Abram Leaves the City by Faith With His Flocksby CBPepper
12:2Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
God spoke this as His covenant promise to Abraham together with the command to leave his country, kindred, and father's house at Ur for a land He would show him. He promised to make of him a great nation as numerous as the stars, to bless him, to make his name great, and to give his posterity the land of Canaan. He blessed Abraham and made him great not for his own or his descendants' selfish advantage, but so that he would be a blessing to others and through him all families of the earth would be blessed. The nationhood and land were not received in his lifetime, for he died in faith owning no foot of Canaan beyond a burial place, looking for a better heavenly country, with full fulfillment coming in the purified whole earth given through Christ to Abraham and his seed. The call was an immeasurable first test requiring obedient trust without reasoning about comfort or consequences, and his departing in perfect confidence shows true faith that trusts God, bears fruit, and was imputed to him for righteousness.
Call and Circumstances
Genesis 12:2 is God's covenant of promise with Abraham, spoken together with the command to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house at Ur of the Chaldees for a land God would show him. The word came when Abraham was seventy-five years old. He was commanded by a God whom he scarcely knew to go to a land he did not know, where he had no possession he could claim, and amid Canaanite idolatry his faith was tested, while the promise that his descendants would possess Canaan gave him no outward evidence.
The promise marks the beginning of the experiences of God's chosen people. It is the beginning of the 430-year sojourning of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel ending with the giving of the law at Sinai, so the 430 years are not time in Egypt alone and the actual time in Egypt was only about 215 years. The same voice that told Abraham to leave his country for a land God would show him later told him to offer his son as a sacrifice.
Promise to Abraham
God promised to make of Abraham a great nation in Canaan, to bless him, to make his name great, and to make him a blessing, giving him a numerous posterity as numerous as the stars of heaven through whom His purposes would be carried out. That nationhood and posterity were bound up with the possession of Canaan, yet the promise of Canaan gave him no outward evidence at the time it was spoken. Jacob afterward remembered this promise to Abraham, together with the promises to Isaac and to himself, and hoped God would wonderfully bless Joseph.
The nationhood and land thus promised were not received during Abraham's lifetime, for he died in faith looking for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. He owned not a foot of Canaan and had to buy land to bury his dead, possessing in his lifetime nothing beyond a purchased burial place, while Canaanite idolatry tested his faith and he had no possession he could claim. God showed him in that condition that the promised inheritance was eternal.
Its full fulfillment reaches to the inheritance of the whole earth purified, given through Christ to Abraham and his seed, which Abraham himself will share. For that reason believers are only pilgrims and strangers seeking the city whose builder and maker is God, not expecting all reward here in land or gold or silver but holding the claim of future immortal life and an eternal weight of glory. Abraham was satisfied by the view of immortal life on this earth purified as his home.
The promise assured Abraham that God would bless him and make him a blessing even when famine and hardship made God's leading difficult to understand. He held to it without turning back to the land he had left, trusting that God remained his friend and guide. Obedience brought poverty and hunger in famine and adverse circumstances that proved faith, but faith at last brought returns in great riches and possessions and above everything else the blessing of God.
Blessing to Nations
God blessed Abraham and made him great and founded from him a great nation in order that he himself would be a blessing to others, not for his own selfish advantage nor for that of his descendants alone. Blessing was given to be passed on and not kept for self, and its promise applies to all who are counted among Israel and to everyone who surrenders to Him. He specially blessed Abraham's descendants so that they in turn would be a blessing to others, not so that they would be superior to every other people or alone own His promises and love.
Abraham was chosen as a witness to bear God's message to many people and as His chosen representative to reveal His righteousness. He was called to be a light-bearer to the heathen, and his care for Israel was meant to reveal God's love and grace to all the inhabitants of the earth rather than to separate Israel from them. His faithful, unselfish, courageous, and benevolent life among the nations revealed God's character where he lived, and through the principles of His people Israel was to reveal God and become a means of restoring His moral image in humanity and preparing the way for His light to reach the world.
