Abraham’s Prayer For The City
Series Theme: We participate in God’s covenant with Abraham by faith, as we respond to the divine call, are tested by God, enjoy His guidance, and enjoy the rewards of faith fulfilled in a transformed world.
2/8 Abram’s call and My Call
God called Abram to leave his family for the promise of a new and greater family, to leave his land for the promise of a new and greater land, to leave his lifeless gods to walk with the one, true God.
2/15 Abram’s faith stretched: a new family, a new land READ: Genesis 12:1-13:1
a. Abram & Jesus—called, tested, guided, rewarded
b. I am called by God: to a new family, a new home, a new vocation
Today…2/22 Abram’s Faith extended: a Prayer for the City, Gen. 12, 18:16-33
We pray most effectively when we approach God with his own words, appealing to his own attributes, seeking the extension of his righteousness to the unrighteous.
A. Abraham encountered challenges living in the Land of Promise that only God could resolve.
1. Abraham was charged to exhibit his faith, to enjoy the blessings of God’s promises to him, by living in righteousness and pursuing justice.
a. The unconditional promises of God to Abraham were also conditional in experience—God asked righteousness and justice from Abraham!
b. Abraham heard the outcry of Sodom and Gommorah, and knew that God heard as well.
c. God said within Abraham’s hearing: “shall I hide what I am about to do to Sodom & Gomorrah from Abraham, when I have covenanted with him to extend righteousness and justice to the earth? (this would require that)
Gen. 18:19 “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
Gen. 18:20 And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
2. Abraham expressed faith in God by praying to God in response to God’s own statements.
Gen. 18:17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
GOD’S WORDS STIMULATED ABRAHAM’S PRAYER.
Would God have asked if he should tell Abraham if he didn’t intend to tell Abraham?
3. Abraham’s faith led him to boldly approach God for the preservation of the city.
a. Abraham challenged God to act righteously, appealing to His attributes, his character: 18:25
Gen. 18:25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
b. Abraham approached God humbly:
Gen. 18:27 And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.
c. Abraham prayed in line with God’s mission—
we pray to enhance our strength, have our needs met, etc.
Abraham is using his connection to God to pray for those in Sodom, victims of violent injustice. Poor people are being trampled in Sodom; urban society oppressing the marginal and the poor. God hears and responds. Abraham knows how wicked they are: he asks to spare/forgive them! His relatives are there, yes. But if he only wanted that, he would have asked to spare the kinsmen only. He prays that the wicked city would be spared, blessed, forgiven, pardoned.
Abraham encountered challenges living in the Land of Promise that only God could resolve.
We face people and circumstances that only God can transform.
B. Abraham prayed in this way because he understood God’s character.
1. Abraham focused on the attributes of God.
Gen. 18:25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
Justice!
Grace! Gen. 18:19 “For I have chosen him,
God loves the undeserving.
2. Abraham took the next step of grace and understood that God would NOT only NOT condemn the righteous along with the unrighteous…
3. …but He might agree to spare the unrighteous because of the righteous.
a. In effect, condemning the righteous because they are in the city with the unrighteous would mean that unrighteousness is IMPUTED to the righteous.
The guilt of the many can be imputed to the few.
b. NOW, Abraham is asking for the reverse.
IMPUTE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE FEW TO THE MANY.
In one of the most shocking accounts in history…
c. God agrees.
Gen. 18:24 “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
Abraham encountered challenges living in the Land of Promise that only God could resolve.
We face people and circumstances that only God can transform.
Abraham prayed in this way because he understood God’s character.
We pray most effectively when we approach God with his own words, appealing to his own attributes, seeking the extension of his righteousness to the unrighteous.
C. We can pray as Abraham prayed.
1. Prayer is our response to what God does, what God says.
2. God is so much greater than we are, yet he forgives us.
3. Being good is not the key to answered prayer, or to divine intervention.
i. NOT: the good are God’s; the bad people are sent to hell.
ii. RATHER: all who will ADMIT they are evil are ready for Grace; the proud are without hope.
