By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ~ Hebrews 11:8 -10 NKJV

A. BACKGROUND

The month of August is and will always be a full circle moment for me. Around this time last year, I was faced with the burden to make a decision that was/ has been fundamentally life-altering. Making this decision was daunting (or at least it felt so at the time), because I had to choose between a strong conviction and sticking to what felt familiar or more acceptable.

Now, every time you read a story in the Bible about a man who had to make a choice between God and something else, it is easy to wonder, “this is such a no brainer? Why wouldn’t he choose God? Why would you choose to please men?” We marvel about the Israelites and how often they did not believe God, wondering how anyone could fail to spot their Saviour from miles away. Meanwhile every single day of our lives, we are busy choosing options that drive us away from Him. Every single day, men choose their comfort over what God asks them to do.

Thankfully, I took the path I knew to be aligned with instruction, and the fruit that followed has since affirmed this conviction. Nonetheless, this journey has not been without repercussions, or what I would like to call ‘dying’. There have been all manner of questions, difficult choices, some distance in my relationships, false assumptions, loneliness or feeling and being misunderstood. There have been moments, not of doubting the decision that I made, but of wondering if it was necessary to endure all that.

BUT. There has been something far, far greater that I wouldn’t trade for anything – a deeper closeness with God. I have learnt that every time we yield to God, we encounter a deeper facet of His Presence. In the moments of obedience that seems to cost you, God is faithful to blanket us with a deep, deep peace that surpasses even your own understanding. In fact, the greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward of His Person.

This month marks a year since I made this decision, and I am filled with gratitude that God orders my steps as One who knows what is best for me.

While I contemplated this, I realized the stark connection between the life of every born-again believer and that of our father, Abraham. At the age of seventy-five, Abraham was called out of a life that he had grown accustomed to and was familiar with – into a land he had absolutely no idea of - by a God that only he had encountered. This cannot have been an easy journey.

The Bible says that we are inheritors of the same promise, which principally also means that we must walk the same road our father Abraham did – leaving everything we consider familiar and yet is not aligned with God’s Plan for us.

This is yet another report of the greatest father of our faith.

I) Abraham’s lineage I: Encountering God

In our previous article, we studied the life of Noah and learnt that he hailed from a line of men that ardently sought God, so he had an opportunity to learn of Him. This was not so with Abraham, whose father was an idol worshipper. (Joshua 24:2) Ancient text explains that the land in which Terah’s family stayed, Ur, was polytheist and involved in the worship of various idols.

There are only a few traces of devoted men in Abraham’s lineage. We learn through Scripture that Abraham hailed from the lineage of Shem, Noah’s first born. Shem had, during his time, honored his father and covered his nakedness. As a result, Noah blessed him, saying “Blessed be The Lord, the God of Shem…” Genesis 9:26. Unfortunately, somewhere down the line, idol worship permeates the lineage.

This begs the question that has plagued my mind for a while now. Where did Abraham encounter God? How did he encounter Him? How grand was this encounter, that it caused him to do a complete 360 out of a life of pagan worship? What criteria did God use to choose Abraham? The more I think about it, the more I am affirmed that God does not need human intervention to introduce Himself to His people. While it is true that He often uses men to draw people to Himself, it would be foolish to assume this is His only way. To think that God draws men to Himself only through other men is to limit a supremely boundless God.

This pattern finds credence in The Bible too. It was The Lord who encountered the Great Prophet Moses while he was tending to the flock of his father-in-law. (Exodus 3:1-6). Jesus, Himself, went after and encountered the woman at the well of Samaria. (John 4:1-26) It was Jesus Himself, that encountered the Apostle Paul on his way to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-6)

There is a power that calls us out of death into God’s everlasting light. Scriptures speaks of Jesus in John 8:12 as The Light of the world, He calls us daily into this marvelous Light. It is not possible to have a true encounter with Jesus and remain comfortable with what has been familiar. He speaks in Isaiah 9:2 that the people who dwelt in a land of deep darkness have seen a Great Light.

