Turn in your Bibles to Genesis
chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12, after a bit of a hiatus at the
end of the year there, and then because of a meeting and some
sickness, we're getting back to our studies in the book of
Genesis. Genesis 12 actually begins a
new section of the book. It's the section concerning the
patriarchs. The narrative slows way down
at this particular point from chapter 12 all the way on to
chapter 50. The focus is on individual men,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Tonight we're going to look at
the call of Abram in chapter 12, verses 1 to 9. His name is
Abram, which means exalted father. His name is lengthened by God
in Genesis 17 to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. But I'll read the whole chapter,
and then, as I said, we'll focus on verses 1 to 9. 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 Lot went with him. And Abram
was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 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 Haran. And they departed to go to the
land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far
as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then
in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram
and said, to your descendants I will give this land. And there
he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. And
he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched
his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he
built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. Now there
was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell
there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass,
when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai
his wife, Indeed, I know that you are a woman of beautiful
countenance. Therefore it will happen, when
the Egyptians see you, that they will say, This is his wife, and
they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you
are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and
that I may live because of you. So it was when Abram came into
Egypt that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very
beautiful. The princes of Pharaoh also saw
her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's
house. He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen,
male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and
camels. But the Lord plagued Pharaoh
and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and
said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me
that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? I might have taken her as my
wife. Now therefore, here is your wife. Take her and go your
way. So Pharaoh commended his men
concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all
that he had. Amen. Well, as I said, our focus
is on the first half of the chapter, the call of Abram. If you go
back for just a moment to Genesis 3 at verse 15. Genesis 3.15, it says, And I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed
and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise his heel. Now, when we studied that, I
said it was a programmatic text. And programmatic simply means
it is a a description of or a prophesy concerning God's program for
the future. It deals with subsequent future
events, and this is a very foundational and very fundamental one. We
have another one in Genesis chapter 9. We see this with Noah's words
when he speaks to his sons. in Genesis 9 at verse 25. Then he said, Cursed be Canaan,
a servant of servants, he shall be to his brethren. And he said,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem. And may Canaan be his
servant, may God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents
of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. Another programmatic
text, looking through or looking ahead in time as to what God
is going to do with his people and with those who are the enemies
of his people. Well, Genesis 12, 1 to 3, is
another programmatic text. It sets forth God's plan to save
His people by Jesus Christ. Now, I realize that the name
Jesus Christ is not in this particular passage, but trust me, that's
precisely what it is. It is the foundational promise. In Abraham, all the families
of the earth shall be blessed, as verse 3 says. We'll notice
tonight, as we close our study, that this ultimately finds fulfillment
in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
I want to look at three things. First, the call of Abram in verse
1. statement, now the Lord had said
to Abram. Secondly, the purpose of God
in verses 2 and 3. And then finally, the response
of Abram in verses 4 to 9. But if you look at this call
in verse 1, now the Lord had said to Abram, this is a description
of God's grace. We just sang number 402, amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Well,
12.1a, this brief statement is a description of or a demonstration
of the grace of God. Remember the history up until
this point. Genesis chapter 3, you have the
fall of man. Genesis chapter 6, you have the
earth exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence. Based on
that, God sends the flood. to purge the earth of all the
people except for Noah and his family. And then just most recently,
you have Genesis chapter 11, which shows man apart from the
grace of God. Now, verse 12 says, or verse
1 in chapter 12 says, now the Lord had said to Abram, and what
he says to Abram is a program concerning redemption. Again,
the grace of God comes to man in his sin, man in his depravity,
man in his brokenness, and God initiates the plan of salvation.
William Dumbrill, in his excellent book called The Search for Order,
says in the call of Abram, we are dealing with the divine reply
to the human disaster of Genesis 3 to 11. This is God's response
to that disaster in chapters 3 to 11. Now the Lord had said
to Abraham. I've always thought that this
corresponds at least thematically to Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians
chapter 2 verses 1 to 3, you have man described apart from
the grace of God. He's in a hopeless, helpless,
lifeless condition. And then in chapter 2 at verse
4, you have but God. I think this functions in a similar
way. You have this disaster described
in Genesis 3 to 11, and now here in chapter 12, verse 1, you have,
Now the Lord had said to Abram, and he initiates this plan to
save his people from their sins. Now with reference to this call
of Abraham, we need to underscore his faith. Notice, 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. Verse four
tells us, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. Now,
the situation is already described back in chapter 11 with reference
to Terah and his family, including Abram. They left Ur of the Chaldeans
and they went to Haran. Now, both Ur of the Chaldeans
and Haran are in Mesopotamia. God now comes to Abram and tells
him to leave from Haran and go down to Canaan, the promised
land, that land that will feature large in the rest of the Old
Testament. Now, according to Stephen in
Acts chapter 7, it was God's word to Abram in both instances. In other words, Terah took his
family to Haran because of God's instruction to Abram. Abram goes
from Haran to Canaan as a result of God's instruction to him.
