Gen

Gen. 12 (1-20)

5/11/2008

“I Will Bless You”

Here in our passage we see God’s election and calling of Abram. But as everything else is in life, it does not happen as an isolated incident: it emerges out of everything that happened in all the previous chapters (chs. 1-11) and particularly in the last chapter (ch. 11). We will focus on ch. 11 because it provides the most immediate context as well as nicely sums up all that has happened previously. Ch. 11 consists of two parts: the first part is taken up with the story about the tower of Babel; the second part provides Abram’s genealogy.

The tower of Babel incident reminds us of the Fall of Adam and Eve and its continuing effect on the entire humanity. We don’t know how much time had elapsed between the Great Flood and the tower of Babel. But we know that the Flood, which wiped out the whole humanity from the face of the earth, with the exception of Noah and his family, could not wipe away the sinful inclination and corruption of man’s heart, even from the hearts of those, who were delivered from the Flood. As Adam and Eve tried to be like God with their own devising, so their children were attempting to reach heaven with their own efforts. So they would only use bricks and tar that they made with their own hands instead of using the “natural” resources like stones and mortar, which God made (11:3). So God confused their language and dispersed them all throughout the face of the earth. Dark, indeed, was the moral climate of the world.

Then suddenly we transition into the genealogy of Shem, which breaks through the darkness like a beam of light! With this genealogy, we are reminded of the redemptive division/enmity, which God established after the Fall. Though the whole humanity had fallen in Adam and Eve, God would set apart some to be saved. God did so by establishing enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. This enmity manifested itself through the enmity between Cain and Abel, then between Cain and Seth and between their respective descendants. This enmity continued even through the Great Flood, even within the nuclear family of Noah, with Ham continuing the line of the serpent. The line of the seed of the woman was committed to Shem (9:26). This is why the genealogy of Abram in the line of Shem is so significant.

It is significant because it points to God’s preserving grace and His gracious, sovereign election! You see, the division/enmity between the Hamites and the Shemites was not an even match. By the time of the tower of Babel, most of the humanity came under the spell of the Hamite spirit, including the Shemites. And things did not improve after the tower of Babel, either. Take a look at Abram’s genealogy. Abram’s father was Terah (11:27). We don’t know much about Terah except what is told in Josh. 24:2-3: “From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan….” According to these words, it seems like Abram came from an idol worshipping family--Terah, his father, and Nahor, his brother, who were both idol worshippers. These words imply that Abram, too, served other gods along with his father and brother.

Against this genealogical, biographical background, we consider the fact that Abram was chosen out of the whole humanity, out of the Shemites, as the head of God’s chosen race. Why was he chosen? Because he was better than all others? Because he deserved to be chosen by God on the basis of merit? Not at all! He was no different from the rest of the fallen race. Then why Abram?

Here we must identify a very important theme running through the rest of the Book of Genesis (which is close to 4/5 of the entire book, from chs. 12-50). This long section consists of the Patriarchal narratives (the Patriarchs being Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons). A major theme of this section is God’s sovereign election--how God chose the individuals to carry on the line of the promise. This is Paul’s own view as we see in Rom. 9:

“…not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring…. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call--she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’” (Rom. 9:6-8, 10-13).

This principle of sovereign election starts with the first Patriarch, Abram, of course. And this principle shines unmistakably when we consider his station when God called him, especially in the light of God’s promises to him. What were God’s promises to Abram?

The first promise was regarding the land: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (v. 1). Then, when Abram arrived in the land of Canaan, God promised to give that land to his offspring (v. 7). What was Abram’s condition when he received this promise? He was living in Haran at that time (v. 4), though he was originally from Ur of the Chaldeans. His father, Terah, left Ur with the intention of going into the land of Canaan but settled in Haran instead (11:31). Terah died there (11:32) and that might have been one of the reasons that Abram stayed there. We don’t know how long Abram stayed in Haran or how long he intended to stay there. But he was certainly an immigrant there, who had left his home in Ur. It was to this wandering migrant that God promised to give the land of Canaan. The land God promised to Abram was not just a plot of land for his personal sojourn. This land should be understood in the context of “a great nation”, which God also promised to him (v. 2). God was talking about a national territory, not just a plot of personal real estate.