God's covenant with Abraham embraced all the nations of the earth and all the families of the earth, and Israel's separate identity and national standing were meant to make God's name known and bring blessing to the nations. Abraham's descendants were to preserve God's truth and bring blessing to all nations through the promised Messiah. They were chosen to preserve among men the knowledge of Him and of His law and of the symbols and prophecies pointing to the Saviour, to keep His law and exalt it, to reveal God to men and serve as wells of salvation to the world as Abraham was in the land of his sojourn and as Joseph was in Egypt and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, a purpose repeated afterward through the prophets.
Forgetting that purpose turns blessing into pride and self-sufficiency, builds a wall between God's people and surrounding nations, and leaves those in darkness near at hand without help and without knowledge of their needs. Proud, selfish, and cruel teachers who claimed Abraham were not his just and obedient children but a deadly curse, worse than the heathen in view of their light. This purpose extends from Abraham to God's people in every age, including the present generation and the church on earth, and reaches fulfillment as they share the light of Christ with others. As the church shares the everlasting gospel with every nation, Bible truth brings people to God and produces an abundant harvest of souls, fulfilling the blessing promised to Abraham and Israel.
Heirs of Promise
God called Abraham to become the father of a great people, promising to bless him and make his name great, and that promised nation was to become a power in the earth through whom He would reveal His will. Its work was to keep His law, preserve the knowledge of Him and preserve His truth, and to bring blessing to all nations through the promised Messiah. Satan sought to keep the people in ignorance and bondage and to erase their remembrance of God. Their growth into a nation and their possession of Canaan show faithfulness to the covenant made with Abraham and recalled alongside the covenant with Jacob at Shechem.
Isaac was honored as inheritor of the promises, identified as the promised heir and inheritor of the promised blessing whose birth Abraham had long awaited. Abraham himself stands as heir of the promises through whom the world would be blessed. Jacob remembered the promise to make Abraham a great nation and to bless him, along with the promises to Isaac and to himself, and hoped God would wonderfully bless Joseph.
The fulfilling of the promise does not depend on Abraham's literal descendants, for God's people were not limited to physical descent. Abraham himself was called out from a heathen people, and God can call others into His service in the same way, so that many from the nations could be counted among Israel, with spiritual blessing for those who reached out for the blessings promised to Abraham's seed. Sharing its blessings belongs with the faith and piety Abraham showed, expressed in humility, integrity, and purity of life as His just and obedient children, not merely through outward claims or ancestry which the Jews claimed entitled them to eternal blessings. Even when hearts are as lifeless as the stones of the desert, God's Spirit can quicken them to do His will and receive the fulfilment of the promise, while proud, selfish, and cruel teachers who claimed Abraham were not his children but a deadly curse, worse than the heathen in view of their light.
The Jews were the chosen people through whom He purposed to bless the entire human race, and Israel's glorious destiny was to bring healing and spiritual life to countless people. The people repeatedly turned from that purpose and selfishly kept for themselves what was intended to benefit others. From among them God raised up many prophets who foretold the advent of a Redeemer who would be rejected and slain by those who should have been first to recognize Him as the Promised One, and even though Israel rejected His Son He did not reject them.
Faith and Obedience
The call to leave home was an immeasurable test and trial through which God revealed Himself, a close first test requiring obedience in faith without questioning convenience or consequences. Abraham did not reason against it or question God's purposes, and did not first ask whether the destination would be fertile and pleasant or comfortable or whether he would have ease there. His response teaches that when duty conflicts with personal wishes and leads contrary to inclination, people are to trust God and go where He directs.
Abraham obeyed and departed as spoken in perfect confidence, trusting God's word and obeying wherever God led though the promise that his descendants would possess Canaan gave him no outward evidence. He moved out in obedience without seeing the future opened before him, trusting God with what lay ahead including how himself and family would be supported instead of waiting until provision is seen. He grasped the divine will with sanctified intellect and living faith, cultivating his capabilities and wisely employing his powers and pressing on in the narrow way, and God disposed his heart to obey.