Now, it's also intriguing to notice the particular demand
placed upon Abram. He says to him, get out of your
country, from your family, and from your father's house. Abram
is told to leave country, family, and father's house. Now we think
at times that in the gospel and the New Testament or in our own
experience, God called us to sacrifice or give up a lot when
we came to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think
many of us ever had to leave our country or our family or
our father's house. Rather, God gives us grace and
doesn't typically ask us to sacrifice those sorts of intimate things,
but he does that precisely here with Abram. Remember that Abram
was an idolater prior to this call by God. Abram joined his
fathers in the worship of idols. In Joshua chapter 24, which was
a covenant renewal ceremony, which interestingly took place
at Shechem, Joshua, rehearsing Israel's history, said, to all
the people, 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. So Abram was an idolater. like
his father before him, but now that the Lord God Most High calls
him, he leaves those useless idols, he turns to the true and
the living God. I think there's a New Testament
counterpart to Genesis 12, 1. Get out of your country, from
your family, and from your father's house. You can turn to Matthew
chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. It's a passage
that I hope is familiar to all of us. It's certainly a passage
that should be familiar to all of us. Matthew 10, 34. Jesus says, do not think that
I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword. For I have come to set a man
against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be like
those of his own household. He who loves father or mother
more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take
his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds
his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake
will find it. So we see the demand of discipleship
has not changed. God has always called His people
to put Him first. Now in just a moment, we're going
to see that it's not obedience that God rewards with salvation. Abraham is acting by faith here. This obedience of Abraham, described
for us in verse 4, where he does leave his country, where he does
leave his family, where he does leave his father's house, this
is the consequence of his having believed in God. In other words,
it's by faith that Abraham obeys. It's not the case that God makes
this deal with Abraham. If you do these particular things,
then I will reward you with these other things. Just like in our
salvation, Jesus doesn't say, if you leave your father and
mother, if you love them more than me, then I will reward you
with salvation. We know better than that. The
grace of God comes to us. He shows us our own sinfulness.
He shows us the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ. And we,
by grace, believe on Jesus Christ. And then we see how altogether
lovely He is and how chief among 10,000 He is. And we readily
and happily put Him first over everything. We don't look at
it as this great big sacrifice to leave these things because
we're getting a most excellent reward from the living God. And
I suspect that that is precisely what Abram thought. He doesn't
say, wow, it's tough to leave country, it's tough to leave
family, it's tough to leave my father's house, not when you're
going into the loving embrace of the living and the true God.
Now again, those things are hard, they are difficult to be sure,
but this indicates that faith will oftentimes be demonstrated
in the actions of a man leaving those things that at one time
were nearest and dearest to him. John Calvin makes the observation
on this passage. He says, wherefore, if we desire
to follow God with constancy, it behooves us carefully to meditate
on all the inconveniences, all the difficulties, all the dangers
which await us, that not only a hasty zeal may produce fading
flowers, but that from a deep and well-fixed root of piety
we may bring forth fruit in our whole life. Calvin is simply
saying what Jesus will say in Luke chapter 14. It is important
for us to count the cost. It's not the case that we make
this quick, zealous response, but rather we reflect upon, we
think through the implications, and we do what Jesus tells us
in Luke chapter 14. We count the cost. And certainly,
when anybody that has half a brain counts the cost, they'll always
come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is infinitely more glorious
and wonderful than anything we already have in this world. So
that's the point. God calls Abram to leave these
things to the land that He is going to give him. Again, I want
us to be mindful of the fact that the presence of faith is
in Abraham. We see that in Hebrews chapter
11 at verse 8. The author tells us, by faith,
Abraham obeyed. See, it wasn't that he obeyed,
and then he was granted this faith, and then he was granted
these gifts and promises by God. No, God gave him the faith to
lay hold of those mercies, and it's by faith that he's activated
here. 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." I mean, you talk about faith, brethren. We want everything
described in pinpoint details. Well, God, you want me to do
this, and you want me to do that, and what are the parameters,
and when am I going to get this? No, Abraham didn't know. Now, he's instructed along the
way to be sure, but God is leading him, and it's his faith that
lays hold of God. Abraham is indeed a man of great
faith. Later on in Genesis chapter 22,
God's going to test Abraham's faith in a way that he never
has or never will for us, asking us to sacrifice our son, our
only son, the son that we love. the very language there reminiscent
of the transaction between the father and the son with reference
to the bloodshed at Calvary. So Abraham was indeed a man of
great faith and you see it displayed right here. He had no idea where
he was going, he didn't whine, he didn't rumble, he didn't say,
Lord, can you just fill in a few more details for me? But in the
midst of that, God does fill in details, God does give incentive,
God does give promise, God does give enticement. And that brings
us to the purpose of God in verses 2 to 3. Notice the promises in
verse 2. He says, I will make you a great
nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you
shall be a blessing. He is going to give him land.
