Gen 11:27-12:9
Key Verse 12:1-3
Introduction: In the last message, we came to know that
people were scattered according to clan, language and territories. Also their
drive to build a nation is the desire to make their name that reaches to
heaven. Through this it became obvious
that in these nations God cannot fulfill his plan for the world.
Also we learned that God maintained a line of blessing
through Shem, and through Peleg. God divides and selects or deselects in order
to maintain the line of blessing for his good purpose. God began to work in the
life of Terah.
Since the fall of men, the main theme was God's judgment and
renewal. From this point on, the focus is God's blessing. God began the work of blessing from Terah and
this continues to the end of the book of Genesis. In this historical narrative,
God reveals his will, whom he is going to bless, in what condition, what is the
nature of blessing.
In the first part we will discuss God’s call and the life of
Terah. In the second part, we will explore God’s call to Abram.
We all are called by God. What does it mean to each of us?
What are we to do? These questions are answered clearly through God’s call and
Abram’s response to that call. I pray that all of us may come to know what God
mean to do as he called each of us for his good purpose.
1. God called Terah.
Today’s passage starts with the word ‘this is the account of
Terah.’ It is sum up of Terah’s life. He
had three sons, Abram. Nahor and Haran. Terah and his family were living in the
land of Chaldeans; the place where Babel tower was built so that people may not
scattered. So this was the heart land of rebellion against God. Also in Acts 7,
Stephen’s address to the crowd, he said that Terah and his family were serving
Idols.
Though God chose the best, Terah and his family were not
much different from the rest of the world. In this situation God made a call to
Terah. Receiving God’s call is an
exceptional blessing for any man. God meant to bless him. That blessing is far
greater and very exceptional than we can get for ourselves. So in this regard,
God’s call to Terah was an expression of God’s love and hope for Terah.
As he received God’s call, Terah took Abram/Sarai and Lor,
his grandson to go to the land of Canaan according to God’s call. It was more
than 1000 miles away from their home town Ur. But when Terah got to Haran, a
city located about half way to Canaan, Terah settled there. [31]
Here I like to note that among three sons only Abram
followed his father Terah to go to the land of Canaan. Haran died in Ur. Nahor
did not follow his father Terah.
It is more than probable that the whole family received
God’s call. If that was the case then we see three responses to God’s call.
a.
Haran died before he put God’s call into action.
B. Nahor did not bother with God’s call. He enjoyed his life in the land of his
home town and his people. C. Abram decided to follow through God’s call and set
off to Canaan land with his father Terah.
We are not sure who was the primary person that God called.
According to what is recorded here, it seems that God called Terah and his
family since Terah was the one that led the family to go to Canaan and Abram
his son as well as Lot his grandson followed him though it was not impossible
that God called only Abram or Terah and Abram.
Since this is the account of Terah, describing the whole family and its
indictment on Terah of his failure to follow through the call is made clear by
saying that Terah died in Haran.
Once thing we know is that Nahor fall out of God’s call and
his blessing because he did not follow.
Haran died before Terah got off to Canaan. He fell out of the blessing
offered to his family because of his premature death.
What can we say about all these? We do not want to be
another Haran who never saw the light in God’s call. We do not want to be like
Nahor who might have thought that the call of God was not for him or did not
want to bother with God’s call because he was happy with what he had.
In this regard what Abram and his nephew, the son of
deceased Haran, were men of faith.
God calls people. The ultimate call that God made to us is
the call he made through his son Jesus. God offered his son as ransom for us
all. He demonstrated his love for sinners by giving up his own son in place of
us. God even now calls many. One thing
none of us should do is doing like Haran or Nahor who did not or would not or
could not follow through God’s call of blessing.
What about Terah?