This leads us to the second promise: “And I will make of you a great nation” (v. 2). The previous chapter already set us up to feel the shocking impact of this promise: “Now Sarai [Abram’s wife] was barren; she had no child” (11:30). And when Abram was called, he was already seven-five years old (and Sarai, sixty-five years old, ten years younger than Abram; cf. 17:17). And Abram and Sarai would not have their child, Isaac, until they were one hundred years old and ninety years old, respectively.

You see, Abram was not what we would typically call a prime candidate. For a person to be a prime candidate, he would have to be well-endowed with the abilities and qualities to do the job well. A secretary has to type well, be proficient with various computer softwares, well-organized and pleasant in personality. A CEO has to have a vision and the ability to execute the vision. President has to have a sense of history and the leadership to guide the nation through its crises and inspire and galvanize the people to be a better nation and a better people. But Abram was what we may call the anti-prime-candidate: he was totally devoid and bankrupt of the qualities necessary. He was a wandering, landless migrant, who was to possess a great territory. He was an old man with a barren wife, who was to father a great nation through his descendants. How could he be chosen?

Yet to God Abram was a prime candidate. He was a prime candidate because God was not looking for someone to do a job for Him; rather God was looking for someone to set forth as an example of His sovereign grace, to showcase His unconditional election. What was at issue was not what Abram was capable of doing; what was at issue was what God was capable of doing, what God was able to make out of Abram. For God was offering him a covenant of grace.

Here we must step back and consider what section we are in the Bible. Genesis is the first book of the Five Books of Moses--Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This section, which is called the Pentateuch because it consists of five books, is also called the Torah, the Law. This section was the Constitution proper for the new nation of Israel, which was formed at Mount Sinai. The obvious question is what these stories are doing in a national constitution. Well, our constitution has what we called The Preamble, which says,

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

As you can see, “a preamble is an introductory statement or preliminary explanation as to the purpose of the document and the principles behind its philosophy” (Wikipedia).

In the Ancient Near East, the preamble usually consisted of the king, who was issuing a decree or making a covenant, narrating and listing all of his pedigree and accomplishments and victories as the rationale for his people to obey his decrees and laws. We see an example of this kind of preamble in the giving of the Ten Commandments. As many of you know, the Ten Commandments begin with this introductory note: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:1). With this simple preamble, God showed why Israel should obey the Ten Commandments.

But consider the fact that the Ten Commandments in Ex. 20 begin the extensive “Law” section in the Pentateuch--the actual law/stipulation section in the Torah--which, with some minor narrative interruptions, extends all the way through Deut. 26. So then, we can view all that precedes this stipulation section (i.e., Gen. 1 - Ex. 19) as the Preamble, in which God provides all the compelling reasons for Israel’s obedience to God. All the narratives in this preamble section, then, make up the catalog of all the great and mighty acts of God in history--starting from the creation of the heavens and the earth all the way to delivering Israel out of the Egyptian bondage. That means, the main character, the protagonist, of all the narratives is ultimately God. For this section is all about God showing what kind of God He is and why His people should obey Him by enumerating the great feats, accomplishments and victories of God. Yes, even in the Patriarchal narratives involving Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons, the main character is not the Patriarchs themselves; the main character is God and the main focus is how God sovereignly elects them and what He makes out of them for His own glory and honor! These stories are not about how great these Patriarchs are but how great God is to make them what they ought to be out of what they were, to make out of these individuals, who were nothing, something marvelous.