His response shows true faith, which is not belief only but trust in God that produces fruits, believing God so that it was imputed to him for righteousness. By that faith he was saved by faith in Christ just as the sinner is saved by faith in Christ today.
The command was given because God knew how strong the temptations would be if Abraham remained, and God wanted His servant separated from every species of idolatry. Going to a new place with different associations broke some of the nets Satan had laid for his feet. Moving to another place does not place anyone beyond Satan's temptations, but it may give the same help today.
Living the Blessing
The promise to bless and to make a blessing belongs to those counted among Israel and to everyone who surrenders to Him, and it stands as their assurance, their light, their joy, and their triumph. Surrender joins weakness of character to One mighty to save, ignorance to infinite wisdom, and frailty to enduring might, so that like Jacob each person may become a prince with God. Connected with the Lord God of Israel, believers receive power from above to be overcomers, and His blessing gives power to overcome and through imparted divine love opens hearts and gains access to the hearts of men. Fulfillment comes as they fasten hold on the throne of the Infinite and plead for blessing, and as youth who know God's favor and love in the heart and the value of blood-bought privileges consecrate ability and strive with all powers to increase talents for the Master's service.
God blesses men He appoints to go to people who do not know God, so that by life and character they reveal the necessity of obedience to God's laws. The blessing is given to those who follow in self-denial and self-sacrificing effort and do His work in His own appointed way, and He is with them to give strength and success that they may be a blessing to the world. Each has a distinct individual work to go into new territory and be a light-bearer to the heathen, called to leave familiar territory rather than live to please self. That means caring for precious souls and for every precious sinner and going forward in the Lord's name to the home field or regions beyond to preach the gospel and carry the gospel to new fields, depending on God for grace and strength so that work begun on a small scale will enlarge without selfishness.
God called Abraham with full sight of all the dangers before him, electing him to become a member of the Lord's family with a mission and solemn responsibilities as God's messenger. The call means being a representative in example after the Christlike pattern, constantly learning from God every day and teaching the most solemn message ever given to mortals without losing sight of the mission. It means coming out from the world in speech and in action and maintaining a separate holy character under discipline, watchful and praying and clothed in garments of holiness and purity. So lived, no point of advantage is given through lax familiarity and light and trifling conduct.
Those who belong to the Lord must leave settled centers and move into places where the truth has not been proclaimed to do His work faithfully and intelligently. They must not make it their first study to settle where they will have the greatest financial advantage, unlike Lot who chose the fertile plains of Sodom for gain and lost his wife, his married children, and his riches and had to flee for his life, with the end of all things at hand making obedience urgent. The same call requires leaving country, home, friends and associates when they are the worst spiritual enemies, changing place and surroundings and cutting loose without waiting too long lest one become earth-bound, in order to find strength and help for salvation and to develop character that will glorify Him. The command was given because God knew how strong the temptations would be if Abraham remained, and God wanted His servant separated from every species of idolatry. The same faith that trusted God with what lay ahead, including how self and family would be supported without seeing the future opened before him, is needed by one convicted on the Sabbath question who hesitates over support, and to lack it is to remain in unbelief.
Any such move to a new place with different associations may break some of the nets laid for the feet, though it does not place anyone beyond temptation, and it may give the same help today. It must not be hasty or haphazard but understandingly from force of conviction, with determination to win heaven at any cost. Its aim is to influence every soul to obey God with heart and soul and undivided affections, and to imitate no one's evil practices.
Wherever Abraham pitched his tent his first work was to build an altar where he could worship God with those accompanying him as pilgrims and strangers. His example teaches that God's people must make providing a place to meet and worship God first of everything, thereby honoring and glorifying God, showing respect for His holiness, showing faith by works, advancing His work, and putting God and His service first. Abraham's faithful care of his household exemplifies the path parents should follow, and the Lord blesses parents who fulfill their God-given duties. The prayer of blessing asks God to bless and keep workers and enable them to benefit others through work connected with God's cause, including proclaiming the truth.