In obedience to God’s call, he set off to Canaan land along
with his son Abram and his grandson Lot. But Terah settled in Haran and he died
there. According to Genesis accounts, Terah was 145 years old when Abram left
Haran to go to Canaan in obedience to God’s call. This means that Terah was
still young enough to follow through God’s call since he died at the age of
205. But he did not. He settled in Haran, just half way to the land God told
him to go. There might be very plausible reasons why Terah could not or woud
not follow God’s call. Whatever the reason might be, one thing is clear, he did
not follow and he fell out that blessing God wan offering!
Since we all are here
to listen to God’s word. There is no question that God called all of us for his
blessing. Also we recognize that there
may be thousands of reasons that deter us to follow through God’s call. But I
hope and pray that none of us, not even single one fell out in the middle of
our journey to God’s blessing!
Intense school work should not deter us. Many promising
carrier should not be the reason for settling down in Haran! An exciting
opportunity for success should not deter us to follow through God’s call for
His blessing. There was a student who sought God so honestly during his school
years. But he got a great job. Once his life seemed to go so well with his
carrier he dropped everything that he learned from God and followed the world.
Haran was the city of ungodly life and was full of pagan
religion. Unfortunately or sadly or regrettably ‘ Bill died in Haran, not in
the land of God’s blessing’ do we want
to be like Terah??
Victory of life starts when we begin to accept God’s call.
It is long journey. That journey is the journey of God’s blessing and his
power. When we begin now God can carry us to the land of God’s blessing surely
and certainly. When we not begin now more likely than not we will end up like
Terah! So let’s count God’s call
carefully. We must respond to God’s call courageously and decidedly
2. God’s call to Abram
Then what was the call that God made to Terah and to
Abram? As we assess God’s call we can
discern that there are two aspects of this call. First one is a command to go.
This demands obedience. The Second one is God’s unconditional offer. This
demands faith.
a. God’s command to go to the land of God’s promise, Canaan.
When God commanded Abram, he specified what he was to leave
behind. He listed three things; first his country, second his people and third
his father’s household. When God clearly identified on each of these things,
God has clear meaning and purpose. Country is the one that provides a place of
security and comfort where our lives can maintain ordinary and worry free
lives, engaging freedom and all kinds of activities. A country is under a king or
a ruler or a government. This is the last layer of our security on the earth.
Second one is to leave his people. His people speak the same
language, the same culture and the same goal as far as keeping or securing
lives are concerned. Also they are closely related and woven together. They are
interdependent. In order to maintain
life in America, telephone, tv and cars, as well as job is needed. I depend on
my coworkers at work every day. Without them, I cannot keep my normal
works.
The last one is father’s household. Father’s household is
where we grow up and learned all kind of things of life. It is where we learn
and build our philosophy about life and people and culture. Father has
authority to govern and impose what was necessary for their children. So children cannot escape father’s influence.
So in the ten commandments, it is said that God will bless a good father for
his descendants over 1000generations. But bad father will incur God’s curse for
3-4 generations. It is almost impossible
for any children not being influenced by his father. But God told him to leave
his father’s household. His father Terah’s life is described succinctly in ch
11. If Terah decided to settle in Haran, all the more so, Abram cannot follow
his father’s way of life or his directives.
Why did God tell Abram to leave each of these three? He
could have said simply go to the land I will show you! But God did not say
that. The reason is that each of these three harbors the principle or world
view or view of life that is totally oppose to God’s purpose or God’s will.
I believe that America is the best country that ever existed
on the earth. She protects her people with respect and honor. No country in
human history supported her people as America has been doing. Christianity is
one of the major reasons that founding fathers of America constructed such an
almost ideal structure of nation. Yet this nation runs still in the same
principle as God pointed out about the nations of the world in Gen 11:4.
1.
Men and their cause is the first and foremost
priority. No concern about God and God’s cause.
2.
What God said about the nations of the world is
still working in America as well—‘to make a name for ourselves’ great above all
other nations on the earth.
As we look at these three things, these are what make us as
us, distinctively and characteristically. It is deeply rooted in human mind,
human goal and human ideals. But we know how vacant it is. It is vacant because
it is run by men in sin, who rejected God.
