The most honored man in history

THE MOST HOORED MA I HISTORY
THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM VOL. 1 GEESIS 12 THROUGH 18
A COMMETARY O GEESIS 12 THROUGH 25
Written and edited By Pastor Glenn Pease
PREFACE
This commentary is designed to save time in getting basic understanding of the text
on the life of Abraham. I have read many authors and have taken what I deem to be
the best in explaining the text and quoted them under the appropriate verse. I have
given credit where possible, but in many cases I do not have the name of the author.
If you recognize the author please e-mail me at glenn_p86@yahoo.com and I will be
glad to add the author's name to the quote. I have taken as many ideas as I could
find and numbered them under each verse. If you have a great idea that is not listed,
send it to me, and I will consider adding it with your name. This is a work in
progress, and I welcome any comments that will make it a more useful tool in
explaining and applying the Word of God.
ITRODUCTIO
God does not choose the way we choose. Almost all that God does in his plan of
salvation would be rejected by any planning committee of humans, for it is not
logical according to the human mind. God tends to choose unlikely people to
accomplish his purpose in history, and Abraham is a prime example. His resume
would have been hurled into the circular file immediately by any human hiring
agent. First of all his background made him an unlikely candidate for serving the
one true God. He lived among a pagan people who worshipped other gods. We are
told this plainly in Joshua 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the
LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the
father of Abraham and ahor, lived beyond the River and worshipped other gods.
Abraham grew up in a home that practiced idolatry. That should have been three
strikes against him from the start. But we need to remember that a converted enemy
can become your best friend. Paul was an enemy of the Church and persecuted
those who named the name of Jesus. evertheless, Jesus chose him to be the Apostle
of the Gentiles to found the church of Christ among the pagans of the world. He was
an enemy who became the best friend of the church and of the Lord Jesus.
God has a delight in using the most unlikely people to accomplish his will, for by
doing so he magnifies his own wisdom and love. Paul writes to the Corinthians in I
Cor. 1:26-31, Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. ot many of
you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of
noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God
chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of
this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the
things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you
are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our

righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who
boasts boast in the Lord.” Applying this to Abraham means that when we praise
and honor this choice of God, the focus is to be on the wisdom and love of God and
not just on the man he chose. He was just a man and as we study his life we see he
made many mistakes. He was far from perfect, but God chose him and used him for
his own glory, and we are all blest because of what God did through this one man.
God's plan from the start is not based on human merit, but on divine mercy and
grace. Someone told this story that fits Abraham and many others whom God has
chosen. A young black boy down south years ago, wanted to join a church. So the
deacons were examining him. They asked, How did you get saved? His answer
was, God did His part, and I did my part. They thought there was something
wrong with his doctrine, so they questioned further, What was God's part, and
what was your part? His explanation was a good one. He said, God's part was the
saving, and my part was the sinning. I done run from Him as fast as my sinful heart
and rebellious legs could take me. He done took out after me till He run me down.
This boy understood grace. Paul was literally run down by Jesus and knocked to
the ground and made a slave of Christ. He was arresting Christians, but Jesus
arrested him, and he became the most famous church planter and missionary in the
Church.
What Paul is to the ew Testament Abraham is to the Old Testament. There is more
about his life than any other person in the Old Testament, and in the great faith
chapter of Heb. 11 there is more on him than any other. He is the main character of
the Old Testament, for out of him came all the rest of the main characters of the Old
Testament. He is also the main character because he is the only man in history to be
called the friend of God, and not just once but three times in the Bible. II Chron.
20:7, O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your
people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? Isa.
41:8, But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants
of Abraham my friend,.. James 2:23, And the scripture was fulfilled that says,
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was
called God's friend.
From the point of view of a Jewish Rabbi, Abraham is to the Old Testament what
Jesus is to the ew Testament. He said this in a message to his congregation where
he used a popular note about Jesus to refer to Abraham: “Guess what, folks? It's
that time of year again! It is the time of year when we celebrate the birth and life of
one of the most important men in the history of the world. He is a man whose entire
life was devoted to helping the rest of mankind. A man who preached love and
kindness wherever he went. And a man who, even now, thousands of years after his
death, continues to inspire devoted followers across the globe to have faith in the
Lord, and to live a G-dly existence. I was driving to a doctor recently, when I saw
the perfect billboard — a billboard that describes this great man perfectly: HE
WAS BOR I A STABLE. HE EVER WET TO COLLEGE. HE EVER
HELD POLITICAL OFFICE. YET OBODY IFLUECED THE HISTORY OF
MAKID MORE THA THIS OE SIGLE MA.
Yes, the one man who has given more to our civilization than anyone else was

Abraham. The first Jew on earth to recognize the one G-d and to publicize His
name, spreading monotheism and absolute values and morals across the entire
world. Without Abraham’s courageous and daring undertaking, seeking out the
Truth of the one G-d in a world full of paganism and hedonism, none of the other
monotheistic religions would be here today. (Okay, so maybe he wasn’t born in a
stable.)” Dr. Amos Miller, also a Rabbi, in his book Abraham Friend of God begins
with Isa. 51:1-2 and then writes, “In truth, throughout the ages, Jews, and indeed all
decent human beings influenced by the Jewish Bible, have looked to the life of the
patriarch Abraham for guidance and inspiration.” He goes on to say that not only is
he the father of the Jewish people, “but also the spiritual father of all who accept the
concept of ethical monotheism, of a God who not only created the world but
demands ethical and moral living from his human creatures.”
The book of Genesis starts with God making order out of chaos. Then man falls and
disorder again takes over as sin multiplies. God has to work again to restore order
and Abraham is a key hero in this labor to restore it. All of history is about people
who add to the disorder of life or to the order of life. God does not stop trying for
order. If some fail he moves on with others, for he never gives up trying. Satan is
ever working for confusion and disorder, but God’s plan is always for order. The
Bible reveals heaven to be a place of perfect order, and the more we have of it in
time the closer we are to heaven. There is no disorder in God. God chose just one
man to begin a new world with new people and a new order. One is always enough
for God to do a marvelous thing. He chose one to be a blessing for all. It is the focus
that often leads to the most widespread blessing. Those who focus on some specific
subject become a blessing to all the world. You cannot focus on everything. You
need to eliminate many things and focus on the one thing to reach a goal. Pink
comments, The passage for our present consideration introduces us to the third
great section of Genesis. As its name intimates, Genesis is the book of Beginnings. Its
literary structure is true to its title for the whole of its contents center around three
beginnings. First there is the beginning of the human race in Adam; Second, there is
the new beginning on the post-diluvian earth in oah and his sons; Third, there is
the beginning of the Chosen ation in Abram. Thus in Genesis we have three great
beginnings, and therefore as three is the number of the Godhead, we see how in
this first book of the Divine Library, the very autograph of Deity is stamped on the
opening pages of Holy Writ.
Abraham was born somewhere around 2000 B. C. and apparently was raised in Ur,
which was the big city in lower Mesopotamia. In fact, many say it was the greatest
commercial capital of the world at that time. It was far advanced in civilization. F.
B. Meyer gives us this account of it: The sons of Ham pushed southwards, over the
fertile plains of Chaldea, where, under the lead of the mighty imrod, they built
towns of baked clay; reared temples, of which the ruins remain to this day; and
cultivated the arts of civilized life to an extent unknown elsewhere. They are said to
have been proficient in mathematics and astronomy; in weaving, metalworking, and
gem engraving; and to have preserved their thoughts by writing on clay tablets.
ow, it so happened, that into the midst of this Hamite colonization there had come
a family of the sons of Shem. This clan, under the lead of Terah, had settled down

