Yes! There is Good News! 10.14.17

In our previous article we saw that we should “Look to the rock from which you were cut …. Look to Abraham, your father.” (Isaiah 51:1 & 2) As we consider this we see that Isaiah is not the only one to call Abraham our father. In two of Paul’s letters we receive the same information: Rom. 4:16, “God’s promise comes by faith and is guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring … for he is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations’. So he is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed.” And then in Galatians 3:29 we read, “If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s offspring, and heirs according to the promise.”

This is quite interesting, but it is found in the words of Jesus how we must apply the information. In John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children then you would be doing the things Abraham did.” Perhaps we should be looking into the life of the man Abraham to see just how we might emulate him!

Abraham was truly one of God’s “mighty men” of the scriptures. He is mentioned many times in both the Old Testament and the New. When we begin the book of Genesis we are given a whirlwind tour in the first 11 chapters. I liken it to God putting the video on fast forward. In these 11 chapters we cover approximately 1800 years. But when we come to chapter 12, and are introduced to Abram (Abraham’s original name), things begin to slow down and we get to take a closer look at the man who was called “the friend of God.”
 
Genesis 12:1, “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and come to the land I will show you.” Abram did not negotiate with God. He did not quarrel with God. He did not argue with God. Abram picked up stakes and left! And so he traveled to the land of promise. The writer of the book of Hebrews, in the chapter of the faithful (chapter 11) says it this way, “By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” As we consider how we are to emulate this man who is called our father, perhaps this should be our first stopping place.

The significant word here is “obeyed.” In the scriptures, this word can be linked to two other important words: faith and love. Quickly referencing this we may look at Hebrews 3:18 & 19, “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter His rest if not to those who disobeyed. So we see that they were not able to enter, because of unbelief.” The children of Israel were a rebellious lot. We learn in Numbers 14 that when God wanted to take them into the Promised Land they were unwilling. God tells us that their disobedience is because of their unbelief. If we believe God, if we have faith, we will be obedient to Him.

But obedience is also linked to love; and we will consider that in our next article, God willing.