In this lesson we come to the history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Their combined history speaks of the complete experience of a called one.
Abraham originally dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees. The background then was that of the fourth step of man’s fall. First, man had conspired to rebel against God. Second, man had made bricks by his own labor to build a city and live a man-made godless life. Third, man had built a tower to declare his rejection of God and to make himself a name (Gen. 11:3-4). Fourth, according to Joshua 24:2, man had turned from God to serve idols, that is, to worship demons.
Abraham lived in such a dark age. But one day the God of glory appeared to him and called him to leave his country and his kindred and to go into a land which God would show him (Acts 7:3). The God of glory appeared to him, spoke to him, called him, and even gave him the promise.
God called Abraham twice. The first calling of God, referred to in Acts 7:3, was when Abraham was at Ur. God called Abraham out of his country and his kindred into the land which He would show him. Abraham, however, did not accept that calling immediately, and God sovereignly caused his father, Terah, to bring the family from Ur to Haran. They stayed there until Terah died (Gen. 11:31-32). Then, God appeared to Abraham the second time (Gen. 12:1) and told him to leave his country, his kindred, and also his father’s house. In God’s second calling, He not only told Abraham to leave his country and his kindred but also his father’s house. Furthermore, God gave him the promise in three aspects.
In Genesis 12:2 God said to Abraham, “I will make of thee a great nation.” God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation, which is the kingdom of God, composed of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the church in the New Testament, the millennial kingdom in the coming age, and the new heaven and the new earth in eternity.
God promised to bless Abraham (Gen. 12:2). This is the blessing of God’s creation and redemption, including all that God wants to give man—God Himself and all that He has in this age and in the age to come. Galatians 3:14 shows us that this blessing eventually is the promise of the Spirit.
God not only promised that He would be a blessing to Abraham, but that Abraham and his seed would be a blessing to all the families, all the nations, of the earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18). In His calling, God turned from Adam to Abraham, indicating that He gave up the Adamic race. But, in His promise, God turned again from Abraham back to all the families of the Adamic race through Christ, the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:14, 16).
God gave the promise to Abraham, and Abraham believed in Him. So God counted it to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:5-6). This was his justification by faith before God (Rom. 4:21-24).