In these kingdoms/nations/countries, people and family,
there is nothing new and there is no hope at all. So as long as we are bound by
the principles of this world, that are deeply fetched in country, people and
father’s household, we cannot taste the
world God is offering to us.
Jesus expressed this concern in Luke 14:16 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own
life—such a person cannot be my disciple. In order to follow Jesus we have to
hate our family and even ourselves. It is because in family, the ungodly
principle is deeply trenched.
b. God’s offer. [12:2-3]
“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.
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.”
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
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.
He is going to make him a great nation. He does
not have even a single child of his own. But God will give him as a child and
more of his descendant that will grow to be a nation.
2.
God will bless him. What it means is detailed in the next phrase:
I will make your
name great, and you will be a blessing.
a.
What God will do in and through Abram will be published to
the entire world and his name will be great, known to all the world and
respected and honored by the world,
b.
God will do this by making his a blessing; When God said I
will bless you, he does not just mean to bless only Abram in his life time. God
will make Abram the blessing though which God’s blessing will flow to the
world.
This is more illustrated in v3. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would[b] do what Abraham did. [John 8:39]
This is more illustrated in v3. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would[b] do what Abraham did. [John 8:39]
c.
Simply if anyone do as Abram did, then God will
bless the person. If anyone does not do as Abram did, then God would not bless
the person. If one does not do what Abram did, God’s curse will remain in that
person. In other word, all the people on earth must measure his or her action
against Abram’s. If that person did as Abram did, then God would bless that
person.
3.
God has ultimate hope for the world
through Abram.[3b] all
peoples on earth will be blessed through
you.
a.
It began with one man Abram in v 2, ‘you’ was the focus.
b.
It ends with all people on the earth.
c.
Here is God’s ultimate vision for the world. God hope is to
create a kingdom of God where God’s will will be implemented and fulfilled.
d.
He will accomplish by making many copies of ‘little Abram’
which will form a nation of God. If we simplify this, God wants to create a
kingdom of God’s blessing through one man Abram. This kingdom stands in
opposite to the many kingdoms of the world. Eventually these kingdoms of men
and men’s idea must fade out and God’s kingdom will prevail.
Then what did Abram do?
In order to understand his action, it is better to understand his
situation first.
In Abram’s perspective, God’s offer has
many problems.
a.
God is going to make him a nation. But
Sarai was barren for long time. How long? I investigated the ages when Abram’s
ancestors bore their first child. It is in the genealogy in ch 11. All of them
bore a child in their thirties; Arphaxad35, Shelah 30, Eber 34, Peleh 30, Reu 32, Serug 30, Nahor
29. At the time of God’s call to Abram
he was 75 years old. He has been waiting for almost 40 years to have a child.
Yet still they were barren. So Sarai’s
barrenness was a very serious one. If they were barren last forty years, how
can it is possible for them to bear a child in the future? Despite of these facts, God said God will
make him a nation. Abram has choice to believe what God said or reject God’s
offer thinking that it was not possible.
b.
God is going to bless. He will be a blessing and anyone who blesses
Abram God will bless and anyone curses Abram God will curse. It is simply too
good to be true. What good did Abram do that God wanted to do such great favor
for him? All the more his name will be great because all of God’s blessing will
flow from him to others.
At one side, God’s offer looked almost
impossible. At the other side, it is too good to be true. One thing we can see
here is that if what God promised to Abram is genuine and surely fulfilled,
then there is no reason to hesitate! But how can you confirm that God will do
these things!
I receive many mails that offer various
free gifts. Even one envelop says ‘ you won $10000.’ And asking me to do
something to get that $10,000. That free
gift is very good. If I can get it, I like to get it. It is free! But one thing
I have to know is who is giving that gift and why? I have to know the intension
and will of the person or the company. When it is not reliable, I would not bet
even a penny even if free$10000 is very tempting.
