Sunday
Sunday
The Call of Abraham
The LORD had said to Abram, “… All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:1, 3
It is no exaggeration to say that the first three verses of Genesis 12 summarize God’s plan of salvation, namely to bless the world through Christ, who is the seed of Abraham. This promise was accompanied by a double divine call. On the one hand, Abram was to leave his own country and go to a land that God would show him. On the other hand, he was to leave his household, and God would make him into a great nation. In general God would both bless him and make him a blessing to others—in fact, to all the peoples of the earth.
These promises of a seed and a land kept being repeated and elaborated to Abraham at different stages of his life. On one occasion, for example, God told Abraham to look north, south, east, and west, because everything he saw would be given to him and his descendants (13:14–15). On another occasion, God told Abraham to look up at the night sky and count the stars, because his descendants would be as numerous as they (15:5).
The successive fulfillments of God’s promise of a seed are wonderful. Firstly, it was fulfilled in the multiplication of the people of Israel (Deut. 1:10–11). Secondly, it is being fulfilled through the mission of the church, so that all those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:29), since he is the father of all believers (Rom. 4:16–17). Thirdly, it will be fulfilled in the great company of the redeemed in heaven, international and innumerable (Rev. 7:9–17). Only then will Abraham’s descendants be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashores of the world.
For further reading: Genesis 11:27–12:5