Genesis 15 Abraham At Last

This is a podcast episode discussing the character of Abraham and his significance in the Bible. The host talks about how Abraham came from the land of Ur, which was known for its pagan worship. Abraham became monotheistic at a young age and believed in one God. The host also mentions that Abraham exemplified love and kindness, but sometimes made choices out of mercy rather than obedience. The episode explores the promises God made to Abraham and how they still impact us today. It concludes by discussing the importance of understanding Abraham in relation to the cross and the Abrahamic covenant. Good day, good day, and welcome to the Biblically Wired podcast. I'm your host. My name is Barb. I'm out of Minneapolis. Super glad that you tuned in, whether you're grocery shopping or jogging down the road. I'm hoping this podcast series helps you build a foundation that magnifies the person of Jesus Christ. So today, we're going to talk about Abraham. We've been working from Genesis 3, going through the promise that God gave that eventually a seed will be born through Eve, and it will crush the head of Satan. So we're following the generations of Jesus Christ. We saw Noah's son Shem was chosen as the one to carry through that promise. And now we have Abraham. Abraham of the land of Ur, you are of the Chaldeans. So first of all, the land that he was in. Oh, and of a note, I'm going to talk about the character of Abraham because my very good friend Dion told me that this is missing, she feels, in the body of Christ. And it's super interesting to discover things about the character, especially of this patriarch. So Dion, this one's for you, my love. Okay, so Abraham, what do we know about him? We know that he was from this land of Ur, and his father was a store owner of idols. This is a land of a lot of pagan worship. They worshiped a lot of gods, but their most popular worship god of all time was the moon, which they called Sin, S-I-N, yeah, so kind of crazy. Well, this land of Ur that he came from, archaeologists have been digging around here. It's in modern day Iraq. They say that this area was quite a metropolis. They seem to have had evidence of a lot of business activity, a cosmopolitan city of sorts 2,000 years before Christ. This evidence is on clay pots and whatnot, which were the receipts of the day, I guess, and how people paid taxes or whatever and whatnot. But this city was quite large, and the Jewish Talmud is a book written outside of the Bible. It's an extra biblical resource that I enjoy. The Jewish population will tell you the Talmud, which is 38 chapters. They read two pages a day, and they find it to be hard to interpret, but it does have some cool nuts and goodies that came through more in oral tradition. So what is oral tradition? Oral tradition is story keeping. Oral tradition is the passing on of information orally through generations. This time period required very thorough oral tradition. So the story of Abraham got passed down through generations as he was their patriarch, and these stories would be memorized in practice and passed on to the next generation. So reading the Talmud, to me, it isn't for sure Holy Spirit inspired. I'm not calling it biblically sound, perhaps, but I do want to give it some credence, and I do enjoy seeing what the Jewish population believes about the character of Abraham. Okay, so they say that Abraham at a young age became monotheistic. So he started looking at the universe and creation around him, and he decided there has to be one God in charge of all of this. He probably saw that the gods that the people around him were worshiping do not seem to be bringing about much good things, or somehow he X'd them off his worship list. So Abraham at this young age becomes monotheistic. His father is an idol worshiper, and everyone around him is a pagan worshiper. Also, I was digging into the Jewish prayer, the Amidah. The morning prayer is dedicated to the person of Abraham, and they dedicated to Abraham as a person who exemplified love and kindness. If I read the story of Abraham through that lens, I can see that that could be true. If you look at him and some of the choices he makes, it appears to me like somebody who has this gift of love and kindness, but sometimes uses it poorly. For example, God tells him to leave his relatives and his land, but out of love and kindness, he brings a lot with him. God did not ask a lot to come with Abraham, but Abraham included him, and that turned out to be a little messy. Also, when they were in Egypt, Sarai takes a new handmaid named Hagar. That was kind of a messy family vacation in itself. It appears sometimes Abraham makes choices out of mercy and not obedience, so I do believe he probably did exemplify that. When we look at these characters in the Bible, we also have to think about what's not said about them. It is never said or never seen that Abraham has some big temper tantrum or some brutish attitude. This, too, gives me clues to his personality. In my conclusion, I think he's very human. I see that he grows in his walk with God through the stories. He is obedient and definitely a worshiper and a believer in God, but he doesn't just believe in God. He also believes God, and those are two different things. We can believe in God. Even the demons believe in God, clearly, but to believe God, that's another thing. Abraham believes him so much that he leaves everything he has and travels 1,500 miles away. This is not like moving from Minneapolis to Chicago. In this case, Abraham was leaving knowing he's not going to return. Just quickly in chapter 12, God tells him his plans for him and gives seven promises to Abraham. This is in chapter 12, verses 2 through 4. We know in the culture of the Hebrews, the number seven means complete. You will see the number seven all over the Bible. The world was made in seven days. In the book of Matthew, Jesus