God spoke this as His covenant promise to Abraham together with the command to leave his country, kindred, and father's house at Ur for a land He would show him. He promised to make of him a great nation as numerous as the stars, to bless him, to make his name great, and to give his posterity the land of Canaan. He blessed Abraham and made him great not for his own or his descendants' selfish advantage, but so that he would be a blessing to others and through him all families of the earth would be blessed. The nationhood and land were not received in his lifetime, for he died in faith owning no foot of Canaan beyond a burial place, looking for a better heavenly country, with full fulfillment coming in the purified whole earth given through Christ to Abraham and his seed. The call was an immeasurable first test requiring obedient trust without reasoning about comfort or consequences, and his departing in perfect confidence shows true faith that trusts God, bears fruit, and was imputed to him for righteousness.
Call and Circumstances
Genesis 12:2 is God's covenant of promise with Abraham, spoken together with the command to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house at Ur of the Chaldees for a land God would show him. The word came when Abraham was seventy-five years old. He was commanded by a God whom he scarcely knew to go to a land he did not know, where he had no possession he could claim, and amid Canaanite idolatry his faith was tested, while the promise that his descendants would possess Canaan gave him no outward evidence.
The promise marks the beginning of the experiences of God's chosen people. It is the beginning of the 430-year sojourning of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Israel ending with the giving of the law at Sinai, so the 430 years are not time in Egypt alone and the actual time in Egypt was only about 215 years. The same voice that told Abraham to leave his country for a land God would show him later told him to offer his son as a sacrifice.
Promise to Abraham
God promised to make of Abraham a great nation in Canaan, to bless him, to make his name great, and to make him a blessing, giving him a numerous posterity as numerous as the stars of heaven through whom His purposes would be carried out. That nationhood and posterity were bound up with the possession of Canaan, yet the promise of Canaan gave him no outward evidence at the time it was spoken. Jacob afterward remembered this promise to Abraham, together with the promises to Isaac and to himself, and hoped God would wonderfully bless Joseph.
The nationhood and land thus promised were not received during Abraham's lifetime, for he died in faith looking for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. He owned not a foot of Canaan and had to buy land to bury his dead, possessing in his lifetime nothing beyond a purchased burial place, while Canaanite idolatry tested his faith and he had no possession he could claim. God showed him in that condition that the promised inheritance was eternal.
Its full fulfillment reaches to the inheritance of the whole earth purified, given through Christ to Abraham and his seed, which Abraham himself will share. For that reason believers are only pilgrims and strangers seeking the city whose builder and maker is God, not expecting all reward here in land or gold or silver but holding the claim of future immortal life and an eternal weight of glory. Abraham was satisfied by the view of immortal life on this earth purified as his home.
The promise assured Abraham that God would bless him and make him a blessing even when famine and hardship made God's leading difficult to understand. He held to it without turning back to the land he had left, trusting that God remained his friend and guide. Obedience brought poverty and hunger in famine and adverse circumstances that proved faith, but faith at last brought returns in great riches and possessions and above everything else the blessing of God.
Blessing to Nations
God blessed Abraham and made him great and founded from him a great nation in order that he himself would be a blessing to others, not for his own selfish advantage nor for that of his descendants alone. Blessing was given to be passed on and not kept for self, and its promise applies to all who are counted among Israel and to everyone who surrenders to Him. He specially blessed Abraham's descendants so that they in turn would be a blessing to others, not so that they would be superior to every other people or alone own His promises and love.
Abraham was chosen as a witness to bear God's message to many people and as His chosen representative to reveal His righteousness. He was called to be a light-bearer to the heathen, and his care for Israel was meant to reveal God's love and grace to all the inhabitants of the earth rather than to separate Israel from them. His faithful, unselfish, courageous, and benevolent life among the nations revealed God's character where he lived, and through the principles of His people Israel was to reveal God and become a means of restoring His moral image in humanity and preparing the way for His light to reach the world.
