The Call of God to Old Testament Characters. Lesson 2

The Call of God to Old Testament Characters

Lesson 2

Lesson Text—Genesis 12:1-3

Genesis 12:1-31 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Lesson Text—Genesis 12:1-3

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Lesson Text—Hebrews 11:8

Hebrews 11:8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Lesson Text—Matthew 3:26-29

Matthew 3:26-2926 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Lesson Text—Matthew 3:26-29

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Focus Verse—Isaiah 51:2

Isaiah 51:2 Look unto Abraham your father,

and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him,

and increased him.

Focus Thought

To give birth to the nation of

Israel,

God began with a man named

Abram.

I. God Called Abram to Build a Nation

Culture ConnectionLiving beyond Your Life

Most of us think primarily of events contained within the boundaries of our lifespan: getting an education, finding a spouse, maintaining a career, achieving success, having a family, and preparing for retirement. Thinking beyond our death one generation into the future is difficult. Thinking two or three generations into the future seems almost impossible. Nevertheless, our legacy (decisions, philosophy, and our achievements) may have enduring influence.


The Hindus believe this influence of our progenitors is uncontrollable. They believe a person’s karma will dictate his or her station in life. However, the Bible teaches that each individual has a God-given volition. We choose who we will be and how we will live. With God’s help we can break the cycles of genetic or family trends. We do not have to repeat the sins and failures of our ancestors.

When a person responds to God’s call, the impact can be enormous. We are not only saving ourselves.


We could be saving generations! Our influence will live on after we have passed away. Our future descendants may never visit our graves; they may not even know our names, but our influence will live on.

My maternal and paternal grandparents were converted to Oneness Pentecostalism. Through their decision and Christian life, our large family is predominantly Oneness Pentecostal.


Today I have over a hundred uncles, aunts, and cousins who are Oneness Pentecostal because of my grandparents’ influence. In the group, there are over a dozen Oneness Apostolic ministers. Although my grandparents have been dead for many years, they would be amazed if they knew how many they have influenced.


Contemplating the TopicThe Scriptures present Abram as a

model of faithful obedience to God. Yet the Genesis account demonstrates a number of times he failed to act in full obedience and faith. An ordinary man in his day, he lived without Bible or pastor, surrounded by superstition and idolatry in a land he owned only by promise and not by title. To such a man, God entrusted the vital work of founding a nation that would be His own chosen people and from whom the Savior of the world would be born.


The triumph of this ordinary man over his culture, his environment, and his own doubts stands as a witness to us far stronger than any mythical hero. Most of us can much more easily identify with Abram, the man of doubts and fears who showed only partial obedience to God’s call, than with Abraham, the giant of faith who started up the mountain to sacrifice his son after he said, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Genesis 22:5).


Obedience to God’s call changed Abram from a polytheistic cosmopolitan urbanite to a monotheistic nomadic patriarch. It changed Abram the Mesopotamian to Abram the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13), and eventually to Abraham the father of all who believe (Romans 4:11). Our hope and encouragement come from knowing that any believer can become an individual of great faith, like Abraham, through the power of God’s call.

A. God Called Abram OutSearching the Scriptures

God Called Abram to Build a Nation

A. God Called Abram Out

The Bible uses the phrase “Ur of the Chaldees” to identify the city in which Abram and his family lived. According to Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, Ur was a subset of the great Sumerian civilization that comprised a territory south of Babylon about the size of New

Jersey.

I. God Called Abram to Build a NationSumeria came into existence shortly

after the Flood (Genesis 11:2) and is recognized as the first civilization of recorded history, pre-dating the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Africa, China, and the Indus valley (T. Walter Wallbank et al., Civilization Past and Present, 5th edition). Ur was the principal Sumerian city, probably the largest city in the world at the time of Abram.


Abram was probably not much different from the other citizens of Ur. When describing Abram’s family, God said, “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2). We do not know of Abram’s relationship to God before the call, or if he even had one. We simply are told “the LORD had said unto Abram” (Genesis 12:1) to depart from his old life and follow Him.


Even the actual call of God was recorded as an event in the past (“had said”). Stephen supplied some details later when he testified before the Sanhedrin: “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran” (Acts 7:2). Without this verse, we would not even know for certain when and where the call occurred or that it was accompanied by an “appearance” of God.


