hello Abraham…journey with the Patriarchs

What exactly is a Patriarch?  I love saying that word because it sounds so regal, but what does it actually mean? Webster states, “one of the scriptural fathers of the human race or of the Hebrew people.” Doesn’t that sound regal? Kind of untouchable or out of my league, but these Patriarchs experienced many bumps and bruises as they navigated this regal role!

Abraham is the first patriarch from the Old Testament.  There are 4 patriarchs…some say three…but we are going to roll with 4. First is Abraham, then his son Isaac, then Jacob and finally Joseph.  They are direct descendants, father to son.

Hopefully, by the end of this summer series you will know these men in a deeper way than ever before. I look to them as men who have not only paved a way for my faith but led me to Jesus. Little did they realize, or maybe they did, the role that they would play in me finding the Savior of my soul. 

Let’s take this journey together as we see the big picture and how the Patriarchs led us to find salvation! Not just in genealogy, but in carrying through with a covenant that saved my broken soul.

In order to tell the complete story of Abraham, we must begin with Adam and Eve.  This connection is needed for us to understand the totality of God’s story. So, in order to know Abraham, you have to get to know Adam.  Adam gives reason for Abraham!

When God created the world, He made it absolutely perfect!  Beautiful sky, green grass, and rolling meadows!  Trees were ripe for the picking with every fruit that our hearts could desire!  Just step out from under your shade tree and eat the sweetness of the earth.

But this sweetness took a turn…a very bad turn.  What once was perfect and in no need to be saved became imperfect and the plan of salvation took effect immediately.  None of this surprised God because even though He created perfection, He also created mankind with a will.  Unfortunately, the will to sin trumped the will for a perfect paradise.   

Now, because of sin, the newly created earth needed to be saved.  Perfection was no longer available, but salvation was. So, how was that going to happen?

The word that takes precedent here is the word “covenant” …a binding agreement.

God had made a covenant with Adam. This was the first covenant made by God with His creation. Through this covenant, God promised man dominion over the earth and life everlasting in return for fellowship and obedience. 

God’s covenant with Adam was perfect, but Adam wasn’t! He and his wife, Eve, made a choice that set this world on a course of disobedience and destruction.

So, because of Adam’s disobedience, we need Abraham.  The covenant broken by Adam became hopeful in Abraham. There was another covenant in between Adam and Abraham with a man named Noah…you know, Noah and the big boat! But once again mankind broke this covenant and continued in their destruction. The pattern repeated itself every time.  God made a covenant and man broke the covenant.

This is where Abraham steps onto the scene.  Well, he really didn’t step onto the scene per se, but God called him to the stage. 

Abraham was raised in the country of Ur.  This was in the southern Mesopotamia. Ur was a city of great wealth and influence, but not without political unrest.  Possibly because of the unrest, Abraham (then called Abram) left with his wife Sarah (then called Sarai) and set out for the land of Canaan.  Now, I want for you to lock the word “Canaan” into your mind because this land has many stories layered within it. As they traveled to Canaan, they grew tired.  Abraham’s father, Terah, was traveling with them along with his brother Nahor and nephew, Lot.  Lot was the son of Abraham’s deceased brother, Haran.  Too tired to travel all the way to Canaan, they decided to settle in the land of Harran which was about 600 miles from Ur.

We often think of Abraham as a man who loved God from the beginning of life, but that may not be truth.  Abraham grew up in a land of idolatry where the story of the one true God was not the prevalent story.  It is likely that Abraham’s first encounter with the true God was in the land of Harran when God called him to move to Canaan.

But hold on, I am getting a little ahead of the story…

So, Abraham and his wife Sarah are living in the land of Harran along with his father Terah, his nephew Lot and his brother Nahor. After Abraham’s father died, God appeared to Abraham. God told Abraham that He wanted him to move.

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘GO from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1 NIV

Then God began to roll out the “blesses”.  Its as though Abraham had sneezed 4 times, and God blessed each time. God said,…

              I will bless you,

              You will be a blessing,

              I will bless others who bless you,

              Others will be blessed through you!

Every angle of Abraham’s life was covered with blessing. He would have been a fool to stay in Harran. Don’t you wish that the calling of God would be this clear in your life?  Don’t you wish that you would have this guarantee that you would be surrounded by this many blessings?

Abraham, our forefather, the first Patriarch was called out for something special. Why Abraham? Why not the other guy down the road? There seems to be no reason as to why God chose Abraham, but he did. The truth of the matter, it doesn’t matter who God chose but what matters is why anyone needed to be chosen! Salvation was at hand and God needed someone to step to the plate to begin this process. We often get so tripped up on the who…why did God chose that person over me? I am just as faithful! But what we need to do is focus on the why did anyone need to be chosen.

Here is the why and the absolute beauty of this continued story! Covenant after covenant between God and man had been broken.  The first covenant with Adam was broken from perfection to permissive. Then came the covenant with Noah. The covenant promises to never destroy the earth again by way of flood.  That promise has been kept by God but the promise by man was annihilated as sin once again crept in and the world became full of idolators. You see, it all goes back to the creation of the world.  God sat in the quiet of an unformed universe with a desire to create us in His image and for fellowship with Him.  He wanted to create man and woman so we could share in His goodness and His love. But at every turn, we destroyed it.  Mankind took the first bite of a forbidden fruit and opened up the box to a world of chaos and destruction.  Ever since that moment, God has set in motion ways to draw us back to Him.  Through covenant after covenant, God reaches out His hand to save us from this wretched world. Through this covenant, we will reach salvation. This covenant of old will lead us to the covenant of new.  

Join me next week as we take a look at Abraham’s response to God’s calling. It is critical for our salvation!