is on seven mountains. In another disciple's book, Jesus prays seven times throughout his scriptures. There's always this perfection going on in the number seven. What are the seven things God tells Abraham? He says, I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you, and in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So it's that last one, in you, or through you, Abraham, through your seed, all the families in the earth will be blessed. Martin Luther says, write that in gold. That there is the gold standard. What God is saying here is something that Israelites forget about for the majority of the Old Testament, that God is actually about the people of Israel, his people, blessing the earth, working through his people to bless the earth. So we see this happen after the cross in the early church, and we see this as a commission, a promise of God to all the missionaries throughout time going into Gentile nations. So it's really cool to see God choose this person and make these promises that still affect us today. I want to reiterate something. Genesis 1 through 11 takes 2,000 years of time and squeezes it into 11 chapters. Genesis 12 through 50 is 300 years, and it's telling the stories of the patriarchs of the Israeli family, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So here we go with Abraham. Now I see him in chapter 12, there comes a famine on the land of Canaan. In verse 10, Abraham decides to take the family down to Egypt. So they sojourn there on this little family vacay, and it becomes kind of a mess. First of all, in verse 11, it came about when he came near to Egypt that he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a beautiful woman, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you. Now not only was he lying and full of fear, but do you hear that I, I, I, me, me, me in his request? He has a ton of anxiety. So he comes there with his beautiful wife, and I have to say, the Jewish culture says that Sarai was so beautiful that any other woman on earth looked like a monkey. That is truly what they say. So she was very beautiful, and Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. Therefore he was treating, the Pharaoh was treating Abram well for her sake, and he gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys, male and female servants, and female donkeys and camels. But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Pharaoh was kind of annoyed with Abram and said, what is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife? Why did you say she was your sister? Take her and go. And basically Pharaoh kicked them all out of Egypt, and it was interesting how the Lord brought the honesty to the situation that Abraham didn't dare do. So we see him fluctuating between great faith and great fear. I'm going to just jump us all the way to chapter 15, because chapter 15 of Genesis is the crux of this teaching. I am going to go back to some portions as we discuss Isaac and Ishmael in the next teaching so that we have a sound understanding of why Abraham is the father of the Jews, the Muslims, and the Christians. I hear sometimes people say, the Muslims claim Abraham's their father. It's so frustrating. But you know what? It's true. He is the father through Ishmael of the Arab people. So they do have that right to see him as a patriarch also. Chapter 15 of Genesis is when Abraham is promised a son, and the Abrahamic covenant is dealt out. And what I want us to see here magnifies God and the person of Jesus Christ. Theologians say that without an understanding of Abraham, it is impossible to fully understand the cross. So let's dig in here right now. So chapter 15, I'm going to start reading through this. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision saying, do not fear Abraham. I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great. And Abraham said, Oh, Lord, what will you give me since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus? And Abraham said, Since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir. If you have no offspring, the heir can be one born in your house. So look at verse 4 of 15. Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, This man will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from your body, he shall be your heir. He took him outside and said, Now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. So God didn't only give him a promise, he gave him an illustration. And it's true, Abraham's descendants, if you include the Israelites and every single Gentile that's grafted into that tree and adopted into the family of Abraham, there are as many descendants as the stars in the heaven. So here is a key verse that's throughout the New Testament. Chapter 15, verse 6, highlights this verse in your Bible. Then Abraham believed in the Lord, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Abraham believed, and God reckoned it as righteousness. So this little verse here is the verse that verifies to the disciples, to the Israelis in the many different generations and to a Jew today, that faith alone can make one righteous. Righteous means being made right with God. Abraham was made right with God, that bridge between man and God was crossed by faith alone. This is the New Covenant right here in Genesis 15, 6, 2000 years before Jesus is born. Righteousness by faith alone. I mean, that's mind blowing to me. I hope you're jumping up and down because it's amazing. So then what does he say? So Abraham says, so God says, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it. Abraham says back, oh Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it? So God says to him, bring me a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old female goat and a three-year-old ram and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Now, this can sound like a grocery list back in the day, but we see what they're doing here. They are going