Genesis 12:1-9 - The Promised Land of Faith

Genesis 12:1-9

Promises to Abram (Acts 7:2–5)

1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.

2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

The promises given by sheer grace to Abram were based on his having faith to hear and believe God by taking Him at His word without doubts or reservations of disbelief.  He heard the immeasurable promises and acted in that faith by following where the LORD led him, even when it meant leaving behind everything and everyone he knew.  Are we so trusting when God tells us in His word the way we should walk (Joshua 1:7, Isaiah 30:21)?  We who are truly in Christ have done that for salvation to become His disciples, followers of Jesus Christ our Lord-Savior, and continue to follow what He tells us in the scriptures in thankful and willing obedience to His call.  Our problem is when we forget this and start to wander off our own way instead of staying the course set before us (Hebrews 12:1-2) as Jesus set the example for us Himself on the way to sacrifice Himself for our deliverance from sin’s penalty of judgment.  The LORD God told Abram to get up from where he was in Haran on the journey to Canaan from his original home in Ur and follow Him as we are also told in Matthew 16:24 to follow God’s Son by the same trusting and acting (Genesis 26:5) faith.  He was to go to a country prepared for him as we look beyond such to the heavenly land of promise (Hebrews 11:8-10, 16) as he did also.  He was promised to father a people as a great nation by the blessing of God that all would look and remember his name because of the great promise realized for him and not for worship of himself as the blessed, for the one blessing him was the one to receive all glory, honor, and praise!  He humbly accepted this promise as we have humbly accepted God’s Son for our heavenly land to come.  Abram therefore was called our and given the blessing of the promise by faith to bless all the families (Romans 2:28-29, Ephesians 2:13-14, 3:14-15, Galatians 3:8-9, 6:15) of the world, not just the people of Israel through his son Isaac.  Those who curse us who are in Christ have to answer to God in the judgment and those who bless us will hopefully hear the good news that delivered us and receive it by faith as well to join us in that heavenly kingdom (Matthew 6:10) and promised land of faith to come.  Abram went and took Lot along with him by that faith when he was an old man; this is a poignant reminder that it is never too late to turn and follow the Lord!  God promised that land to Abram when he entered it by faith and so the man built an altar to worship the LORD of promise and call on His name before journeying onward.  Hearing these things, will you then call on Him (1 Corinthians 2:2, Romans 10:9-10, 11-13, 17) on your life’s journey to enter that promised land of faith, that heavenly country of God’s kingdom in Jesus Christ if you have not already?  The invitation is given to all who can hear to enter it by faith as Abram did long ago for our example.