This is The Light that compelled the three wise men to travel miles in pursuit. This is The Light that took the scales off the eyes of Apostle Paul. This is The Light that shone upon the countenance of Gideon and made him a mighty man of valour. This is the Light that shone in the lives of the disciples, transforming them from mere illiterates to bold witnesses of The Glorious Gospel. It was that Light which drew us too. It was that Light.

It was that Light which called Abraham out of a land of deep darkness and obscurity and transformed him into the father of a multitude.

II) The call out of a familiar

Salvation is an encounter, but it is also a call out of the familiar.

Scripture notes that while we are of this world, we are not of it. (John 17:14-16) When we choose Christ, our journey of sanctification from the world begins. The Word warns us that it is impossible to serve two masters, (Matthew 6:24) and cautions us against having fellowship with darkness. (2 Corinthians 6:14) In His prayer, Christ prays that His followers be sanctified by the truth. (John 17:17) To be sanctified means to be set apart, and this is only by Truth.

For example, when Abraham encounters The Light, he learns the Truth concerning The One True God; his father’s idols cannot cut it anymore. They are not True. They must be discarded. When the Apostle Peter encounters Truth, it is impossible for him, or the Church, to continue to isolate the Gentiles. In fact, the words he uses are that “…In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality…” (Acts 10:34) Once Truth comes, it demands that we are separated from every other notion contrary to it. (2 Corinthians 6:17) This is sanctification.

Sanctification may however not always be pleasurable to the human flesh. When God calls Abraham out of Haran, His instruction is very clear:

Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” Genesis 12:1 NKJV

I can imagine what this call must have meant for Abraham; how many friends he left behind, what response he gave when he was asked what exact destination he was going. Who had instructed him to leave his father’s house, what voice was he following? How many people tried to dissuade him from leaving, how many were offended by his decision, felt abandoned? For all intents, I believe Abraham was the first born of his father, and this meant abandoning all the responsibilities that also came with this role.

All to follow a God that no one else around him knew.

In Scripture, Jesus reminds us that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword, and to turn families against each other. (Matthew 10:34-36) This is not by causing any conflict except that which naturally follows sanctification by Truth. Choosing Christ comes at a cost, and not everyone will agree.

Jesus does not call us out of the familiar out of spite or malice, He is Love. More than this, He is a lover of your soul, and desires that you should not perish. (2 Peter 3:9) Everything that is of the world is guaranteed to perish. If Abraham had remained in his father’s house, he was guaranteed to perish. Meanwhile, God had called him to be the father of nations.

So when you really consider it, Abraham, just like us, was called out of death into eternal life. From this calling, He sanctifies us by Truth, erasing everything that is not of Him or of us either. The power that called you out of the grave, is the same power that sanctifies you, it is an act of Grace. And out of His Fullness, we have received Grace upon Grace. (John 1:16)

There is nothing you cannot walk out of.

III) Abraham’s vision of God

Abraham’s decision to leave everything behind to follow this God yet another question: what had he come to know in God that compelled him to obey to such great lengths? Scripture says that it was faith that led Abraham to follow God.

Perhaps the most foundational tenet of faith is our vision of God; Scripture affirms that he who comes to God must believe that He exists. (Hebrews 11:6) We learn through Scripture that Abraham had a profound vision of God and knew the vastness of The God he encountered.

Abraham believed God, on several occasions, for what is impossible by human standards. He believed God’s promise that he would have descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky. (Genesis 15:4-5) Not only is this not fathomable by the human mind, but it is even worse if the recipient of the promise is past childbearing age. Not Abraham though.

Abraham believed God when He promised that he would inherit a land that was occupied by a whole other nation (Genesis 12:7). He believed that he would inherit even grander than that, a territory so vast that it spanned the North, East, West and South, because God said so. (Genesis 13:14-17) At the time he received the promise, Abraham did not even have a land title to his name, in fact, he had just been chased out of Egypt by the Pharaoh.

Abraham knew God as the giver of life, and believed even beyond the grave. Abraham knew without a doubt that even when he sacrificed Isaac, God was able to raise him from the dead. (Hebrews 11:19) This was the same God who had resurrected his body when science considered it too dead enough to father a child.

Scripture testifies of Abraham:

“As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the non existent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed. [For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, so [numberless] shall your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah’s [deadened] womb. No unbelief or distrust made him waver [doubtingly question] concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His Word and to do what He had promised.” Romans 4: 17- 21

This is The God that Abraham had come to know and was fully persuaded of His faithfulness. So when the Word speaks of “The God of Abraham,” it speaks of The God Abraham knew. The Giver of Life. The Faithful and True One. The Covenant Keeper. The Almighty One. The Sovereign One. The One whose Word was final. The Just One. The Multiplier. The Shield. The Exceeding Reward. The Protector. The Jireh. All of these and so much more wrapped in The Same God.

This was The God that Abraham found worth following out of everything, he was worth everything. I believe that the more Abraham knew God, the more fully persuaded he was in his faith. They that know their God, shall be strong. (Daniel 11:32)

This God, He is worth every single thing.

IV) Faithful obedience versus reward

Just like our obedience is intricately linked to our vision of God, there is a greater reward for obeying God.

Note that immediately following the instruction to leave all that Abraham knew, God promises to prosper him. He promises to make him a great nation, bless and make his name great, make him a blessing, blessing all who bless him and cursing all who curse him. (Genesis 12:2-3). This promise is repeated to him on several other occasions. (Genesis 13:14, 15:13) The multitude of blessings flows from his obedience, and Scripture says that all the nations shall be blessed, “because Abraham obeyed My Voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” Genesis 26:5

We see this pattern repeated through Scripture. When God commands Isaac not to go to Egypt but to stay in the land ravaged by famine, He promises to be with him and bless him and his offspring. (Genesis 26:3-4).

While our obedience is not a guarantee or transaction card to obtain good things from the Father (faith is), there is a lot to be said for the positioning of an obedient offspring. Obedience positions you to receive the gifts already prepared beforehand by our Father, for us.

It can sometimes be a very daunting thing to leave everything behind in pursuit of a God with faith as your compass, and God’s servants have had questions since time immemorial. Abraham himself, asked for a guarantee that he would inherit the land which God promised. (Genesis 15:8). The Prophet Jeremiah accused God of deceiving him. (Jeremiah 20:7) The disciples asked Jesus what they would gain because they had left everything and followed Him. (Matthew 19:27)

Jesus’ response is not only beautiful but also very profound for our walk of faith even today:

“Truly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” Mathhew 19:28-29.

Likewise, let’s not consider what earthly things we are turning our backs on, they are rubbish anyway (Philippians 3:8). Instead, you do well to fix your eyes on Rewarder. Remember, he who loves their life will lose it, but he that hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25)

This is why God promises that He is our Shield, our abundant compensation and our reward shall always be exceedingly great. (Genesis 15:1)

We cannot obey God in vain. (Hebrews 6:10)

V) The (un)known destination

Flowing from Matthew 19:28-29 above, the ultimate destination to which Abraham was led, and gladly followed, was not a physical one.

Abraham could care less for Canaan compared to eternity with God; to knowing God and His Son. At the start of his journey, Abraham set out not knowing where he was going, but following The God he had encountered. As he increased in relationship with God, we learn through Scripture that he shifted his sight to the city whose builder is God.

