After the event of the flood, humanity began to grow again; yet as before, we began to go after our own desires and depart from the plan and purpose of God. The event of the tower of Babel occurred, where humans tried to elevate themselves as gods, and got scattered everyone by God dividing the languages. A division we still live with today. From there a particular line of humanity gets focused on and we are introduced to a man named Abram.
Abram lived in a city of Ur in the land of the Chaldeans. It was here that God first spoke to Abram and gave him specific instructions.
Genesis 12:1-3
1 And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go forth from your land, And from your kin And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
God asked of Abram to leave his family, his home, and put his trust in God that He would lead Abram to a new land with a multitude of blessings. Abram, with faith in God, followed what he was asked and left Ur. Yet it wasn’t a complete separation from his family. Abram left Ur with his dad, Terah, to a land called Haran. Abram stayed there until his father died and then left towards the land God told him to go to. Yet even then his cousin Lot came with.
Along their journey, Abram and Lot eventually make it to the land God was leading them towards: Canaan. Although during their travels, both Abram and Lot became wealthy in cattle and needed to separate for sake of their flocks. Abram allowed Lot to choose how to divide and Lot chose to leave the plains of Canaan and go into the cities that were nearby. It was at this separation that God spoke again with Abram.
Genesis 13:14-18
14 And Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your seed forever.
16 “And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed can also be numbered.
17 “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”
18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.
God now reveals what He had in store for Abram and why He sent him to this land; to give it to him. This gift of the land was not to be temporary or just for the remainder of Abrams life, but forever. This was all due to the faith and trust Abram had in his God. When God spoke to Abram, he responded with trust and followed the instructions given to him. There is an interesting dilemma in these promises God has given Abram at this point: Abram has no children. Since the land of Ur, Sarai, Abrams wife, has been barren; yet God has told Abram that they would have children innumerable.
This fact did not escape Abram and despite his faith and trust, Abram too wondered how this was going to be fulfilled. Later when God speaks to Abram again, he asks God if a child who was born by someone else in his family would be the heir of what God spoke of.
Genesis 15:2-6
2 And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no seed to me, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
4 Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
5 And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”
6 Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.
Abram believed God and God counted that as righteousness. Despite what would be seen as hopeless, Abram believed in God’s promise with complete faith. Paul says it best in his recounting of these events.
Romans 4:17-22
17 as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”—in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR SEED BE.”
19 And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to do.
22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Abram’s unwavering faith that God could and would do what He promised, put Abram as a beacon of faith along the timeline of the ages.
God further reassured Abram in Genesis 15 by performing a covenant practice common at the time, where both parties of the agreement would offer an animal and walk between them (hence the term “cut a covenant”). Yet there is a difference in this account. Instead of Abram walking with God between the pieces, signifying that both parties will uphold their part, God alone goes between the offering showing that what He has said He will fully uphold.
Genesis 15:17-21
17 Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.
18 On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite
20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim
21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
God’s promise to give this land to Abram and his descendants was a certainty. 15 years from this point, God again talks with Abram reiterating His promises while giving Abram a physical symbol of their covenant.
Genesis 17:1-14
1 Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me and be blameless,
2 so that I may confirm My covenant between Me and you, And that I may multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying,
4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 “And no longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 “And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will go forth from you.
7 “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you.
8 “And I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
9 God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.
10 “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
12 “And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, one who is born in the house or one who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your seed.
13 “A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 “But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
God now sets forward the complete terms of the covenant that He makes with Abram. Again showing the certainty of His promises, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham. God then lists what He will give to Abraham and His seed:
- Abraham being the father of a multitude of nations, kings, and people
- Continued covenant with the descendants of Abraham
- The everlasting possession of all the land of Canaan
To confirm these promises on Abrahams side along with everyone he was with, God institutes the practice of circumcision. This physical marking was to be a daily reminder of what God had promised them along with a showing of obedience to God.
Abraham did see a fulfilling of the son from Sarah through Isaac as God promises. This son who would have children and would grow the line of Abraham while continuing to hold the covenant. Abraham was even in the land promised to him, yet not with the complete fulfillment of God’s promise. Stephen in Acts with his retelling words it this way:
Acts 7:5
5 “But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS SEED AFTER HIM, even when he had no child.
Abraham died not receiving the completion of these promises, Abraham looking forward to when God would fulfill what He promised in a truly eternal way.
Hebrews 11:9-13
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise,
10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she regarded Him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore there were born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
So we continue in the timeline, following Abraham’s descendants, the children of the covenant, as they continue to multiply. Soon they will be found large in number and yet slaves to an ungodly king, prompting God to do as He promised and lead this nation out with great power. Continue on in the timeline as we look at Moses, the great lawgiver and mediator of God.
Willing Today 
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