Gen 12: The Everlasting Promise

Gen 11:27-12:8

Do you ever despair over this world? Do you ever sit and think “what on earth will become of us? That this is an utter disaster”?
Abram probably thought that. The world he lived in was the world of Genesis chapter 11 – the Tower of Babel. And that was a disaster. The new generation of people descended from the “righteous and blameless” man Noah turned out to be just as unrighteous, just as wicked, and just as rebellious as those before Noah. Remember, those whom God described in 6:5 “everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” Oh dear.
And in 11:4 we see them gathered together in rebellion against God, gathered not to worship Him but to worship themselves, gathered not to build an altar of praise to Him but to build a tower in to the heavens for their own glory. Arrogance, self-righteousness, no thanksgiving, no praise, no humility before the Creator and King.

By the end of chapter 11 we are desperate to find a solution. How can we solve this problem of evil? Left on our own, we just go from bad to worse. We need a rescuer. Will there ever be born a serpent-crusher, the one God promised in 3:15 who would crush evil? There is hope: life carries on, babies keep being born and maybe this one will fulfil God’s promise. Remember that genealogies (the list of names) in the Bible are signs of hope – each new baby a reminder that one day there is coming the Rescuer, Messiah, the Saviour.

And then we meet Abram. A man called by God out from his family, out from his land, out from his people, out from his culture – everything he knew and could depend on – and called to go where God sends him. And he goes.

Could this be the rescuer?

Well, the answer is no, but he is part of the Rescue Plan. Abram (or Abraham as he is later renamed) is the first BIG block in God’s paving the way for the Rescuer, his own Son. And the promise to Abram in 12:1-3 is the plot-line for the rest of the Bible. In fact, we sitting here today are part of the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abram made thousands of years ago. We are the people of God, blessed by God, heading for God’s promised land: the new Creation.

That’s where we’re going, so let’s start the journey of faith with Abram. And it begins, of course, with God. God speaks.

1. God speaks

Into the darkness, into the chaos of rebellion and confused languages, God speaks. There is no indication that Abram knew God or worshiped him in any way. In fact, he was an idol-worshipper. Probably worshiped the moon, as that was common amongst cultures in the area of that time. Josh 24:2 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods.
Abram was a pagan, far removed from God, living in darkness – until God spoke.

1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Can you imagine it! You’ve been worshipping the moon all your life. Giving it sacrifices. Listening for its advice. Hoping it would bless you and watch over you. And then some other God shows up. Not only that, but, unlike your moon-god, actually speaks. Imagine the shock, the fear, the wonder. You are real. You are here. You are speaking to me. That is a life-changing encounter right there!

And that’s the way God works. Getting to know God isn’t like wandering past the “Get to know God” shop and then one day thinking “that’ll be nice” and then deciding to step in and have a bit of a chat and then if you like it come again the next day. No. It’s more like being a beggar, chained up in a filthy dungeon, scrabbling around in the dirt, screaming and yelling – when the door is flung open, the light floods in, a strong hand reaches down, pulls you to your feet, and a voice says “Come! You have been summoned to the King”. As we stand before the King, eyes blinking, hair matted, filthy, dirty, completely out of place – the King steps down off his throne, walks towards you, throws his arms around you and says “my son, whom I love!”. Suddenly servants surround you, your old clothes are stripped away, your body is scrubbed and washed, all the old dirt and filth gone, washed away forever. And new glorious clothes are provided and then a crown is placed upon your head and you are seated before the King. “But, but, I’m not, this isn’t, I’m not… your son.”
“My son,” he says, “these adoption papers say otherwise”.

And you look and see your name “adopted by the King” and signed by Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

That’s the way God works. He speaks. He rescues. He takes the initiative. Just like with Abram.

Abram was a “Chaldean”, as it says in 11:31 “Ur of the Chaldeans”. A Chaldean was another name for a Babylonian – someone who built the tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar. Throughout the rest of the Bible, Chaldeans or Babylonians represent the worst of pagan religion. They are a fierce and cruel race, bent towards evil. Babylon is the city of Evil, opposed to Jerusalem, the holy city, the city of God.