That's the promise. "...to a land that I will show
you." The very end of verse 1. Get out of your country, from
your family, and from your father's house to a land that I will show
you. The call of Abram reveals the
gift of the land that, as I said earlier, will feature large in
Israel's history. So you don't think we really
appreciate the centrality of land in the Old Covenant. Well, it's founded upon this
very promise of God to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. The Israelites
will ultimately conquer the land under Joshua. They'll see that
land expanded in the empire of David. They will see that land
taken away from them because of the judgment of God. That
land is everything. Remember when we considered 1
Kings chapter 21, When Ahab wanted to take Naboth's vineyard, Naboth
would not let it go. This was an inheritance. This
was a gift given by God. This was something that you held
on to. And this is the foundation of
that land promise. It is most important that we
understand that. Secondly, there's this promise
of seed. Notice, I will make you a great
nation. I will bless you and make your
name great, and you shall be a blessing. Dropping down to
the end of verse 3, and you, all the families of the earth,
shall be blessed. Again, in verse 7, then the Lord
appeared to Abram and said, to your descendants I will give
this land. So what he reiterates there in
verse 7 is that there is this land, and it's going to come
to your descendants. This is a recurring theme with
reference to Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob. there
is going to be a great seed. The promise given to Abram here
specifically concerning seed. It's repeated in chapter 13,
chapter 15, chapter 17, and again in chapter 22 with reference
to Abram. When you get to Isaac, remember
that seed promise passes from Abraham down to Isaac. It's given
to him in chapter 26, And then it goes on to Jacob in chapters
28, 35, and 46. The promise of God is that the
seed of Abraham would ultimately be the means by which blessing
would come to all the families of the earth. Paul makes the
case in Galatians 3 that the seed spoken of is the seed singular,
it is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a collective sense,
to be sure, that we see in Genesis 3.15, but there's also that personal
or specific sense or individual sense with reference to our Lord
Jesus Christ. So you've got this gift of the
land, you've got the promise of seed, and then notice you've
got the promise of blessing. The blessing of God that comes
up often. I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you and make your name great. Now, note the contrast
with the tower builders at Babel. The tower builders at Babel,
according to verse 4, engaged in this venture, chapter 11,
verse 4, they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and
a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves,
lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.
Well, God says specifically here to Abraham, I will make your
name great and you shall be a blessing. Turn over to 2 Samuel chapter
7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. It's almost like, and I don't
want to sound like it's a game or a puzzle, but when you were
a kid you did the connect the dot sort of thing. You had the
dot with a number one and then a dot with a number two and a
dot with a number three and you followed it out and when you
were all done there was this sort of picture. Well, this promise
is kind of like that. It connects parts of Scripture
to other parts of Scripture, and we see the full discovery
realized in the person and the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here in 2 Samuel 7, notice specifically at verse 9, And
I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off
all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great
name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. You
see, this promise to Abraham is being fulfilled in redemptive
history in the nation of Israel. But as I just said, it comes
to its full discovery or its ultimate realization in the new
covenant of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's a blessed
thing to see how the Bible fits together. It's a blessed thing
to see the unity of Scripture, to see the foundational promise
of Genesis 12, 1 to 3, realized throughout redemptive history,
fully realized by the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But going back to Genesis 12,
this idea of blessing, What does it mean for God to bless Abraham
and then make Abraham himself a blessing? Well, Bruce Waltke
in his commentary had a very helpful section on this, excuse
me, idea of bless. He says, which occurred five
times in Genesis 1 to 11, now occurs five times in chapter
12, verses 1 to 3. Kind of interesting, isn't it?
Five times up until this point, now five times in just three
short verses. The three nuances of bless. Now here's what we ought to appreciate
with reference to the word blessing. There's these nuances, there's
these facets of meaning involved. It's not the case that bless
just means one thing and it only ever means one thing. Blessing
has, with reference to these nuances, first prosperity. There's several passages in scripture
that we could flip to, but I just want to give you these sort of
nuances. Prosperity. God blesses us, oftentimes,
prosperity. We pray that way, don't we? We
pray God bless us in our business venture. When we pray that, we're
not praying to fail. We're not praying to go backwards.