on the rich pasture lands outside Ur. The walled cities, and civilized arts, and
merchant traffic, had little attraction for them; as they were rather a race of
shepherds, living in tents, or in villages of slightly constructed huts. Ray Stedman
wrote, I have read several books, which attempt to depict Abram as an ignorant,
unlettered nomad of the desert who lived in a very primitive mud-walled village. We
could hardly expect to find in such a man much more than the primitive searching
of a barbaric man struggling to discover God. But the spade of the archaeologist has
since turned up the ruins of Ur, and we have learned that this was a city of great
wealth and considerable culture, containing a library and a university. The city was
devoted to the worship of the Moon Goddess, and it is almost certain, that Abram
was an idolater, a worshipper of the moon.
David Legge writes, As you read his life story, we find out that he was born and
raised in Ur, a city of the Chaldees. It was a seaport in Persia, the Persian Gulf,
about 12 miles away from the traditional spot that scholars think the Garden of
Eden was in. That city, the Ur of the Chaldees, the most conspicuous site and
building within it was a large building that seemed to be modeled on the Tower of
Babel. The city had two main temples, one was dedicated to the god annar the
moon god, and the other to his wife ingal. Abraham, as a young child, was brought
up in that pagan atmosphere - and glory be to God, he was converted out of it, and
he became eventually the father of faith. Ralph Wison adds these details,
Abraham's ancestors were idolaters and polytheists (worshippers of many gods).
Joshua reminds the people, Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father
of Abraham and ahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods (Joshua
24:2). Jacob's wife Rachel, who probably grew up with Terah's religion, stole her
father's household gods (31:32-35; 35:2-4). Archaeology shows that both Ur in
Lower Mesopotamia and Haran in Upper Mesopotamia were centers of moon
worship. Even the names Terah, Laban, Sarah, and Milcah contain elements that
reveal allegiance to the moon-god. Much later than Abraham, the Israelites are
warned against worship of the moon, sun, and stars (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:2-5),
though this kind of worship continued under idolatrous kings (2 Kings 23:5-12).
All of these details help us to better understand the new beginning that God
launches into with this one man from Ur. His story influences more people on this
planet than any other person to have ever lived. It should be with great anticipation
that we study this man named Abram and later changed to Abraham. I will do so by
looking at every verse in Genesis 12 through 25. I will give the views of others and
share my own commentary as well. Before we begin chapter 12 we need to look at
the closing verses of Genesis 11 where we get some background information.
GEESIS 11:26-32
26
After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, ahor and Haran.
1. It is no wonder that we come to conclusions that are not valid when we read
Scripture, for I read this and assumed that Abram was the first son of Terah and
that he was born when Terah was 70 years old. That seems logical, but I discover

that this is not the case at all. Look at the comments of Adam Clarke, Haran was
certainly the eldest son of Terah, and he appears to have been born when Terah was
about seventy years of age, and his birth was followed in successive periods with
those of ahor his second, and Abram his youngest son. Many have been greatly
puzzled with the account here, supposing because Abram is mentioned first, that
therefore he was the eldest son of Terah: but he is only put first by way of dignity.
An in stance of this we have already seen, Genesis 5:32, where oah is represented
as having Shem, Ham, and Japheth in this order of succession; whereas it is evident
from other scriptures that Shem was the youngest son, who for dignity is named
first, as Abram is here; and Japheth the eldest, named last, as Haran is here. Terah
died two hundred and five years old, Genesis 11:32; then Abram departed from
Haran when seventy-five years old, Genesis 12:4; therefore Abram was born, not
when his father Terah was seventy, but when he was one hundred and thirty. When
any case of dignity or pre-eminence is to be marked, then even the youngest son is
set before all the rest, though contrary to the usage of the Scriptures in other cases.
Hence we find Shem, the youngest son of oah, always mentioned first; Moses is
mentioned before his elder brother Aaron; and Abram before his two elder
brethren Haran and ahor. These observations are sufficient to remove all
difficulty from this place.
2. Gill in his commentary writes, Abram, though named first, does not appear to
be the eldest, but rather Haran; nay, it seems pretty plain that Abram was not born
until the one hundred and thirtieth year of his father's life, for Terah was two
hundred and five years old when he died, (Genesis 11:32) and Abram was but
seventy five years of age when he went out of Haran to Canaan, (Genesis 12:4) and
that was as soon as his father died there; and so that if seventy five are taken out
two hundred and five, there will remain one hundred and thirty, in which year and
not before Abram must be born: the wife of Terah, of whom Abram was born,
according to the Jewish writers F24, her name was Chamtelaah, the daughter of
Carnebo, or as others F25 call her, Amthalai; but by the Arabic writers.
3. Guzik writes, Genesis 11:26 is the first mention of Abram. Abram (later changed
to Abraham) is mentioned 312 times in 272 verses in the Bible. He is arguably the
most famous man of the Old Testament, and certainly one of the most influential
men of history. The book of Genesis covers more than 2,000 years and more than 20
generations; yet, it spends almost a third of its text on the life of one man, Abram.
4. Steve Zeisler writes, This is a rather prosaic beginning to the story. Genesis
11:26 is the end of a lengthy genealogy which follows the usual pattern So-and-so
was the son of So-and-so, on and on until we come to Terah and his sons. You might
not notice that you had just turned a corner and were beginning the account that is
the most magnificent of all stories. Yet, even in these verses, we are hearing faintly
the theme music that will become the most wonderful hymn imaginable. We have
just been introduced to Abram, and in that introduction begins the story of
salvation.

27
This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, ahor and Haran.
And Haran became the father of Lot.
1. Terah would actually be the father of God's people, but there is no history to
follow up his fatherhood of these three sons. The rest of history follows his youngest
son Abram. It is all about this son from here on, and though ahor still plays a role
in the history of Abram, the story of Terah ends here.
28
While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the
land of his birth.
1.There is no guarantee that children will out live their parents, and it has happened
all through history that children die first. My grandmother lived to the ripe old age
of 98, and one of her greatest burdens was outliving several of her 9 children.
29
Abram and ahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the
name of ahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both
Milcah and Iscah.
1. So here in these few verses we see that Abram has two brothers, a wife, and a
nephew named Lot and two nieces named Milcah and Iscah, who are the daughters
of his older brother who died. His other brother married one of the nieces named
Milcah, and Abram took Lot under his wing, and so that leaves Iscah with nobody
caring for her after her father Haran died. We do not know what happened to her,
and maybe she was already married and needed no one. Some authorities are
convinced she was Sarai, but Abram himself says of her that she was the daughter
of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, Genesis 20:12. She was ten years
younger than Abram. Lot and Milcah were brother and sister and they were split
up into the families of the two brothers who survived. Lot has quite a role in the
history of Abraham just because he was taken by this brother, and not the other.
Sarai was also a child of Terah who fathered Abram, and so Abram married his
half sister and his brother ahor married his niece. What we are seeing here is the
way marriages stayed within the family in these ancient times. Later, marriages
with close relatives was forbidden. There were only three sons on the ark with oah,
and so all of their children had to marry cousins at that time, for there were no
other choices.
2.Abraham is a grown and married man when we first see him. Scholars put this in
about 2000 B. C. It was a time when his culture was at a peak of its splendor.
3. Some unknown author gives us this interesting information about ahor:
Abrams brother ahor and his niece Milcah had 8 sons as we see in Gen. 22:20-24.
He had a large family plus others by a concubine, and so it is no wonder that
Abraham sent his servant back there to find a mate for Isaac. He found Rebekah
who was his brother’s granddaughter and so Isaac also married a relative- 24:15.
Then the next generation of Jacob we see he also marries his relative from the
ahor clan. Laban was the grandson of ahor and father of Rachel-29:5. All of the

Patriarchs married relatives. This means that ahor contributed as much to the
family of God as did Abraham. He too must have been a man of God for why else
would Abraham want his family to intermarry with his brothers? ahor seemed the
more likely choice, but God chose Abram and Sarai who was barren rather that
fertile wife of ahor. God often goes with the least likely to give hope to all who feel
like underdogs.
It is rare in the Bible to see two brothers like Abraham and ahor who were so
compatible. Most brothers are pictured as negative toward each other as Cain and
Abel, Jacob and Esau, Prodigal and Elder brother. It is an obscure fact that ahor
was also a hero to God and a part of the plan of God. In Gen. 31:53 we read, “May
the God of Abraham and the God of ahor, the God of their father, judge between
us.” He was pushed into obscurity by the greater brother.
30
ow Sarai was barren; she had no children.
1. The first thing we learn about Sarah is that she was barren and could not get
pregnant. God does not always choose those most likely to succeed. He often
chooses the least likely as we see in I Cor. 1:2, 26, 27-31. Man’s lack is God’s
opportunity to magnify His grace in them. In Gen. 25:21 and 29:31 we see that
Rebakah and Rachel were also barren.
31
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law
Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans
to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
1. He settled short of the goal, but he provided the people of God with their wives
from Haran, for Rebekah, Rachel and Leah all were raised here. Terah is often
criticized for not going all the way, but the Bible does not condemn him, for a good
work started is still a good work and he got the family out of Ur and provided a
home base for the family of God.
2. Adam Clarke wrote, It probably had its name Ur which signifies fire, from the
worship practiced there. The learned are almost unanimously of opinion that the
ancient inhabitants of this region were ignicolists or worshippers of fire, and in that
place this sort of worship probably originated; and in honor of this element, the
symbol of the Supreme Being, the whole country, or a particular city in it, might
have had the name Ur.
3. Ur was a great place to be raised for it was a large city and the capital of a great
empire, and with great opportunities for learning. They had developed a writing
and numeral system and had principles of law with a government that allowed its
people defined rights. Abram was likely an educated man of his day. H. G. Tomkins
writes, From the port where the Euphrates discharged its ample waters into the
beautiful and sheltered sea, the ships of Ur set sail, like the ships of Egypt, with

