17. THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

GENESIS 12

We have now reached a section of this book which is of surpassing interest and one that is full of important lessons for those who are members of the household of faith. The passage for our present consideration introduces us to the third great section of Genesis. As its name intimates, Genesis is the book of Beginnings. Its literary structure is true to its title for the whole of its contents center around three beginnings. First there is the beginning of the human race in Adam; second, there is the new beginning on the post-diluvian earth in Noah and his sons; third, there is the beginning of the Chosen Nation in Abram. Thus in Genesis we have three great "beginnings," and therefore as three is the number of the Godhead, we see how in this first book of the Divine Library, the very autograph of Deity is stamped on the opening pages of Holy Writ as though anticipating and rebuking the modern assaults on this book by the Evolutionists and Higher Critics.

The relative importance (we do not say "value") of the three main divisions of Genesis is indicated by their respective dimensions. The first two divisions cover a period of not less than two thousand years, yet, but eleven chapters are devoted to this section of human history; whereas the third division, covering scarcely four hundred years, contains no less than thirty-nine chapters. More than threefourths of the book is occupied with narrating the lives of Abram and the first three generations of his descendants.

While it is true that the first two divisions of the book are embraced by the first eleven chapters in Genesis, yet, from a literary viewpoint, it would really be more correct to regard these chapters as a preface, not only to the remaining twenty-nine chapters of Genesis, but also to the entire Old Testament, and, we may add, of the Bible as a whole. This Divine "preface" is given to explain that which is made known in all that follows. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are really the foundation on which rests the remainder of the Old Testament. They trace in rapid review the line of descent from Adam to Abram. It has been well said concerning the book of Genesis that "as the

root to the stem so are chapters 1-11 to 12-50, and as the stem to the tree so is Genesis to the rest of the Bible." One of the main purposes of Genesis is to reveal to us the origin and beginnings of the Nation of Israel, and in the first eleven chapters we are shown the different steps by which Israel became a separate and Divinely chosen nation. In Genesis 10 and 11 the entire human race is before us, but from Genesis 12 onwards attention is directed to one man and his descendants.

Genesis 12 brings before us Abram-"the father of all them that believe." Abram whose name was subsequently changed to Abraham the most illustrious personage in ancient history. Abraham! venerated by Jews, Christians and Mohammedans. Abraham! the progenitor of the nation of Israel. Abraham! termed "the friend of God." Abraham! from whom, according to the flesh, our Lord came. Surely we shall be richly repaid if we devote our most diligent attention to the prayerful study of the life of such a man. The present article will serve to introduce a short series of papers which will be given to the consideration of the history of one who, in several respects, was the most eminent of all the patriarchs.

"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" (Gen. 12:1). The tense of the verb here looks back to an incident which was referred to by Stephen and which is recorded in Acts 7:2, 3-"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee." Three things here call for a brief comment; first, the Divine title used in this connection; second, the fact of the Lord's "appearing," and third, His communication to Abram.

The Divine title which is used here is found in only one other scripture, namely, Psalm 29, which is one of the Millennial Psalms-"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of Glory thundereth" (v. 3). That this is a Millennial Psalm is clear from verse 10-"The Lord sitteth upon the flood yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever." Closely connected with the above Divine title is the one by which the Lord Jesus is designated in Psalm 24 (an

other Millennial Psalm)-"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in" (verse 7). Thus we see that this title is peculiarly a Kingdom title, and therefore, when Jehovah appeared to the father of the Kingdom people, it was as "The God of Glory." The appropriateness of this title is further evident from the religious state of Abram and his fathers at the time that God appeared to him, namely, a state of Idolatry. The "God of Glory" was in vivid contrast from the "other gods" mentioned in Joshua 24: 2.

"The God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia." This is the first recorded "appearing" of God after the banishment of our parents from Eden. It was probably the earliest of all the theophanic manifestations that we read of in the Old Testament and which anticipated the Incarnation as well as marked the successive revelations of God to men. We do not hear of God appearing to Abel or Noah. Great then was the privilege thus conferred upon the one who afterwards was termed the "friend of God." We turn now to consider the terms of the Divine communication received by Abram.