We're not praying to lose. We're praying that the Lord God
Most High will extend the benefits to us that He is pleased to give
us. So prosperity is one of those
nuances. And then potency or fertility. You know, when the animals are
told to be fruitful and multiply, and God says He'll bless, or
He'll bless mankind. One of the things that comes
to pass is this idea of fertility. You know, one of the things by
which a woman was really blessed was in the reality that she got
pregnant. I mean, the barren woman is a
recurring theme in the Old Testament and into the New Testament, and
we see how God overcomes that barrenness to do great things
for His glory. I mean, in this narrative itself,
Shouldn't it be lost on Abram already that God is saying, and
you, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed,
and I'm going to give this land to your descendants? Remember,
Abram hasn't had children. We've already been told in chapter
11 that Sarai is barren. There's problems, at least from
an earthly perspective, in terms of this program of blessing that
God is going to convey. In fact, when Abram gets to Canaan,
there's Canaanites in the land. So what is God saying to Abram? You don't need to worry about
the problems. You don't need to worry about the barren wife,
and you don't need to worry about the Canaanites and the land.
The God who promises to grant these things is the God who's
capable to bring these things to pass. So Abram's faith is
located strongly in God, who is able to bring about these
things. And then, a third sort of nuance is victory. One man
says, blessing brings the power for life, the enhancement of
life, and the increase of life. So it's not just God saying,
oh, you're blessed, and nothing happens. No, there's actual blessing
or good things appended to or attached to these things that
God has pronounced. And then notice that God says,
I will make you a blessing. You shall be a blessing. The
blessing of God on others through Abram. Matthew Poole says, and
thou shalt be both a pattern and an instrument of blessedness
to others, to thy posterity who shall be blessed for thy sake,
to thy servants and friends who shall be blessed by thy instruction
and help, and to all the world as it follows. Now how ultimately
is Abraham a blessing to all the families of the world? because
it's from Abram that Jesus Christ comes. Remember, can't ever forget
that. The seed is Jesus. There is a
collective sense where this promise is operative through the nation
of Israel, the old covenant people of God, but the realization of
it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice, God also promises
protection. God promises protection in verse
3. Isaac and I were just talking,
this is sort of a foundational verse for those who want to see
national or ethnic Israel today protected. Anybody gets a whiff
of anti-semitism on Twitter, and they invoke this particular
passage. 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. Brethren, you cannot
wrench this text out of its biblical context. This is connected to
Jesus. The modern state of Israel is
not protected by Genesis 12, 3. The Israel of God, the church
of Jesus Christ, is protected by Genesis 12, verse 3. It's Christ and all of his seed,
all those who are in him. They are the sons of Abraham,
according to the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3. The lines
drawn here are not ethnic. They're spiritual. This is not
a promise to take out of Genesis and apply to the modern and,
in many respects, atheistic state of Israel with reference to their
protection. Peace be upon the Israel of God,
Paul says in Galatians 6. He is not speaking about ethnic
Israel. He is speaking about the people
of God who are the true Israel of God. How does Paul define
a Jew in Romans chapter 2? He's not one who's circumcised
outwardly, but he's circumcised inwardly. How does Paul make
a distinction in Romans chapter 9? They're not all Israel. There's
an Israel after the flesh, and then there's a spiritual or a
true Israel, those connected by faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Philippians, Philippi,
Gentile church. Paul says to them, we are the
true circumcision. So Genesis 12.3 is not a text
to take out of its context and apply to the modern state of
Israel, but rather it applies to the people of God by virtue
of their union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, we are
not dispensationalists. We are covenant theologians who
see the consistency of God's promise. It is coming through
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not Israel-centric. It is Christ-centric. It's not
Abraham-centric. It is Christ-centric. Christ
is the substance of this promise. So there is this blessing pronounced
on those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. I think
this hearkens back to Genesis 3.15. If not directly, if that's
not what is in Moses' mind as he composes this under the Holy
Spirit, I think we at least ought to appreciate some degree of
connection. Going back to Genesis 3.15. And
I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your
seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and
you shall bruise his heel. Now that enmity comes to full
fruition in the bruising of the head and the bruising of the
heel. In other words, Golgotha, Calvary, the cross, that's where
that comes to pass. But prior to our Lord's death
blow dealt to the devil at Calvary, there's this enmity that obtains
between the people of God and the people of the devil, right?
We see that with Cain and Abel. You see that with the godly Sethites
and the ungodly Cainites. You see that with Noah's family,
in distinction from the rest of the world. There are these
two seeds. Again, not based on ethnicity,
but based on spirituality or ethics. It is the reality that
God has a people and the devil has a people. So going back to
Genesis 12, notice what verse 3 certainly means. I will bless
those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." In
other words, Abraham, you're not going to just wander through
the earth unmolested. You're not going to just sing
zippity-doo-dah as you put up tents and civilization in Canaan. There's going to be resistance. There's going to be those who
curse you. There's going to be Jebusites
and Hivites and Hittites. There's going to be those who
try to mount opposition against you, Abraham. And we might apply
this in the New Covenant era with what was prayed earlier.