4. The Gospel helps us recognize evil, and simultaneously desire good for our entire city.
Keller: Many centuries later, someone came along who could walk this pathway …, who was righteous enough to transfer righteousness and spare the city.
Jesus took the divine wrath upon himself!
Jesus gave his life, praying for people who WERE killing him! “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus took the divine wrath of cosmic justice into his own self.
God said that HE would accept the righteousness of one person for the many, if it were THAT man (Jesus).
APPLICATION:
a. Would you forgive the unrighteousness of the many for the righteousness of a few?
b. Fewer?
c. Very few?
Gospel: 10’
1. Abraham approaches God to deal for the imputation of righteousness to the many.
a. Approached as if in a court of law.
Nagash—a commoner approaching an exalted person with respect
AN enemy approaching for battle;
A defense attorney approaching the judge with a case.
b. Forgive the many for the righteousness of the few.
TWOT-- Yet clear examples of approaching God the judge are evidenced, i.e. coming into a courtroom prepared to argue a case (Gen 18:23).
This image of a courtroom is used forcibly by the prophet Isaiah to call Israel and the nations into account (Isa 41:1, 21; 45:20–21). The servant of the Lord boldly proclaims God as his advocate before his enemies. He has no fear of being proven wrong (50:8).
Note courtroom context!!
c. God accepted the concept of transference of righteousness.
d. God held out for the ONE Righteous human whose purity could be imputed.
2. Advocacy is key:
a. Abraham advocated for Sodom and Gomorrah
b. Jesus advocates for us daily, asking that the ONE death be accepted as sufficient for each person.
1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
Heb. 7:25 Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
c. We advocate for our unrighteous neighbours.
i. We acknowledge that evil is real.
ii. We approach God over the evil around us.
iii. We humbly acknowledge our part in the evil. 18:27: “dust and ashes”
iv. We advocate for the imputation of righteousness to our evil neighbours.
APPLICATION:
Are my prayers like this?
Am I controlled by love for the people I don’t like?
How do I respond to the evil folk around me? In the next neighbourhood?
Can I pray for their forgiveness? Approaching Easter, this seems essential.
Jesus, the antidote to divine justice and wrath.
3/1 Sarai’s barrenness, Gen. 11
Series Theme: We participate in God’s covenant with Abraham by faith, as we respond to the divine call, are tested by God, enjoy His guidance, and enjoy the rewards of faith fulfilled in a transformed world.
Sarai’s barrenness was central to the story of Genesis:
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Abraham's Faith Stretched
Abraham's Faith Stretched!
2/8 Abram’s call and My Call
Why????? WHAT IS MY CALL? HOW CAN I ACKNOWLEDGE DIVINE PURPOSE IN MY LIFE??? HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT I AM FOLLOWING CHRIST AND NOT MERELY MY OWN IMPULSES?
God calls me in similar ways: I am called to love Christ more than I love all my relatives and friends, to live in anticipation of a new creation, and to worship God by enjoying Him forever.
God calls us in these ways: as a faith community, as the global body of Christ…
We leave behind what is comfortable for the sake of a new and greater family, a new and greater land, a new way of relating to the One Who made us.
2/15 Abram’s faith stretched: a new family, a new land READ: Genesis 12:1-13:1
Series Theme: We participate in God’s covenant with Abraham by faith, as we respond to the divine call, are tested by God, enjoy His guidance, and enjoy the rewards of faith fulfilled in a transformed world.
God’s call contains seven (i.e., the symbolic number of completeness) elements:
1. I will make you into a great nation’
2. I will bless you
3. I will make your name great
4. you will be a blessing
5. I will bless those who bless you
6. whoever curses you I will curse
7. all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (in the favored seventh position)
I. Abram was called to a new land, given a new family
a. Abram & Jesus—called, tested, guided, rewarded
i. Abram was called, as summarized.
