ABRAM/ABRAHAM
BACKGROUND
In the Hebrew, Abram means ‘exalted father’; Abraham means ‘father of a multitude’.
Abram was the son of Terah, and he was both the founder of the Hebrew nation and the father of all the people of God.
AfterAbram’s brother died, and in obedience to a heavenly vision, Abram moved from Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia to the city of Haran in the extreme north of Palestine.
He was accompanied by his wife and half-sister Sarai and his nephew Lot, along with the rest of their respective entourages.
We will begin in Genesis 12with YHWH replacing ‘LORD’ to reflect more closely what the Hebrew actually said.
GENESIS 12:1-8
Now YHWH said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as YHWH had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then YHWH appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to YHWH, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to YHWH and invoked the name of YHWH.
Abram of Haran was an extremely wealthy man – that is, in terms of goods, in terms of people,in terms of livestock, and in terms of gold and silver.
- Abram had a vast number of livestock numbering into the thousands that needed looking after and organising – think about that for a moment…
- Abram had a vast entourage of people – including his own relatives, his wider family, his servants and many others who were in his own wider household – think about that for a moment…
- Abram had vast wealth in gold and silver that needed safe places to store it all, that needed people to organize it all, and that needed people to take care of itall – think about that for a moment…
Let’s sum all of that up by saying that Abram was extremely comfortable, that he was extremely wealthy, andthat he lacked for absolutely nothing.
In other words, Abram had everything going for him.
Then YHWH told Abram to move house.
Moving housefor Abram was a huge logistical exercise, and it took an enormous effort to get his vast household moving in stages because ofhis vast entourage.
There is real parallel for us here at City Gates and our journey in owning this building and the stages of the journey that have thus far followed that initial purchase.
- The plans that we laid for this building had to be changed when so many Edinburgh schools closed, forcing us to consistently use our building when we were not expecting to do so.
- Then we discovered through using the building that the building plans we had in place were actually not best suited for how we wanted the building to be used.
- The quote to refurbish the building turned out to be far more than we could afford, and it had to be severely cut back before it was then effectively scrapped.
- Instead of the turnkey operation we had expected, we will need to do a lot of the work ourselves, in order to reduce cost while we get the building ready for full occupation.
- Are we finished adapting our plans for this building as we move along?
- I seriously doubt that.
- Our journey, like Abram’s, is in stages, and we are adapting as we go along just as Abram had to do.
But, Abram had not properly obeyed the command that YHWH had given to him.
In the Hebrew construct, YHWH had actually saidto Abram, "Go FROM your country and [FROM] your kindred and [FROM] your father's house…”
- This was a clear command to Abram to separate himself and his household to YHWH.
- Abram had been specifically told to leave his kindred and to leave his father’s household, but he took his nephew Lot with him, along with everything and everybody that Lot had.
- While that disobedience did not derail the purposes of YHWH for Abram, thatact contravened YHWH’s instruction and it caused all sorts of trouble for Abram in his future.
Abram not only received the word of YHWH, he also received the timing of his required obedience.
YHWH had said, "Go…” and theword carried the present tense obedience that YHWH required.
- What YHWH had effectively said to Abram was "Get organisedNOW and then go…”
So, Abram received the word of YHWH, and he knew that he was to get organized immediately and then obey the word that YHWH had given him by moving house.
There was, however, one little problem for Abram in all of this.
While Abram knew that he was to get organized immediately to move house, he had no idea where he was actually moving to.
There is another real parallel for us here at City Gates in relation toour journey of owning this building.
Like Abram, we need to move as YHWH leads us – and not add our own ideas to what YHWH requires of us.
Abram knew YHWH’s word, but he missed YHWH’s heart.
WHY had YHWH said, "Go FROM your country and FROMyour kindred and FROMyour father's house…”?
Because YHWH knew that such separation was necessary in order for Abram to focus on obeying YHWH and so having the purposes of YHWH fulfilled through Abram.
In other words, YHWH’s command was for Abram’s own good.
We at City Gates also need to know YHWH’s heart and realise that his commands for us are to be obeyed for our own good.
YHWH does not give commands merely to get things done – he has our welfare in his heart in everything that he says and does.
KNOWING YHWH’S HEART IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN KNOWINGONLY HIS WORD – BECAUSE YHWH’S WORD SPRINGS FROM YHWH’S HEART...
- When we truly know that YHWH loves us and wants the very best for us – then we will welcome his word and obey with joy.
- We must not fall into the trap of taking our eyes off of YHWH and focusing instead on a building.
WHEN YHWH SAYS THAT IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON, WE MUST NOT LET THE STATUS QUO BECOME A LISTED BUILDING...
Obedience to what he already knew would bring Abram into the fulfilment ofYHWH’s mighty promises.