God's covenant with Abraham embraced all the nations of the earth and all the families of the earth, and Israel's separate identity and national standing were meant to make God's name known and bring blessing to the nations. Abraham's descendants were to preserve God's truth and bring blessing to all nations through the promised Messiah. They were chosen to preserve among men the knowledge of Him and of His law and of the symbols and prophecies pointing to the Saviour, to keep His law and exalt it, to reveal God to men and serve as wells of salvation to the world as Abraham was in the land of his sojourn and as Joseph was in Egypt and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, a purpose repeated afterward through the prophets.
Forgetting that purpose turns blessing into pride and self-sufficiency, builds a wall between God's people and surrounding nations, and leaves those in darkness near at hand without help and without knowledge of their needs. Proud, selfish, and cruel teachers who claimed Abraham were not his just and obedient children but a deadly curse, worse than the heathen in view of their light. This purpose extends from Abraham to God's people in every age, including the present generation and the church on earth, and reaches fulfillment as they share the light of Christ with others. As the church shares the everlasting gospel with every nation, Bible truth brings people to God and produces an abundant harvest of souls, fulfilling the blessing promised to Abraham and Israel.
Heirs of Promise
God called Abraham to become the father of a great people, promising to bless him and make his name great, and that promised nation was to become a power in the earth through whom He would reveal His will. Its work was to keep His law, preserve the knowledge of Him and preserve His truth, and to bring blessing to all nations through the promised Messiah. Satan sought to keep the people in ignorance and bondage and to erase their remembrance of God. Their growth into a nation and their possession of Canaan show faithfulness to the covenant made with Abraham and recalled alongside the covenant with Jacob at Shechem.
Isaac was honored as inheritor of the promises, identified as the promised heir and inheritor of the promised blessing whose birth Abraham had long awaited. Abraham himself stands as heir of the promises through whom the world would be blessed. Jacob remembered the promise to make Abraham a great nation and to bless him, along with the promises to Isaac and to himself, and hoped God would wonderfully bless Joseph.
The fulfilling of the promise does not depend on Abraham's literal descendants, for God's people were not limited to physical descent. Abraham himself was called out from a heathen people, and God can call others into His service in the same way, so that many from the nations could be counted among Israel, with spiritual blessing for those who reached out for the blessings promised to Abraham's seed. Sharing its blessings belongs with the faith and piety Abraham showed, expressed in humility, integrity, and purity of life as His just and obedient children, not merely through outward claims or ancestry which the Jews claimed entitled them to eternal blessings. Even when hearts are as lifeless as the stones of the desert, God's Spirit can quicken them to do His will and receive the fulfilment of the promise, while proud, selfish, and cruel teachers who claimed Abraham were not his children but a deadly curse, worse than the heathen in view of their light.
The Jews were the chosen people through whom He purposed to bless the entire human race, and Israel's glorious destiny was to bring healing and spiritual life to countless people. The people repeatedly turned from that purpose and selfishly kept for themselves what was intended to benefit others. From among them God raised up many prophets who foretold the advent of a Redeemer who would be rejected and slain by those who should have been first to recognize Him as the Promised One, and even though Israel rejected His Son He did not reject them.
Faith and Obedience
The call to leave home was an immeasurable test and trial through which God revealed Himself, a close first test requiring obedience in faith without questioning convenience or consequences. Abraham did not reason against it or question God's purposes, and did not first ask whether the destination would be fertile and pleasant or comfortable or whether he would have ease there. His response teaches that when duty conflicts with personal wishes and leads contrary to inclination, people are to trust God and go where He directs.
Abraham obeyed and departed as spoken in perfect confidence, trusting God's word and obeying wherever God led though the promise that his descendants would possess Canaan gave him no outward evidence. He moved out in obedience without seeing the future opened before him, trusting God with what lay ahead including how himself and family would be supported instead of waiting until provision is seen. He grasped the divine will with sanctified intellect and living faith, cultivating his capabilities and wisely employing his powers and pressing on in the narrow way, and God disposed his heart to obey.