God called Abram to leave his family for the promise of a new and greater family, to leave his land for the promise of a new and greater land, to leave his lifeless gods to walk with the one, true God.
ii. Jesus was called, anointed for his work by the Spirit.
Psa. 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
b. I am called by God: to a new family, a new home, a new vocation
Abraham was called and we are called. RECOGNIZE? RESPOND!
II. Abram was tested by the call
a. Testing by the call to leave home, by the failure of crops in the new land, by the wait for the promise, etc. He failed the test of truthfulness when his first words were to coach Sarai to lie to the Egyptians (we often find ourselves challenged to bend the rules when we find ourselves in places we shouldn’t be).
b. Jesus was tested by Satan in the wilderness, by the many acts of obedience, by the cup of death on the Cross.
c. I am tested by the call to love Christ above all others, to treasure His companionship above my longings for all other friendships,
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
d. I am tested by the call to love my neighbour as myself.
e. I am tested by the call to “make something of the world,” to its restoration to the Garden.
f. I am tested by the nature of my call:
i. I am called to walk with God—I will have a growing hunger for conversation with Him, by His Word, by prayer, by His Spirit.
ii. I am called to be a part of a larger family, in some ways alien to my nuclear family.
iii. I am called to make something of the world:
1. To preserve it, restore it, improve it.
g. I am tested and sifted for motives. WHO NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED? Doesn’t God know?
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested. Recognize the TEST? Embrace the TEST!
Savour the goodness of God toward you…Rom. 8:28—good life, health, work, friends,
Rom. 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Recognize none of these? [“Relative deprivation”] Take a trip with me!
III. Abram was guided…
a. Abram experienced the guidance of a good God.
i. He was guided to a new land.
ii. He was guided through that land, boundary to boundary.
iii. When he left the land out of fear and sought refuge in Egypt, Sarai was guarded from Pharoah and Abram was guided back home.
iv. To the rescue of Lot
v. To the resolution of the Ishmael conundrum.
b. I can experience the guidance of God.
i. I am guided by the Spirit as I look to the HS for strength and control (Eph. 5:18).
Eph. 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
ii. By my life choices, understanding my spiritual gifting and potential impact on the Body of Christ.
iii. Of a mate—more when we get to Isaac!
iv. Of a vocation.
v. Of A family of disciples.
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested.
Abraham was guided and we are guided. Recognize? Respond!!
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you
IV. Abram was rewarded…
a. Abram experienced the goodness of God in his lifetime.
i. With a son(s).
ii. With many offspring
iii. With the Seed (Jesus—Gal. 3:16)
Gal. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
b. I enjoy the reward of God.
i. I enjoy Him and his goodness directly.
Psa. 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
ii. I find nourishment and delight in His Word.
Psa. 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
iii. I find rest in Him and from Him.
Matt. 11:28-29 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You Will Find Rest For Your Souls.
iv. I am rewarded by the call with enjoyment of
1. fresh fruit (Gal. 5:23),
2. new fruit (John 15), and
3. new hope (trust that God will be faithful to me at the end of days as he has been yesterday and today).
v. In the future, I will be welcomed into His presence without fear, to walk with Him and work for Him in a new earth, merged with heaven.
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested.
Abraham was guided and we are guided.
So, WAS Abraham rewarded?
Keller—“Abraham left but never arrived. Never sees it. Lives his entire life in the gap between vision and reality.”
Abram & me—called, tested, guided, rewarded
Recognize YOUR Reward???
GOSPEL Jesus had a call:
HE Left security in his father’s house, without knowing what it was like in the depths.
He lost his father ‘My God, my God, why hast thy forsaken Me?’ so we could gain His Father.