But God! God is able to call out a Chaldean to be declared righteous and to be used to fulfil his purposes. God calls Abram out of the city that in the Bible is linked so closely to Satan, so closely to the Enemy of mankind, that it is called the evil city. God calls Abram out of Babylon and towards the promise of Jerusalem, in the land of Canaan.

Abram was not a righteous man, whom God discovered while scanning men’s hearts with his telescope! No, he, like Noah before him, was an evil and rebellious man in the midst of a corrupt people – and God chose him, chose HIM to be the vessel through which he would save the world. Amazing.

There is hope for you and me. There is hope for our friends and neighbours. There is hope for those you look at and think “disgusting” or “God could never save them”. God saved a Chaldean. He can save them.

Now for some of us this will be a real struggle. The idea that God saves sinners. It’s difficult to grasp. Abram, Abraham a sinner? No, he was a man of faith! God chose him because he was righteous, we say.
Our mind rebels against grace. The idea of earning our salvation is so deeply ingrained in us. This idea is in every other religion: do this, perform this ritual, and you will get blessing. If you don’t do the ritual, or behave in the right way, you will be cursed.

But this, that God can look upon a sinful man, and for no reason whatsoever declare him righteous – that we struggle with. But that is the message of the Bible. That is our hope. If you are a Christian today, you are a Christian because God called to you out of the darkness “follow me”. And like Abram you could not do anything except obey. And like Abram you are being changed into a man of faith. Abram became Abraham, famous throughout history, because of the work of God in him.

God declared Abraham righteous before him, because Abraham’s sins would be dealt with on the Cross. You are declared righteous before God, if you have accepted Christ, because your sins have been dealt with on the cross.

God speaks. And the message is one of hope and rescue. Praise God.

Let’s now turn our attention to what God actually says to Abram. What is this promise he gives him?

2. God’s promise

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him.

This is the second time I’ve read God’s promise in v1-3. Why? Because it’s critical to understand the rest of the Bible. In fact, it’s true to say that the rest of the Bible is simply unpacking how God will keep this promise. If you’re a Christian today, you’re only a Christian because God has kept this promise he made thousands of years ago to Abram!

It is so important that it’s repeated in chapter 15 and again in 17. It is so critical that from now on God’s name, Yahweh, the LORD, is so linked to this promise that he is known as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”: the God of the promise to Abraham.

So, what’s so important? What does God actually promise Abram?

V1 Go to the LAND I will show you. And in v7 he makes it explicit “I will give THIS LAND to your descendants”. (LAND)

V2 I will make you into a great nation. (PEOPLE)

V3 I will bless you, and all the families of the Earth will be blessed through you (BLESSING)

There is a threefold promise: Land, People, and Blessing.
And note who is doing this. It is not simply foretelling the future. It is not “you will become a great nation” or “you will move to Canaan” – God says “I will do this”.
And the whole way through the story we see that God’s promise cannot be fulfilled – unless God works a miracle.

The first obstacle to God’s plan we’ve already been told. Did you see it there in 11:30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. How ironic that Abram - whose name means “father” – is childless. How can Abram be the father of a great nation if his wife can’t have children?

The land promised to Abram is the land of Canaan. The land is already occupied. How can Abram and his few people take possession of a land already occupied by nations?

And is God’s blessing only for Abram when he is righteous? Or does his blessing cover his unrighteousness as well? We’ll see next week as that’s put to the test as the first thing Abram does after being blessed by God is blatantly lie about his wife being his sister because he was afraid. So much for the man of faith! What part of “3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.” did he not trust? God promised him protection. He disbelieved that promise. So Abram’s own sin is a problem!

So why does God promise things that seem impossible?
So that we will trust him! He promises Abram a land, a people, and blessing – and as Abram and those who follow in his line trust God they see his words coming true.

The first big problem is the lack of children. Abram has no son. Abram cannot have a son. And in fact you could argue that this whole story from chapter 12 to 25 is simply about Abram’s son Isaac. It is certainly structured that way. Even here at the beginning we get another extra genealogy in 11:27-32. But why tell us all this? We’d already got the genealogy in 11:10-26, the “godly” line from Shem through to Abraham, 10 names in all. Why another one? Why even tell us about Terah and Nahor and Milcah and Iscah? They’re totally irrelevant!