His response shows true faith, which is not belief only but trust in God that produces fruits, believing God so that it was imputed to him for righteousness. By that faith he was saved by faith in Christ just as the sinner is saved by faith in Christ today.
The command was given because God knew how strong the temptations would be if Abraham remained, and God wanted His servant separated from every species of idolatry. Going to a new place with different associations broke some of the nets Satan had laid for his feet. Moving to another place does not place anyone beyond Satan's temptations, but it may give the same help today.
Living the Blessing
The promise to bless and to make a blessing belongs to those counted among Israel and to everyone who surrenders to Him, and it stands as their assurance, their light, their joy, and their triumph. Surrender joins weakness of character to One mighty to save, ignorance to infinite wisdom, and frailty to enduring might, so that like Jacob each person may become a prince with God. Connected with the Lord God of Israel, believers receive power from above to be overcomers, and His blessing gives power to overcome and through imparted divine love opens hearts and gains access to the hearts of men. Fulfillment comes as they fasten hold on the throne of the Infinite and plead for blessing, and as youth who know God's favor and love in the heart and the value of blood-bought privileges consecrate ability and strive with all powers to increase talents for the Master's service.
God blesses men He appoints to go to people who do not know God, so that by life and character they reveal the necessity of obedience to God's laws. The blessing is given to those who follow in self-denial and self-sacrificing effort and do His work in His own appointed way, and He is with them to give strength and success that they may be a blessing to the world. Each has a distinct individual work to go into new territory and be a light-bearer to the heathen, called to leave familiar territory rather than live to please self. That means caring for precious souls and for every precious sinner and going forward in the Lord's name to the home field or regions beyond to preach the gospel and carry the gospel to new fields, depending on God for grace and strength so that work begun on a small scale will enlarge without selfishness.
God called Abraham with full sight of all the dangers before him, electing him to become a member of the Lord's family with a mission and solemn responsibilities as God's messenger. The call means being a representative in example after the Christlike pattern, constantly learning from God every day and teaching the most solemn message ever given to mortals without losing sight of the mission. It means coming out from the world in speech and in action and maintaining a separate holy character under discipline, watchful and praying and clothed in garments of holiness and purity. So lived, no point of advantage is given through lax familiarity and light and trifling conduct.
Those who belong to the Lord must leave settled centers and move into places where the truth has not been proclaimed to do His work faithfully and intelligently. They must not make it their first study to settle where they will have the greatest financial advantage, unlike Lot who chose the fertile plains of Sodom for gain and lost his wife, his married children, and his riches and had to flee for his life, with the end of all things at hand making obedience urgent. The same call requires leaving country, home, friends and associates when they are the worst spiritual enemies, changing place and surroundings and cutting loose without waiting too long lest one become earth-bound, in order to find strength and help for salvation and to develop character that will glorify Him. The command was given because God knew how strong the temptations would be if Abraham remained, and God wanted His servant separated from every species of idolatry. The same faith that trusted God with what lay ahead, including how self and family would be supported without seeing the future opened before him, is needed by one convicted on the Sabbath question who hesitates over support, and to lack it is to remain in unbelief.
Any such move to a new place with different associations may break some of the nets laid for the feet, though it does not place anyone beyond temptation, and it may give the same help today. It must not be hasty or haphazard but understandingly from force of conviction, with determination to win heaven at any cost. Its aim is to influence every soul to obey God with heart and soul and undivided affections, and to imitate no one's evil practices.
Wherever Abraham pitched his tent his first work was to build an altar where he could worship God with those accompanying him as pilgrims and strangers. His example teaches that God's people must make providing a place to meet and worship God first of everything, thereby honoring and glorifying God, showing respect for His holiness, showing faith by works, advancing His work, and putting God and His service first. Abraham's faithful care of his household exemplifies the path parents should follow, and the Lord blesses parents who fulfill their God-given duties. The prayer of blessing asks God to bless and keep workers and enable them to benefit others through work connected with God's cause, including proclaiming the truth.