Christ said, in this world you will have tribulation, but be
of good cheer. I've overcome the world. That's
how 12.3 reads. I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse him who curses you." In other words, there's going to
be those who curse you, but ultimately God is going to destroy them.
I think we ought to see consistency here with Jesus' promise in Matthew
16. I will build my church, and the
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. The gates of Hades
are going to try, though. They're not going to just lay
subtly or idly by while the church advances and grows and engages
in progress forward. They're going to be like in New
York today, wicked people actually clapping and cheering because
the law was signed that you can kill babies right up until the
time they're born. What kind of fiends are they
that would applaud that? We should hang our heads in shame
and disgust at the thought of ever murdering a baby, and now
this is the big win, the big victory in New York. Yeah, there's
going to be that kind of opposition. But what does God promise? I
will curse him. Who curses you? What's Psalm
110 remind us? Yahweh said to my Lord, sit at
my right hand till what? Till I make your enemies your
footstool. Again, 12.3 is not a protective
verse for the modern state of Israel, but for the people of
Jesus Christ, for the people of God. This is applicable to
us and to our comrades in arms. Back to the text, notice the
comprehensive scope of this whole thing. The end of verse 3, "...and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So we
know that this promise to Abram certainly extends beyond Abram, right? How could Abram, in his lifespan,
be the vehicle for blessing to every family in the earth? It
simply is not the case. It transcends Abram's life. It transcends Abram's time on
this earth. It certainly points to the future,
just the way Genesis 3.15 does, and just the way Genesis 9.26
and 27 do. These are programmatic verses
that illustrate for us or highlight subsequent events that will come
under, unfolded by God's power and providence in this particular
world or in this world. So that's the end game. And you,
all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now let's look
finally at the response of Abram in verses four to nine. He obeyed. He does exactly what God says.
Isn't this what faith is? Faith in Jesus Christ? Again,
we need to see and understand the conspicuous pattern here. We need to see that it's not
he believes or he obeys and therefore he's rewarded with faith and
all these other good things. He believed God and it was accounted
unto him as righteousness. He believes God, and as a consequence
of that belief in God, he obeys God. It's the same pattern that
you find in the New Testament. We're not saved by our obedience,
we're saved by grace through faith in order that we may obey. Just as He chose us in Him, not
because we were holy and blameless, but that we would become holy
and blameless. God doesn't choose us because
we're something. He chooses us in order that we'll
become something. And he does this by giving us
grace, giving us the faith and the repentance to close with
Jesus Christ, and it's based on that that we walk in obedience
to our Lord. Now notice, we have the journey
from Haran to Canaan in verses 4 to 6, and then the journey
in Canaan all the way down to the Negev or to the south in
verse 9. So basically, Abram walks from
the northern border of Canaan down to the southern border of
Canaan. He's surveying, he's seeing,
he's observing. Now with reference to his obedience,
we see that Lot went with him, verse 4. Remember Lot went initially
from Ur of the Chaldeans over to Harren. Now Lot accompanies
Abram as they go to Canaan. This shows that this was willingness
on the part of Lot. Lot's mentioned again in the
narrative because Lot's going to feature again later on in
the narrative. It's good to keep the characters
sort of before our minds and eyes. Now notice the arrival
in Canaan. Verse 5 says, 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 Haran. That's probably slaves, okay? The souls or the people that
they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land
of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Again, some suggest that these
were converts. They converted these ones to
the true religion of Israel's God, and they brought them with
them. Well, I don't know that that's
completely outlandish, but it's most likely slaves that they
had purchased, slaves that they had gotten unto themselves. Now,
one commentator says slavery was a common institution throughout
the ancient Near East. As subsequent stories in Genesis
make clear, This was not the sort of shadow slavery later
practiced in North America. Excuse me. These slaves had certain
limited rights, could be given great responsibility, and were
not thought to lose their personhood. So typical for Bible readers
is to see slave or to see references like this and think, you know,
American Civil War, or think blacks on ships being kidnapped
from their homes and taken to another country. But that's not
typically what's in view in biblical slavery. In the Roman Empire,
for instance, in the New Testament, a great number of citizens in
the Roman Empire were slaves. Oftentimes, slaves were civil
engineers, or they had high positions of responsibility within the
empire. necessarily like what we have
come to understand with reference to slavery. So just know that. There's different types of slavery.
I would argue that what happened in the 1800s with reference to
America, that violated a fundamental principle in scripture in terms
of kidnapping. When the Bible speaks to kidnapping,
I doubt it's the 8-year-old on the playground so that the kidnappers
get a big ransom. It's taking people from one country
to another and making them your slave. There were certainly biblical
principles violated at the time of the American Civil War, that
episode of slavery that is very unsavory and there were a lot
of atrocities committed. But all that to say, just when
you see slave in the Old and New Testament, it doesn't necessarily
mean that. Like this fellow, Robert Alter,
says, it was a common institution throughout the ancient Near East.
