The Story of Abraham
During Noah’s time, God sent a flood throughout the earth to punish man for his disobedient ways. After the flood, God chose a righteous man by the name of Abram in whom he would bring forth the seed of redemption for the world. God spoke to Abram and said, “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 that bless you, and whoever curses you I will curses; and all of the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (1) Abram did as God commanded and set out for the land of Canaan. Along the way the Lord appeared to Abram and told him, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” (2) It was at this site, near the Canaan city of Luz, that Abram built an alter in thanks to the Lord.
A couple of years later God appeared to Abram and said, “Neither shall thy name be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations I have made thee.” (3) The Lord further explained to Abram that his childless wife would bear a son whose name would be Isaac. In him the Lord would establish “An everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” (4) God added a condition to the covenant that all male children were to be circumcised seven days after birth; in this way, the descendents of Abraham would be set apart from all other people.
On another occasion the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (5) Early the next morning Abraham and Isaac set out for Moriah. The Bible tells us that “On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.” (6) Abraham knew that this would be that place he would follow the Lord’s will and sacrifice his only son. Climbing the summit Isaac asked his farther, “Look the fire and the wood, but were is the Lamb?” Abraham told him that God would provide for himself the lamb for the sacrifice.
At the place told to him by the Lord, Abraham built an alter and placed his son upon it. It was only at the last moment, a split second before Abraham with knife in hand, was to shed the blood of his son, that God stop him by saying, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, for me.” (7) Abraham looked up and noticed a ram that was caught in a thicket by its horns, so he took the ram that the Lord had provided and offered it up as a replacement for his son. The Lord was pleased with Abraham and told him, “because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – I will bless you, and multiply I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore…. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (8)
Isaac was sixty years old when his wife Rebekah gave birth to their son Jacob. When Jacob was a young man, Isaac sent him to Mesopotamia to seek out a wife. Along the way he stopped to camp at the location that the Lord had first appeared to Abraham. During the night Jacob had a dream in which he saw a staircase extending up to Heaven with angles descending up and down on it. In the dream Isaac saw the Lord standing above it proclaiming,” I am the LORD God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread aboard to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep with wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” (9) Jacob arose from the dream and realized what he had seen was the “Gate of Heaven.” He called the place Bethel, meaning “House of God”, instead of its established name of Luz. Bethel became a place where Jacob could find comfort during times of trouble.
On one occasion the Lord appeared to Jacob at Bethel and told him, “your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” (10) God also reaffirmed his covenant to Abraham and his descendents by telling Jacob, “The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.” (11)
The story of Abraham is the beginning of God’s plan to bring forth the Messiah through a chosen people. Through Abraham, God made an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants. We must remember that the promises God set aside for the descendants of Abraham remain with them to this day. It has become popular to teach that the church has replaced Israel; however, we must not take what rightfully promised to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. Included in the blessing bestowed up Israel are curses for disobedience, but churches preaching replacement theology, tend to accept the blessings and reject the reality of the curses.
REFERENCES:
- Genesis 12:1-3
- Genesis 12:7
- Genesis 18:5
- Genesis 18:19
- Genesis 22:2
- Genesis 22:4
- Genesis 22:12
- Genesis 22: 16-18
- Genesis 28: 13-15
- Genesis 32:28
- Genesis 35: 12
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