God commanded Abram to separate himself from three things: his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. Separation from his country would mean giving up his friends, his culture, and the comfortable urban way of life. Separation from his kindred would mean parting from those he loved and those who loved him—his natural support network. Separation from his father’s house would mean renouncing his right to his father’s inheritance and, more importantly, renouncing his link in the continuity of his ancestors.


Except for a brief statement informing Abram that he had arrived at his destination (Genesis 12:7), there is no record of God speaking to Abram again until he had completely fulfilled this command for separation (Genesis 13:14).

B. God Promised to Bless Abram

B. God Promised to Bless Abram

God’s demands upon Abram may have appeared severe, but they could not compare to the blessings He promised for obedience. In place of Abram’s country, God promised “a land that I will shew thee.” In place of Abram’s kindred, God promised “I will make of thee a great nation.” In place of Abram’s father’s name and heritage, God promised, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great” (Genesis 12:1-2).


Obedience to God’s call always requires sacrifice, but it always results in greater blessings.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ observed the blessing in store for those who sacrifice for the sake of the Lord.

Mark 10:29-30Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you,

There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or

father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and

the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time,

houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life”

(Mark 10:29-30).

C. God Promised to Protect Abram

C. God Promised to Protect Abram

Facing the call of God to go to a land far from his home, Abram probably experienced the natural fear of the unknown. God reassured Abram that following His call meant walking in His protection. “I will bless them that bless thee,” God promised, “and curse him that curseth thee” (Genesis 12:3).


It probably did not escape Abram’s notice that contained in the promise “I will curse him that curseth thee” is the prediction that he would be the target of curses. Similarly, we should not overlook that the comforting words of Jesus in Mark 10:29-30 include the words “with persecutions.”

God did not prevent Abram from facing difficult and even potentially deadly trials. (See Genesis 12:17-20; 14:13-16.) God said, “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1).


Living a godly life does not exempt the believer from bad times. “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing” (I Peter 3:17). When facing trials, believers can know God is their protector and defender (Isaiah 58:8; Matthew 28:20).

A. God’s Promise Endured Delay

God Brought Abram into Canaan

A. God’s Promise Endured Delay

Apparently in response to God’s call of Abram, his father Terah gathered up the family and left “Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan” (Genesis 11:31). However, upon arriving at the city of Haran, Terah decided to settle there rather than continue to Canaan.


Abram remained at Haran until the death of his father, at which point he finally continued the journey to Canaan accompanied by his wife Sarai and nephew Lot.

It seems that Abram’s partial obedience continued with his failure to separate himself from his nephew Lot when he left Haran. Consequently, God did not renew the covenant with Abram until he and Lot had separated. The Scriptures emphasize this point by the introduction to God’s renewal of the covenant:


“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him . . .” (Genesis 13:14).

We have no way of knowing how long Abram failed to obey God’s call. His apparent attempt to appease God by years of partial obedience did little to further God’s plan for his life. Thus these were years of relative silence on God’s part. Abram left his home in Ur, eventually moved to Canaan, built altars, called on the name of the LORD (Genesis 13:4), and tried to live in a manner that would please God. (See

Genesis 13:8.)


Yet his partial disobedience to God’s call kept him from enjoying the full fellowship with God that would mark the last days of his life. This failing probably brought about the nature of Abram’s ultimate test of faith. He would not give up his father; would he give up his son? He reluctantly gave up his past heritage; would he trust God for his future legacy? (See Genesis 22:2, 12; Hebrews 11:17-19.)

B. God Promised to Give the Land to Abram

B. God Promised to Give the Land to Abram

God appeared to Abram while he was living a nomadic life in central Palestine (Genesis 12:6; Hebrews 11:9) and said, “Unto thy seed will I give this land” (Genesis 12:7). This brief encounter assured Abram he had arrived in the land God had promised to show him (Genesis 12:1) and reassured him that in spite of his partial disobedience, his call remained

in effect.


God never repents of His call upon our lives (Romans 11:29-30). He who knows the end from the beginning knows our hearts. He knows whom to call to establish His will (Isaiah 46:10-11; I Chronicles 28:9). We may doubt our ability to answer His call, but God never makes mistakes. We may even fight His call on our lives and offer only partial submission, but God stands ready to renew that call and pour out His blessings when we are ready to repent and offer unqualified submission.