2/22 Abram’s Faith extended: a Prayer for the City, Gen. 12, 18:16-33
2/8 Abram’s call and My Call
Why????? WHAT IS MY CALL? HOW CAN I ACKNOWLEDGE DIVINE PURPOSE IN MY LIFE??? HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT I AM FOLLOWING CHRIST AND NOT MERELY MY OWN IMPULSES?
God calls me in similar ways: I am called to love Christ more than I love all my relatives and friends, to live in anticipation of a new creation, and to worship God by enjoying Him forever.
God calls us in these ways: as a faith community, as the global body of Christ…
We leave behind what is comfortable for the sake of a new and greater family, a new and greater land, a new way of relating to the One Who made us.
2/15 Abram’s faith stretched: a new family, a new land READ: Genesis 12:1-13:1
Series Theme: We participate in God’s covenant with Abraham by faith, as we respond to the divine call, are tested by God, enjoy His guidance, and enjoy the rewards of faith fulfilled in a transformed world.
God’s call contains seven (i.e., the symbolic number of completeness) elements:
1. I will make you into a great nation’
2. I will bless you
3. I will make your name great
4. you will be a blessing
5. I will bless those who bless you
6. whoever curses you I will curse
7. all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (in the favored seventh position)
I. Abram was called to a new land, given a new family
a. Abram & Jesus—called, tested, guided, rewarded
i. Abram was called, as summarized.
God called Abram to leave his family for the promise of a new and greater family, to leave his land for the promise of a new and greater land, to leave his lifeless gods to walk with the one, true God.
ii. Jesus was called, anointed for his work by the Spirit.
Psa. 2:7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
b. I am called by God: to a new family, a new home, a new vocation
Abraham was called and we are called. RECOGNIZE? RESPOND!
II. Abram was tested by the call
a. Testing by the call to leave home, by the failure of crops in the new land, by the wait for the promise, etc. He failed the test of truthfulness when his first words were to coach Sarai to lie to the Egyptians (we often find ourselves challenged to bend the rules when we find ourselves in places we shouldn’t be).
b. Jesus was tested by Satan in the wilderness, by the many acts of obedience, by the cup of death on the Cross.
c. I am tested by the call to love Christ above all others, to treasure His companionship above my longings for all other friendships,
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
d. I am tested by the call to love my neighbour as myself.
e. I am tested by the call to “make something of the world,” to its restoration to the Garden.
f. I am tested by the nature of my call:
i. I am called to walk with God—I will have a growing hunger for conversation with Him, by His Word, by prayer, by His Spirit.
ii. I am called to be a part of a larger family, in some ways alien to my nuclear family.
iii. I am called to make something of the world:
1. To preserve it, restore it, improve it.
g. I am tested and sifted for motives. WHO NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED? Doesn’t God know?
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested. Recognize the TEST? Embrace the TEST!
Savour the goodness of God toward you…Rom. 8:28—good life, health, work, friends,
Rom. 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Recognize none of these? [“Relative deprivation”] Take a trip with me!
III. Abram was guided…
a. Abram experienced the guidance of a good God.
i. He was guided to a new land.
ii. He was guided through that land, boundary to boundary.
iii. When he left the land out of fear and sought refuge in Egypt, Sarai was guarded from Pharoah and Abram was guided back home.
iv. To the rescue of Lot
v. To the resolution of the Ishmael conundrum.
b. I can experience the guidance of God.
i. I am guided by the Spirit as I look to the HS for strength and control (Eph. 5:18).
Eph. 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
ii. By my life choices, understanding my spiritual gifting and potential impact on the Body of Christ.
iii. Of a mate—more when we get to Isaac!
iv. Of a vocation.
v. Of A family of disciples.
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested.
Abraham was guided and we are guided. Recognize? Respond!!
Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you
IV. Abram was rewarded…
a. Abram experienced the goodness of God in his lifetime.
i. With a son(s).
ii. With many offspring
iii. With the Seed (Jesus—Gal. 3:16)
Gal. 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
b. I enjoy the reward of God.
i. I enjoy Him and his goodness directly.