Now, I'm not advocating for slavery. I'm not suggesting, you know,
go out and buy one today. I'm not saying that at all. I'm
simply saying that you need to understand that the very emotionally
charged images that we might have, say, of those slaves on
those ships that came over from Africa, that's not what is probably
happening in this particular instance. So they had certain
limited rights, could be given great responsibility, and were
not ever thought to lose their personhood. Now notice this reference
to the Canaanites in verse 6. Abram passed through the land
to the place of Shechem, as far as the Terebinth tree of Moreh.
And the Canaanites were then in the land. This reminds us,
or it should remind us, of Noah's prophecy in chapter 9, at verses
25 to 27. You go back there. Notice Noah's
prophecy, or Noah's programmatic statement. Cursed be Canaan,
a servant of servants, he shall be to his brethren. And he said,
blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his
servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and
may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. So you have this son of Shem,
who is Abraham. And this son of Shem, who is
Abraham, is being promised this land that presently is inhabited
by the Canaanites. But according to this programmatic
statement with reference to Noah, cursed be Canaan. He is going
to be a servant of servants. He shall be to his brethren.
So when we come to chapter 12, verse 6, and we see that Canaanites
were then in the land, we ought to think of Noah's prophecy,
Noah's promise. The Canaanites are presently
in the land. but they're not always going
to be in the land. The Canaanites are there occupying
that property, but they're not always going to have that position
of residency. In other words, what the author
is doing is showing us the land as this initial survey by Abraham. So it reminds us of Noah's prophecy. Meredith Klein made the good
observation. He said, in God's becoming Abraham's covenant lord,
the Noahic benediction on Shem was being fulfilled with its
corollary curse on Canaan. In other words, when the author
mentions in 12.6 that the Canaanites were in the land, he doesn't
want you to forget what Noah said is going to happen to the
Canaanites. They're going to be subjugated.
They're going to be slaves to both Shem and Japheth. They're not going to win this
exchange. And then as well, this explains
why Abram doesn't take immediate possession of the land. Why does
it wait? Or why do we have to wait until
after the exodus? And then we go under General
Joshua. After Moses is gone, Joshua is
the man who actually leads the conquest. in the nation, in the
promised land. Well, this explains why. They
were there, and they didn't want to leave. The Canaanites were
tough. They didn't want to say, OK,
go ahead and have our land. This was their home, their property,
their livelihood. They didn't just say, oh, well,
Israel's here, and God said he was going to give them our land,
so we'll just peace out and go. That's not what happened. They
wanted to stay in the land. And so there's going to be this
resistance, and that's why Abram doesn't take the land immediately. But there are down payments. There are tastes. There is this
particular scene where Abram is in the land. Even though there's
Canaanites, Abram's there. Abram's going to bury his wife
in the land. Abram makes sure he pays for
that land so he can say it's mine. This is God's down payment
to Abram in his life. And obviously this reference
in verse 6 sets the stage for what will follow in the Pentateuch
and beyond. this perennial problem of Canaanites. These pesky Canaanites are going
to persist in the land, and this is sort of a foundational statement
to that effect. And then note the journey from
Shechem to Negev, or the south. Gordon Wenham says, thus the
brief itinerary of Abram, described in verses five to nine, takes
him from the northern to the southern border of the land.
He not only sees what has been promised to him, He walks through
it, and he lives, and he worships in it. Symbolically, he has taken
possession of it. So he's got it. I mean, it's
there. There's been no conquest. There's still Canaanites. There's
still all these issues. But for us, we can see Abraham's
in. Abraham's walking. Abraham's
worshiping on Canaanite soil. And that's what we ought to observe,
finally, is his worship. You have the reiteration of promise
in verse 7, to your descendants I will give this land. What's
Abraham's response? Gratitude. Right? That's the
threefold format of the Heidelberg Catechism. Guilt, grace, gratitude. We're guilty sinners, vile, helpless,
wretched, undone. God in his grace is merciful
to us and saves us. How do we respond? Gratitude. We worship, we praise, we honor,
we adore. God in his grace has given this
promise to Abram. Abram believes him. He walks
by faith. He obeys God. And then in verse
7b, and there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared
to him. This was a place for sacrifice
and other parts of divine worship, says Matthew Poole, erected by
him both to keep his family in the true religion and to separate
himself and them from that idolatrous neighborhood. See, they were
worshipers, too. They were just worshiping their
idols and their false gods. So Abram erects this altar, and
he engages in sacrifice, and he praises and worships God.
