WORD OF FAITH AND BLESSINGS

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” – Genesis 12:1

GOD called and commissioned Abraham with the WORD of FAITH and BLESSINGS: “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen.12: 1-3). This was all God’s action: “I will show you”, “I will make of you”, “I will bless you and make your name great”, “I will bless…” These promises reached back into the families that were divided by sin in Adam’s fall (Gen.3), the deluge (Gen.6), and the confusion of the languages at Babel (Gen.11). The curse of sin was replaced by great and globally-impactful blessings.

Genesis 12 recounts a life-altering, world-changing, history-shaping moment, when God made a promise to Abram (later, Abraham) that underlined and shaped the plot of the whole Bible – the story of God’s people – from that moment on. His Word created hope and a future for humanity out of the darkness, depravity and rebellion that had characterized life since the fall. Abraham took God at His Word and believed Him: “For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom.4:3). He did not merit God's special blessings. There was nothing in him that commended him to God. He had an idolatrous background (Jos.24:1-3). However, God in His mercy and grace reached down to lift Abram from his pagan ancestry. God saved him by His Grace.

God’s promises speak of His creative and redemptive work. God chose one man out of a sea of rebellious and self-destructive people, and made a world-altering promise to him. He then acted throughout history to create a people of His own and save them from their desperation and sin, a people whom He blesses and through whom He blesses the world. This promise clearly centres on the Person and work of Jesus Christ, Abraham’ descendant (Mt.1:1; Jh.8: 56-58). God’s promise to bless the whole world includes us too, as we believe in the One who raised up from the dead Jesus our Lord, just as Abraham believed God. We share in Abraham’s faith, trusting in the trustworthiness of God.

Abraham was the first of a great remnant who believed God's promises regarding the coming of the Messiah: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb.11:13). Paul concluded in Galatians 3: 7, that “only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”  Abraham’s real spiritual sons are those who believe as he did, “those who are of the faith of Abraham” (Rom.4:16). Abraham was justified by faith alone. God chose him by His rich grace. He did not earn or merit it. God reached down to him and called him to be the father of His chosen people.

Abraham took God at His Word and God reckoned him as righteous. The physical seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is Christ, and the spiritual seed of Abraham includes everyone who receives Jesus Christ by faith. When we believe on Christ, we fulfill the great promise God gave to our father Abraham centuries ago! Abraham's blessings become ours (v.3). There is a sense in which the call that Abraham responded to comes to each one of his believing children. It is a call to absolute trust in the Lord. God the Holy Spirit speaks to us regarding the truths of God's Word and we must step out in simple faith in Christ: Simply believe God and act on His Word.