We come now to look at one of the most important characters in the whole Bible. The name Abram appears 60+ (all in Genesis except for two other OT citations) and the name Abraham a further 250 times of which 133 are in Genesis, 42 in the rest of the OT and 75 in NT in 11 different books).

Abram/Abraham is of great importance being described in the NT as the father of those who have faith:

Gal.3:7 "Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham."

Or again:

Gal.3:29 "And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise."

He is known for his faith and trust in the LORD and indeed occupies the largest amount of space in that famous chapter of the heroes of faith Heb.11.

As we come to study what is said of him in the Word of God we need to be careful to remind ourselves of the special place he occupies in the unfolding history of redemption. This means that some of what is said to him and required of him is to be restricted to him and not treated as though God were speaking to each and every individual directly. While everything we read should be of help to us the application to us will not necessarily be directly the same as it was for him.

Who was Abram?

Moses has taken pains that we should be left in no doubt concerning Abram. He has outlined in 11:17-26 the generations of Shem and has traced the descent to Terah who is then described as being the father of three men Abram, Nahor and Haran. Thus Abram is linked through Shem to the "seed of the woman" as promised in Gen.3.

Moses then introduces a new section which runs from 11:27-25:12. This new section is concerned with what this man Terah produced – what happened after him – and the section is dominated by the story of Abraham.

Terah, Abram's father, holds a significant position in relation to the people of God – indeed their roots find their source in him.

Abraham was his son.

Sarai was his daughter – by another wife.

Lot was his grandson (through Haran)

Isaac – the son of Abraham and Sarah will marry Rebekah who was Terah's great granddaughter (through Bethuel and Nahor).

Jacob – Isaac and Rebekah's son will marry Leah and Rachel who were Terah's great, great granddaughters (through Laban, Bethuel and Nahor).

But Terah was not a godly man even though he was born of Shem's descendants! Abram was brought up in the home of a pagan who was, in all probability, a moon-worshipper! It is highly likely that for the first part of his life he was a moon-worshipper too.

Jos.24:2 "And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods."

We are told of two different towns in which Terah lived Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran and both places were centres of moon worship.

It would appear that for a short while there was hope for Terah when he led his family away from Ur to go to Canaan. But he only got half-way before settling down again without getting to the right place!

What a warning Terah is to us! How often it is easy to make a start but how difficult it can be to see things through to the end!

The LORD had appeared to Abram while he was still in Ur of the Chaldeans with instructions to move out. Abraham does leave Haran but not alone, his father's family move too. Now the reason why Terah moved is not given though a couple of possibilities come to mind:

· Abram shares the call his has received and his earnestness impresses and moves his father who makes an initial positive response in setting out to go towards Canaan. However getting as far as Haran is all the change he really wants. There the religious culture is familiar to him and he settles to continue in his false worship.

· Terah realizes the effect the call Abram has received has had upon him and realizes Abram's enthusiasm will not be easily overturned. So he sets out too but all the while hoping that the ardour of this new zeal will cool with time. After all Haran might be a different geographical location but the religion was the same.

Whatever the reasons might have been Abram is to be found now in Haran still with his father's family and with his kindred.

There is no indication whatsoever that Abram has acted wrongly in this. How could he be criticised for not separating from his family because he was going to the Promised Land when that family seemed to be willing to go there too? In any case his stay in Haran does not appear to have been a particularly long one. He moves on towards Canaan – only described here in Gen.12:1 as "the land I will show you" – at the age of 75.

Thus the call of the LORD came to Abram as a gracious call. The LORD appeared to him as a pagan man, a member of a pagan family and living in a pagan land. The line of "the seed of the woman" has got itself into a strange place far from the LORD but the LORD remains faithful to His promises and graciously intervenes to uphold those promises where human merit fails dismally over and over again.

Abram's call

Now the specific details relating to Abram's call must not be taken and randomly applied to all and sundry.

Abraham was to occupy a special place in God's plan of redemption. He was to become the head of a new people, God's people, through whom ultimately the Messiah would come. The Messiah would come in a specific country and that land was also to play a special role in God's plan. God was in the process of re-establishing His Kingdom rule in the world. His rule had been rejected firstly in Eden and then the wickedness of men had spread throughout the earth leading to the judgment that was the flood.

Let's look more closely at the call that came to Abram.

We find the details of the call in 12:1-3. There is one order and several promises. The LORD alone is speaking – we are not to view this call as the result of some sort of negotiation between God and Abram. The LORD comes to Abram and initiates everything – Abram is not asked his opinion about any of it at all!