And then notice in 7b and 8. It says in verse 8, or I'm sorry,
at the end of verse 7, it says, and there he built an altar to
the Lord who had appeared to him, first time in Genesis, other
than God walking in the, you know, meeting with Adam and Eve
in the cool of the garden, in the cool of the day in the garden.
Here we see God appears to Abraham. This is a theophany, a manifestation
of God. How? I don't know. John Gill
argues that it was Christ. Any theophany in the old covenant,
John Gill says, is a pre-incarnate Christ coming to his people to
show himself and to encourage them. But either way, God appeared
to him. And then in verse 8, he moved
from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his
tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he
built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Now, we ought to see this as formal worship. It's not just,
you know, a call on the Lord. It's not that. The commentator
Wenham says, again, this deliberate mention of calling on the Lord
implies more than simple prayer. It suggests that Abram worshipped
in a regular, formal way. In other words, it's not the
case that Israel's worship comes to formal, sort of, you know,
logistical expression at the tabernacle and temple. The persons
prior to that were worshipping God formally. This God instituted
worship. He communicated to them how they
were to approach him. And Abram approaches him consistent
with those instructions, that revelation from when God appeared
to him. And then verse 9, Abram journeyed,
going on still toward the south. So he's walking the promised
land. He's surveying the land. And
as we saw earlier, it's a symbolic reception of the land. Now, in
terms of a few thoughts Before we close, first we ought to appreciate
the promise of God. Look at verse 2. Well, verses
2 and 3. I will. I will. I will. I will. All over the place. God
does. God does. Right? You go to Ezekiel
36, you'll see the same emphasis. Ezekiel 36 is an intriguing passage
because it's a promise of the new covenant. It's very consistent
with John 3. John 3 talks about being born
again. Well, I think the background
for John 3 is Ezekiel 36. But Ezekiel 36, God says, I will,
I will, I will, I will, I will. That's how we ought to appreciate
salvation. It's God who does the saving.
It's God who does the blessing. It's God who does the promising.
And it's God who does the fulfilling. Later on in Genesis chapter 15,
we're going to see a covenant ratification ceremony. It was
something common in the ancient Near Eastern world. It's not
something unique to Israel. But in a covenant ratification
ceremony, you would take animals and you would cut them in half.
And you would put those animals, like, half the bowl here and
the other half there. So you got, you know, a bit of
a bloody mess. But you got half the animals
here, half the animals there. Well, the parties to the covenant
would march between those animals with the implication being that
if either of us renege on our promises, then may what happened
to these animals happen to us. Intriguingly, when God comes
to covenant with Abram, it's only God that passes through
the animal pieces. He puts Abram to sleep. What's
the significance of that? God will. God is going to take
on Himself the terms of the covenant. Right down to Galatians 3. Christ
became a curse. If one party reneges, then may
what happened to those animals happen to them. Well, Jesus takes
our place and He becomes the curse. It's truly amazing how
God operates in terms of covenant. Derek Kidner said, Abram's part
is expressed in a single though searching command while the heaped
up I wills reveal how much greater is the Lord's part. We ought
to appreciate the problems that will present themselves, the
obstacles that will present themselves to Abram. Sarai is barren. There are Canaanites in the land.
There's going to be tough times. Just because God promises us
something doesn't mean there's never going to be any hardship
or heartaches. It doesn't mean that when God
says, OK, I'm going to do this for you, that every step there
is always just peaceful and joyful and happy and delightful. Sometimes
getting to point Z, it may involve a lot of discomfort for the people
of God. And we need to appreciate that.
as we walk with Abram in these narratives. It's not the case
that when God promises He will, that there will never be any
tough times for us. We see this in Matthew 8. The
disciples, with Jesus, in the boat, nevertheless, suffer a
terrifying storm. Just because Jesus is in the
boat with you, doesn't mean there's going to be no storm. See, the
people of God need to keep this in mind. This isn't just an Old
Testament construct. We need to see it in the New
Testament as well, that in this world we will have tribulation,
but we are to be of good cheer, for God has overcome the world.
And then in terms of the purpose of God, the call of Abram, I
would argue, functions programmatically as do 315 and 926 and 27. The promise looks beyond Abram
to world history. Now, to say world history when
you're looking at it that way, I hope you understand what I
mean. Genesis 3.15 gives us a program for history. Genesis 9 gives
us a program for history. Genesis chapter 12 does the same
sort of thing. The call of Abram functions typologically
for the people of God. I think it does function typologically
for the people of God. In other words, when God calls
us, it is to leave certain things that at one time held our hearts
and took us captive. John Gill says, and follow him whithersoever
he directs them. So it's typological. This is
what is happening when a sinner gets saved by Jesus Christ. There is this leaving of those
things, like country, family, and house, to go and close with
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful, beautiful emblem.