Psa. 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
ii. I find nourishment and delight in His Word.
Psa. 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
iii. I find rest in Him and from Him.
Matt. 11:28-29 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You Will Find Rest For Your Souls.
iv. I am rewarded by the call with enjoyment of
1. fresh fruit (Gal. 5:23),
2. new fruit (John 15), and
3. new hope (trust that God will be faithful to me at the end of days as he has been yesterday and today).
v. In the future, I will be welcomed into His presence without fear, to walk with Him and work for Him in a new earth, merged with heaven.
Abraham was called and we are called.
Abraham was tested and we are tested.
Abraham was guided and we are guided.
So, WAS Abraham rewarded?
Keller—“Abraham left but never arrived. Never sees it. Lives his entire life in the gap between vision and reality.”
Abram & me—called, tested, guided, rewarded
Recognize YOUR Reward???
GOSPEL Jesus had a call:
HE Left security in his father’s house, without knowing what it was like in the depths.
He lost his father ‘My God, my God, why hast thy forsaken Me?’ so we could gain His Father.
2/22 Abram’s Faith extended: a Prayer for the City, Gen. 12, 18:16-33
Abraham's Family of Faith 8 Feb 09
Abraham’s Family/Abram’s Call
Why this story matters to us:
1. Abraham is referenced some 70 times in the NT!
2. Abraham is labeled the means of blessing to the whole world; that would include us AND our neighbours and relatives.
3. “Like Noah before him, is a second Adam figure.
a. Adam was given the garden of Eden: Abraham is promised the land of Canaan.
b. God told Adam to be fruitful and multiply: Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
c. God walked with Adam in Eden: Abram was told to walk before God.
d. In this way the advent of Abraham is seen as the answer to the problems set out in Genesis 1-11: through him all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Gordon Wenham
4. We are said to be ‘grafted-into’ the lineage of Abraham, made to be his family.
Rom. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
5. Abraham was called by God to be the father of blessing to the whole world. We, too, are called.
Rom. 8:28 ¶ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Rom. 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Rom. 8:30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
This is individual.
a. We are called individually by God into faith.
i. No call; no faith!
ii. No faith; no life, no belonging, no mandate.
b. We are grafted into Abraham’s lineage, a part of the whole.
c. We have our joy enhanced when we share life together…
John Piper: “our joy in all that God is for us increases when it expands into the lives of others”
WE ARE BOTH DISTINCTIVE INDIVIDUALS AND PARTS OF THE WHOLE.
I am Abraham’s son.
I am God’s means of delivery for blessing to the world.
Start school tomorrow morning with that in mind and see what happens!
This raises more questions than it answers…
The Call—leave the land of Ur/Babel; WHENCE?
The Land—never owned land to live on; WHEN?
The Son—but they were too old to conceive; HOW?
The Sacrifice—the son of promise was to be offered?! WHY?
I believe that his life is a magnificent story of God’s personal intervention, divine rescue, and infusion of character and faith.
Abraham is no hero. His faults and failures are all too real, too transparent. But, when Abraham heard God’s promises and believed Him, God launched a work in Abraham that has the globe still vibrating.
The story begins…as a story of family, “the generations”…
Gen. 5:1 ¶ This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Gen. 6:9 ¶ These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
Gen. 10:1 ¶ Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.
Gen. 11:10 ¶ These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
Gen. 11:27 ¶ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.
Gen. 11:28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Gen. 11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
Gen. 11:30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Gen. 11:31 ¶ Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.
Gen. 12:1 ¶ Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
Gen. 12:2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Gen. 12:4 ¶ So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Gen. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.
Gen. 12:6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.
