GOD’S PROMISES
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. "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. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:1-3).
God made an offer to Abraham. That offer was contingent and was premised on an action that Abraham was supposed to take. God said, “IF you leave your country, THEN I will do the following for you.” It was up to Abraham to make a choice between leaving a location that was familiar to him and having the confidence in God to believe in the promise. If an ordinary person had made the same offer to Abraham, then the same result is unlikely to have transpired. Abraham’s act of compliance with God’s offer infers that Abraham had previous contact with God; a pre-existing relationship with God; or at the very least, that Abraham had knowledge of who God was. How many of us would be willing to act on an offer that was unseen and possibly not audibly heard?
Abraham’s belief that it was “the Lord” who was speaking to him, shows Abraham’s conviction about the faithfulness of His God. The statement that follows concerning “leaving his country” is a series of promises made by God to Abraham. The excerpt of this particular scripture does not explain why God made such an oath or if there was an event that led up to it. However, the promises appear to surpass Abraham’s lifetime and extend into future generations. In fact, God promises to make Abraham a blessing and to exalt him beyond a point that would be conceivable to Abraham! God promises to honor Abraham and his descendants by blessing and cursing those who harm or support Abraham (and his descendants). The promise is a potent one which validates Abraham as one of God’s own. Abraham is essentially handed a set of promises that would require God in Abraham’s life and beyond. It is interesting that the promise appears to be without motivation and an act of sovereignty on God’s part. Similarly, we are chosen as an act of grace on God’s part that has nothing to do with our behavior or standing in life.
Patriarchal history begins with the election of Abraham. His call comes dramatically and definitively (LaSor 46). The bible does not provide reasoning for why Abraham was chosen among other men. We are not told what attributes Abraham held that were appealing to God only that Abraham acted on God’s word. The chosen individual seems an arbitrary decision by God, but given the lineage of patriarchs that followed, Abraham’s call proves to be more deliberate than not. LaSor speaks to the contradictions of Abraham’s call: “He is to be a great nation (Gen 12:2) but Sara is barren (Gen 11:30). The land belongs to Abraham’s descendants (Gen 12:7) but the Canaanites occupy it (Gen 12:6),” (LaSor 47). Nevertheless, Abraham obeys God’s instructions and follows in faith. I have to wonder how many of us were given promises that we missed simply because we did not believe that God could do what was seemingly impossible?
God’s promises in Abraham’s life almost seem intentionally contradictive. It’s as if Abraham himself could not fulfill any of God’s promises in his own might and it would literally take the power of God to fulfill what God had promised. In spite of Abraham’s futile efforts to “help God” perform his promises, God appears “when old age makes the promise seem inconceivable in human terms” (Ibid.) A question might arise between the time when God made His promise and when He fulfilled His promise: What were Were all the events that took place supposed to happen? (i.e. the birth of Ishmael? Gen 16). This point is relevant, because it shows that when God makes a promise, He keeps it in His own time in spite of any obstacles that may arise in the interim. In other words, if we heard God make a promise, and various incidents to the contrary have taken place that make the end goal seem beyond repair - it’s not over. If God said He would do it, He will. Even the patriarch of many religions got it wrong!
The same promises were affirmed to the other patriarchs. Abraham could not have known about these subsequent affirmations. This only substantiates that it was Abraham’s faith that allowed God’s promise to take hold in the first place! It is why, Abraham is called the Father of our faith. “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all” (Rom 4:16).
God’s faithfulness to His own word was apparent when Abraham and Sarah conceived...and it remains a point of faith, because that which was promised has not fully come to pass. It is at this stage where previous instances of God’s overt actions are held on to for the sake of preserving a point of contact with faith to an incomplete promise that is still pending. In other words, here lies the crux of the Israelites’ ongoing belief that God will redeem their nation and fulfill the promise made to Abraham and affirmed in Isaac and Jacob. Similarly, we await the return of our Savior to fully redeem the Body of Christ (Rev 22:20). We also have a promise that we hold on to premised on Christ’s resurrection which is associated with Abraham’s lineage.
The course of Abraham’s path towards his promise was not an easy journey. There were several instances where Abraham “did not understand the promise” and acted on his own without God. Notably, “Abraham avoids catastrophe by his calm faith in God’s ability to fulfill His promise” (Provan 109). Provan specifically speaks to the division of land between Lot and Abraham, but in reality there were other significant instances like when Ishmael was conceived only to be told by God that this would not be the promised heir (Gen 17). Abraham had to part with Ishmael in spite of the fact that Ishmael was Abraham’s first born (Gen 21). It was Abraham’s faith that persisted and kept believing in spite of the difficulties that arose. Can you imagine having to send away a first born? Abraham could have easily blamed God for having to part with Ishmael, but in reality it was Sarah who asked that Ishmael be sent away. This arose out of Sarah’s perceived dissent between Isaac and Ishmael. In other words, Abraham and Sarah’s disobedience became a hindrance when the promise of Isaac was fulfilled.
At first it seems as if the intrusion of an illegitimate son might pose a problem between Abraham and God, but God’s ability to fulfill a promise was above their human condition. Especially when God also made Ishmael a nation! (Gen 21:11) By not allowing Ishmael to become heir demonstrates that God is exceedingly technical about His conditions. Although, Abraham did produce a son (with Hagar), it was not the circumstances by which God was willing to act. God made clear and succinct statements that were upheld at all cost. The promise to make Abraham a great nation invokes a first born to continue the patriarchal legacy. It was of significant value to God that His promise be implemented in a specific manner with the intended individuals that He chose in the first place that would later affect the outcome of believing in the Messiah by faith.
Abraham is the patriarch, because he was explicitly chosen by God. It is difficult to believe that any other person would have carried out God’s wishes in a more fitting manner than Abraham. In other words, there wasn’t anybody else that could perform Abraham’s calling except Abraham. That statement seems redundant, but sometimes God uses repetition to get His point across. In conclusion Abraham’s faith is every Christian struggle with the promises of God. Sometimes God makes statements which do not make rational sense, but in the end it is His word that is at stake. God’s promise to Abraham affects our Christian faith to this day. It is in Abraham’s promise that “God’s chosen” will be fully restored.
References:
Bible Gateway. Online bible. www.biblegateway.com (Available as of March 31, 2010).
Provan, et al. A Biblical History of Israel. Knox Press: Kentucky (2003).
Lasor, et al. Old Testament Survey. Eerdmans: Michigan (1996).
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