And then the call of Abram and the promises associated are ultimately
fulfilled in Christ. We saw this in Acts 3. Peter
was preaching, and he says, in verse 25, you are the sons of
the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers,
saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families of the
earth shall be blessed. And he mentions Jesus Christ
as the one that was sent to them to turn them from their iniquities.
You see, the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ. That's what Paul tells us. Now,
in terms of the land. There's a lot of debate with
reference to the land, not among everybody that's a believer,
but mainly among dispensationalists. And dispensationalists believe
that the land promise hasn't been fulfilled yet. In other
words, Israel needs to be a geopolitical power. They need to be sort of
the king of the nations around them. They need to be elevated.
They need to be lifted up. Some argue that Joshua tells
us that the land promises were fulfilled. Joshua does indicate
that all that God promised came to pass. The land was given to
them. I think that that's true. The
land promise in terms of Israel for his people of Israel in the
Old Covenant was fulfilled in Joshua. But I think that the
land promise transcends a geopolitical earthly power. Let me just tell
you what I mean by that. with reference to the command
of God to Abram in the next chapter. He's going to tell Abram to look
to the north, to look to the south, to look to the east, and
to look to the west. Now, I submit that Abram saw
a lot more than Israel. Now, you might say, well, just
to see all of Israel would have been tough with the physical
eye. I'm not talking about the physical eye. I'm talking about
spiritual things. What was the promise to Abram?
Was it Israel? Was it the land of Canaan? Was
it the promised land? Was it Palestine, if I could
use that term? Was that it? Was that the piece
of geography? Look at all the land promises
fulfilled according to the New Testament, with reference to
our Lord Jesus. Turn to Romans 4. Romans chapter
4. When you think land promise,
do not be a dispensationalist and think of geopolitical power
for Israel and some reconstituted national kingdom here on earth.
But notice in Romans 4.13, for the promise that he would be
the heir of the world. It's not just Israel. It's not just that piece of property
there. The promise that he would be
the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Psalms should make
sense of Psalm 2. Ask of me and I will give you
the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth
for your possession. It helps you understand Matthew
28. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. You see,
the land promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ involves the entirety
of the earth. It's not Israel reconstituted
as a body politic in some millennial kingdom. It is the people of
God, the Israel of God, occupying the earth. In other words, as
the gospel goes forth and sinners are translated from the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God's love, this
promise is fulfilled. The land promise is done in Christ. Notice the seed promise. Turn
over to Galatians 3. Galatians chapter 3. You have
the individual or particular seed identified in Galatians
3.16. And then you have the collective
seed on this side of Genesis 3.15. You have the collective
seed identified in Galatians 3.26-29. But notice in Genesis
3, we'll read at verse 15. Brethren, I speak in the manner
of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed,
no one annuls or adds to it. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He does not say, and to seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, who is Christ. You see, the seed of Abraham
is Christ. Now, by virtue of our union with
Christ, by God's grace through faith in Him, notice verse 26. For you are all sons of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female,
for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's,
then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."
So we Gentile Canadians, are actually the seed of Abraham,
heirs of Abraham? Yes, in Jesus Christ, because
the promise runs spiritually. The promise is a hard issue.
It's not ethnicity. There are a whole host of Jews
living in the modern state of Israel that have nothing to do
with Abraham. They're like those Jews in John
chapter 8 that said, well, Abraham is our father. And Jesus says,
well, if Abraham was your father, you wouldn't want to murder me.
You're of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father,
you want to do. It's not running on the lines
of ethnicity. It's on the lines of spirituality. Those who have the Spirit, those
who've been circumcised in the heart, those who've been saved
by God's grace, we are the heirs according to the promise. We
are Abraham's seed. In terms of blessing, Ephesians
1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has done what? Who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And in terms
of that protection promise, I will curse him who curses you, I will
bless him who blesses you, there are several passages in the New
Testament that highlight that protective element of God for
the people of God. Romans 8, the very end, I'm convinced,
neither depth or height or width or angels, nothing can separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So all those things that are promised to Abram in Genesis
chapter 12, two and three, are fulfilled, realized by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the seed of Abraham. You have to keep
that in mind, because the Bible is Christocentric. Not Israeli-centric,
but Christocentric. We're not moving forward to a
millennial kingdom on earth we are rather moving forward to
a new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells,
wherein we will dwell with our blessed Savior for eternity. Well, let's close in a word of
prayer. Father, we thank you for this promise in Genesis 12.
We thank you that we are inheritors of it because of your grace and
because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask that you
would encourage our hearts as we consider these things. Help
us, God, to be helped by the observation of Abram leaving
all, forsaking all, going to the God of heaven and earth.
May you help us to see this in our own lives as well. and call
others to come to that one who is altogether lovely and chief
among 10,000. Bless our time together. Help
us to travel home safely and bring us here together on Sunday
that we may worship you. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