Gen. 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Gen. 12:8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Gen. 12:9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
“go”—12:1,4
“bless”—five times: vv 2-3
“land”—seven times: 11:31; 12:1, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7
“built an altar”—12:7b, 8b and again in 13:18
CONTEXT EXPLAINS THE NARRATIVE:
1. Adam & Eve thrived then crashed in the perfect Garden.
2. Their offspring became so brutally violent that God FLOODED THE WORLD to end the madness, saving only Noah and his family.
3. The Eden mandate was repeated, but Noah’s offspring refused, settling in Babel rather than multiplying in order to cover the earth as managers.
Now, generations later, Abram lives in Ur: 140 miles south of Babylon, between Baghdad and the head of the Persian Gulf; Sumerian, third millennium.
Worse, he is married and childless.
Gen. 11:30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Waltke: Sarai’s barrenness is the centerpiece of the story in Chapter 11…
A Introduction: Terah and his offspring (11:27)
B The family lives in Ur of the Childeans; Haran dies (11:28)
C Abraham takes Sarai as his wife; Nahor marries Milcah, whose father is Haran (11:29)
X Sarai is barren; she has no children (11:30)
C’ Terah takes (laqah) Abraham, along with Abraham’s wife Sarai and Lot, whose father is Haran (11:31a)
B’ The family leaves Ur of the Chaldeans and settles in Haran (11:31b)
A’ Conclusion: summary of Terah’s life; his death (11:32)
Keller Genesis 11—the race is spiraling down
One ray of hope in 9-11, a single family tree, the family of Seth
Seth called on the name of the Lord—true worship
Terah = moon; Ur was the center of lunar worship
The last family who knew anything about God disappeared.
Joshua 24—your forefathers lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods
Not only has the last family who knew about God lost its knowledge, but it is also about to physically disappear as well.
Garrett
The theme of God’s purposes overcoming symbolic barrenness (see 54:1) recurs with Rebekkah (Gen. 25:21), Rachel (29:31) and Hannah (I Sam. 1:2) and it foreshadows the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38). All these women actively commit themselves to God’s grace.
This is a DOUBLE DISASTER: out of place, out of potency.
God waited until the crushing weight was felt fully.
God intervened with a call that required faith.
Abraham “amened” God.
God rewarded Abraham’s faith with blessing.
God promised Abraham.
APPLICATIONS:
a. Adam was given the garden of Eden: Abraham is promised the land of Canaan.
i. WE ARE GIVEN THE EARTH TO CARE FOR.
b. God told Adam to be fruitful and multiply: Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
i. WE ARE TOLD TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF JESUS AND FILL THE EARTH WITH GODLY OFFSPRING.
c. God walked with Adam in Eden: Abram was told to walk before God.
i. WE ARE PROMISED THAT GOD WILL GUIDE OUR STEPS.
d. In this way the advent of Abraham is seen as the answer to the problems set out in Genesis 1-11: through him all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Gordon Wenham
i. WE ARE THE ANSWER TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD
Keller: The call reshapes so that you ask, ‘where can I most be a blessing.’
Live for the blessing of others and I will bless you.
Don’t wait until you have completed your coursework; found the ideal job; achieved promotion to a safe position…
Garrett: The Gospel of Abraham
The hope of Abraham and of the nations for salvation depends on God fulfilling his promises to give a son (Gen. 15:1-6; Luke 2:28-32). To that end, the births of both Isaac and Jesus are miraculous (Gen. 17:15-18; 18:12-14; Matt. 1:18-25). Paradoxically, however, both sons have to die and be raised from the dead before they can fulfill their missions: Isaac typically, Jesus Christ literally (Heb. 11:19).
Miroslav Vulf: “the courage to break his cultural ties was the original Abrahamic revolution. Christians depart from their original culture. Christians can never first of all be Asians or Americans or Russians or Tutsis and then Christians. Christians are Christians first. Christians take a distance from the gods of their own cultures and because they give their first allegiance to the God of all cultures and his promised future.…But, Now in Christ, departure is no longer a spatial category. It takes place within the cultural space one inhabits. It involves neither a modern attempt to build a new heaven out of the world. Nor a postmodern restlessness that fears to arrive anywhere. When Christians respond to the call of the Gospel, they put one foot outside their culture while the other remains firmly planted in it. Christian’s distance is not flight from one’s original culture but a new way of living in it because of a new vision of peace and joy they have in Christ.”
