Genesis 12:1-9

Jim Butler · 2019-01-23 · Genesis 12:1–9 · 9,484 words · 58 min

Studies in Genesis

Summary

Expository

The call of Abram in Genesis 12:1–9 is a programmatic text establishing God's covenantal plan of redemption, whose promises of land, seed, blessing, and protection find their ultimate and exclusive fulfillment not in ethnic or national Israel but in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and all who are united to him by faith.

Genesis 12:1–9 presents the call of Abram as a programmatic text establishing God's covenantal plan of redemption, standing alongside Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 9:25–27 as a divinely initiated response to the human disaster of the fall and its aftermath. The sermon works through three movements: the grace of God in the call itself, the threefold promise of land, seed, and blessing in verses 2–3, and Abram's faith-driven obedience and worship in verses 4–9. Against dispensationalist readings, the land promise is shown to find its fulfillment not in a reconstituted geopolitical Israel but in Christ as heir of the world, with the seed promise identified in Galatians 3 as Christ himself and all who are united to him by faith. The listener is called to see in Abram's departure from country, family, and father's house a typological pattern for what occurs in every genuine conversion — the forsaking of former allegiances in the embrace of the living God.

Key quotes

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.

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.

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.

Applications

Recognize that faith always precedes and produces obedience — examine whether your obedience to Christ flows from genuine trust in him or from an attempt to earn his favor.
Count the cost of discipleship as Jesus commands in Luke 14, reflecting that whatever is surrendered for Christ is infinitely outweighed by what is gained in him.
Do not despair when hardships follow God's promises — the barren wife and the Canaanites in the land remind us that obstacles do not nullify divine commitments, since the God who promises is the God who is able to bring them to pass.
Read the promises of Genesis 12:2–3 as your own inheritance in Christ, since as those united to Abraham's seed you are heirs of the blessing, the protection, and the land promise fulfilled in him.
Resist any reading of Scripture — including political applications of Genesis 12:3 — that severs the Abrahamic covenant from its Christocentric fulfillment and applies it along ethnic rather than spiritual lines.

Questions this sermon answers

Was Abram saved by obeying God's call, or by faith?

Abram's obedience in leaving his country, family, and father's house was the consequence of his prior faith, not its cause — he believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness, and from that belief he obeyed.

Does Genesis 12:3 protect the modern state of Israel?

The promise 'I will curse him who curses you' cannot be lifted from its biblical context and applied to the modern state of Israel; it applies to the people of God who are the true Israel — those united to Jesus Christ by faith, as Paul defines in Galatians 3 and Romans 9.

How is the land promise of Genesis 12 fulfilled in the New Testament?

Romans 4:13 shows that the promise to Abraham was that he would be heir of the world, not merely of a strip of Canaanite territory; this finds fulfillment in Christ as the one who inherits all nations, and in the advance of the gospel translating sinners into his kingdom.

Who is the 'seed' promised to Abraham in Genesis 12?

Paul argues in Galatians 3:16 that the seed is singular and refers specifically to Christ; by union with Christ, both Jews and Gentiles become Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

What does it mean for God to bless Abraham?

Blessing carries three nuances in this passage: prosperity, potency or fertility, and victory — an actual empowerment for life and the enhancement of life, not merely a verbal declaration.

Introduction and Scripture Reading

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.

Introduction

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.

The Call of Abram (v. 1)

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.

Abram's Faith and Obedience

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.

Counting the Cost of Discipleship

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.

The Purpose of God (vv. 2–3)

And that brings us to the purpose of God in verses 2 to 3.

The Promise of Land

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.

The Promise of Seed

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 Promise of Blessing

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.

The Promise of Protection

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.

The Response of Abram (vv. 4–9)

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.

The Canaanites and Noah's Prophecy

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.

Abram's Worship in the Land

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.

Application: Promises Fulfilled in Christ

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.

Closing 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.