After Abram’s separation from Lot, God renewed the covenant He had made while Abram was still living in Ur. In this renewal God provided more details of His plan. He told Abram that from the place where he stood, all the land he could see to the north, south, east, and west would belong to him and to his seed forever (Genesis 13:14-15). God then commanded him, “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee” (Genesis 13:17).

C. God Promised to Fill the Land with Abram’s Family

C. God Promised to Fill the Land with Abram’s Family

Abram already knew God’s promise to make of him a “great nation.” But God expanded His promise further: “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered” (Genesis 13:16). God’s promise meant Abram’s descendants would be impossible to number.


According to the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, a little over 13 million people of Jewish descent are alive today, but Abram’s descendents include many ethnic groups in addition to Jews. Population genetics may one day give us a rough estimate of the population of the world descended from Abram, but it will remain impossible to get an accurate count. However, God’s promise was not an exercise in population statistics but a mental image of the vastness of His promise.


The passage of time has brought with it overwhelming evidence of God’s faithfulness to that promise, but to one childless old man, the promise must have become increasingly frustrating. Years passed without any evident progress toward fulfillment. When God again appeared to Abram in a vision, Abram questioned the covenant: “Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?. . . Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir” (Genesis 15:2-3).


To assuage Abram’s doubts, God promised, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” (Genesis 15:4).

God then called upon Abram to choose between those things he knew to be true by natural reasoning and that which God reveals to be true. God “brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (Genesis 15:5).


This must have been a startling challenge to Abram. Living on this side of the invention of the telescope, we take for granted that there are as many stars as the dust of the earth, but the people of Abram’s time knew only of the stars they could see with the naked eye.

For centuries in the temples atop every ziggurat in Sumeria, astronomers carefully observed the stellar sky and kept meticulous, scientifically accurate records.


The Sumerians not only observed the heavens but worked out in detail the mathematics of the movements of the heavenly bodies and could predict with amazing precision what the sky would look like at any given date and time. Even the simplest nomad knew the stars intimately and understood the times and seasons by their motion. Growing up in Ur, Abram would not only have thought he knew how many stars were in the heavens, but he would have learned their names and locations at each season.


When God challenged him to “tell the stars, if thou be able to number them,” God was challenging him to put aside everything he knew as a human, everything the science of his day held to be true, and everything his own eyes could observe, and trust instead in God’s assertion that the stars are in fact innumerable. The Bible expressed his choice simply: “And he believed in the LORD” (Genesis 15:6). Is it any wonder that God “counted it to him for righteousness”?

A. God’s Promise Was Also to Sarah

God Promised Abram a Son

A. God’s Promise Was Also to Sarah

While God promised to bless all of Abram’s descendents, only those who came through the promised heir would inherit the land. This heir not only had to be the biological son of Abram, he also had to be the biological son of Sarah.


When God calls a man or woman, that calling also falls upon the spouse because the couple is one flesh (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5). As their failed experiment with Hagar demonstrated, Abram’s calling could be fulfilled only through his wife Sarah.

Sarah’s faith in the call of her husband was perhaps more dramatic than Abram’s faith in God. We have no record that God appeared or spoke to her for nearly the first century of her life.


Until the visit by the three “men” recorded in Genesis 18 she possibly had only her husband’s testimony to uphold her faith. Although God spoke to Abraham about her, the only recorded words God ever spoke directly to her were “Nay; but thou didst laugh” (Genesis 18:15). Yet Sarah was faithful and submissive to her husband’s calling, and God protected and blessed her. God did not arrange things in this way to leave Sarah out or to imply that she was not important, but to give her

a more glorious testimony.


Peter wrote that believing women who adorn themselves with a gentle and quiet spirit are the spiritual daughters of Sarah (I Peter 3:3-6). Galatians 4:23-28 holds up Sarah as a type of the new covenant of grace and of the new spiritual Jerusalem, the eternal home of the redeemed. “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11).


It seems fitting that the only piece of the Promised Land to which Abram ever held legal title was the burial place of Sarah (Genesis 23:2-9).

B. God’s Promise Was FulfilledB. God’s Promise Was

FulfilledWithout dismissing the great miracle of Isaac’s birth, we should understood that the covenant was not fulfilled in him. While the son of Abraham and Sarah was the instrument through whom the working out of God’s promises would continue for another generation, he was not the seed of Abraham through whom the fullness of the blessings would come.


Rather, that Son would be born many generations later to a young and apparently unimportant descendant of Abraham and Sarah whose name was Mary. “In thee” God had promised, “shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

Galatians 3:16-17“Now to Abraham and his seed

were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but

as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed

before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none

effect” (Galatians 3:16-17).

Galatians 3:18

“For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but

God gave it to Abraham by promise”

(Galatians 3:16-18).


Christ was the physical seed of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth are blessed. As the body of Christ, we too have the glorious privilege to become Abraham’s spiritual seed. In this age God calls every believer to bring this promised blessing to every family of the earth.

A. The Blessings of AbrahamGod Gave Abram a Spiritual Heritage

A. The Blessings of Abraham“Christ hath redeemed us from the

curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”

(Galatians 3:13-14).


The blessing of Abraham is not the land. “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). The blessing of Abraham is not his biological descendents.

Romans 2:28-29“For he is not a Jew, which is one

outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is

not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:28-29).


The blessing of Abraham is the promise of the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the ultimate blessing prophesied to Abram when he was yet an idolater living in Ur.

B. Promises of Abraham Available to Us

B. Promises of Abraham Available to Us

Romans 4:11 indicates that because of his faith, Abram became “the father of all them that believe.” We become partakers in the blessings of Abraham when we follow his example to separate ourselves from our old lives and take on new life in Christ Jesus. By grace we enter into the family of Abraham as heirs of the promise. “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” (Galatians 4:28).

Romans 4:13-14

“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to

Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the

righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith

is made void, and the promise made of none effect” (Romans

4:13-14).

Romans 4:15-16“Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of

faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure

to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham;

who is the father of us all” (Romans 4:15-16).


Some may believe that all the promises made to Abram’s biological seed have become our promises. However, as the physical offspring of Abram were given natural promises, the spiritual offspring are given exceedingly great and precious spiritual promises (II Peter 1:4). Through the Holy Spirit living in us, we can experience a close relationship with God that transcends all of our human doubts, fears, and failures.


God purchased our relationship with His own blood (Acts 20:28) and sealed it by His own Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). It was given to us by His act of grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27).

C. Universal Promise to AllC. Universal Promise to All

Of all the hundreds of thousands of human beings who lived upon the earth, why did God call Abraham? Why did God choose his descendants by his wife Sarah to carry His message? Why did He single out Abraham as the bearer of a blessing for all the families of the earth? God answered these questions many generations later when He spoke to the descendants of Abraham.

Deuteronomy 7:6-7“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than

any people; for ye were the fewest of all people” (Deuteronomy 7:6-7).

Deuteronomy 7:8“But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which

he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the

house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy

7:8).

Deuteronomy 7:9

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which

keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his

commandments to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).


Today the blessings of Abraham’s call are available to all human beings. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). None of us can be counted worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14-15), but by His grace He counts us worthy (II Thessalonians 1:11-12).

I. God Called Abram to Build a NationHis blessings flow upon us because He

loves us and because He keeps the oath that He swore with our father Abraham.

Ephesians 4:1-3“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk

worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and

meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”

(Ephesians 4:1-3).

Ephesians 4:4-8“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,

who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure

of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high,

he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:4-8).


Internalizing the Message

Abram had times of doubt and failure. The darkness of the soul overtook him from time to time (Genesis 15:12) as inevitably it does us all. Abraham stands as a great testimony of how God calls ordinary people to reach amazing heights of faith. The Bible never records that Abraham ever preached a sermon, started a church, wrote a book, healed the sick, or worked a miracle.


Occasionally he was called upon to perform extraordinary deeds such as raise an army to rescue his nephew, intercede on behalf of the sinful cities of the plains, and even offer his own son as a sacrifice.

While these events clearly indicate the manner of man Abraham was becoming, they were the momentary and unusual events in his life. For the most part his life was just a century of wandering around, building a few altars, and listening for God.


Had we seen him, we probably would have been unable to distinguish him from any other wealthy nomadic clan chieftain. But the difference would have been evident once we started talking to him. His life was centered on belief in God, and he trusted God as his defender, provider, confidant, and best friend. “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23).

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The Call of God to Old Testament Characters. Lesson 2