When the call was first given Stephen tells us that the God of Glory appeared to Abram. Something remarkable took place, something that hadn't happened before. Up to this point in the Book of Genesis it has not been said that God appeared to anyone. Something new is beginning to happen in Abram's life – and this will not prove to be a one-off experience as we read subsequently of God appearing on a number of occasions to Abram. Small wonder that in due course Abraham would be called the "friend of God" an expression used three times in the Scriptures (2Chron.20:7; Is.41:8 and Jas.2:23).

Quite what this was like we just don't know. But we do know that it left Abram in no doubt whatsoever that the LORD was speaking to him and the voice that spoke was authoritative to command and powerful to accomplish what it promised!

The Command comes first

The command was clear. To carry it out would involve Abram in sacrifice. Obedience would be visible for all to see.

The command itself contains an element of progression:

Go from your country

And from your kindred ie. distant relatives

And from your father's house ie. close relatives

There was cost involved for this man Abram to obey God's word of command. He was already getting on in life – although men had lived to great ages a steady reduction of ages is noted in 11:10-26 – Abram was already 75 years old. Here he was being told to cut ties with all that he was familiar with. And he was not being given a great deal of precision as to just where he was going!

Now the call of the gospel comes in a similar manner. Action too is required as we respond to the gospel: action which is costly and visible:

Mt 16:24-26 "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?"

And yet the commands given to Abram are NOT ones that are to be applied straightforwardly to you today if you are contemplating following Jesus Christ as He calls each of you to be His disciple. For most of you to respond to Christ will not need to be accompanied by changing country and leaving every family member at once – quite the reverse! The Gadarene demoniac once delivered wanted nothing more than to leave all behind him and follow Christ but Jesus wouldn't allow him to leave his own country but sent him back to his home and to his own to tell of what he had done for him.

Paul writing to the church in Corinth urged exactly the same thing:

1Cor.7:20-24 "Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity. For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God."

We must be careful too not to make over literal interpretations of just what is being required. We read in v.4 that Abram went "as the Lord had told him". Abram's obedience is clearly being underlined for us – here is a man who responds properly to God's command. And yet we read that Lot – his nephew – went with him. Again surely this is an illustration that it was not necessary for Abram to cut every single tie if some family members were willing to go with him in the obedient walk of faith.

The Promises

Having issued an authoritative command the LORD now backs it up with a series of loving promises in which blessing figures very prominently.

At the time of the original creation the LORD God had pronounced His blessings upon it and upon man as He gave His instructions to be fruitful and to fill the earth. This blessing was repeated to Noah and his family after the flood. Otherwise blessing had not been prominent in the early chapters of Genesis due to human sin. Now all that changes.

Blessing words are used of man 5 x in the first 11 chapters of Gen. Now in just 2 verses in chapter 12 blessing words are used a further 5 x. In Abram's life they will ultimately be used 20 x or so!

The LORD proclaims not a set a possible outcomes but rather he declares a series of firm resolutions – note the use of the sovereign "I will…" We'll look at these blessings under three headings (though some split them up into as many as seven!)

I will make of you a great nation v.2

What a promise to make to a man in his seventies who has a barren wife! This is the promise of having descendants but not just that – it involves having a suitable land in which to live. And of course the greatest thing of all that exalts a nation is not wealth or population size but righteousness. The nation that Abram will head up will be the nation where the Lord God reigns. They will possess His righteous laws and in due course the Lord Himself will become incarnate – the Lord our righteousness!

I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing v.2

Just in ch.11 the men of Babel had done all they could to make a name for themselves – their efforts had brought disaster upon themselves as the Lord came down to confuse their language. Instead of lasting fame these folk were dispersed over the face of the earth. Now in contrast the Lord is His graciousness promises to a man who had sought nothing not just a name but a great name.

The name will be such that it will be a source of blessing for others. It will so evident that Abram is blessed that folk speak of being blessed just like Abram!

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. v.3

And now the LORD associates Himself closely with Abram – divine protection is afforded him. The way to life and blessing is shown to be in association with Abram.

Blessing comes to all families or to all nations (ch.18:18 where the promise is repeated in slightly different terms). This of course comes to fruition with the coming of the promised seed – Jesus Christ. Cf. Gal.3:8-9:

"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."

Now Abram himself rejoiced to see the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Christian is in Christ and so fully blessed.

In v.4 after Abram has heard the command and listened to the promises he responds as we all should to the LORD. He responds in prompt and ready obedience.