| Christian Life and Doctrine | August 1975 |
Abraham’s Growing Faith
“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive as an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” —Hebrews 11:8-10
AT THE time Abram started on his trek to the Promised Land, he was living in, or near, Ur of the Chaldees. For years the so-called Higher Critics of the Bible insisted that no such city as Ur ever existed; that the story of Abraham in which it appears in the Bible was merely a legend, having no foundation in fact. But now the Higher Critics have been proved wrong, for archeologists have found this ancient city, establishing beyond doubt the authenticity of the Bible’s record.
Many have supposed that Ur was the birthplace of Abram, and this may well be true, but outstanding archeologists think that the family home was probably in Haran, and that the father, Terah, and his family migrated to Ur, and that Haran, his son, was born in Ur, which is referred to as the “land of his nativity.” Be this at it may, it was from Ur that Abram started his long journey to the Promised Land, first going north to Haran, where he remained for a considerable period until his father died, then continuing in a southwesterly direction into Canaan. If Haran was indeed the birthplace of Terah it would indicate that Abram waited there until the death of his father, that he might be buried among his own people.
The promise that impelled Abram to leave Ur is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3: “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 show 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.”
Not long after Abram entered the land famine conditions developed and he moved on south into Egypt where there was food and grazing for his flocks. His nephew Lot was with him when they returned into Canaan from Egypt. The combined flocks of Abram and Lot were too large to be properly cared for in one area, so Abram invited Lot to make a choice of the land he preferred, and he would take what was left.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan. that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.”—Gen. 13:10-13
“And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.”—Gen. 13:14-18
Lot Captured and Rescued
Genesis 14:1-12 records struggles between a number of tribal kings, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. In one of these encounters Lot was captured and taken into captivity, together with his goods. One of Lot’s friends, or possibly one of his family, escaped and reported this happening to Abram. “And when Abram heard that his brother was taken, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.” He was victorious in this undertaking, and “brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”—Gen. 14:14,16
Upon his return “Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he [Abram] gave him tithes of all.”—Gen. 14:18-20
The king of Sodom, who had escaped alive, also met Abram and told him he could keep all the goods he had captured if he would return the men who belonged to him. “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.”—Gen. 14:21-23
The Lord Reassures Abram
“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” (Gen. 15:1) Possibly Abram feared that the kings whom he had defeated would seek to take vengeance on him, but here the Lord is assuring him of his protection—“I am thy shield.” He had been unselfish in not keeping any of the spoils of war for himself, and the Lord was pleased with his attitude, and said, “I am … thy exceeding great reward”—your blessings do not depend upon what you can capture from tribal kings.
But Abram had something more important on his mind, and took this occasion to tell the Lord about it. He said, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.” (Gen 15:2,3) Abram was truly concerned. The Lord had said, “I … am thy exceeding great reward,” and yet the Lord had not even fulfilled the promise concerning the “seed” which he had made to him years before.
One of Abram’s outstanding characteristics was his faith, yet it was a faith that grew stronger as the Lord continued to deal with him. At this point his faith in the Lord was not strong enough to keep him from taking matters in his own hands, and since the Lord had not given him an heir, he had placed his trusted servant Eliezer in this honored position. His attitude apparently was, How do I know that I will ever have a child of my own?
Understanding Increased
But the Lord did not accept the arrangement Abram had made, and said to him, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” (Gen. 15:4) While Abram’s lack of full faith at this point had led to the appointment of Eliezer as his heir, his failure to understand God’s will also entered into it. He may have thought sincerely that what he had done in appointing an heir was what the Lord had in mind when he first made the promise concerning the seed. But now he knew he had been wrong, and with this additional knowledge his faith was undoubtedly strengthened. Do not all the Lord’s people have experiences akin to this?
Time continued to pass, but still no seed was born to Abram. His wife Sarai also became concerned, perhaps believing that she was largely to blame. She did not want to stand in the way of what the Lord was accomplishing, so she proposed to Abram that he take her maid to wife, and thus produce a seed. According to the law which was in effect in the region at that time this was acceptable; and after all, Abram may have reasoned that the only condition the Lord had imposed was that he must be the father of the seed. The Lord had said nothing about the mother.
So the arrangement concerning Hagar was completed, and in due course a son was born, and he was named Ishmael. Abram was now eighty-six years old. (Gen. 16:15,16) When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared unto him again, renewed his covenant, and instituted the law of circumcision. It was then that he also changed his name to Abraham, and his wife Sarai’s name to Sarah; and then gave additional information concerning the seed of promise.
Concerning Sarah the Lord said, addressing Abraham, “I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!”—Gen. 17:15-18
Here the Lord unfolded some vital information to Abraham which he did not know before, resulting in further progress in his understanding, and later in his faith. Now he knew, not only that he had to be the father of the seed, but also that Sarah had to be the mother. The New Testament speaks of this in connection with Christians growing in grace and in knowledge. Abraham had felt reasonably sure of his position since he had acquired Ishmael, who was his own son. After all, this is all the Lord indicated to be necessary. But when the Lord announced to him that Sarah would bear him a son, this was more than his faith could grasp for the moment, “and he fell on his face and laughed.”
Abraham’s faith was not strong enough to believe that this could ever take place. He mused how unthinkable it was that a man a hundred years old and a woman who was ninety could have a child, and he said unto God, “O that Ishmael might live before thee.” He was pleading that the Lord accept Ishmael as the promised seed. Abraham reasoned that if the Lord would accept this arrangement it would end the futile waiting for any other seed and, at this point, so far as he was concerned, a seed that probably would never come.
