Why Did God Call Abraham?

Today we will talk about a man whose name is well known in the Word, and who had an important place in God's plan to redeem the children of Adam. The Scripture refers to this man as "the friend of God" and "the father of all who believe.", Abraham. ~ Genesis 11, 12

Scriptures speak a great deal about Abraham. We will search the Scriptures to discover what they teach concerning this man who was called the friend of God. Today we intend to look into the beginning of the story of Abraham, to see how God called him to follow Him, and why He called him.
Keep in mind that Abraham was first called Abram. In chapter eleven of the book of Genesis, we learn that Abram belonged to the descendants of Shem. Shem, Ham and Japheth were the three sons of Noah. After his sons were grown, God chose Noah, a descendent of Seth and a righteous man, to save mankind when God judged the wicked men on the earth in the Great Flood. Through Noah's son Shem, in the ninth generation, God choose another man named Abram (meaning "exalted father") to be in the lineage of Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Between Shem and Abram, there were ten generations, (Gen. 11) just as there were ten generations between Adam (Seth's name meant "the appointed one") and Noah. (Gen. 5) Abram's father's name was Terah. The Scripture says: "Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot." (Gen. 11:27) Lot was the son of Abram's older brother. Lot's Father had died {Note: in Wolof culture that would make Abram Lot's functional father}. Abram's wife's name was Sarai. "Now Sarai was barren; she had no children." (Gen. 11:30) Abram and Sarai had the same father, but not the same mother.
God had promised that He would send a Savior and salvation to man. His plan was to call this man Abram, and from him make a great nation of people who would not only be the people from whom the Messiah would come, but also they would be God's chosen nation, a witness of God to all the earth. (See Deut. 7:7-8, 28:37, Isa. 43:9-10)
One day the Lord God revealed Himself to Abram and spoke with him. You need to know that in early times, God occasionally spoke directly with people, because they did not yet have the Writings of the Prophets. Today God speaks to people through the Holy Scriptures. That is why we no longer need words which resound from the sky, or visions, or angels in order to know God's way of righteousness. When we meditate upon the Holy Scriptures, we are listening to the voice of God.

When God called Abram he was in a city in Babylonia, named Ur of the Chaldees. Ur was a very advanced city and was believed to have been founded some five hundred years before the time of Abraham.
Ur could be compared to a modern city, having libraries, schools, and a system of law. It was a rich city and many valuable treasures have been discovered including elaborate jewelry.
The false religion of astrology which was begun at Babel was practiced there as it was in all Babylonia. Abraham's father, Terah according to Joshua 24:2, worshiped idols. Jewish tradition refers to Terah as an idol maker. Ur was an idolatrous city worshiping many different Gods such as the god of fire, moon, sun and stars. Sin was the name of the chief idol deity of Ur. Ningal, was the wife of the moon-god, Sin, and was worshiped as a mother God in many other cities. Ur was an evil and sinful city as can be seen in the worship practices of the moon-goddess, Ningal.
With a father who worshiped idols and a city dedicated to wickedness, Abraham was not raised in the best of environments. Yet, when God called, Abraham believed God and by faith followed God's instructions. Hebrews 10:8, states that: "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whether he went."
Let us listen now to what God said to Abram. In chapter twelve, verse one, we read: "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.'" (Gen. 12:1) Did you hear what God commanded Abram? He told Abram to leave his father's house, bid farewell to his relatives, leave his country, and move to a country to which God would lead him. To man's way of thinking, what God asked Abram to do was extremely difficult, but God had plans to greatly bless him.
Let us now reread this verse and the two verses which follow, to know why God called Abram to leave his home and go to another country.
"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. 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. 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)
Why did God command Abram to move to another country? This is why: God planned to make of Abram a new nation from which the prophets of God and the Savior of the world would arise. That is why God promised Abram saying, "I will make you into a great nation…and you will be a blessing…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Here is a great truth. Do you understand it? God chose Abram to become the father of the ancestors through which the promised Redeemer would come into the world. This Redeemer was destined to be the Savior for all the peoples of the world, so that whoever believes in Him might be saved from the dominion of sin and Satan, and from the eternal fire. Thus, we see that when God called Abram, He was moving forward with His plan to send the Savior of sinners into the world. Abram himself was not the Savior of the world, but he was to become the father of a nation from which the promised Savior would come.
That is the promise {or covenant} God made to Abram-on the condition that he leave his country and go to the place that God would show him. Did Abram obey God? What do you think? The Word of God tells us:
"So Abram left, as the Lord had told him…Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there." (Gen. 12:4-5)
Why did Abram obey God, turning his back on his father's home and religion? There is only one reason. Abram had confidence in God. Abram did not know where he was going, but he believed the word of the Lord which said, "Move out! If you move, I will greatly bless you!" Abram had confidence in God and left his country as the Lord God had told him. And God, in His faithfulness, led Abram to the land of Canaan, which today is called Palestine or Israel.
Next, the Scriptures say: "Abram traveled through the land…At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offspring I will give this land.'" (Gen. 12:6-7) Thus we learn that God, who promised to make Abram the father of a new nation, also promised him a new country as well. That is what God meant when He appeared to Abram and promised him, "To your offspring I will give this land."
Again, we see something which surpasses human wisdom. The land of Canaan had people living throughout it. How could Abram and his descendants possess it? Abram was seventy-five years old. His wife was sixty-five and childless. Could two elderly people have enough children and descendants to fill the land? How could this happen?
This is the kind of promise God made to Abram-to a man who was old and childless, with a wife who could not conceive. Listen to what God promised Abram in chapter thirteen. He said,
"All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go; walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." (Gen. 13:15-17)
Did God do what He promised? Did He make of Abram a great nation? Did He give the land of Palestine to Abram's descendants? He did! Abram became the father of the Hebrew nation to which God gave the land that, today, is called Israel.
Next, the Scriptures say: "So [Abram] built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent…. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord." (Gen. 12:7, 8) What was the first thing that Abram did, upon arriving in the new country which God had promised to give him? He slaughtered an animal and burned it on an altar he constructed. Just as Abel, Seth, Enoch and Noah did, Abram, in the same way, offered up animal sacrifices to God. Why did Abram do this? He did it because God had not done away with His law which states: "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin!" (Heb. 9:22) Abram, like all of Adam's offspring, was a sinner. The only reason God could overlook Abram's sins was because Abram believed God and brought to Him the blood of a sacrifice, which was an illustration of the holy Redeemer who was to come into the world to die in the place of sinners.
God intended to make of Abram a new nation, which would be a "door of blessing" for all peoples of the earth. What God planned to do with Abram was part of the wonderful plan that He announced in the Garden of Paradise on the day that our ancestors, Adam and Eve, sinned. Do you remember how God had promised One who would come into the world to deliver the children of Adam from the power of Satan? Two thousand years later, in the time of Abram, God had not forgotten His promise.
Abraham heard the voice of God. There is no hint that when God spoke to him that he questioned who God was. Further, he did not confuse the voice of God with the idols and false Gods that his father worshiped. He knew who was speaking to him. It is apparent that he believed that it was God that was speaking to him and because it was God, he believed the promise that God made to him. Abraham's call was a call to salvation and a call to service. God called Abraham to eternal life – A new life that began when he by faith trusted God's Word to him. "Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) The call to salvation is a call to a new life. Many miss this truth. Before Abraham, could accept the promises of God he had to believe God and receive eternal life. Hebrews 11:8, says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." Abraham first exercised saving faith and the evidence of his having saving faith was that he trusted what God said. God told him to leave his country, his relatives and his father's house and go to a land that He would show him. Abraham's faith was tested and proven in that he did what God said. He showed his faith, by putting his trust in the Lord, and acting upon God's word.
Abraham's life was changed! His trust in God set him on a new course for his life. It is that way for one who believes today and receives eternal life by believing God and trusting in God's son the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer is set on a new road. The old road, marked by a life of sin and self serving, is abandoned! The new road is one of believing, obedience and serving God, by serving others. You remember in Jeremy Frazor’s message he told the story of Rand Hummel’s encounter with the flight attendant who became very offended at being called a servant. The lesson is that a servant or slave to Christ is a good thing, and we cannot be a child of God without being a servant. Many miss this truth about being a slave to Christ instead of a slave to sin. We are always slaves to something or someone. God's called to salvation is a call to a changed life. God's call is to a new life of serving God. Many profess to know Christ and have eternal life yet, absent from their lives is commitment and service. Being a Christian to many is a Sunday affair. During the week, it is business as usual. In everyday life service to the Lord takes a back seat to the everyday affairs of life. It anything conflicts with their responsibilities to the Lord, these responsibilities go lacking.
It seems to be a paradox that many who profess to know the Lord believe they have exercised saving faith and have had their sins forgiven, yet they do not seem to have the faith to turn their lives over to the Lord. Saving faith is a faith that does turn one’s life over to the Lord. You cannot accept salvation without accepting what goes with it. God plan is that the saved man then lives the rest of his life by faith. Nothing else will please Him. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6).
