THE BEGINNING OF A CHOSEN PEOPLE

The Call of Abraham

(Genesis Chapters 12 thru 25)

In spite of the wickedness of the human heart, God wanted to show His grace.  He wanted a chosen people: (1) to whom He might entrust the Holy Scriptures;  (2) to be His witness to the other nations;  (3) through whom the promised Messiah could come; and, (4) Who would follow Him and worship Him.  He called a man named Abram to leave his home in a pagan town and to go to an unknown land where God would lead him.  God promised to make him the father of a mighty nation.  "God had told Abram, Leave your own country behind you, and your own people, and go to the land I will guide you to.  If you do, I will cause you to become the father of a great nation; I will bless you and make your name famous, and you will be a blessing to many others." (Genesis 12:1-3 NLT; also see Hebrews 11:8-19).

The call which came to Abram was the most important religious event since the fall of man.  It was a new starting point for a genuine religion.  The promise of God extended into the long centuries ahead.  He was to be the founder of a new race of people, and the father of a new faith which is dependent on a close and intimate relationship with God.  This new people was to receive special revelations from God and to pass them on to others.  God entered into a covenant with Abram.  God promised to bless him: (1) by making of him a great nation; (2) by giving him great wealth; (3) by giving him a great name, respected by generations to come; and (4) by making him a blessing to all families of the earth.  His part of the covenant was to follow God's leadership, to worship him only and to obey all of God's commands.

This call came while Abram lived in Mesopotamia, in the City of Ur of the Chaldees, which was situated near the Persian Gulf.  It occurred shortly after the destruction of the Tower of Babel and the dispersion of the nations.  Men had added to their offenses against God by building and worshipping idols.  For a glimpse of how the world reverenced God read Romans 1:21-28.  Abram came from a family that worshipped idols.  God in His mercy initiated this contact with Abram.  Abram did nothing to deserve God's mercy.  There was nothing whatever in the person of Abram which commended him to God.  God chooses to bless whom He chooses and He chose Abram.

Sometime after the death of his father Terah, in Haran, Abram began his journey of faith.  It was through his faith that he proved himself worthy of God's blessings.  The first step was to separate himself from his heritage and family.  He was to follow God blindly to the land that God would show him.  Abram did not leave his family immediately.  He waited until after the death of his father before he obeyed Gods command. God rewarded Abram for his faithfulness by promising to give the land to his descendants.  "Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, I am going to give this land to your descendants."  Abram built an alter and worshipped God.  Wherever Abram went he erected an altar to God.  He was called a "friend of God."

A terrible famine came upon the land and instead of trusting God to provide, Abram took matters into his own hands and went down into Egypt to find food.  This side trip cost him time and became the occasion of sin in his life. (Genesis 12:10-20).  Abram continued his travels and God promises Abram and Sarai a son. (Genesis 15).  Even after God had spoken to Abram a period of time passed and there seemed to be no sign of the fulfillment of the promise of a son.  Abram and Sarai became impatient and decided to help God out.  Sarai suggested to her husband that he now take as his wife Hagar, one of her maids, since in the promise to him it had not been specified that Sarai was to be the mother.  So, Sarai took her maid, Hagar, and gave her to Abram as a second wife so he could have a child by her and so that Abram's name could be carried on through Hagar's children.  A child named Ishmael was borne.  For 16 years Abram thought that Ishmael's birth had fulfilled God's promise.  The fact that Hagar had conceived and bore Abram a son created ill feelings between Sarai and Hagar and ultimately Hagar and her son was forced to leave their home. 

Abram's sin was depending on his own judgment and not God's leadership.  God had promised him a son.  If he had waited and totally trusted in God's promises history may have been quite different.  For it is the descendants of Ishmael that have become the Arabs and the Arabs have been at war with Israel ever since. (Genesis 15).

A number of years passed bringing Abram to the age of ninety-nine years when once more God appeared to him and reassured him that he would have a son and that Sarai was to be the mother of that son.  God assured him that now the time had come for the fulfillment of that promise.  As a sign of Abram's faithfulness to God he and all male descendants hereafter should submit to the rite of circumcision.  His name was changed from Abram ("Exalted Father") to Abraham ("Father of Nations").  Sarai's name was changed to Sarah ("Princess").  At first Sarah doubted, and even laughed at what appeared so utterly impossible.  This son was to be called Isaac (Laughter).  (Genesis Chapters 16 and 17.)  God's covenant and Abraham's required response was to be a lasting one for generations to come.  "And I will continue this agreement between us generation after generation, forever, for it shall be between me and your children.  It is a contract that I shall be your God and the God of your posterity.." (Genesis 17:8 NLT).

God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah by giving them a son.  "Then God did as he had promised, and Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a baby son in his old age, at the time God had said, and Abraham named him Isaac (meaning "Laughter").  Eight days after he was born, Abraham circumcised him, as God required. Abraham was 100 years old at that time. (Genesis 21:1-5 NLB).  Isaac was the center of his mother's attention. They loved him very much. 

One day Ishmael was seen mocking Isaac and Sarah became so furious that she demanded that Hagar and her son be sent off to live separate from Isaac.  "...Get rid of that slave girl and her son.  He is not going to share your prosperity with my son.  I won't have it."  (Genesis 21:10 NLB).  They were banished to dwell in the desert where Ishmael grew up later becoming known for his use of the bow.  He married an Egyptian girl and to them were born twelve sons and one daughter.  These sons of Ishmael became the ancestors of the Arabs "their hand against every man and everyman's hand against them."  (Genesis 21:1-21).