their precious lading of corn and dates, and other fruits ; for the warm land,
irrigated like a garden (the only natural home of the wheat-plant, where it was twice
mown in the year, and then fed down), was (as classic writers tell) the richest in all
Asia. The wheat would commonly produce two hundredfold, and at the highest even
three hundredfold. The other chief boast of Chaldaea is the stately date-palm, whose
endless uses for man and beast have been celebrated in all ages. The shady palm-groves
embowered the whole country, laden with their delicious golden clusters, and
mingled with tamarisk, and acacias, and pomegranates. This region, says
Professor Rawlinson, was amongst the most productive on the face of the earth ;
spontaneously producing some of the best gifts of God to man ; and capable under
careful management of being made one continuous garden.
32
Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
1. Terah lived longer than his children, but it was fewer years of life from past
generations and from here it kept going down to fewer years of life until it reaches
the 70 to 80 year range.
GEESIS 12
1 The LORD had said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your
father's household and go to the land I will show you.
1. Just out of the blue we hear that God had called Abram to leave his people and go
to a new land that God would reveal to him. This is a whole new beginning in God's
dealings with mankind. There was a beginning of creation that we read of in
Genesis chapter one, and there was a new beginning of mankind after the flood, but
this new beginning was the beginning of the plan of redemption. We read of the
second great beginning of events in Gen. 9:1, And God blessed oah and his sons,
and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. This was the
same command given to Adam and Eve. ow in this third beginning God promises
to make the family of Abraham multiply. This time it is not just about quantity of
people, but about quality of people who can be channels of God’s grace and blessing
to the world. God chose one man through whom he would develop a line to the
Messiah who would become the Savior of the world. This one man became the
father of God's people Israel, the father of the Arab nations, and the father of all
who become believers in the one true God. Here is a one of a kind man, for no one
else plays the role in history that this man, Abram, later changed to Abraham, plays
in the history of mankind. If everyone on the planet voted for the person in ancient
history who was most important in God's plan, the victory would go to Abraham for
sure, for he is the Mt. Everest of great men among the ancients.
He was born in Ur of the Chaldees in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. It was here
where he received his calling and from where he left to move to Haran about 600
miles to the northwest. We know this because we are told by Dr. Luke in Acts 7:2-3,
And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in
Charran, 3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,

and come into the land which I shall show thee. So the calling began in Ur, and this
was the first recorded appearing of God to man since he was banished from Eden.
God appeared to Abraham in a variety of ways: (1) in the form of a man in 12:7,
17:1, and 18:1. (2) in a vision in 15:1 (3) by an angel in 22:15 This variety is now
reduced to just one way, and that is through his son. In Heb. 1:1-2 we read, God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by
the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Jesus is the final
word of God to man, and that is why there is no more appearing of God as we see so
often in the Old Testament.
There is debate over the calling of Abram, and the issue is, were there two callings
or just the one from Ur? Adam Clarke in his commentary quotes a scholar who
argues quite convincingly for the two. He writes, Dr. Hales, in his Chronology,
contends for two calls: The first, says he, is omitted in the Old Testament, but is
particularly recorded in the ew, Acts 7:2-4: The God of glory appeared to our
father Abraham while he was (at Ur of the Chaldees) in Mesopotamia, BEFORE HE
DWELT I CHARRA; and said unto him, Depart from thy land, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land (γην, a land) which I will show thee. Hence it is
evident that God had called Abram before he came to Haran or Charran. The
SECOD CALL is recorded only in this chapter: The Lord said (not HAD said)
unto Abram, Depart from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto THE LAD, HA-arets, (Septuagint, GH γην,) which I will show thee.
The difference of the two calls, says Dr. Hales, more carefully translated from
the originals, is obvious: in the former the land is indefinite, which was designed
only for a temporary residence; in the latter it is definite, intimating his abode. A
third condition is also annexed to the latter, that Abram shall now separate himself
from his father's house, or leave his brother ahor's family behind at Charran. This
call Abram obeyed, still not knowing whither he was going, but trusting implicitly to
the Divine guidance.
2. One of the amazing things about this new beginning is that God did not start it
with a baby, or a teenager, or a young man, but with a man who was old. God has
quite a sense of humor, for nobody but God would choose an elderly couple without
kids, and barren to boot, to begin a whole new population explosion that would
change the world. It is a good thing God does not depend on human wisdom, for any
committee of people on earth would have advised him to start with a couple in their
twenties with a high level of fertility. His plan would have been laughed to scorn and
pronounced insane and impossible to succeed. Thus, we see the difference between
the wisdom of man and the so called foolishness of God. From the human
perspective God's plan screams of folly and failure, but, of course, history shows
that it worked perfectly and the Savior of the world arrived just in the time God
appointed. God always gets the last laugh. You have to admit that it is not logical,
however, to begin a new people with a 75 year old man. Abram was not exactly in
the prime of life. He was probably thinking of retirement and a rocking chair for
himself and not one for helping a baby to sleep. He was more in the market for
something like depends rather than diapers. The good news is that God does not

discriminate against the old, and so it is never too late to be used of God.
3. The call of God is not always an easy message to be happy about, for it demands
changes that can be hard to endure. Abram was called to leave just about
everything that mattered in his life. He had to leave his country, his people and his
family, and this would include such things as his job, his home, his friends, and
many personal treasures he had collected in his long lifetime. He basically was called
to forsake all he had acquired, and all he had come to enjoy in his life. Of course,
this would have been a snap if God had told him that a greater house awaited him,
and a better job, and a life of joy and pleasure without end. Something along that
line is what we all are looking for when we get a call to move on to a new location.
obody wants to leave a good place, except for a better place. But this was not part
of the message. It was pretty much top heavy with the negative of leaving, with no
specifics about that for which he was heading. In fact, we read in Heb. 11:8-9 By
faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
9By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign
country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the
same promise. So what we have here is a man who is called to get moving to God
knows where, for Abram certainly did not know where he was going, and to leave
his home in the thriving city of Ur and go camping for the rest of his life and live in
a tent. It is no wonder that Abraham is the greatest man of faith ever, for he is given
so little to go on, but just goes anyway in blind faith that obeying God is always for
the best. It is a tough call, but Abram listens and obeys.
Santayana wrote a poem that is so fitting to this verse in Heb. 11:8 that I want to
read again, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to place he would later receive as
his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was
going.” Santayana wrote,
O world, thou chooseth not the better part!
It is not wisdom to be only wise,
And on the inward vision close the eyes,
But it is wisdom to believe the heart.
Columbus found a world, and had no chart,
Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;
To trust the souls invincible surmise
Was all his science and his only art.
Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine
That lights the pathway but one step ahead
Across a void of mystery and dread.
Bit, then, the tender light of faith to shine
By which alone the mortal heart is led
Unto the thinking of the thought divine.
4. What we are dealing with here is the call to change. That is what life is all about
for those who obey God. You cannot stay the same and be obedient to God. We
don't like change usually, and we resist it, but there is no progress without change.
You have to leave the old behind if you are going to experience the new. The past

