Abram followed God and His Christmas Plan without a GPS

Abram journeying to Canaan, by Gustave Dore/Photo: WikiPaintings

Some Jewish histories say that at an early age, Abram, the son of an idol maker, initially worshipped the stars and other celestial bodies. Abram came to understand that this was idolatry. 

Then, when Abram was a grown man, God called him to the “Christmas plan” initiated in the Garden of Eden:

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And 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 him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him ...” (Genesis 12:1-4a, King James Version)

God offered a staggering promise with explicit instructions for Abram to leave  Mesopotamia for the unknown.  But who was this Abram from Ur of the Chaldees (Joshua 24:2)? There is scholarly dispute about where Ur of the Chaldees was located as seen here and here.  The Bible says Abram’s father Terah descended from the line of Shem, one of Noah’s seven family members whom God saved from the flood. Noah descended from the line of Seth, who was the third son of Adam and Eve. 

Noah's Thank Offering (by Joseph Anton Koch./Photo: Wikipedia Commons

There were 10 generations between Adam and Noah, and 10 generations between Noah and Abram. According to Hebraic Ministries, International, there were 1,948 years between Adam and Abram.  Whatever the actual time frame, God was on the move with his Christmas plan. In other words, God moved on the life of Abram to fulfill biblical prophecy.

God instructed Abram to surrender his personal goals for divine ones. God wanted Abram to leave familiar comforts and journey with Him. If God made a call like that to us, it would be like saying, “I want you to leave everything that’s familiar. You can’t use the GPS system in your car. You may lose your access to Netflix. You’ll have to trust Me about where you’ll eat and sleep. I’ll tell you what interstates to take. Bikes may be required. I’ll also tell you when and where to stop.” 

Hebrew4Christians.com makes an excellent observation about God’s call to Abram. He stepped out in faith before he received additional revelation from God:

“Go forth ... I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Note that the LORD spoke to Abram and invited him to forsake his ancestral homeland for the promise of God.  But note further that it was only after Abram made the long journey to the unknown land of Canaan that God appeared to him to him by the oaks of Mamre saying, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen. 18:1). Abram did not believe the promise because he saw God; he was only able to see God after he had walked in faith. 

According to Genesis, God eventually changed Abram’s name to Abraham and used the stars to show forth His promise. It’s interesting that God used the stars for a show-and-tell session with Abraham. Until he knew better, Abraham first worshiped the sun, moon and stars. Hmm. Did the Lord lead Abraham to gaze at the stars with a knowing, amused smile in His voice?

Could you follow God like that? Abraham did. He became the father of the Jewish people and the father of many nations. God’s radical call to Abraham in Genesis 12 includes these words: “and in thee shall all families of the earth will be blessed.” Who would fulfill that promise in Abraham’s line? It would be the Seed God promised way back in the Garden of Eden.  

Matthew confirmed the continuity and the completion of God’s promise; he also revealed the identity of the Seed in the very first chapter and in the very first verse of the gospel account:

“The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. ”

 
 Next:  God’s promise that Jesus would descend from Isaac