1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” Gen. 12:1-3
Abram is the father of the Jewish nation. Abram, which means “exalted father” certainly fits the bill, but after God’s intervention into this man’s life, he becomes known as Abraham, meaning “father of many”. The reason for the name change is quite clear from God’s promise to him.
Surely the most intriguing thing of all in this passage is the last expression in verse 3 – “all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you“. Imagine for a moment that you are reading the Bible just like you would read any other book (beginning to end) and for the very first time. What would you be thinking at this point? You would want to keep reading to find the fulfillment of this promise. This just adds to the already-building expectation of Eve over God’s promise to undo the curse of the garden.
How will all peoples on earth be blessed through this one man? Intriguing, isn’t it?
Those familiar with the Bible and who are quite accustomed to routinely dropping into it at various places know where the story is going.
We have already examined foreshadows (some more shadowy than others) to Christ, but this expression: “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you“ should pique the interest of even the most casual reader. The simple answer, of course, is that Abraham is the ancestor of Jesus Christ.
Allegorizing everything in the OT into something in the Christian era can get dangerously out of hand – just read some of the early writers of Christianity (Augustine, for example). However, I would be remiss if I didn’t note at least a vague similarity between God’s direction to Abraham and God’s sending of the incarnate Son of God.
- Jesus left His “country” and His “father’s household” did He not?
- Jesus went into a “land” God would show Him by the will of God did He not?
- In Jesus a “great nation” of God’s elect people would be established would it not?
- Through Jesus “all the peoples of the earth would be blessed”, would they not? (See our last post.)
- God has blessed with His Spirit those who bless Jesus and cursed those who curse Him has He not? (See I Cor. 12:3)
Of course we will see true type/anti-type in the story of Abraham and Isaac later, but this simple allegorical consideration should not be entirely overlooked.
Jesus in many senses mirrors Abraham – sent by God into a land foreign to His home in the heavenly realm so He might become the highest blessing to all men of all nations for all time. At the very least we can say God is consistent in the way He goes out of His way to bring man into a right relationship with Him, which brings us to our next point.
The other important consideration as it relates to our redemption is that Abraham’s call is God’s unilateral act of grace – not that Abraham didn’t have a choice in responding, but it was God who made the first move. Abraham was not the most righteous of men. In this very chapter we see his tendency to lie when he encounters trouble. In fact, God chose Abraham from amongst a pagan people:
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. Josh. 24:2ff (emphasis mine)
Abraham was not a perfect man – he was a sinful man, but He responded to God in faith. God credits his faith as righteousness:
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Rom. 4:3 ESV
As we continue our study, even in this brief introduction to the life and character of Abraham we see a foreshadow of Christ and an example of how redemption is the story God’s grace in action.