It was for this reason that he was happy to dwell in tents, knowing that his destination was not of this earth; he desired a heavenly country. (Hebrews 11:16) Indeed, as is the case with all things, He has prepared a city for us! (Hebrews 11:17)

This does not by any means imply that God will not bless His children even in their earthly pursuits, quite the contrary. We know that Abraham was by far one of the wealthiest men in his age. (Genesis 13:2, 24:1). However, these are only transient possessions meant to advance His Kingdom on earth, but there is a better, much, much better life to come.

The more Abraham journeyed with God, the more his eyes shifted from an earthly Canaan to a heavenly one. As his offspring, our eyes must always be equally set on life with The One who called us.

VI) Tent dwellers

It’s important to understand that The Kingdom of Heaven works way differently from the kingdoms of the earth. Throughout His time on earth, Jesus devoted a great amount of time to teaching his followers that The Kingdom of Heaven was different from that on earth.

Abraham, and his offspring are given Canaan as an inheritance, but they dwell in tents for a while. This does not mean the land was not theirs.

Now by human standard, such would be laughable. (Imagine someone from Haran trailed Abraham and found him dwelling in a tent; with all the wealth and the home he left behind in pursuit of a certain God they did not know about.) The world relates blessing to a certain visual standard. The world expected their Saviour to show up a certain way, and definitely not in a manger.

Scripture however teaches us that the least is more often than not, the greatest. The One who made heaven and earth submitted Himself to death on a cross, and humiliation by those He had created. He taught yet another profound truth:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His Life a ransom for many” Matthew 20:27

Through The Word, we learn that while Jesus walked the earth, He too dwelt in temporary shelters/tents. (Matthew 8:20). The One through whom all things were made, had no place to lay His Head. This, the Creator of the universe, dwelt the same way Abraham did. This did not mean that He was not the Maker of all things.

From our theme Scripture in Hebrews 11:9, we know that it was because of his faith that Abraham endured the lifestyle of living in tents like a foreigner in the very land he was promised. It was his vision of God that drove him to continue in faithful obedience, trusting that He who promised was faithful to fulfil His Word. (Hebrews 10:23)

The very faith of Abraham was transferred to Isaac and to Jacob, both of whom are inheritors of the same promise. They too dwelt in tents, obeying The God of their father and waiting on the promise.

Likewise, as inheritors of a similar promise, necessity is laid upon us to look only to the city whose builder is God. Scripture instructs us to store treasures in Heaven where moths and rust do not destroy. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Abraham submitted himself to dwelling in tents, and we speak of him long after he transitioned to eternity. To-date, God is not ashamed to be called the God of Abraham, blessing the entire world because of him. (Genesis 12:3) God’s plan for Abraham went farther than simply inheriting physical land but was for the entire world, and Abraham knew it. When Abraham realizes this, that the vision is bigger than just his person or his generation, he commits himself to a life of looking least, if only the plan of God could be fully revealed through his life.

What tent are you willing to dwell in? How much of yourself are you willing to lay aside so Christ can be fully formed in you?

VII) Abraham and the pillar of salt

I have sometimes wondered whether or how often Abraham considered returning to his father’s land. Whether he doubted the promises made by God when the famine in the places he sojourned became too severe. Abraham at a point asks The Lord for a guarantee that he shall inherit the land promised him. (Genesis 15:8) We study these questions in the life of various other Men of God.

But there is a difference between these questions and actually returning to a land out of which you have been called. When The Lord made a promise to Abraham, Scripture confirmed that he believed God, and it was counted for him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) This means that he did not doubt God.