to make a covenant. In this time period, if two people wanted to make a covenant, this is what they did. They brought these animals, they cut them in half, except for the birds, but the goat and ram and heifer would have been cut in half. They would have been laid opposite and the people doing the covenant would walk between the animals in the blood and they would repeat the covenant they're making. So as an example, if I was going to make a covenant with my friend Dion, that her plethora of Christmas trees can be stored in my pole barn and that if she passes, I will delegate them throughout her descendants, we would do this. We would divide the animals and we would walk through it together and we would repeat our covenant words when we're walking between parts of the animals. Now what you were saying is, if I do not keep my end of the bargain, cut me up like these animals. I mean, this is huge, huge. So they did this, cut up the animals and they're laying there and in verse 11, it must have been a few hours later, the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abram drove them away. So Abram showed up for the big meeting with God and he's waiting for him. And what happens is when the sun was going down, I have LOL next to this verse 12. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. I mean, okay, God, if you're going to put him in a deep sleep, could it at least be peaceful? I felt so bad for Abram here. So God says to Abram, as he's in this deep sleep, and just imagine this, know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward, they will come out with many possessions. Okay, so I'm LOLed to sleep, and then God is telling me, just so you know, your descendants are going to be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. In other words, many of them will only know oppression. I mean, okay. Now we know what God's talking about here happens. This is the Exodus. They do leave Egypt with a ton of possessions. But moving on here, he says, as for you, Abraham, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. Wouldn't that be amazing to know that? So then in the fourth generation, they will return here, where? Here to Canaan. He's talking about them taking over this land that was promised to Abraham for them to possess for the iniquity of the Amorites, not yet complete. Okay, so here we go. In verse 17, this is what's mammoth. This is the new covenant in the Old Testament. It says, it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch, which passed between these pieces. So God walked through the covenant animals, and Abram did not sign a thing. So this here is God as the covenant bearer. God himself is going to bring about this promise to Abraham unconditionally, because of Abraham's faith and belief of God. This was going to happen, period. God was signing it. It's mind boggling to me, because God is revealing his grace and merciful nature. So many people tell me they struggle with the Old Testament. They struggle with this angry, wrathful God. That's not who he is, and that's not how he reveals himself. I promise, as we go through this, you're going to see his good, good nature. So God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes. Jesus came in the flesh, fully God, and represented God perfectly through what? Mercy and grace. As Jesus fulfills this new covenant start on the cross, we are seeing the mercy of God. We are seeing his nature in a God that wills, a God that promises, and a God that delivers. Jesus' death on the cross was a one-time signing of that covenant, one and done. Our faith in Jesus Christ is what makes us righteous, or right before God. So this chapter, 15, is something that reveals and magnifies the cross of Christ, the eventual fulfilling of the new covenant, the coming of the Israelites back to the land of Canaan, and all of the promises of Abraham are seen as true and sure. When you look back at the Old Testament, what you see is a faithful God, and the more you study him, you will be to the point where someone comes to you with trials or trouble, and you could tell them, with authority, that you know that you know that you know God is faithful. And that's what we see here in Genesis 15. It absolutely makes me want to jump up and down. If you're out there running, are you doing the hurdles? It's astounding. So this is why we see the disciples and the early authors of the New Testament refer to Abraham. Any Jew in the crowd, any Israelite, would know when they mention that Abraham believed and was considered righteous, their mind would go back to this unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham. This was a key to the gospel teaching to the Jewish people, and it still is today. Today! Okay, so I'm very excited we got through Genesis 15. You guys, that was so great. I've been looking forward to teaching that, but knowing we needed the foundation first. So I'm going to do a teaching probably in the New Testament, but when I come back to Genesis, a couple teachings from now, we are going to talk about Isaac and Ishmael, Hagar and Sarai, and we are going to discuss Abraham going to the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. What are the extra biblical resources saying about that? Because I've always wanted to know a little bit more about that episode in the series of Genesis. So thank you so much for listening. I have to get this off my chest somehow, it helps me sleep, it helps me so much just to rejoice that God has given us the word and that we can grow in it together. It's a beautiful day right now in Minnesota. My favorite school basketball team is playing tonight to go to state. My son is home from North Carolina and my dogs are doing well. I hope everything's going well for you and that you are finding gratefulness no matter what trial or mud puddle you are splashing in. The world can be tough. So you guys keep your chin up out there in Jesus' name.