cannot continue to be all you live for if you want God's best. You have to look to the
future and all of the new potential that God offers to those willing to be pioneers like
Abram. Because he was willing to change and forsake the old and reach out for the
new, he became the most exalted man in ancient history. Billions of people would
say amen to the high praise of the great preacher George Whitefield when he said
about Abraham in Heb. 11, Amidst this catalog of saints, methinks the patriarch
Abraham shines the brightest, and differs from the others, as one star differeth
from another star in glory; for he shone with such distinguished luster, that he was
called the friend of God, the father of the faithful; and those who believe on
Christ, are said to be sons and daughters of, and to be blessed with, faithful
Abraham.
5. Here is the first exodus as he left his land to go to the Promised Land. A new
vocation calls for a new location often. The future often calls for a separation from
the past. In marriage you are to leave mother and father and cleave to your wife.
You cut ties and leave old loyalties to start new ones. You cannot keep everything as
it is and develop what is new. Your time is limited and if you are going to add
something to your life you have to give up something that is already there. You have
to separate from what fills your life to add what God wants in your life. If God does
not get a major chunk of your time, you will not be a major player in his kingdom.
People who are too busy in their culture will often not be busy in the kingdom of
God, for we are all limited in what we can do in our 24 hours a day. The idea of
coming out of the world is not that we forsake it, for it has to be won to Christ, but
we have to disengage in much of the life of the world in order to give ourselves to
kingdom growth. But we are to get into the world with our commitment to God’s
will and seek to win the world to the kingdom. God’s goal is to touch the whole
world through Abraham. Separation from the world is complex, for we have to be a
part of it as was Jesus. But he could be in it, love it, change it, and yet not be a part
of it. The charge against many modern Christians is that they cannot be
distinguished from the world. Is this true in your experience?
6. Abraham was to be a pioneer, and so he had to come away from what was
established to start what was new. One man and one woman is the way God started
the human race, and one man and woman is how he started his race of people to
bring his son into the world. One is enough with God. We read in Isa. 51:1-2,
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the
rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to
Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was
but one, and I blessed him and made him many.” These two people were the origin
of the people of God. Maclaren the great preacher said, We stand here at the well-head
of a great river-a narrow channel, across which a child can step, but which is
to open out a broad bosom that will reflect the sky and refresh continents. The call
of Abram is the most important event in the O.T.”
2.I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing.

1. Here are multiple promises in one sentence. God promises to make Abram into a
great nation; promises to bless him personally; promises to make his name great,
and promises to make him a blessing to others. I do not think there is anymore that
God could promise, for in these 4 are all that any man could ever dream of. We all
long for purpose and happiness and success, and all of this is promised to Abram.
To be great and famous and blest with all that makes life worthwhile is the perfect
life, and this is what God promised to this 75 year old man. Had God not chosen him
he would have been an obscure man who lived and died and was never known to
anyone but his family and a few friends. But God did choose him and now he is the
most known and exalted man in all of history. God kept his promise, and Abram
went from total obscurity to the most loved man in history. He is loved and honored
even more than Jesus Christ because Jews, Arabs and Christians all call him the
father of their faith. God knows that he needs to motivate man to get man's
cooperation in his plan of salvation. Abram needed to know that there was a reward
for obedience to God, and God gave him the promise of life's greatest rewards. God
did not expect Abram to forsake all that he loved without a motivating promise, and
none of us are called to follow Jesus as Lord without the promise of eternal life and
all the blessings that go with it. Offering rewards for obedience is valid, for it was
God's method from the start.
2. It may have been a hard choice to leave all he knew to go where he knew nothing
of what awaited him, but it was made a whole lot easier by this promise from God to
make his a great nation with a great name for himself, and on top of that bless a
multitude of others to boot. How could anybody say no that? o other human being
ever to step foot on this earth has received a greater promise from God than this
unknown Gentile who became the father of Judaism, and the father of all who
believe. God said he would make his name great, and that is just what happened, for
there is no other name that is honored more than the name of Abraham. It is true
that Jesus has a name that is exalted above all names because he is the Savior of the
world, but Jesus is not honored in Judaism and Islam like he is in Christianity.
Abraham, however, is exalted to the highest level in all three of the great
monotheism religions of the world. Most everyone recognizes the joy of having our
names honored by being up in lights, or by being in the newspaper, or any other
publication. We even like to carve our names in trees or write them in places where
others can spot them. Our sense of worth is tied up with our name, and when it is
recognized we feel a sense of self esteem. As a 75 year old man with a barren wife,
and thus no hope of posterity, Abraham no doubt had a low sense of self esteem. He
was a nobody going nowhere until God called and made him a somebody going to
the Promised Land, and a future unmatched by anybody ever known. Talk about an
esteem booster! With promises like this it was a whole lot easier to forsake his past
and launch out into the future bright with these promises of God.
3. What a strange promise to make to a couple who could not have children, and
who were so old they would not want to be starting a family. It looks like God has
come to a dead end by choosing such an unlikely couple, but of course, he knew he
would be doing to do a miracle to keep the seed of Abram alive. God loves to bring
things to a dead end that looks hopeless so he can magnify his grace. He brought his

only begotten Son to the cross and the grave, and it looked like the final chapter in
that life, but then came the morning and up from the grave he arose and the greatest
chapter ever began with Jesus. Don't let dead ends worry you, for that is just where
God begins to shine. This is especially good to remember when we face death or lose
a loved one in death, or any other hopeless situation for man.
4. People say we are to claim all the promises of the Bible, but this is not so. This
promise is not for us, and none of us can claim that we will be made a great nation.
We can be a part of this one, but we can’t be the father of it, for that spot is already
taken. Many promises of the Bible are personal and not universal. Abraham has
been nothing but an obscure idolater. He never built an empire or even a house, for
he lived in tents. He never wrote anything, or created any works of art or music. He
never did anything spectacular. All he did was obey God. His positive relation to
God was all he had going for him, and it made him the hero of the ages. God loved
the whole world through Abraham, for God’s primary means of blessing the world
is through people. We too can be blest and be a blessing, but no one can be the
father of us all, but Abraham. We should also note that becoming a great nation did
not happen in his lifetime. In fact, it took about six centuries before his people were
a great nation. God's promises are sometimes very long range and we never live long
enough to see them, and that is why we live by faith and not by sight as Abraham
did.
5. otice that God promises to bless him before he makes him a blessing, and this is
always the way God works, for you have to be blest to be a blessing. Spurgeon said,
“You must fill your own pitcher before another can drink out of it, you must have
bread in your own hands before you can break it for the multitudes.” It is a blessing
to be a blessing. Those who are blest who do not become a blessing to others will lose
their status of being blest. Blessings are like electricity and they will not flow in
where they do not flow out. God blesses not as an end in itself, but so as to use the
one blest to be a blessing to others. We are to be channels of blessing. It is our
vocation to be a blessing. When you are looking for the purpose of life you will find
it right here, for the purpose of life from God's perspective is to be a blessing. That
is the goal of life for Abram, and that is to be the goal of life for all who love God.
Our daily prayer should be, Lord, make me a blessing today. The beauty of this
goal is that you do not need to be gifted to fulfill this purpose in life. Anybody can be
a blessing to others just by being loving and friendly, and by being willing to offer
help and encouragement to others. On the lower level a smile can be a blessing, and
on the highest level sharing the Gospel of the love of Christ can be an eternal
blessing. In between the opportunities to be a blessing are endless.
6. What we see here is the paradox of the blessing of selfishness when the goal is to
be unselfish. In other words, we need to be blest to be a blessing, and so it is valid to
crave blessing for one's self in order to be able to be a blessing to others. You need
to be blest with some degree of wealth to be able to share that with those who are
not so blest. It is the blest who bless the un-blest. It is those who have who can share
with the have nots. As Spurgeon said, “We do not encourage selfishness in anything,
but we do say you must fill your own pitcher before another man can drink out of