Isaac grew into boyhood and was naturally the idol of his parents.  The greatest trial and test of Abraham's faith was now to come.  He was commanded by God to take his son, the only son upon whom so much depended, and to offer him in sacrifice to God.  God did not want a sacrifice of the boy, He only wanted Abraham to love Him more than Isaac.  Abraham met the test.  He took Isaac and was in the process of obeying God's instructions when God stopped Him from harming the boy and provided a substitute sacrifice.  "When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an alter and placed the wood in order, ready for the fire, and then tied Isaac and laid him on the altar over the wood.  And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to plunge it into his son, to slay him.  At that moment the Angel of God shouted to him from Heaven, Abraham! Abraham! ....Lay down the knife; don't hurt the lad in any way....For I know that God is first in your life..." (Genesis 22:9-12).  This is a picture of the sacrifice that God has provided for you by allowing his only son to be crucified on the cross.  Read Genesis 22:1-18, Hebrews 11:17-18, and John 3:16-17, for a full account of this test and God's provision for your salvation.

Abraham died at the age of 175 years.  He was a man of outstanding faith.  His faith faltered a number of times but he always returned to God and proved to be: (1) the Friend of God; (2) the Father of the Hebrew people; and (3) the Father of all believers.  A detailed study into the life of Abraham will reveal many insights into the promises of God and how God wants to work in our own lives.  The covenants that God made with Abraham and renewed with his children and grandchildren offer to the Bible student detailed examples of Gods promises and blessings that are available to us today.   It will provide a comprehensive understanding of how God works with man and how being faithful in ones Christian walk produces tremendous blessings.  It will show that when one fails in his faith that God is always ready to forgive that failure and how He will continue to bless once repentance of the failure and confession of the wrong is made.

The Covenant Continued

(Genesis Chapters 25 thru 50)

The covenant promise was passed down through Isaac and Jacob.  Jacob had twelve sons.  His name was changed by God to Israel.  His twelve sons became the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel and their descendants were known as the Israelites.  Jacob moved his family to Egypt while Joseph was the chief ruler under pharaoh.  The people multiplied to over two million in number.  They became slaves in Egypt and cried out to God for deliverance.  God heard their cry and called Moses to lead them out of Egypt and captivity. 

Moses and the Deliverance

of the Hebrew People

(Exodus Chapters 1 thru 17)

Moses is one of the most important of all Bible characters.  His life presents a series of parallels to Christ.  Just as Isaac was a picture of man condemned to die, but was saved by the hand of God and a lamb was slain in his place, Moses was portrayed as the deliverer who would lead the people of God out of slavery.  Moses was a type of Christ, Egypt was a type of the world, Pharaoh was a type of Satan, and Israel was a type of man enslaved and needing to be redeemed.  God instructed Moses to have the people to sprinkle the blood of an unblemished lamb on the lintel and door post of each Israelite home to serve as protection from the death angel that would pass over all Egypt killing the first born of every living thing.

As the Israelites were shielded from the death angel, so the believer is shielded from the wrath of God.  "....For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV.)  This blood was a symbol of the shedding of Jesus' blood on the cross of Calvary as a substitute for us.  It is through the shedding of Jesus' blood that we have forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life.

God led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and led them to safety by parting the waters of the Red Sea and sending the Israelites through on dry ground.  God destroyed the Egyptian army when it tried to follow the Israelites through the opening of the Red Sea by closing the way and covering them with water.  He led the Israelites by providing a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  God provided manna and quail from Heaven and water from the earth for their food and drink.  Just as God provided for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He now provided for his chosen people in the wilderness.  Their clothes did not wear out, their bodies did not wear out and their needs were always met.

God led them to the entrance of the promised land but they relied on their own strength and refused to enter and take the land because of the apparent strength of the Canaanites.  God led them aimlessly in the wilderness for 40 years until the generation that refused to trust God and possess the promised land had died off.  Only Joshua and Caleb were allowed to see the children of Israel possess the promised land.  When they took possession of Canaan, the land was divided up and given to the twelve tribes. 

The children of Israel were God's chosen people.  God wanted to bless them and proved that He would provide for them if they would but trust Him and rely on Him.  It is amazing to follow their history and see how God did bless them and for a time they would be faithful to Him.  As they prospered they would forget God and begin worshipping other things or other gods and would forget their part of the covenant that God had made with their forefathers.  God would punish them and they would end up in some form of slavery.  As the times grew harder in slavery they would turn to God and repent of their sins and ask God to remember them and remember His promises to their forefathers.  God would hear their prayers, forgive them and then deliver them from their bondage.  As they prospered they would forget about God and His blessings and would begin relying on their own strengths.  Sin would crepe in and they would begin to worship other things and other gods.  God would punish them and they would begin the vicious circle and end up in slavery again.  God's chosen people were no different from Adam and Eve.  They failed to trust in the God that chose them, brought them into the promised land,  provided for their needs, protected them from their enemies and forgave them of their sins over and over again.

The rest of the Old Testament is a story of God dealing with His people.  It tells of God's blessings and the children of Israel's failure to love and follow Him.  It is a portrait of how God deals with His people.  A careful study of the different books in the Old Testament will reveal how God will deal with His children today.  The Old Testament is a blueprint of how God punishes sin and blesses faithfulness.  Through out the Old Testament God points to the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, and gives specific teachings about the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin's.

READ THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURES AND NOTE HOW THEY PREDICT THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH.