Journey VIII

Humanity has spread across the earth.
Nations have risen.
Kingdoms have begun to form.

But now the biblical story suddenly changes direction.
Instead of following the nations, Scripture focuses upon one man.
His name is Abram.

And through him, God begins something that will eventually reach far beyond Abram himself.
Beyond his family.
Beyond Israel.
Beyond even the boundaries of the ancient world.

God gives him a promise.
And that promise will echo through the rest of Scripture.

THE CALL

The story begins with a command:

“Get thee out of thy country,
and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee.”

— Genesis 12:1

Abram is called to leave what he knows.
His country.
His relatives.
His father's household.
And he is asked to travel toward a land he has not yet seen.

But the command is followed by an extraordinary promise. God says:

“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.”

— Genesis 12:2

And then comes something even greater:

“And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

— Genesis 12:3

This is not merely the beginning of Abraham's story.
It becomes one of the great threads running through the entire Bible.

ONE MAN — MANY NATIONS

Notice the scale of the promise.
God does not merely promise Abraham descendants.
He does not merely promise him land.
The promise ultimately concerns:
all families of the earth.

This means that from the very beginning, Abraham's calling points beyond Abraham.
God chooses one man...
through whom blessing will eventually reach many.

The story begins to narrow:

Humanity → Nations → Abraham

But ultimately it will widen again:

Abraham → Israel → Messiah → Nations

That pattern will become increasingly important as our Journey continues.

THE LAND

Abram enters Canaan. There God makes another promise:

“Unto thy seed will I give this land.”

— Genesis 12:7

Two great elements are now beginning to appear together:
DESCENDANTS and LAND.

Yet there is a problem.
Abram has no son.
The promise appears impossible.
And Scripture does not hide this tension.

Years pass.
Abram grows older.
Sarai grows older.
Still there is no promised child.

LOOK TOWARD HEAVEN

Then God takes Abram outside.

“Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars,
if thou be able to number them.”

And He says:

“So shall thy seed be.”

— Genesis 15:5

And then comes one of Scripture's most important statements about Abraham:

“And he believed in the LORD;
and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

— Genesis 15:6

Before Sinai.
Before the Law of Moses.
Before the nation of Israel exists.

We already encounter:

promise → faith → righteousness

Centuries later, this verse will become central to the writings of Paul.

THE COVENANT

Genesis 15 then describes a strange and solemn scene.
Animals are divided.
Darkness falls.
And Abram experiences what Scripture calls:

“an horror of great darkness.”

— Genesis 15:12

Then something remarkable appears:
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp
passing between the divided pieces.

And Scripture says:

“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.”

— Genesis 15:18

The promise has now become a covenant.
God also tells Abram that his descendants will live as strangers in another land and suffer oppression.
But they will eventually come out.

Long before Moses is born...
the Exodus is already foreshadowed.

A NEW NAME

Later God appears again. Abram receives a new name:

ABRAM → ABRAHAM

“For a father of many nations have I made thee.”

— Genesis 17:5

Sarai also receives a new name:

SARAI → SARAH

And the covenant receives a physical sign: circumcision.
But God makes clear that the promised line will come through a particular son.

Not merely through Abraham's natural ability.
Not through human planning.
But through the child God promised:
Isaac.

THE IMPOSSIBLE CHILD

Abraham is old.
Sarah is beyond the normal age of childbearing.
Humanly speaking, the promise appears impossible.

Yet God asks:

“Is any thing too hard for the LORD?”

— Genesis 18:14

Eventually Sarah gives birth.
The promised son arrives.
ISAAC.

His very existence becomes a testimony that the covenant depends upon God's promise.
But then the story takes an astonishing turn.

MORIAH

God tells Abraham:

“Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest...”

— Genesis 22:2

And Abraham is commanded to take Isaac into the land of Moriah and offer him there.
Isaac carries the wood.
Abraham carries the fire and the knife.

On the way Isaac asks:
Where is the lamb?

Abraham answers:

“My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”

— Genesis 22:8

At the final moment, Abraham is stopped.
Isaac is spared.
And Abraham sees a ram caught by its horns.
The sacrifice is provided.

Abraham names the place:

JEHOVAH-JIREH

“The LORD will provide.”

A SHADOW OF SOMETHING GREATER?

For the moment, Gate I should remain with what Scripture explicitly tells us.
But the imagery is difficult to miss.

A father.
A beloved son.
Wood.
A sacrifice.
A mountain.
And God providing the offering.

Much later another beloved Son will walk toward His sacrifice.
And the New Testament itself connects Isaac's story with Abraham's extraordinary faith.

Hebrews says Abraham believed that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead.
— Hebrews 11:17–19

This means Genesis 22 is not merely a story about obedience.
It is also a story about faith in the promise...
even when everything seems to contradict it.

THE PROMISE REPEATED

After Abraham demonstrates his faithfulness, God repeats the promise:

“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

— Genesis 22:18

Again: all the nations.
The same nations that form the background of the earlier biblical story have not disappeared from God's purpose.
Something has begun through Abraham that will eventually reach them.

And the New Testament makes an extraordinary claim about this promise.
Paul writes:

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made...”

and then identifies the ultimate Seed:

“which is Christ.”

— Galatians 3:16

Suddenly the long road becomes visible.

FROM ABRAHAM TO CHRIST

The promise moves forward:

And Matthew deliberately begins his Gospel with:

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David,
the son of Abraham.”

— Matthew 1:1

The New Testament wants us to remember Abraham when Jesus enters the story.
The promise has not been forgotten.

THE BLESSING REACHES THE NATIONS

Paul goes even further. Speaking about the Gospel, he quotes the promise to Abraham:

“In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

— Galatians 3:8

And then:

“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

— Galatians 3:9

What began thousands of years earlier with one man leaving his homeland now reaches outward again.
The movement becomes:

The promise given to Abraham was never only about Abraham.

THE GREATER PATTERN

Now something beautiful becomes visible in the biblical story.
Humanity repeatedly attempts to secure its own future.
But God repeatedly works through promise.

Human strength says:
We will build.

Faith says:
God will provide.

Humanity seeks security in what it can see.
Abraham leaves what he can see...
because he trusts the One who called him.

Hebrews describes him as looking for:

“a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

— Hebrews 11:10

Abraham's Journey therefore becomes more than geographical.
It is a journey of faith.

THE PROMISE

Land.
Descendants.
A nation.
A blessing.
A covenant.
A promised son.
And ultimately...
the Messiah.

What begins with Abraham will continue through Isaac.
Through Jacob.
Through Israel.
Through kings and prophets.
Through exile and restoration.
Until eventually another Son appears in the story.

Jesus Christ.

And through Him the ancient promise reaches outward once again:
to the nations.