it. This means it is valid to have selfish motives to be blest in areas of life where we
want success in order to be able to be a blessing to others. This kind of self-centeredness
is not really selfishness when you want the rivers of blessings to flow
through you to water the lives of those around you. This is fulfilling the great
command to love your neighbors as yourself. You love yourself and want the best
for yourself, but not just as an end in itself, but, as a means to be a blessing to
others. Selfish goals are selfless goals when the end is to be a blessing to others
beside your self. If the river of blessings stops with yourself, you are a dead sea, but
if they keep flowing out to others, you are a river of life, and you are a true child of
Abraham.
7. Abraham was chosen by God to be one of the greatest heroes of history. When I
was a small boy in Sioux Falls, S.D., I remember the excitement of being told that
the bullet holes in the bricks of the big bank downtown were from a robbery and
shootout with John Dillinger and Baby Face elson. There was a sort of awe about
those holes that I touched many times because they were a connection with a famous
person. He was a crook, but he was famous, and in our culture to be famous is to be
a hero. I had no idea how fanatical people could become in their worship of heroes
until I read this by D. R. Sharpe, “I was in Chicago when Dillinger was shot. Little
children dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood on the pavement. A man offered
one hundred dollars for each brick on which there was a drop of blood. Another
offered on thousand dollars for the shirt Dillinger word. Another offered one
thousand dollars for the shoes he had on. And when the coroner gave the outlaw’s
old father the $7.70 that had been in Dillinger’s pocket he said, “Don’t spend any of
this-morbid-minded America will pay you a fortune for it,”and I understand it did.”
Why do you suppose every culture has their heroes? We have superman and
batman, and other great fighters of evil forces, and so do other cultures. It is
because the battle of good and evil is universal. Why do people need heroes? 1. They
challenge us to do and be more than we would be on our own. 2. They inspire us to
do our best and do more noble things. 3. They give us hope that good will always
win over evil even if evil seem to have the upper hand at the moment. Heroes give
hope. 4. They give us examples and encourage us to stay on the right path even
when life gets hard. Abraham is one of the great heroes of faith in Heb. 11, and all
through the ew Testament he is the key hero referred to over and over.
8. Jesus and Paul studied the life of Abraham and used him often as an illustration.
W. B. Riley, “The man who is called a friend of God is entitled to a large place in
history. Fourteen chapters are none too many for his record; and hours spent in
analyzing his character and searching for the secrets of his success are hours so
employed as to meet the Divine approval.”
Hastings The Greater Men and Women of the Bible writes, “..his life is so constantly
referred to in the O.T. and in the ew, that it would seem as if the right
understanding of it is necessary to give us the clue to many a difficult passage, and
many a sacred doctrine, in the succeeding pages of the Bible.”

Prof. Max Muller of Germany says of Abraham, “We see in him the life-spring of
that faith which was to unite all the nations of the earth........he stands before us as a
figure second only to one in the whole history of the world.” one can compare with
Jesus, but none are compared with Abraham on the human level either. He is in a
category by himself. Lockyer wrote, “He uttered no prophecy, wrote no book, sang
no song, gave no laws. Yet in the long list of Bible saints he alone is spoken of as the
father of the faithful and as the friend of God.” Three times he is called the friend of
God. In II Chron. 20:7, Isa. 41:8 and James 2:23. God called no one else his friend.
Abraham is mentioned in 16 books of the O.T. and 11 in the .T. 74 times he is
mentioned in the .T.
Wharton in Famous Men of the O.T. says of Abraham, “He rises on our vision when
backward we turn our gaze, as the fountain-head of the gulf-stream of nations, as
the highest peak n the mountain range of humanity.”
Clarence Macartney, “Like a majestic mountain Abraham towers sublime over all
other mountains and all other lives.”
Till then farewell thou kingly friend of God,
o nobler spirit o’er this earth has trod;
In thee our father and our friend we see,
One touch of faith links all mankind to thee!
9. John Schultz has this comment on the blessings:
The blessing can be divided in three parts: 1. The physical aspect; 2. the political
aspect and 3. the spiritual aspect.
1. The physical aspect. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.” At
whatever time this promise came, there was a moment that Abraham realized that it
was not coming through. The key to becoming a great nation was to have at least
one child. And so far he had none. As the years went by it became obvious that
Sarah could not or would had have any children. Living in time and space as we all
do, Abraham could not see the end from the beginning and the reality with which he
had to live, was that this promise was not going to be true. He was going to go down
in history as the man who died without leaving behind children. That meant he was
not going to go down in history at all. obody would remember him. It was the
equivalent of being lost for eternity. We do not need much imagination to see how
the devil will have used this in Abraham’s life. He had left Ur of the Chaldeans to
follow the call of the only true God and it turned out that he had betted on the
wrong horse.
2. The political aspect. “I will make your name great and you will be a blessing” He
came into a land where nobody knew him. We read in vs. 6 - “At that time the
Canaanites were in the land.” The Canaanites must have been the offspring of Ham,
according to Ch. 10:6, 15-19. For Abraham that was the wrong branch of oah’s
children. However was he going to take a prominent position among those people
and become a source of blessing to them?

3. The spiritual aspect. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I
will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Abraham may
have drawn the conclusion from this part of the blessing that he was in the line with
the offspring that God had promised to Eve. The hope of eternal life
must still have been very much alive in his days. If we find it still alive among the
tribes of Irian Jaya, Indonesia, forty centuries later, it must surely not have been
forgotten at Abraham’s time. So Abraham must have believed this to mean that his
son would be the Messiah. We can imagine how this promise must have
added to the agony when no child was forthcoming.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all
peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
1. Imagine being so blest of God that he says any friend of yours is a friend of mine,
and your enemies are my enemies. This is really a vital piece of information, for the
blessing or cursing of all peoples in history revolve around how they relate to the
chosen people of God founded through Abraham. Adam brought a curse into the
world on mankind, but God is now going to reverse that and bring a blessing to all
mankind through this one man. There is a paradox here too, for some are cursed by
cursing him, and yet all peoples on earth will be blessed through him. How can all
be blessed if some are cursed? This is easily explained by the example of Hitler who
was cursed by God for his cursing of the Jews. On the other hand, the German
people have not been cursed, but have been greatly blest because of their love for
Abraham and his people. The cursing of some does eliminate the blessing of others
in the same group. Many of the nations that were enemies of Israel still had
individuals who became a part of Israel and good friends of Israel.
2. Blessing and cursing are conditional and are based on obedience or disobedience
to God's revelation. In Deut. 11:26-28 we read, Behold, I set before you this day a
blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your
God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I
command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. Even
God's own people are cursed when they choose to disobey the revealed will of the
God of Abraham. The Jews suffered the curse of God many times because they did
not honor God as Abraham did, and walk in obedience to his commands.
evertheless, God used them to be a blessing to the whole world and all the peoples
on earth. The reason that the failure of the Jews did not hinder God's plan to bless
the whole world through Abraham's seed is because God's plan was narrow and
very specific, and did not depend on the masses. Paul makes this clear in Gal. 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say
and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person,
who is Christ. In other words, all God had to do was get one seed of Abraham into
this world who was perfect in obedience to God, and he would be able to bless the
whole world, and that one seed was his Son the Lord Jesus Christ who died for the

sins of the world and made eternal life possible for the people of all nations.
3. o amount of failure could prevent the success of God's plan, and he
accomplished all he intended through the seed of Abraham. God is telling us that he
has a plan, and it is a good one for all mankind, and he will guarantee its success.
Here we get a picture of what election is all about. God elects to choose someone to
carry out his program that is to be a blessing to all those who were not chosen. He
has a specific goal in mind and that is to bring his son into the world to be the savior
of the world. This has to be a blood line that is very limited and cannot be scattered
all over the place. It has to follow a line and so there cannot be two or three lines to
the Messiah, but just one. That means that when two sons are born only one can be
that line, or if twelve are born only one can be that line. It is a paradox, but it has to
be exclusive all the way to one in order to eventually be all inclusive. You have to
bless one if you expect to bless all. God’s method of blessing many through one
teaches us the importance of concentration. Focus on one to bless many. Train one
person, one family, one nation, and they can bless the whole world. Have you ever
tried to shoot more than one duck? Or hit more than one tennis ball? If you do not
focus and concentrate you miss all. Less is more and the best way to reach all is to
narrow your focus. Try to do all and you do nothing, but do well with one and you
can do great things. Do not try to save the world, but try to save that one person that
is winnable or trainable and you will do your part in reaching the world. In Isa.
51:1-2 we read, Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the
LORD : Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which
you were hewn; 2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. If this
method is good enough for God, it should be good enough for us.
4. Christians are spiritual Jews and through them the world receives the only
absolute and universal blessing through Christ and his salvation. God’s plan from
the start is inclusive and not exclusive. All peoples of the earth are to be a part of his
plan of salvation and blessing. God had to start somewhere, and he started with
Abraham and his seed the people of Israel. Gal. 3:14 shows how the Gentiles were
included through Christ in the blessing of Abraham. Jesus is the final fulfillment of
this promise and goal. All of life is blessing or cursing, however, and not just in
salvation. The work of the church is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel
so that all may get in on the greatest blessing. Abraham was given a glimpse of the
fulfillment of this promise we see in John 8:56 where Jesus says, Your father
Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. God
gave Abraham a vision of the fulfilled promise in the Messiah. It was that vision that
kept him going when he did not see the promised fulfilled in his lifetime. Every
believer is to be a child of Abraham in the fulfilling of this vision of a Savior who
will be a blessing to all peoples. One little guy used long prayers to stall bedtime. He
prayed for God to bless everybody he could think of and then started with the
countries he could think of. It was a stall tactic, but he was right in that God’s goal
is to bless the whole world. This promise eliminates any basis for prejudice and
racism of any kind. God is the God of the whole world and of all people, and His
love is universal. All people need to be blest, not because they are worthy, but

