-16
"Then one who had escaped came and
told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth
trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of
Eshcol
and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram.
Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his
three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own
house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by
night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of
Notice that Abram was no lightweight when it came to battle.
The text says that 318 of his servants were trained warriors.
Nevertheless, he was probably far outnumbered by the four kings who had taken
"This day the LORD will deliver you
into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I
will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air
and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there
is a God in
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14:17-24
"And the king of
We come here to another very important
and key person in
Scripture. Namely, a
priest/king from the city of
Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek from
the spoils of war he had just captured when he rescued his nephew,
"For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated "king of righteousness," and then also king of Salem, meaning "king of peace," without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him."
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ was appointed to this
very priesthood by his
Father. Therefore, he is a Melchizedekian priest. As
you have it in
Psalm 110:4-5...
"The LORD has sworn and will not
relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’
The Lord is at your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of his wrath."
Hebrews 7:11-14, builds on this truth.
"Therefore, if
perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for
under it the people received the law), what further need was there that
another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and
not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also
a change of the law. For He of whom these things are
spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no man has officiated at the altar.
For it is evident that our Lord arose from
Jesus is a priest forever according to the order of
Melchizedek. Therefore, dear saint, you and I are
also priests of this same order ... since we are in Christ. Did you know
that you were a Melchizedekan priest?
As you have it in
Revelation
1:5-6...
"...and from Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of
the earth. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and
has made us kings
and priests
(Lit.: a kingdom of priests) to his God and Father, to him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen.
One last note here, notice that Abram refused to take any of the spoils from the battle for himself. He was highly protective of the fact that his prosperity was from the Lord alone and no-one else.