Well, there’s a hint in the number of names. There’s 8. There should be 10 (Adam to Noah in chapter 5 and Shem to Abram in chapter 11). Where are the other 2 names? Well, some think that it’s deliberately set up to point to Ishmael and Isaac, the sons of Abraham, the list of 10 ending with Isaac, the son of the Promise.
That’s also why Sarai’s barrenness is mentioned – she can’t have children. And why Nahor is mentioned – because the story of Abraham ends with Isaac’s wife Rebekah coming back from the land of Ur, from the household of Nahor.

This little introduction is pushing us towards the fulfilment of God’s promises. God keeps his promises.

Isaac is the child of the promise. Isaac’s wife Rebekah, it turns out, is also barren (25:21) – but miraculously God provides a son. Twin sons, in fact. Easu and Jacob. But unexpectedly God blesses the younger, Jacob, and not Esau the oldest. But that’s impossible, you would say in that culture – the blessing can only pass to the eldest. But God again does the impossible, picks the youngest, the weakest, and quite frankly the downright sneaky and manipulative Jacob to be renamed “Israel”, and from him come the 12 sons of Israel which make up the twelve tribes. Pure grace in action once again!

That family ends up in Egypt becoming a great nation (people), in fulfilment of God’s promise. But they’re not in the land, and they don’t seem very blessed: they are slaves under Pharaoh! But we know how that story goes: God calls another impossible rescuer, a runaway murderer hiding out in the desert, a stutterer who could not speak: Moses. And says to Moses “go to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go”. And in mighty acts of power God rescues his people, blesses them, gives them the Law, the sign of the Covenant, and brings them in to the Promised Land (eventually).

Of course, we know how that ended up – how the people’s sin manages to ruin this great fulfilment and so we’re left wanting more, wondering how God is going to fulfil his promise to Abraham. Until we meet Jesus.

(If you want to know more there’s a great little book called “God’s Big Picture” by Vaughn Roberts which carries this theme of land, people, blessing through the whole Bible and helps you to get an overview of the whole story – see how it all fits together.)

Because it is when we get to Jesus that we see how his promise is truly fulfilled. Because Jesus is one of the descendants of Abraham. Mt 1:1 (NLT) This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham, and Matthew then goes on to list Abraham’s descendants, through David, and to Jesus. And so God’s promise made all the way back here in Gen 12:3 finally finds its fulfilment: All the families on earth will be blessed through you.

You see, in Christ, we are the true fulfilment of the promise to Abraham: our land is the New Creation, Heaven on earth, as we will stand together in the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, and the Lord will be with us, forever.

Our People is the Church, all people saved by Christ, people from all family groups across the whole world: the faithful remnant of Israel in the Old Testament, and all true Christians, Jews and Gentiles together, from the time of Christ onwards.
And here we see a small foretaste of that. Look around you. We will be together forever. And not as we are now but perfect, sinless – no egos getting in the way, no selfishness, no pride – each of us perfect, glorious, sinless beautiful to behold, shining with the very glory of God.

And finally blessing. Oh what blessing we have from God! And praise Him that, as it was with Abram, his blessing is freely given in mercy. That he can call you and me out of our pagan worship of false gods, speak into our darkness and say “follow me, I have called you righteous”. Our sin is dealt with!

Abram had tremendous faith – for he did not know how God could deal with his sin. He just knew that there was One coming who would fulfil God’s promises. He held out in hope of his coming. That is why Jesus said Abraham rejoiced to see my day (John 8:56). But we know him! We have seen him in action. We know what he did, what he said, how he did the impossible, how he took our place on the cross – the righteous for the unrighteous to lead us to God.

What little faith we need. We are more blessed than Abraham. We have it all before us. Let us respond like Abraham in joyful submission and give our lives, everything we have, to know this wonderful God.

God speaks.

God promises.

Will you listen and obey?