because they are loved. We should not need to earn blessing. It should be given
freely in love and by grace. God’s call is always that the one called become a
blessing to others. All of us are so called, and we need to strive to be that blessing to
which we are called. Every gift and blessing we possess is to overflow into the lives
of others as a blessing.
5. Why do we go to church, and read the Bible and pray, and give etc.? It is all done
for blessing. We live for blessing, and every good and perfect gift comes from God
who wants us to live the blessed life. To be blest and be a blessing to others is the
goal of life. Everything is a blessing or a curse depending on whether or not it fulfills
its purpose for being. A ballpoint pen is a blessing if it works and a curse if it does
not, or if it leaks. A VCR is a blessing if it works and a curse if it does not. It is true
of all things and all people. We are all a blessing or a curse. We fail, and we do
become a pain at times, but the overall impact of our lives is to be a blessing.
Government is a blessing or curse to its people. It is true of all institution including
the church. The final end of all things is to be in heaven the final blessing or in hell
the final curse. When Israel forget its purpose and became self-centered it had to
take on the curse and judgment of God as other nations. It was privileged, not for its
own sake, but for the sake of the other nations, and when it failed its purpose it was
cast out as all things that do not work and fulfill their purpose. If others are not
better off because you are better off then you will not be better off. His goal is that
all have a chance to be children of Abraham and so his children. God concentrated
on the one to reach the many. If you bite off too much and fail to concentrate you
can fail to achieve your goal. Sometimes less is more. Do not try to save the world,
but try to save one. Let your life and your words communicate the message God
bless you. Wilbur esbit wrote,
“God bless you!” Words are empty things; We speak, and think not of our saying-
But in this phrase forever rings The higher tenderness of praying.
It means so much-it means that I Would have no fears or frets distress you,
or have your heart times to a sigh, God Bless you!
Its more that wishing joy and wealth, That kindly fortune may caress you,
That you may have success and health—God Bless You!
God bless you! Why, it means so much I almost whisper as I say it;
I dream that unseen fingers touch My hands in answer as I pray it.
May all it means to all mankind In all its wondrousness possess you.
Through sun and cloud and calm and wind, GOD BLESS YOU!
6. History shows that the nations, which have persecuted the Jews have suffered
judgment, and those who have respected the Jews have been blessed. God’s call is
always that the called one be a blessing to those not called. It is never just for the
sake of the one called, which could lead to pride of status. One Jewish author writes,
“The knights of the Middle Ages has a significant watchword, noblesse oblige,
“obility obligates.” It meant that they must conform to a loftier standard of
conduct and morality than the average man. Things which the ordinary man might
permit himself to do, were forbidden to them. Anything, which was the least
questionable, or had the slightest taint of immorality or impropriety, was beneath
them. Whoever violated any of these principles, forfeited his knighthood, at least in

theory, because he had, but his act already forfeited his claim to nobility.” Jews are
to live by this standard. Morganstern wrote, “..he who will not live as a Jew should
live, and thereby do his part in the great work of being a blessing for which God has
called all Israel, has truly forfeited his right to the name and privilege of being a
Jew.” Cecil Roth in The Jewish Contribution to Civilization says in the Preface,
“The outcome of my inquiry has been more than a little surprising even to myself.
There is no branch of human culture or civilization, which Jews have not touched
and enriched. Whether we consider lit. or medicine, or science or exploration or
humanitarianism, or art, the Jew has been prominent.”
Unfortunately the Jews do not acknowledge that their greatest contribution to
mankind is the bringing of God's Son into the world to be a blessing to the whole
world. But the fact is, they have been a blessing in many other ways as well, and it
has been a mystery to many just why. More than one hundred years ago author
Mark Twain posed a fascinating question concerning the Jews: If the statistics are
right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous
dim puff of smoke lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly
to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on
the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out
of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of
great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse
learning, are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has
made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages: and has done it with his hands tied
behind him. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains.
What is the secret of his immortality? The secret is here in the promise of God to
Abraham. Rabbi Ken Spiro writes, God is saying here to Abraham that he and
his descendants -- the Jews -- will be under God's protection. The empires, nations
and peoples that are good to the Jews will do well. Empires, nations and peoples
that are bad to the Jews will do poorly. And the whole world is going to be changed
by the Jewish people. That is one of the great patterns of history. You can literally
chart the rise and fall of virtually all the civilizations in the western world and the
Middle East Spain, Germany, Poland, America or Turkey etc, by how they treated
the Jews. (Ironically, most nations have treated the Jews both benevolently and
malevolently. It is an oft repeated pattern that the Jews are first invited into a
country and then later persecuted and expelled from the same country) We will see
this pattern time and time again as we go through the history of the Jews in
Diaspora.
7. It is of interest to note that God supports the practice of repetition as a principle
of good teaching. He did not say this once and never repeat his promise to Abraham.
He knows how we need reassurance as we follow him in obedience, for we can easily
forget what the point of it all is when we get weary. So God repeats over and over
the blessing he intends to bring on Abraham and his seed and through them to the
whole world. There is a universalism in the blessing God intends to bring through
the seed of Abraham. Here is a list of them:
Genesis 18 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Genesis 22 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 26 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will
give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 28 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am
with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee
again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have
spoken to thee of.
Abraham needed to hear these promises again, just as his son and grandson did, for
there is always the temptation to forget them when there is a slowness in fulfillment.
We do not know, but there is a good chance that Abraham has a temptation to go
back to the big city and forget this country living in tents. He may have said this
patient waiting for God to come through is driving me crazy and I wonder about the
idols of my youth. Should I be praying to the old gods of my family for
encouragement? We do not know the mental battles he fought, but we know he
needed to be reminded of the great promises of God that would make all he
sacrificed worthwhile. We can endure a lot of negatives in life if we are assured that
the positives will be a reality. God knows that and so he repeats his promises over
and over. Paul says this promise of universal blessing was the Gospel. “Therefore,
be sure that it is those who are of faith that are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you.’ So then
those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.” (Galatians 3:7 9)
8. Living in obedience to these promises made Abraham the most unique righteous
man of the Old Testament. Enoch walked with God, but God took him and he did
not impact the world. oah walked with God, but God took the world away in
judgment and so he did not impact the world. Abraham walked with God and he
changed the world that he walked in. The whole world has been blessed by him, and
the three great monotheistic religions of the world claim him as their father. The
rest of the Bible is about God’s keeping these promises. This is the key to
understanding the whole story of God revealed in the Scriptures. Israel is not a
great nation in terms of numbers, but in terms of their impact on history through
the Bible they are the greatest. It was fulfilled mainly as the Gentiles came into the
church and became spiritual Israel and the church became a universal people in all
nations. God is promising to love the whole world through his people. Back in 1924
a young girl entered an amateur talent show on radio and won. She was given a
chance to sing in a theater for a week and two years later she was on Broadway
making 3000 a week during the depression. Her name was Kate Smith who became
famous for singing God Bless America. She made it almost a 2nd national anthem.
It is legitimate to pray for God to bless America, and any other country, for that is
the purpose of God's promise to Abraham, that we, and all people be blest through