Should we compare this work of God to Michelangelo sculpting his masterpiece, David, out of a marble block? No, God’s work on Abram is far more glorious and sovereign than Michelangelo’s work. For Michelangelo used for David the Carrara marble, which he greatly valued. This is only natural that an artist would use a best material possible for his masterpiece. But Abram to God was not a block of Carrara marble. As we said, Abram was an anti-prime-candidate for what he was called to be. He was the opposite of what God called him to be: he had nothing to contribute. For the glory of God, which Abram was to manifest, was the glory of the One, who created all things out of nothing! And so, to showcase the glory of God the Creation, the old, childless Abram was chosen to be the father of a great nation; the landless, wandering Abram was chosen to inherit the promised land.

We are not trying needlessly to put down Abram or men in general. God’s word makes no attempt to paint Abram worse than what he really was, or paint us worse than what we really are. We may not feel comfortable, to say the least, when our true self in all of its weaknesses and unsavory details is exposed by the Word of God. But would a patient feel insulted when the doctor shows him all the things that are wrong with him to explain what needs to be done to cure him? Of course not! And how foolish the patient would be if he felt insulted by the doctor and hated him for his accurate diagnosis! Instead we ought to thank God that He doesn’t treat us as a prosecuting attorney to condemn us but as a Doctor to heal us and make us whole! Oh, how we ought to thank God that He did what He did with Abram to give us hope and encouragement!

We may be foolish in ourselves. But what if God chose us, who are foolish, to shame the wise? We may be weak in ourselves. But what if God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong? We may be low and despised in the eyes of the world. But what if God chose us to bring to nothing things that are high and admired in the world so that no human being might boast in the presence of God? For what do we have that we did not receive (1 Cor. 4:7)? Even when we accomplish something great, it is only because God has given us the talents to do so. So then, if God should choose our weaknesses and our bankruptcy to showcase His strength and abundance, should we pout and sulk in resentment? Would you rather be a block of Carrara marble in the hands of an amateur artist or an ordinary piece of paper that Leonardo da Vinci sketches on with his masterful strokes? No matter how ordinary you may be, no matter how unworthy and dispensable you may be in the eyes of the world, when you are held in the hands of God, you are anything but unworthy and dispensable as an ordinary piece of paper can become a masterpiece in the hands of a great artist. When God called Abram, that was the kind of journey to which God called him! And when God calls us, He call us all to the same kind of glorious journey!

That journey naturally entails leaving behind our old life. So God told Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (v. 1). His was a life of serving idols and living among idol worshippers (Josh. 24:2). Though dear to him must have been his country, his kindred and his father’s household, though these things must have given him a measure of security and comfort, he was to leave all of them behind to follow the one and only true God. Is this a difficult choice to make? Only if we lose sight of the surpassing glory of God. Only if we think that the land or the house we own is more secure and more lasting than the everlasting God. Only if we think that our kindred and our father’s house can offer us greater security and protection than the almighty God and our everlasting Father.

God told Abram to leave his country, which was not his country at all since he was only an immigrant to Haran, so that he might possess the promised land under God’s protection and auspices. God told Abram to abandon his kindred and his father’s household so that he might start a community in covenant with God, a great nation under God as its King. These were great blessings indeed. But they were only secondary to a more central blessing: the blessing of God’s covenant union with Abram embodied in the words, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (v. 3). God is saying in effect, “Your friends will be My friends and your enemies will be My enemies!” How much is this promise worth to you--for God to be your Ally, your Friend, your Champion, your Captain, your King? How much is it worth to you? Would you exchange it for anything in this world? Is there anything more valuable than this promise that the almighty God will be your Protector and King?

Notice also the worldwide scope of God’s blessings on Abram: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (v. 3). Through this promise God counteracts the worldwide corruption of man throughout the world. God would use this most unworthy, anti-prime-candidate to be a blessing to all the families of the earth!

This journey, to which God called Abram, was redemptive in character--to be delivered from the house of idol worship to form a covenant community in union with God. This redemptive character is brought to the fore early on in Abram’s journey. His journey following God’s call is none other than the paradigm of the exodus. Notice the similarities between Abram’s journey to and from Egypt and Israel’s exodus?

