Up until now, I’ve been focusing on the dysfunctional effects of sin as it worked itself out in the lives of the people who God had chosen as the lineage for His promised Redeemer. As a result, I’ve essentially been ignoring how God is insuring things come out the way He plans for them to.
In this blog, let’s look at the 10 times God showed up in Abram/Abraham’s life, (or eleven if you count the last two around the sacrifice of Isaac as separate) since that was the most until Moses, and see what we can learn about WHEN GOD SHOWS UP!
1. Genesis 12a: God called Abramto leave his homeland, his relatives, and his father’s house for a new land, promising to make him a great nation and bless him. Why did God choose this man? We don’t really know. But what we DO know is Abram obeyed and left his home with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot.
God’s Seven Promises: 1. God would make Abram a great nation. 2. God would bless him. 3. God would make his name great. 4. Abram would be a blessing. 5. God would bless those who blessed Abram. 6 God would curse those who cursed Abram. 7. All families on Earth would be blessed through Abram.
2. Genesis 12b, Abram calls upon the Name of the Lord.God appears once Abramarrives in Canaan to reiterate and expand on the promise of the land to Abram’s offspring. This is important to note in that obedience results in further revelation of God’s plan/promises. Abram responded with worship and built altars for regular sacrifice and prayers to God in the two places where he regularly stayed–at the great tree of Moreh at Shechem and in the hills east of Bethel.3. Genesis 12c, God preserves the sanctity of Abram and Sarai’s marriage. Abram went to Egypt because of a famine and told people that his wife, Sarai, was his sister. Because of her great beauty, Pharaoh took Sarai into his palace for a concubine, but God sent severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household while she was being prepared for the wedding ceremony.The plagues led to Pharaoh realizing the truth about the couple. He confronted Abram and sent them away with recompense for his unintended sin against God’s chosen.
NOTE that God acted unilaterally without Abram praying to Him. For whatever reason, GOD had chosen Abram and Sarai specifically, but they weren’t quite ready yet for the promised son. GOD acted when part of His plan was threatened by their fumbling, bumbling actions. I can’t help but think God is also teaching Abram and Sarai about Himself, and how to have a faith relationship with Him.
4. Genesis 13: God reaffirms His covenant promises. After increasing friction between the two growing households, Abram and his nephew Lot split the free range grazing for their flocks. Abram gives Lot his choice and Lot chooses the rich plains, leaving Abram with the hill country. After Lot departed, God appears and tells Abram to stand on the highest point and look around. God further refines His promise about Abram’s descendents inheriting everything as far as the eye can see.
I see this appearance partially to reassure Abram as he was probably very hurt and discouraged about what had happened with his nephew. GOD KNOWS, and GOD CARES!
5. Genesis 15a:Victory in Battle. Abram hears about his nephew and others being kidnapped for slaves and their homes and city plundered. After winning a pursuit battle with the marauding city kings, God appears to Abram who is concerned that he is getting too old and still has no children, so he tells God that his servant, Eliezer of Damascus, is set to be his heir.God tells Abram that Eliezer will not be his heir. Instead, a son from Abram’s own body will inherit everything. God tells Abram to look at the sky. God says his descendents will grow to match the number of the stars. Abram believes God, and God accepts his faith as righteousness–right standing with God.
6. Genesis 15b, God makes a formal covenant with Abram. Godappeared and had Abram set up a formal covenant ceremony with a split row of sacrificed and halved animals. In the evening, after Abram had fallen asleep from keeping the scavenging birds away from the dead animals all day long, God passed between the pieces of the sacrificed animals as a way to ratify their covenant UNILATERALLY.7. Genesis 17: God institutes a covenantal sign and changes names. God appeared and revealed Himself as “God Almighty” (El Shaddai). He changes Abram’s name from to Abraham and institutes male circumcision as a sign of the covenant with God. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah.8. Genesis 18: Visitation and Destruction. (and with chapter 19, God shows up three times): Abraham and Sarah were visited by three men that Abraham recognized as messengers of God. They prophesied that Sarah would have the promised child in one year. When Sarah laughed at the idea, (1) theLord appeared and confirmed the promise.
As the messengers prepared to continue their journey, the (2) Lord decided to reveal to Abraham the impending judgment of destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham bargained with God, finally getting Him to agree that the cities would not be destroyed if 10 righteous men could be found in them. Ten were not found, so the next day, before God rained down destruction,(3) He had the three angels rescue Abraham’s nephew, Lot, his wife and their two daughters.
9. Genesis 20 (three times): When Abraham moved to the city of Gerar, he told King Abimelech that his wife, Sarah, was his sister out of fear that men would kill him to take her. Believing her to be single, Abimelech sent for Sarah and brought her into his household to be a concubine.(1) God came to Abimelech in a dream at night, warning him that he was a dead man because Sarah was a married woman. Abimelech pleaded his innocence to God, stating he acted with a clean heart, and (2) God confirmed He had supernaturally kept the king from touching Sarah. God ordered Abimelech to return Sarah and told him that Abraham was a prophet who would pray for him.
Abimelech rebuked Abraham for the dangerous deception, and Abraham explained it was a half-truth born of his fear. Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him sheep, oxen, and servants as recompense, and then offered him choice land to live in, as long as it was somewhere else! Abimelech also gave Sarah 1,000 pieces of silver as a sign of her vindication. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech, and (3) God healed the king and his household.
10a. Genesis 22: The Sacrifice. (three times): (1) God called upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on a mountain as a test of Abraham’s trust and faith in Him. This was the first time ‘testing’ is mentioned in the Bible.10b. Just a Abraham is about to plunge the knife into his son’s chest, an (2) angel (messenger) from God stops him.10c. (3) God appears and explains it was a test of Abraham’s commitment to God versus his love for the son of promise. God commends Abraham’s faith and faithfulness and reiterates the promises for his descendents.
For a more in depth treatment, see the following story blogs:
CONCLUSION: This is how the story of God and Abraham ends as it segues to Isaac, “God HAD BLESSED ABRAHAM in every way.”
The next blog:
In Genesis 12:2-3, God tells Abram,
• “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; • I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. • I will bless those who bless you, and • whoever curses you I will curse; and • all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Note the repetition of the word ‘bless,’ (four statements) offset by it’s opposite ‘curse’ (one statement). In the ten times when ‘God showed up’ in Abram/Abraham’s life, what were the ‘blessings’ he or others received from God, and what were the ‘curses’?
If this is an accurate ratio, then there should be a ratio of 4 to 1 out of 5 instances. In my next blog, I’m going to run through the ten events again when God showed up with an eye on ‘blessings’ and ‘cursings.’
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