And God said unto him "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee." This command from God came to Abram in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, which was situated near to the Persian Gulf. The time of Abram's call is significant. It occurred shortly after the destruction of Babel and dispersion of the nations. As we endeavoured to show in our last paper, even in that early day, men had added to their other offences against God, the sin of idolatry. A scripture which throws considerable light upon the religious conditions that prevailed throughout the earth in the days immediately preceding the Call of Abram is to be found in Roman 1-"When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies be

tween themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever" (vs. 21-25, and read to end of v. 28). Three times over in this solemn passage we read "God gave them up," that is, He turned away from those who had first turned from Him. We believe the historical reference here is to Genesis 11. It was at that time God abandoned the nations, suffering them all to "walk in their own ways" (Acts 14: 16, and compare Amos 3:3). The family from which Abram sprang was no exception to the general rule, his progenitors were idolaters too as we learn from Joshua 24: 2-"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor and they served other gods."

Here then is the setting of the incident now before us. Having abandoned (temporarily) the nations, God now singles out a man from whom the Chosen Nation was to spring. Having dealt in judgment (at Babel) God now deals in grace. This has been, and will ever be, true of all God's dealings. According to His infinite wisdom, judgment (which is His "strange" work) only serves to prepare the way for greater manifestations of His redeeming love. God's judgment upon Israel resulted in the enriching of the Gentiles. The outpouring of Divine wrath in the Tribulation period will be but the precursor of Millennial blessedness. And, we may add, the judgment of the great white throne will be followed by the new heaven and new earth wherein righteousness shall "dwell" and upon which the tabernacle of God shall be with men. Thus it was of old. The overthrow of Babel and the scattering of the nations was followed by the call of Abraham to be the father of a divinely governed nation which was to be a witness for God, the depository of His revelation, and ultimately, the channel through which His blessing should flow to all the families of the earth.

The lesson to be learned here is a deeply important one. The connection between Genesis eleven and twelve is highly significant. The Lord God determined to have a people of His own by the calling of grace, but it was not until all the claims of the natural man had been repudiated by his own wickedness that Divine clemency was free to flow forth. In other words, it was not until the utter depravity of man

had been fully demonstrated by the antediluvians, and again at Babel, that God dealt with Abram in sovereign grace. That it was grace and grace alone, sovereign grace, which called Abram is seen in his natural state when God first appeared to him. There was nothing whatever in the object of His choice which commended him to God. There was nothing whatever in Abram which merited God's esteem. The cause of election must always be traced to God's will. Election itself is "of grace" (Rom. 11:5), therefore it depends in no wise upon any worthiness in the objecteither actual or foreseen. If it did, it would not be "of grace. That it was not a question of worthiness in Abram is clear from the language of Isaiah 51: 1, 2-"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. LOOK UNTO ABRAHAM your father, and unto Sarah that bare you. "While God's dealings are never arbitrary, yet their raison d'etre must ever be found in His own sovereign pleasure.

"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" (Gen. 12:1). As we have seen from Acts 7:3 this call from God came to Abram at his home in Mesopotamia. It was a call which demanded absolute confidence in and obedience to the word of Jehovah. It was a call of separation from the ties of the natural man. This is a marked advance upon that which we studied in connection with our previous patriarch. The connection between the histories and experiences of Noah and Abraham is most instructive. Noah passing through the judgment of the old world and coming forth upon a new earth, represents the acceptance of the believer in Christ, with a new standing ground before God. Abram called upon to separate himself from his home and kindred and bidden to go out into a place which afterwards God would give him for an inheritance, typifies the one whose citizenship is in heaven but who is still in the world, and in consequence, called upon to walk by faith and live as a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. In a word, Abram illustrates the heavenly calling of those who are members of the body of Christ.

In Abram we have exhibited the life of faith which is just what we shall expect, seeing that he is termed "the father of all them that believe." The call of Abram shows us the