· Abram goes down to Egypt because of the famine in the land of Canaan as Jacob and his sons go down to Egypt because of the famine in the land of Canaan;

· Abram faces a danger on account of his beautiful wife as the people of Israel face the danger of slavery on account of their great number;

· A judgment of God in the form of plagues come upon Pharaoh in both cases;

· Both Abram and the people of Israel leave Egypt with spoils (Gen. 12:16; Ex. 12:35-36).

This shows that the journey, to which God called Abram, was to be a redemptive journey--more specifically an exodus journey. But surely, the journey Abram embarked on was not completed when he came back to Canaan, even when he died in the promised land! God’s redemptive plan could not have been so disappointing--a journey ending in death! No, Abram’s exodus as well as Israel’s exodus was but a picture, pointing to the true exodus, which was consummated in Jesus Christ! He retraces Abram’s and Israel’s exodus journey in his childhood. A life-threatening danger from Herod forces Joseph and Mary to take him down to Egypt. Then He is called out of Egypt back to the land of Canaan (Matt. 2:15, Hos. 11:1).

But the ultimate exodus is much more than a physical journey out of Egypt. We read in Luke 9:30-31, “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Here we see Luke’s account of what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. There Moses and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ departure, which in Greek is “exodus”. This exodus was to be accomplished in Jerusalem, where Jesus was to suffer and die and rise again from the dead on the third day. His exodus was not from one earthly location to another. His exodus was from this world to the world to come through His death and resurrection, from this corrupt, fallen world to the world of eternal glory, from the bondage of sin and death to the freedom of righteousness and everlasting life. This exodus is one journey that we cannot make on our own, sinful and corrupt that we are and under the just condemnation of God. So the Son of God had to come in our place to make the journey on our behalf. In order that the most unworthy can be delivered from their just punishment and receive the most undeserved blessings, the most worthy Son of God had to come into this fallen world, leaving His heavenly home. And He did come into this world in the likeness of our sinful flesh, binding Himself to us and to our miserable condition. And in the likeness of our sinful flesh, He lived a life of perfect righteousness, He bore our guilt and punishment, He died our death and He rose again from the dead. He suffered and died to deliver us from the Egypt of sin and punishment. He lived and rose again from the dead to lead us into the Canaan of eternal glory.

It is because of His most radical identification with us, because of His suffering and death and His life and resurrection, that we, though unworthy and disqualified that we are, are called to this most amazing journey from sin to righteousness, from this world to the world to come, from hell to heaven, from all of our bankruptcy to God’s infinite abundance. We have nothing to boast of. We have only God to praise. We have everything to be grateful for that God should choose us to showcase His sovereign grace, His unconditional election. All that we are and all that we are to become are all about God’s sovereign grace, which takes what is nothing to make out of it something most marvelous. Seen in this light, even what we do not have and lack, all of our weaknesses and bankruptcy, are designed to show God’s most marvelous grace! What encouragement and hope are ours in Christ Jesus!

So then, let us view our weaknesses and bankruptcy in that light. Let us not view them as a cause for discouragement and despair but as a wonderful instrument for God to showcase His sovereign grace and transforming power! What is your Achilles’ heel? What are the temptations and sins that make you stumble all the time? Let them be the very things that showcase God’s sovereign grace as they are conquered and replaced with the fruit of the Spirit!

And what about our church? Can a church like ours survive--yea, thrive--in our town like La Jolla? May God be pleased to lift up our church to showcase His sovereign grace--that His church is done not by our might and our strength but by His Spirit! Would you humble yourselves with me before God and pray for this to be realized in our midst? But above all else, let us praise God for our living, infallible hope that one day we shall stand before Him in all the glory that He in His infinite grace designed for His people! May that hope encourage us to continue our journey with steadfastness and joy!