What I am saying is that Abram must
believe God, the one who offers these blessings! What did the Bibles say about
this?In Heb
11:8, it says that Abraham went by faith.
At one side God commanded him to go
from all that secured his life; his country, his people, and his father’s
household to the land God is going to show. When one receive a command, only
two responses are possible. Obey and do it or disobey and don’t do it. It demands obedience!
On the other side he has to determine
that what God offers is real and true.
Practically how can he be sure of what God said? How can he be sure that
he would have a child and his children would multiply to be a nation? God said he would bless Abram. Is it
possible? What God is doing is demanding Abram’s faith.
What did Abram choose to do?
3. 3. Abram’s decision of faith [4-5]
That decision is to do as God said.
So it is described very simply. ‘So Abram left as the Lord
had told him’ I like to note the two sentences; v1 and v4. Both are past
perfect tense. In both God had said to Abram. This is to emphasize that Abram ,
received this call some time before, when he was still in Mesopotamia, Ur of Chaldeans. So, quite amount of time
have passed since this word of God’s call was given to him. Now living in
Haran, he was reminded of himself again what God said to him and made a
decision. What is the decision?
He left as the Lord had told him. The most difficult one is
to leave the father’s household behind. Terah was still living and he settled
his life well in Haran. He was not willing to move at all. In the beginning
they started out together but now he has to choose God’s promise or his
affection and love for his father as well as his father’s expectation.
He chose God’s promise!
He cut the last security of his life—his father’s household. He set out
to the land that God would show to him.
He made decision because he believed that God is good and is
almighty and is able to deliver what he had promised. He left because he valued
the life God is going to bless is far more worthy and valuable than the life he
has. This is faith that counts God and his blessing more than anything of this
world. This is the obedience to God in honor of his command to go to the land
of God’s promise.
These two things characterize Abram; faith and obedience. As
God blessed Abram because of his faith and obedience, so will he bless when we
believe Jesus and obey his teachings. If one does not obey, he or she cannot be
God’s children. If one does not put his trust in God and His Son Jesus, he
cannot earn God’s blessing. God did this blessing first in the life of Abram.
Since then God has being doing many a times. Jesus, who came through Abram,
opened this opportunity to all human races. So anyone who believes Jesus and
obey his teachings, he will surely get God’s blessing and will be included in
God’s kingdom. We know that the kingdoms of the world will surely fade away.
But Jesus the king of the world and his kingdom will surely last forever.
So what did he do?
So, He took Sari, and his nephew Lot and all the possession
that he had. He made decision of his own before God and he chose to follow God
and his command so as to seek His blessing.
Now he is in charge of the family and he entrusted his life as well as
all of his family members including slaves on God’s hand!
[[It is one thing to dare to trust God for himself. It is
another to entrust the whole family in God’s hand! This tells us his genuine
trust in God Almighty and God of promise and goodness.
As a whole faith is the essential element that God demands
from all that seek God’s blessing. ]]
There is one more thing: Heb 11: 88 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.
He obeyed and went. Obedience to God’s
command is the next thing that God is looking for from those who seek God’s
blessing!
Many of us received God’s call
for the first time in life like Abram. There might be an opposition and
ridicule from family members and friends. They may raise doubt and skepticism.
But we have to make decision of faith based on God’s promise. As was to Abram,
God offers us two things through Jesus; Blessing and becoming part of the
kingdom of God. This call is made clear in Gal 3:7-97 Understand,
then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the
Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations
will be blessed through you.”[a] 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with
Abraham, the man of faith.
4. God confirms his promise [6-7]
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the
great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the
Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your
offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar
there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
He went further south to near Bethel and Ai. Most
likely he was moving about within the land of Canaan in search for a place to
live. Even he did not find a place to live permanently he built an altar and
call on the name of the Lord. He was giving thanks to God even though the
present conditions were not favorable at all for him. He trusted God and
believed God’s promise for the future blessing. So in this belief he was
rejoicing even then
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