Abraham had to live out of faith in the arrival of a son.
Isaac points us to the real Son.
Keller: Jesus got a call:
Leave your father’s house.
Left ultimate security
Left not knowing where he was going: into the abyss
He lost his father so we could gain his father.
‘My God, my God, why hast thy forsaken Me?’
Why this story matters to us:
1. Abraham is referenced some 70 times in the NT!
2. Abraham is labeled the means of blessing to the whole world; that would include us AND our neighbours and relatives.
3. “Like Noah before him, is a second Adam figure.
a. Adam was given the garden of Eden: Abraham is promised the land of Canaan.
b. God told Adam to be fruitful and multiply: Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
c. God walked with Adam in Eden: Abram was told to walk before God.
d. In this way the advent of Abraham is seen as the answer to the problems set out in Genesis 1-11: through him all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Gordon Wenham
4. We are said to be ‘grafted-into’ the lineage of Abraham, made to be his family.
Rom. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?
5. Abraham was called by God to be the father of blessing to the whole world. We, too, are called.
Rom. 8:28 ¶ And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Rom. 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Rom. 8:30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
This is individual.
a. We are called individually by God into faith.
i. No call; no faith!
ii. No faith; no life, no belonging, no mandate.
b. We are grafted into Abraham’s lineage, a part of the whole.
c. We have our joy enhanced when we share life together…
John Piper: “our joy in all that God is for us increases when it expands into the lives of others”
WE ARE BOTH DISTINCTIVE INDIVIDUALS AND PARTS OF THE WHOLE.
I am Abraham’s son.
I am God’s means of delivery for blessing to the world.
Start school tomorrow morning with that in mind and see what happens!
This raises more questions than it answers…
The Call—leave the land of Ur/Babel; WHENCE?
The Land—never owned land to live on; WHEN?
The Son—but they were too old to conceive; HOW?
The Sacrifice—the son of promise was to be offered?! WHY?
I believe that his life is a magnificent story of God’s personal intervention, divine rescue, and infusion of character and faith.
Abraham is no hero. His faults and failures are all too real, too transparent. But, when Abraham heard God’s promises and believed Him, God launched a work in Abraham that has the globe still vibrating.
The story begins…as a story of family, “the generations”…
Gen. 5:1 ¶ This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Gen. 6:9 ¶ These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
Gen. 10:1 ¶ Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.
Gen. 11:10 ¶ These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
Gen. 11:27 ¶ Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.
Gen. 11:28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Gen. 11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
Gen. 11:30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Gen. 11:31 ¶ Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.
Gen. 12:1 ¶ Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
Gen. 12:2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Gen. 12:4 ¶ So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Gen. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.
Gen. 12:6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.
Gen. 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Gen. 12:8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Gen. 12:9 Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev.
“go”—12:1,4
“bless”—five times: vv 2-3
“land”—seven times: 11:31; 12:1, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7
“built an altar”—12:7b, 8b and again in 13:18
CONTEXT EXPLAINS THE NARRATIVE:
1. Adam & Eve thrived then crashed in the perfect Garden.
2. Their offspring became so brutally violent that God FLOODED THE WORLD to end the madness, saving only Noah and his family.
3. The Eden mandate was repeated, but Noah’s offspring refused, settling in Babel rather than multiplying in order to cover the earth as managers.
Now, generations later, Abram lives in Ur: 140 miles south of Babylon, between Baghdad and the head of the Persian Gulf; Sumerian, third millennium.
Worse, he is married and childless.