his seed. It is a paradox that Abraham who is the father of the Jews and the Arabs
has been the greatest blessing to the Gentiles who are neither Jews nor Arabs, but
are the ones who have accepted the Savior that God brought into the world through
the seed of Abraham. It has gone full circle, and Abraham who was a Gentile has
become the father of the greatest body of Gentiles in the world, which is the
Christian church, but which is also the new Israel.
9. F. B. Meyer has a brilliant insight into these promises of God as he writes, God's
commands are not always accompanied by reasons, but always by promises,
expressed or understood. To give reasons would excite discussion; but to give a
promise shows that the reason, though hidden, is all sufficient. We can understand
the promise, though the reason might baffle and confuse us. The reason is
intellectual, metaphysical, spiritual; but a promise is practical, positive, literal. As a
shell encloses a kernel, so do the Divine commands hide promises in their heart. If
this is the command: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the promise: And
thou shalt be saved. If this is the command: Sell that though hast and give to the
poor; this is the promise: Thou shalt have treasure in heaven. If this is the
command: Leave father and mother, houses and lands; this is the promise:
Thou shalt have a hundred fold here, and everlasting life beyond. If this is the
command: Be ye separate; this is the promise: I will receive you and be a Father
to you. So in this case: Though thou art childless, I will make of thee a great
nation: though thou art the youngest son, I will bless thee, and make thy name
great: though thou art to be torn from thine own family, in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. And each of those promises has been literally fulfilled.
10. Abram believed God and the promises he made, and this belief motivated the
rest of his life. He did not just believe in God, he believed God, and there is a big
difference. Patricia de Jong writes about the difference between believing in God
and just believing God. She says, “A friend of mine, also a minister, likes to talk
about two distinct postures when it comes to belief and how it relates to God. There
are those is this world who say they believe in God and those who believe God in.
ow believing in God can be an intellectual position. Believing in God is like
believing that the sky is blue. But believing God is something different altogether.
Believing God is less taking a position, and more about a journey. Believing God is
less a realization than it is a relationship. Believing in God, we can still be somewhat
objective; but believing God is about claiming an experience, giving ourselves over
to an encounter with the Divine which can come dramatically, like Abraham's
decision to go forward into the Unknown...
The poet Robert Frost speaks of it in this manner:
The Founding Fathers didn't believe in the future, they believed it in. You are
always believing ahead of the evidence. Where was the evidence I could write a
poem? I just believed it in. The most creative thing in us is to believe a thing in. You
believe yourself into existence. You believe your marriage into existence. You believe
each other, you believe it is worthwhile going on or you would commit suicide. And
the ultimate one is the belief in the future of the world. We believe the future in. It's
coming because we believe it in. Abraham is our model for believing God and

believing the future in. It's a bold and wonderful thing to believe the future in. You
will notice that God doesn't promise Abraham an easy or painless journey. God did
not promise that the Canaanites would receive Abraham and his household with
open arms . . . they didn't! Abraham was not promised there would be no droughts
or plagues or sandstorms or discouragements or defeats; but he was promised that if
he stayed true to his faith, he would be a blessing to his people and to the world.”
11. “The Jews see a play on words here. Blessing is berachah, and pool of water is
beraychah. “Just as a pool of water purifies those who are impure so you, Abraham,
shall bring near to God those who are afar off and shall purify them to their father
in heaven.” We could add that so as a pool of water is a blessing to all who thirst so
Abraham will be an oasis in the desert of history for a source of the water of life. It
is a blessing to be a blessing. one are so blessed as those whom God uses to be a
blessing to others. God’s goal was not just to bless Abraham but to bless the world
through him. God is a God of history and he works through people as his means to
bless the world. The business of all God’s people is to be a blessing.”
12. “Abraham was the first righteous man of his stature. Enoch walked with God,
but God took him and he did not impact the world. oah walked with God, but God
took the world away in judgment and so he did not impact the world. Abraham
walked with God and he changed the world that he walked in. The whole world has
been blessed by him, and the three great monotheistic religions of the world claim
him as their father. Abraham never did anything great but obey God. He did not
build a great empire, or write great music, or make great art, or write a best seller.
He became the hero of the ages simply by being a friend of God.”
13. The final promise in this verse is the promise to have a universal impact in the
world in that all peoples of the world will be blest through Abraham and his seed.
This is the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. The rest of the Bible is about God’s
keeping this promise. This is the key to understanding the whole story of God
revealed in the Scriptures. Israel is not a great nation in terms of numbers, but in
terms of their impact on history through the Bible they are the greatest. It was
fulfilled mainly as the Gentiles came into the church and became spiritual Israel and
the church became a universal people in all nations. God is promising to love the
whole world through his people. It is possible to love all people because God loves
the whole world of people both Jews and Gentiles. This is the good news of the ew
Testament which confirms the good news preached to Abraham. “That is how much
the Lord God loves you and me. For God so loved the world (the families of the
earth), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge
the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him
is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16–18). If you have
never put your trust in Jesus Christ, please do so right now. The moment that you
believe on Christ you fulfill the great promise God gave to our father Abraham
centuries ago!”

14. God gave so many wonderful promises of blessings to the seed of Abraham, but
he also gave them many warnings of curses that would come on them if they did not
walk in obedience to him as Abraham did. In other word, the promises were only
going to come about if they lived a life worthy of being so blessed. Here below are
just a few of the texts that deal with the promises and the curses. I share this list
because it makes it so clear that God's promises are contingent upon obedience. It is
an education in God's dealings with Israel just to read this incomplete list.
Exodus 15:26 He said, If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God
and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all
his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians,
for I am the LORD, who heals you.
Ex. 19:5 “5 ow if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations
you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you [a] will
be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to
speak to the Israelites.
Ex.23:20-26 “ 20 See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the
way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and
listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion,
since my ame is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I
say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23
My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not
bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must
demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. 25 Worship the LORD your
God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from
among you, 26 and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a
full life span.”
Leviticus 26:3-5 “ 3 'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my
commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops
and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape
harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the
food you want and live in safety in your land.”
Lev. 26:14-17 “ 14 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these
commands, 15 and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out
all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will
bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your
sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies
will eat it. 17 I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your
enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one
is pursuing you.
Deuteronomy 4:40 “40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you
today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may

live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.”
Deut. 7:12 “ 12 If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them,
then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to
your forefathers.
Deut. 11:26-28 “ 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse- 27 the
blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you
today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn
from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have
not known.
Deut. 12:28 “28 Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it
may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing
what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.”
Deut. 15:4-6 “4 However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the
LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless
you, 5 if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these
commands I am giving you today. 6 For the LORD your God will bless you as he has
promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will
rule over many nations but none will rule over you.
Deut. 28:1-3 “1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his
commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the
nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you
obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
Deut. 28:13-14 “13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay
attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and
carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not
turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,
following other gods and serving them.
Deut. 30:9-10 “9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the
work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and
the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you
prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, 10 if you obey the LORD your God
and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and
turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deut. 30:15-20 “15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and
destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his
ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase,
and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away
to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you

will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the
Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against
you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. ow choose life,
so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your
God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will
give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob.
I Kings 2:1-4 “1 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to
Solomon his son. 2 I am about to go the way of all the earth, he said. So be
strong, show yourself a man, 3 and observe what the LORD your God requires:
Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements,
as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever
you go, 4 and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants
watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and
soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'
I Kings 9:1-9 “ 1 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and
the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the LORD appeared to
him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him:
I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this
temple, which you have built, by putting my ame there forever. My eyes and my
heart will always be there. 4 As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart
and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my
decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I
promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the
throne of Israel.' 6 But if you [a] or your sons turn away from me and do not
observe the commands and decrees I have given you [b] and go off to serve other
gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them
and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my ame. Israel will then become
a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 And though this temple is
now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the
LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' 9 People will answer,
'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of
Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why
the LORD brought all this disaster on them.'
1 Chronicles 22:11-13 “ 11 ow, my son, the LORD be with you, and may you have
success and build the house of the LORD your God, as he said you would. 12 May
the LORD give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command
over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the LORD your God. 13 Then you will
have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the LORD gave
Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
II Chron. 7:17-22 “17 As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did,
and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your
royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, 'You shall never

