ch.
12
Abraham's life is given with great detail from his
emigration from Chaldea to his death in
chapters 12-25
God determines to call a man through whom He
will make a nation that would be responsible of
carrying God's revelation to other men and
through which the Redeemer could come to work
out the SALVATION OF ALL MANKIND!
God promises Abram a land, a seed and a blessing!
A great inheritance, a great posterity, a great renown,
a great influence and A GREAT SALVATION!
v. 1 - "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out
of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from
thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee"
A summons was given to leave all - reminiscent of Jesus'
call - "Follow me"
vs. 2-3 - "I will make of thee a great blessing"
To be a blessing through the power and favor of God
is the highest honor in the world!
The help we can give
to others morally is far greater than that we can bestow
materially.
Men will be either blessed or cursed of God according
to their attitude towards Abram.
"And in thee shall all the families of the earth be
blessed" - the Divine promise of salvation was narrowed
to his line.
Compare modern resentment of the Arabs of Christ
and their preference for Mohammed with the
resentment of Nimrod and Cush!
v. 4 - "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto
him"
Heb. 11:8-10 - "obeyed; and he went out, not
knowing whither he
went"
"unto a land that I will shew thee" - v. 1
A day by day journey under Divine direction!
v. 6 - "...Abram passed through the land.....And
the Canaanite was then
in the land"
A reminder to Abram of his heavenly country,
seeing he was a stranger in this earthly one.
Wanderings - Abram must have eagerly expected
rest in the
that he must journey still.
Heb. 11:10,13-16
v. 7 - "the Lord appeared unto Abram"
"unto thy seed" - to himself God gave
"none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set
his foot on"
"will I give this land"
- a great promise, that the
Canaanites should be DISPOSSESSED, and their
country given to the offspring of a childless old man
already 75 years old.
Notice the discouragements - he was childless -
the land was occupied already - the prevalence
of famine.
Beware of the attitude that because a saint
cannot discern how a promise is to be fulfilled that
one does not challenge the Divine resources and
end up trying to impeach the Divine faithfulness!
The promise may seem long delayed but the believer
must continue trusting God day by day
and remember that His timing is ALWAYS best!
Beware of the temptation to think that the glories
of the future may not be worth the sacrifices made
today to secure them!
Rom. 8:18 - "I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not
worthy to be compared
with the glory which
shall be revealed in us"
"and there builded he an altar unto the Lord"
Note the joy of the Divine presence and the consolation
of Divine worship.
It is often said of Abraham and the patriarchs
that they built altars to the Lord - it is never
said that they built houses to themselves!
In this modern age, in how many homes is that
altar in need of repair or worse
still, has it not
even been set up?
The Bible has many encouragements to pray, but
not one warning against asking too much!
v. 10 - the occurrence of a famine just at the time
of Abram's entering
the land - a test of faith?
"the famine was grievous"
Abram was not equal to this test and soon yielded to
temptation to take matters in his own hands.
"Abram went down into
It often seems at first that a compromise between
the methods of the world and God's will and promises
works out very well - that pragmatism is quite
profitable - Christians may even misinterpret
prosperity as a confirmation that one is in the right
way and become satisfied with the situation but it is
one in which God must use chastisement to get them
out of this compromise position and back into the
true way!
The descent into
endangered the life of Abram, the chastity of Sarai,
and a peril to the fulfillment of God's promise.
Thus the dangers of resorting to a worldly policy?
Surely Abram was ashamed when he reflected on
the danger he had put Sarai into
in the house of
Pharaoh and his own cowardly spirit which had bartered
her good name for the sake of saving his own skin - for what
looked like selling his wife's purity for flocks and herds -
no doubt conscience exacted a vengeance on the guilty
soul of the patriarch as it does on that of every sinner.
God went down and rescued Abram.
vs. 12-13 - This in light of vs. 2-3
vs. 18-19 - The heathen Pharaoh's righteous rebuke
of God's chosen.
Learn: that the best of men may
fall into the greatest
of sins. That a sojourn in the midst of a worldly
atmosphere generally
involves some compromise
of spiritual liberty.
The beginning of that sojourn was wrong - its end
disgraceful - God was dishonored by this act of
tampering with CARNAL POLICY.
Abram should not have gone into
place - God would have taken care of him, even during
famine -
If we under our own special set of circumstances,
resort to our own way, and try to rationalize as Abram
did, we too will be rebuked by the very unbelievers which
we are trying to win.
I Cor. 10:12-13
We too, will learn like Abram, that our compromise
has destroyed our testimony and that heathen, rather
than being drawn to God end up rebuking us for our
hypocrisy.
ch.
13
v. 1 - a mercy of God that either one of them returned
considering the sin
they committed and the
danger it invoked.
v. 4 - the influence of communion with God on the
following scenario.
Back to
It was there that he had last been in fellowship with
God and to this place he returned to seek forgiveness
and full restoration to God's favor.
God has promised
that if we confess our sins that he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness - I John 1:9 - Abram was restored
to full fellowship and joy of the Lord.
v. 6 -
v. 7 - This prosperity was injurious to
bargain when one grows
rich at the expense of
his better nature
There was a strife between brethren and part of the
sad situation was a compromise of their witness before
the Egyptians.
*
*
* Lot pitched his tent towards
* Lot sat in the gate of
* Lot was unhappy -
II Pet. 2:8
*
out of
Apparently the sojourn in
effect on
v. 13 - "But the men of
BEFORE the Lord
exceedingly"
Their vileness was restrained neither in quantity nor
quality!
Abram understood that Canaan with the blessing of God
was to be preferred to the plain of Jordan (which was
well-watered and as the Garden of Eden) and inhabited
by profane and wicked sinners who had prostituted the
blessings of God to their own carnality.
1. Beware that people in this
day can still do the equivalent
of "pitching their
tents towards
2. Mingling with and marrying
into the families of the
ungodly ruined the world
before the Flood and ruined
people after the Flood. There must be separation of God's
people from the world.
3. It is a great mistake to seek
first the world, thinking
not to neglect God, but
putting Him in the corners of
one's life expecting to
finally serve Him in the end?
4. It is dangerous to go towards
keep out of
5. Dwight Moody said "it is
much easier to lead your
children into
vs. 14-17 - God immediately gives Abram consolation and
help in the loss of
his kinsman and the misunder--
standing associated
with it.
* "to thee and thy seed
will I give it for ever"
* "arise, walk through the
land in the length of it and
in the breadth of it, for I will give it too
thee"
v. 18 - Abram did so and moved to Mamre and built
there an altar.
Abram had learned a hard lesson but God in His mercy
confirms the covenant again!
Abram has his tent, his altar, the promises, and his God.
He will live in peace! No man
ever comes off a loser who
makes sacrifices for God!
ch.
14
v. 12 - "And they took Lot.....who dwelt in
The last we heard of
flocks from
declension in spiritual life to find Lot a citizen of
v. 2 - "Birsha" - son of wickedness
"Excerpted text Copyright AGES Library,
LLC. All rights reserved.
Materials are reproduced by
permission."
The following taken from The
Genesis Record by Henry Morris