The Bible's example of the actions of a saved man has always been that those who receive salvation by trusting in the Lord live changed lives.
Today we have seen how God, in His faithfulness, called Abram so that he might become the father of a nation through which the promised Savior would come into the world. That was why God promised Abram saying, "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. 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. 12:2, 3)
As a follow up to what we have seen so far, let’s look at
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT (Genesis 12:3-4)
God made a covenant, (contract) with Abraham. This covenant was an unconditional one. God did not say, "Abraham, if you do certain things, then I will do certain things". God's promise to Abraham was unconditional. God said, "Abraham, I WILL make of thee a great nation, and I WILL bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou SHALT be a blessing: and I WILL bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of earth be blessed". Genesis 12:2-3 Note that there is no condition in the covenant for Abraham to fulfill. That is why it is an unconditional covenant. God was promising to do these things and nothing could prevent it.
The Covenant was fourfold:
(1) God would make Abraham's descendants a great nation.
(2) God would bless Abraham materially and make his name great.
(3) God would protect Abraham by blessing those that blessed him and cursing those that opposed Abraham.
(4) God would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham.
God fulfilled His promise to Abraham:
(1) Abraham's descendants became the nation of Israel. Until this very day the child of Abraham, the Jews have remained an ethnically pure people. They, of all the peoples on earth, are the only people on earth that can make that claim. It seems it would be impossible for a people to remain ethnically pure for four thousand years. And in truth it would be, except that God made an unconditional promise to Abraham. The continuing fulfillment of that covenant can be seen today. The Jews have been scattered all over the earth in every continent. Almost every city in the western world has a population of Jews. For example, many peoples from all over the world have come and settled in the United States. However, most immigrants in a generation or two lose their ethnic identity and become simply "Americans". However, the Jews have remained a pure people and retained they identity as Jews. Clearly God has done this and is keeping His promise made to Abraham.
(2) Abraham was richly blessed materially, and also in his descendants. Although the Jews have suffered great persecutions throughout their history, they are not known as a poor people. They have always been powerful in business and had great economic and political power. Their power in Europe was the cause of Hitler's great hatred of them. At the heart of his plan for a new Germany and Europe was the elimination of all Jews and their influence from Europe. Today, in the United States and Europe, the Jews are very powerful people. They have great economic and political power. Although the present day Israel, is one of the smallest countries on the earth, it is one of the most powerful. Its economic, political and technological power rivals even that of the USA and the China. Surely the hand of God is all this.
Further, the name of Abraham is a world renowned name. He is the father of not only the Jews, but of Christianity, and the entire Arab world as well. The three great religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all look to Abraham as their father. Apart from the Jesus Christ, no name is as well known as that of Abraham.
(3) God promised to bless those that blessed Israel and curse those that cursed them. Every government that has persecuted the Jews has fallen even to modern times. The Russian government, which has had a national policy of persecution of the Jews, is in shambles. However, the United States, who has always been the friend of the nation of Israel, has prospered greatly. No matter how intense has been the persecution of Israel, God has protected them. In 1967, in what is called the Six Day War, the tiny nation of Israel utterly destroyed all the combined efforts the Arab nations which surround them. It has been called one of the greatest military victories in history. Against impossible odds they repelled everything the Arabs threw at them. They not only deflected these forces, but took great amounts of land including in the south the Gaza Strip to the Nile River, the West Bank and all of Jerusalem. Surely God's protecting hand is upon this small nation.
(4) God also promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. History shows that the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, changed the whole world. The history of western civilization is the history of the spread of Christianity. Even our calendar dates from the birth of Christ. The moral teaching of Christ and the New Testament, have shaped to a large degree all of western nations. The United States Constitution was based on Biblical standards of morals. Those nations which are identified as "Christian" have prospered greatly.
The greatest value of God's promise has been that through the Lord Jesus, salvation is freely offered to the Gentiles (non-Jews). Today in this the Church Age, God is saving mostly Gentiles. The Gospel is being carried around the world, however, not by the Jews God's chosen people, but by the Gentiles. Truly, among every nation on earth, men have heard the Good News (the meaning of the word "Gospel") and have receive by faith, salvation through Jesus Christ.
We can see that God has kept His promise. Satan, has done all he can to defect the plan of God, yet his efforts have been to no avail. God promise stands and will stand till God's plan is completed.

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