On the other hand, the Israelites did not believe God, and by consequence returned to Egypt (at least in their mind) - the land out of which they had been called by mighty signs and wonders. Scripture establishes that as a man thinketh, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7). A man who is angry with his brother is considered by Heavenly standard to have committed murder. (Matthew 5:22) this is also why Scripture teaches us that Abraham received his son back from the dead; Abraham had fully resolved to kill Isaac. (Hebrews 11:19)

Likewise, considering how often they recalled the life they had while they were slaves, the Israelites returned to Egypt. In Exodus 14:11, they asked Moses if here were no graves in Egypt for them to die in the wilderness. Not so long after, they complain of hunger, preferring to have died in Egypt where they sat by the pots of meat and ate bread to the full. (Exodus 16:3) They complained about water, asking Moses whether he brought them out of Egypt to kill them. (Exodus 17:3)

In Numbers 11:5, they lament about the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlics that they ate freely in Egypt. The Israelites went as far as deliberating choosing another leader that would take them back to Egypt. (Numbers 14:1-4) Because of this mindset, they refused to enter God’s rest. (Hebrews 3:8)

Abraham’s actions revealed no intention to return to Haran. Even concerning his son, Abraham charges his servant to ensure that he does not take Isaac back to the land out of which The Lord called him. (Genesis 24:6) Scripture affirms that if Abraham indeed had been thinking of the land from which he had gone out, he would have had an opportunity to return to it. (Hebrews 11:14)

Scripture warns that “No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) (Hebrews 6:4-6) This is precisely how Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. (Genesis 19:26)

This too, is a key lesson for us – do not look back. There is no Ur of the Chaldeans to return to - burn it to the ground. Destroy every avenue or route that leaves a possibility of returning to a life outside Christ. This is the full meaning of repentance.

There is a power that calls Abraham out of his father’s house, and there is a power that keeps him from turning. This power is still available and working in all of us today. The Word says that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith; and trust that He would always bring to full completion what He began in you. (Hebrews 12:2)

VIII) The Legacy of God in Abraham’s lineage - II

Remember when I said we, as Abraham’s offspring must walk the same journey he did? The Word says that Isaac and Jacob were inheritors with Abraham of the same promise. Isaac too, dwelt in the tents. Jacob too, dwelt in tents, trusting the similar promise made to his fathers. As his offspring, we too are inheritors of this same promise and by extension, the call out of what is familiar but is not of God. We are called to live on earth with the awareness that we are sojourners, and our inheritance is a heavenly city built by God. (Hebrews 11:16)

We are called to teach out children and lead them in the way of our God, who keeps His covenant to a thousand generations. (Genesis 17:7) While Abraham’s father introduced his children to idol worship, Abraham introduced his own offspring to a Sovereign God. This is why we see Isaac pray for his wife until she bears children. (Genesis 25:21) Jacob too, is an ardent seeker of the Lord. (Genesis 28:16, 32:24) We too, are his descendants, and each of us continue to live a life that reflects the God of our father.

By teaching our offspring the way of The Lord, we ensure that the promise continues to be effectively stewarded down the line, and that we are the avenues through which God’s Government increases on earth.

IX) Multi-faceted faith

Something struck me about Abraham’s story. By human standards, he believed God for various big things in the same breath. First, he believed God and left a familiar land for an unfamiliar one. In the same breath, he believed God for a child when he was past child bearing age, and then later went on to believe God would raise him from the dead. This is why Abraham says:

The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. Genesis 24:7

This was the mindset of Abraham. He knew that God was the same, and could be trusted to deliver on just about anything. True to form, God did deliver him out of everything.

That God who was faithful to Abraham through every aspect of his life, He is The Same God we believe today.

So, while faith is dynamic, but The Source of our faith is The Same. The same God that heals is The same God who provides for us. He is the same Defender. Deliverer. Saviour. Life. He is the same. He is the ultimate Source. The firm anchor of our faith is in His Person, in His Nature.

What a privilege to belong to a God who cannot, by any means, ever fail.

B. THEREFORE...

Perhaps the greatest lesson to take from the faith of Abraham is that it sprung from the only right source, God. His vision of God defined his faith, and not his physical and present circumstances. He caught hold of His faithfulness and refused to believe anything else. This is why indeed; God is not ashamed to be called His God.

May this always be our testimony.

Hallelujah!

FAITH AS AN ETERNAL JOURNEY WITH GOD - THE REPORT OF ABRAHAM