Our reading today from Genesis chapters 11-13 is important
for understanding the Bible. The Bible
is quite large and so it is easy for people to get lost in it. It is always good to know the beginning of
the story. Our reading tonight, in a
way, is the beginning of the story. To
be sure there is a history that precedes Abram and Sarai—Adam and Eve, Cain,
Abel, and Seth, Noah and his three sons.
These also are important people for understanding the Bible—particularly
Adam and Eve and the story of their fall into sin. But all of these things are covered in the
first 11 chapters of Genesis and their stories are done. Beginning with chapter 12 of Genesis pretty
much the remainder of the Scriptures is about Abram and his descendants.
As we heard in our reading Abram was called out of Ur in the
land of the Chaldeans—the southern area of Mesopotamia close to where Babylon
was. The whole family goes north along
the fertile rivers in Iraq. But then
just Abram, Sarai, and Abram’s nephew Lot, go further, turning south and coming
into the land of Canaan. This was the
beginning of a story that would play out over centuries and is still being
played out to this very day. Abraham’s
descendants would settle this land.
Jesus would be born of this nation and would be a blessing to all the
people of the world. Christians to this
day are imitators of Abraham in their faith towards God and their living
according to God’s promise, come what may.
And so in all the books of the Bible after this first book of Genesis, it
is important to understand that all these characters, with a few notable and
important exceptions, are about Abraham’s descendants and the relationship with
they had with the one true God. He was
their God and they were his people, according to the covenant that God made
with Abram as we heard in our reading.
God’s covenant, his promise, is the main thing in Abram’s
life. He says to Abram, “Go from your
country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show
you. And I will make of you a great
nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a
blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed.”
There are a few things about this promise that are worth
talking about a little bit more. First
of all, Abram is called away from what is familiar—literally. The word “familiar” comes from the word
“family.” Abram is told to leave those
whom he knows and loves and where he would have some natural advantages and
security, and live by God’s promise that he will take care of him and bless
him. St. Paul points to Abram as the
great example of faith, and that is what is extraordinary about him. He left what he could see and he pushed
forward for that which he could not see, but that had been promised him by God.
Secondly, God says to Abram that he will make him into a
great nation. There’s a problem, though.
Abram and Sarai do not have any children.
Natural human reason would think that it was silly to go to a new land
when there aren’t any heirs to inherit it.
It took over twenty five more years of living according to God’s
promises before Abram and Sarai would be granted their long awaited son,
Isaac.
God would continue this pattern of making Abram’s
descendants into a great nation, but doing so in an unexpected way that natural
human reason is not all that impressed by.
Abram’s descendants were never an empire—not even close. They were never as great as Egypt or Babylon
or Persia or Greece were in their glory days.
They didn’t have a lot of land.
They didn’t have armies capable of conquering the world. So what made them great? It was that they were God’s own people who
knew his promises—the chief of which was the promise of the Messiah who would
set all people free from their sins. The
Israelites had God’s Law—God’s Word—and this was their treasure and what made
them into such a great nation. In later
years, when they had fallen into decline, they no longer treasured what made
them great and were hoping that they could be just like everybody else. That is why they lose God’s favor and he
gives them over to the evil desires of their own hearts and when Abram’s
descendants were at their lowest point before the birth of Jesus.
The third noteworthy thing about the covenant that God makes
with Abram is that through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. The way that all the families of the world
are blessed through Abram is that Jesus would eventually be born from him. However, there’s something more to it than
that. Abram and his descendants would
also be the nursery, the school, through which all the people of the world may
learn of God’s will. Moses and all the
prophets after him were the writers of the Scriptures. A knowledge of God and his promises was
cultivated among this people, and even Jesus himself was said to learn and grow
in this knowledge as he matured as a boy and a man according to his human
nature.
There is more that we could look at concerning God’s promise
to Abram, but already with the three things that I’ve pointed out you can see
what makes Abram and those descendants of his who were true, different from
other people—they were people of faith, and not of sight. They believed God and it was accredited to
them as righteousness. They followed
wherever it might be that God should lead them—and the Bible is full of stories
from one cover to the other of the strange things that God might lead his people
into and out of according to his good and gracious will. Often these strange situations are created
not so much by God’s doings, but by the failings of his people.
We heard about an instance of that in our reading as well,
when Abram disowned his wife to save his own skin. That was not noble or brave. But the good and gracious side of the
relationship that people have with God is always on God’s side. God rescues Sarai before she and the
messianic seed can be defiled by Pharaoh.
God’s people are always praising God for his steadfast love and mercy
which endures forever. God’s rescue of
Abram and Sarai from Egypt is but one of a countless number of times that he
does not dish out what is deserved, but overlooks their sin and takes them in
regardless.
We can also see in our reading tonight the way that our
theme for our Advent services is fulfilled.
Abram and Sarai are strangers, aliens, and pilgrims while they lived
their lives on this earth. Abram is one
of the greatest people in the whole Bible, and you see that his life is not
very stable. He doesn’t stay in one
place, but is forced to move by famine and need. But the one constant in his life is the God
who chose him, and spoke to him, so that he could live by faith in the promises
God made.
And so we have a model in Abram that we can learn from and
imitate. Just as he was chosen, spoken
to, and lived by faith, so also God has chosen you and made his promises made
known to you. These are the most important
things in your life. Other people might
value all kinds of different good things as what is really important about
life, but you will be imitating Abram if you make God’s promises the most
important for your life.
If you don’t live like everybody else, then you might not
fit in with everybody else. But that’s
okay. Abram and those descendants who
were faithful, had the same experience.
They didn’t really fit in with the idolaters who surrounded them. But God will be your companion instead. And there is nothing that you forsake in this
world that will not be repaid to you many times over in the life to come.
Heaven is your home.
You are but a stranger here. God
is your great reward.
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