The Announcement
It was not long after this that the Lord appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. “And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood beside him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.” (Gen. 18:1,2) Abraham entertained these three visitors, not realizing at the time that in reality they were angels sent by God to announce that the time was near when Sarah would bear a son.—Heb. 13:2
“They said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also?”—Gen. 18:9-12
Just as Abraham had laughed when the Lord informed him that Sarah would have a son, so now Sarah herself laughed; it seemed incredible to both of them. The spokesman for Abraham’s three visitors came to the rescue and reassured them despite their doubts. He said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”—Gen. 18:14
Apparently this statement reassured both Abraham and Sarah and they proceeded to cooperate with the Lord. Their faith had passed another test and they had come off victorious. The Apostle Paul comments on this, saying of Abraham, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.”—Rom. 4:17-22
It might well have been the question asked by the angel who visited Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” that at the critical moment helped to strengthen his faith and reassure him that God would fulfil his promise that Sarah would bear a son. She also shared in this faith, for we read in Hebrews 11:11, “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.”
Time is an important element in God’s dealing with his people. This has been true in every age. How could Abraham know when God promised him a son that he would be a hundred years old, and that his wife Sarah would be ninety, before that son was born? This waiting for God to fulfil his promises tests the faith of his people. It is God’s promises which give us hope, and our patient waiting for the fulfilment of those promises is described by Paul as “the patience of hope.” (I Thess. 1:3) Abraham had much patience of hope as well as a growing faith, and so must we if we are finally to hear the Lord’s “Well done.”
The Son Born
“And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” (Gen. 21:1-3) And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah bare unto him, Isaac. “Isaac” means “son of my laughter,” and it was fitting for Isaac; for both his father and his mother had laughed at the thought of there being any possibility that he would ever be born. Sarah later said, “God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.”—Gen. 21:6
But the main point here is that Isaac was born, and that all the circumstances leading up to his birth, including the passing of time, proved that his birth was a miracle brought about by the direct use of divine power: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” God has his own due time for the accomplishment of all his purposes. He seldom reveals this due time in advance of the events themselves, although there are exceptions to this. When the due time is revealed in advance upon the direct authority of a “thus saith the Lord,” it becomes a test of our faith in his Word to believe its testimony; but when it is not, it becomes an even greater test simply to wait on the Lord for the fulfilmemt of his promises. This was Abraham’s position up until a very short time before Isaac was born, and his faith passed the test.
The Final Test
But the most crucial test of Abraham’s faith was still ahead. His faith had grown much stronger from the time when, feeling that the Lord would not give him a son as promised, he appointed his servant Eliezer as his heir. He had witnessed the miracle of parenthood on the part of a man a hundred years old, whose body was dead, and a woman who was ninety years old, and long past the time of childbearing, so that now he knew that the angel was right when he said that nothing is too hard for the Lord.
So it was to the Abraham thus strong in faith that the Lord said he wanted him to take Isaac into the land of Moriah and there offer him up as a burnt offering. (Gen. 22:1,2) Abraham might well have thought that now someone other than the Lord was speaking to him; that he was being deceived. Why the miracle of Isaac’s birth if now he was to be slain? But Abraham had learned to know the voice of the Lord, and he knew that what he had heard was the will of the Lord for him, and he rose up early the next morning and, taking the miracle boy with him, started on the three-day journey to Moriah.
Abraham did not understand why the Lord wanted him to do this, but by now his faith was so strong that he was willing to trust his God even though he did not understand his ways. The New Testament comments on this: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”—Heb. 11:17-19
The thought here is clear that by the time God called upon Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering his faith was so great that he believed if necessary, Isaac would be raised from the dead in order that the divine purpose through him might be fulfilled. Paul adds, “From whence also he received him in a figure.” We all know the story of the offering of Isaac; that Abraham built an altar and placed his son upon it, and even raised his knife to slay the boy when an angel interfered, and called his attention to a ram caught in the bushes nearby; and he was directed to use this ram as a substitute for Isaac. So it was indeed like receiving his son back from the dead.—Gen. 22:3-13
The Promise Confirmed
It was immediately following this demonstration of Abraham’s strong faith in the Lord and in his promises that those promises were confirmed by God’s oath. We read, “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”—Gen. 22:15-18
The full significance of this oathbound covenant is brought to our attention in the New Testament. First the Apostle Paul identifies Jesus as the promised “Seed” of Abraham in the outworking of God’s plan to bless all the families of the earth. And he also informs us that as many as are baptized into Christ are likewise Abraham’s seed, and “heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:16,27-29) Paul also writes, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”—Gal. 4:28
Since we, as footstep followers of Jesus, are the faith seed of Abraham who will share with Jesus in the future blessing of all the families of the earth, we are vitally interested in God’s oath by which he confirmed his covenant with Abraham. In the 6th chapter of Hebrews we read, “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained [the confirmation of] the promise.”—vss. 13-15
And again, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”—vss. 18-20
The Holy City
We read in Hebrews 11:10 that Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” He had left the city of Ur in response to God’s call, and lived in tents the remainder of his life because he hoped for the coming of this great city which God would build. He knew that God could do anything. Had he not miraculously brought forth Isaac?
But the “city” for which Abraham looked will be still more wonderful than he ever visualized. The Apostle John saw it in vision. He wrote, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:2) Later in the vision an angel spoke to John, saying, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.”—vss. 9,10
As Paul has testified to us, the faithful followers of Jesus are, together with him, the seed of Abraham. In revelation 19:7 they are described as the “wife,” or “bride,” of the Lamb, who is Christ; and in his vision John sees the bride of the Lamb as “the holy city.” This is merely another symbol of the kingdom of Christ, and its rulership over all the families of the earth to bless them with peace, health, and life. Eventually, because of this city-kingdom whose Builder and maker is God, “There shall be no more death.”
Truly, what a meaningful story of the divine plan emerges from the faith life of Abraham! May we be like him both in faith and in patience!