On the receiving of YHWH’s promises, Abram built an altar to YHWH:
- To remind Abram and his succeeding generations of YHWH’s promises...
- To let Abram remind YHWH of YHWH’s promises...
Altars were:
- The evidence of a history with YHWH.
- The signposts to a future with YHWH.
There is another real parallel for us here at City Gates and our journey of owning this building, and in how we view this building.
Dare I suggest that this building here at Whitehouse Road is, in fact, an altar for us here at City Gates that:
- Continually reminds us of YHWH’s provision and promise.
- Is the evidence of our history with YHWH as we look back.
- Is a signpost for our future with YHWH as we look forward.
As I said earlier, while Abram’s disobedience in taking Lot and his entourage with him when he left Haran did not derail YHWH’s purposes for Abram, he should not have taken Lot and his entourage with him when he moved house from Haran.
In fact, Abram and Lot had to split up anyway, because the land was simply not big enough for them both of them and for everything and everybody that they each had.
The physical separation that YHWH had wanted for Abram had to happen anyway because the land was simply not big enough to support both them.
We now pick up Abram’s story right after that separation with Lot had taken place and the two massive entourages had gone their separate ways.
GENESIS 13:14-18
YHWH said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to YHWH.
There is another real parallel for us here at City Gates and our journey together.
YHWH wanted his people to have a big vision and to not be restricted to one place, and nor did he want his people to be restricted to only one way of doing things.
- That is something we at City Gates must always be aware of and keep in our hearts and minds as we journey together as a community of faith, hope and love.
- While it is true that our building is here at Barnton Cross and that is where our centre of operation is located – we must always rememberthat City Gates Baptist Church is the people – not the building, and that our people are all over the city.
- YHWH’s purposes for us will be fulfilled through the people who inhabit this building – not through the building alone.
Our hope is in YHWH and in his leading of us as we receive from him whatever he wants to give to us in Christ, and as we go on receivingwhatever he wants to do in us and through us.
- As it had to be for Abram, our hope in YHWH is about our obeying YHWH in faith – it has nothing to do with a mere opinion about YHWH and the word that YHWH gives to us as we move together in the various stages of our journey with him.
We can take comfort in the fact that Abram’s obedience was far from perfect, but it did not stop YHWH from fulfilling his purposes through Abram.
Let’s look very briefly at three examples in which Abram missed the mark.
- When Abram arrived in Canaan, YHWH told him that this was the right place for him and his vast entourage to stay.
- But, at a time of famine, Abram left Canaan and went to Egypt.
- When Abram found himself in trouble in Egypt and his life was threatened, he was willing to sacrifice Sarai his wife in order to save himself.
Abram tried to pass off Sarai as his sister, hoping to purchase his own safety at her expense.
- Abram and his wife Sarai could not wait for YHWH’s promised gift of a son.
- Abram inappropriately took a secondary wife to have a son.
- While the taking of a secondary wife was common practice in their culture, Abram was trying to fulfil God’s promise for himself instead of waiting for YHWH to fulfil his promise.
IN ALL OF THIS, ABRAM WAS TRYING TO TAKE FOR HIMSELF WHAT YHWH HAD SAID HE WOULD GIVE TO ABRAM – AND THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE ON ABRAM’S PART THAT CAUSED ALL SORTS OF TROUBLE FURTHER DOWN THE LINE.
- While Abram’s mistakes did not stop God from fulfilling his promises, it is a mistake that we as individuals and as a fellowship together must be diligent not to make if we want YHWH to fulfil what he wants for us here at City Gates.
- Let’s pick up Abram’s story as I read Genesis 17 to you and we come to a life-changing encounter with YHWH that Abram had.
GENESIS 17
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God."God said to Abraham, "As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her.
I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!" God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year." And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Notice the timing of how things worked out for Abram/Abraham:
- Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran...
- When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram...
- Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised...
The covenant was then in effect – but between YHWH’s original call to Abram to move and YHWH next appearing to him was a gap of twenty-four years!
Abram’s house move took twenty-four years from command to completion!
That strikes at the heart of the ‘instant results’ mentality and it forcefully reminds us afresh that YHWH has a long-term vision to see his purposes fulfilled.
- Even the most celebrated people of faith live ordinary lives and they do not have great meetings with YHWH every ten minutes and power-filled quiet times every morning.
But notice YHWH’s timing for the promises that YHWH gave to Abraham in all of this:
- I WILL make of you a great nation...
- All the land I WILL give to you...
- I WILL make your offspring...
- The land I WILL give to you...
- So SHALL your descendants be...
- I WILL make my covenant...
- I WILL make you exceedingly fruitful...
- IWILL establish my covenant...
- I WILL give to you and to your offspring...
God’s purposes for Abraham were focused on theirfuture fulfilment – they were not focused on Abraham’s ‘then and now’.