fail to have a man to rule over Israel.' 19 But if you [c] turn away and forsake the
decrees and commands I have given you [d] and go off to serve other gods and
worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them,
and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my ame. I will make it a byword
and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so
imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a
thing to this land and to this temple?' 22 People will answer, 'Because they have
forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and
have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought
all this disaster on them.'
Jer. 11:1-5 “ 1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 Listen to
the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live
in Jerusalem. 3 Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:
'Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant- 4 the terms I
commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting
furnace.' I said, 'Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will
be my people, and I will be your God. 5 Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your
forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey'-the land you possess
today.
I answered, Amen, LORD.
All of these texts make it clear that we walk a narrow path where we can be blest if
we stay on it, but can easily step off that path and be cursed. The blessed life is a
matter of constantly and persistently choosing to stay on the path that God has laid
out for the believer, and not stray from that path that history makes clear is so easy
to do, even for the people of God. Then we have the paradox that a blessing and a
curse can be the same thing depending on the timing of it. It is important that a
blessing be timed right and be of a proper volume. We read in Prov. 27:14, “If a
man loudly blesses his neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.”
We need to make sure our blessing of others is consistent with their schedule and
not just our own.
15. God's promise to bless those who bless Abraham leads to a surprising
implication, for it leads to the conclusion that is not one that makes Jews and
Christians very happy. The conclusion is that Islam honors Abraham in many more
ways than either Judaism or Christianity. They have much in their religious life that
revolves around Abraham, and that means, according to this text, that they are blest
of God. In Islam one is not a true believer who rejects Abraham as a prophet and
the friend of God. Every Muslim of puberty age must pray 5 times a day, and one of
these prayers is to ask God's blessing upon Abraham as they face the Kabe in
Mecca, which they say Abraham built with his son Ishmael. That represents
hundreds of millions of prayers a day on behalf of Abraham. As far as I know
Christians do not pray for the blessing of Abraham ever, let alone daily. Masses of
Christians never think of Abraham, let alone once a day. The point is, Muslims are
more aware of Abraham in their faith and rituals than Jews and Christians. One of
the five pillars of Islam is the pilgrimage every Muslim must make at least once in

his or her lifetime. It is called Hajj and involves going around the Kaba, which
Abraham built, in counterclockwise fashion 7 times. An animal is sacrificed at this
time in commemoration of the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son. There are
so many things about Islam that are disturbing to us as Christians, but how can we
avoid the fact that they honor and bless Abraham as their founder and father more
than anyone? Plus, there is the fact that all peoples of the world are to be blest by
the seed of Abraham, and the Arabs, though not the promised seed through whom
the Messiah came, are, nevertheless, descendants of Abraham, and among the
families of the world to be blest. The universal nature of this promise includes all
peoples, and that means every prejudice toward any people is contrary to the will
and plan of God, for all peoples will be a part of God's eternal kingdom. This
universal promises is repeated in the following verses:
Genesis 18 18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Genesis 22 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 26 4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will
give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Genesis 28 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
16. All of the blessings of Abraham are based on his being an incredible man of
faith, and it is faith that is the foundation for all others to enter into these promises.
This was Paul's stress in Galatians. Bob Yandian has an excellent paragraph that
captures how Paul makes this universal promise apply to the Gentile world. He
writes, In Verse 6 of Galatians 3 it says, Even as Abraham believed God, and it
was accounted to him for righteousness. Verses 7 and 8 continue, Know ye
therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And
the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. The
Greek word for children is huios, which translated is sons. The word
heathen is also the word for Gentiles. I want you to see that the Abrahamic
covenant was never designed to bless only one nation; it was designed to bless all
nations. This verse says again, ...preached before the gospel unto Abraham...
What does before mean? God preached the gospel to Abraham BEFORE he was
a Jew. Abraham was not born a Jew; he was born a Gentile. How did he become a
Jew? Some would say that Abraham became a Jew through circumcision, but
Abraham became a Jew by faith. My friends, the Jewish race is the only race that
began supernaturally; it began by faith. Faith is what changed Abram to Abraham,
and faith is what caused him to leave a place called Ur of the Chaldees. It was faith
that made Abraham a Jew, and it was 25 years after first exercising his faith, that
Abraham was circumcised as an outward sign of what had already happened in his
heart. Circumcision was performed on the part of his body, which represented

reproduction, showing him that he was to teach his children about faith. My friend,
children are born into the kingdom of God, not through natural birth, but by the
hearing of the Gospel and the exercising of faith.”
17. Let me repeat an even longer list dealing with the universal promise to
Abraham, for this adds meaning to the great commission of Jesus to go into all the
world to preach the Gospel. The church is the seed of Abraham, and all believers in
Jesus Christ are children of Abraham, and we have an obligation to help fulfill this
final promise to be a blessing to all the world. We have a universal calling because in
Jesus Christ, the full and completed seed of Abraham we have the message that
brings the blessing to all peoples. Look at this series again, with a few added.
Go into all the world
ow in the second half of verse 3, God tells Abram:
Gen. 12:3 ...And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
This promise is reiterated to him in ch 22:
Gen. 22:18 And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed...
And repeated to his grandson Jacob in chapter 28:
Gen. 28:14 ...And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth
be blessed.
This blessing mentioned 3 times in Genesis is specifically a prophecy of Christ
reaching the entire world with the gospel of salvation. Simon Peter told us that it
pertained to Christ in Acts 3:
Acts 3:25-26 It is you who are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which
God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AD I YOUR SEED ALL THE
FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.' For you first, God raised up
His Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your
wicked ways.
And Paul told us that it spoke of the Gentiles being included, saying:
Gal. 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying , All the nations shall be
blessed in you.
18. I want to conclude this long list of comments on this verse by sharing the
interesting slant on it from Ray Stedman who writes, It is what every parent thinks
of his child: I will bless those who bless him, and those who curse him I will curse.
We are wrapped up in our children. They are the apple of our eye, and whatever
touches them touches us. So John writes, See what love the Father has given us,
that we should be called children of God (1 Jn 3:1 {RSV}). God says, I will identify
myself with you. What concerns you, concerns me. But listen to this again, I will
bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse. That is, we will be
identified with God in the eyes of the world. We will be, like him, a creator of crises.
Everywhere you go, you will be either a blessing or a curse, but no one will ignore
you. God will make your life to be so vitally in touch with himself that you will have
the effect he has when he touches human life. It was so with Jesus of azareth. o
one ever came into contact with him and remained neutral. This is what God says to
each pilgrim in the life of faith: If you will leave your country, your kindred, and
your father's house, I will make you into this kind of person, so that you will affect

every life you touch for better or for worse. They will bless you, or they will curse
you. Surely this is what Paul means in Second Corinthians 2:15-16: For we are the
aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life
to life. Who is sufficient for these things? {2 Cor 2:15-16 RSV}
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was
seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
1. God had hardly finished speaking and Abram was already backing out of the tent
and packing up to go. Here is instant obedience to God's command. Spurgeon said,
“Promptness is one of the brightest excellencies in faith’s actions. Delay spoils all.”
He did not dispute with God, or question God's plan. He just headed for a place he
knew nothing about. God said leave, and so he left. That is why he is one of the
greatest men of faith in Heb. 11. Faith is more than just believing the word of God,
it is taking action based on that word, and that is what we see in Abram. He did not
say he had to think on it, or sleep on it, or check with others to see if it seems like a
good idea. He just took a step of faith and left. His leaving was proof of his
believing. If we look at other great men God called and used, we see a contrast
between them and Abram. For example, look at how Gideon responded in Judges
6:12-13, 12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The
LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my
Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his
miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from
Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the
Midianites. He had all kinds of questions and doubts. Then we look at Moses who
responds to God's call in Ex. 4:1, And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they
will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath
not appeared unto thee. Again it is a response of doubt. Then we have Jeremiah in
Jer. 1:5-6, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the
nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. In
other words, God you are calling the wrong person, for I just can't do it. Jonah, or
course, just took off in the opposite direction God called him to go.
In contrast Abram in faith took off in confidence that God would make possible
what was impossible for him in his old age and for Sarai in he barrenness. Phillips
Brooks said, You never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to
become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it on
your own. This is what we see Abram doing. Walter P. Chrysler said, The reason
so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they
are out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers. Abram heard the knock of
God and he responded with instant obedience with no excuses offered for delay. F.
B. Meyer writes, Ah, glorious faith! this is thy work, these are thy possibilities! --
contentment to sail with sealed orders, because of unwavering confidence in the love
and wisdom of the Lord High Admiral: willingness to arise up, leave all, and follow
Christ, because of the glad assurance that earth's best cannot bear comparison with

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