Gen. 11:30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Waltke: Sarai’s barrenness is the centerpiece of the story in Chapter 11…
A Introduction: Terah and his offspring (11:27)
B The family lives in Ur of the Childeans; Haran dies (11:28)
C Abraham takes Sarai as his wife; Nahor marries Milcah, whose father is Haran (11:29)
X Sarai is barren; she has no children (11:30)
C’ Terah takes (laqah) Abraham, along with Abraham’s wife Sarai and Lot, whose father is Haran (11:31a)
B’ The family leaves Ur of the Chaldeans and settles in Haran (11:31b)
A’ Conclusion: summary of Terah’s life; his death (11:32)
Keller Genesis 11—the race is spiraling down
One ray of hope in 9-11, a single family tree, the family of Seth
Seth called on the name of the Lord—true worship
Terah = moon; Ur was the center of lunar worship
The last family who knew anything about God disappeared.
Joshua 24—your forefathers lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods
Not only has the last family who knew about God lost its knowledge, but it is also about to physically disappear as well.
Garrett
The theme of God’s purposes overcoming symbolic barrenness (see 54:1) recurs with Rebekkah (Gen. 25:21), Rachel (29:31) and Hannah (I Sam. 1:2) and it foreshadows the virgin birth (Luke 1:26-38). All these women actively commit themselves to God’s grace.
This is a DOUBLE DISASTER: out of place, out of potency.
God waited until the crushing weight was felt fully.
God intervened with a call that required faith.
Abraham “amened” God.
God rewarded Abraham’s faith with blessing.
God promised Abraham.
APPLICATIONS:
a. Adam was given the garden of Eden: Abraham is promised the land of Canaan.
i. WE ARE GIVEN THE EARTH TO CARE FOR.
b. God told Adam to be fruitful and multiply: Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
i. WE ARE TOLD TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF JESUS AND FILL THE EARTH WITH GODLY OFFSPRING.
c. God walked with Adam in Eden: Abram was told to walk before God.
i. WE ARE PROMISED THAT GOD WILL GUIDE OUR STEPS.
d. In this way the advent of Abraham is seen as the answer to the problems set out in Genesis 1-11: through him all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Gordon Wenham
i. WE ARE THE ANSWER TO THE PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD
Keller: The call reshapes so that you ask, ‘where can I most be a blessing.’
Live for the blessing of others and I will bless you.
Don’t wait until you have completed your coursework; found the ideal job; achieved promotion to a safe position…
Garrett: The Gospel of Abraham
The hope of Abraham and of the nations for salvation depends on God fulfilling his promises to give a son (Gen. 15:1-6; Luke 2:28-32). To that end, the births of both Isaac and Jesus are miraculous (Gen. 17:15-18; 18:12-14; Matt. 1:18-25). Paradoxically, however, both sons have to die and be raised from the dead before they can fulfill their missions: Isaac typically, Jesus Christ literally (Heb. 11:19).
Miroslav Vulf: “the courage to break his cultural ties was the original Abrahamic revolution. Christians depart from their original culture. Christians can never first of all be Asians or Americans or Russians or Tutsis and then Christians. Christians are Christians first. Christians take a distance from the gods of their own cultures and because they give their first allegiance to the God of all cultures and his promised future.…But, Now in Christ, departure is no longer a spatial category. It takes place within the cultural space one inhabits. It involves neither a modern attempt to build a new heaven out of the world. Nor a postmodern restlessness that fears to arrive anywhere. When Christians respond to the call of the Gospel, they put one foot outside their culture while the other remains firmly planted in it. Christian’s distance is not flight from one’s original culture but a new way of living in it because of a new vision of peace and joy they have in Christ.”
Abraham had to live out of faith in the arrival of a son.
Isaac points us to the real Son.
Keller: Jesus got a call:
Leave your father’s house.
Left ultimate security
Left not knowing where he was going: into the abyss
He lost his father so we could gain his father.
‘My God, my God, why hast thy forsaken Me?’
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