MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Text: Genesis 11:27-12:5
“Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.”
We finished last Sunday’s sermon with this truism. Nonbelievers might tell me I am either deluded or cruel, but I firmly believe this truth and it found a home in Abraham. Abraham, or Abram as he was then known, was a polytheist, in other words, he worshipped various gods, looking to them for their help in different situations. People who have converted to Christianity out of polytheism describe how their lives were filled with fear as they spent time praying to various gods asking for help. But no lasting peace came to them until they met Jesus. Meeting the one true God can change everything for a person. For Abram, having YHWH God call to him, and give him specific instructions, brought divine peace to him. “Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.” Never again would Abram call out to other gods.
We earlier read, in Genesis 4:26, that it was during the time of Adam’s son and grandson, Seth and Enosh, that people began regularly calling on the name of the Lord, on YHWH. When we come to Genesis 14, we will read there about Melchizedek, that mysterious priest of “God Most High” who blessed Abram. Like Adam before him, Melchizedek was an example of a godly non-Israelite who called on God but there were no Jews until Abram/Abraham became the so-called “father of the Jews”.
The name “Abram” meant “exalted father”, but Abram and his wife Sarai – her name meant “princess” – had no children. Abram’s name mocked his fatherless state, we can assume, but then YHWH came along and told Abram that he was changing his name to Abraham, which meant “father of many” and his wife’s name to Sarah, which meant “mother of nations”. When that happened, Abram became “the father of the Jews” and, Sarah, the “mother”. First, though, as we read last week, Abram had to obey God’s command to get to Canaan. To review: Abram’s father was Terah and those two, along with Sarai and Terah’s grandson/Abram’s nephew Lot. And, so they set out with Abram’s father, the family patriarch, leading the way.
Project map of Abraham’s travels…Insert map: https://bible-history.com/maps/abrahams-journeys
This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran. (Genesis 11:27-32)
Abram must have revealed YHWH God’s command to him to his father Terah. Knowing that his son would go, Terah decided to lead. But under Terah’s leadership (the name Terah means “delay”) the family made it only halfway, to a city named Harran (which means “parched” or “dry”. Indeed, Terah lived up to his name of “delay” as the family settled in Harran for 15 years. Harran was no doubt a spiritually “parched” or “dry” place for Abram as he longed to fulfill God’s command to him. For some reason, Terah decided to stop in Harran, halfway to Canaan. Many people, to be honest (me included) have, all too often, gone only halfway in obeying what God has commanded.
Why did Terah decide that his family would set up house in Harran? Possibly because of familiarity. The religion of ancient Ur of the Chaldeans that they came from centered around the moon god called Nanna in the Sumerian language of that area. The religion of Harran also centered around the moon good, but there he was known as Sin, an Akkadian-language word. chief deity of Harran was also the moon god, known by the Akkadian name of Sin. So, Harran was familiar and comfortable for Terah. He delayed Abram’s obedience to God by making his family stay in that spiritually parched/dry place, Harran.
While in Harran, Abram’s family, which was apparently wealthy, acquired employees – they weren’t slaves – who worked for them and lived with them. There were 318 men, along with their wives and children in Abram’s household so drive from your mind the vision you have of three frightened, tentative people – Abram, Sarai, and Lot – going on their way to Canaan. No, their travelling caravan was hundreds of people in size.
It must have been apparent to Abram that his father had no intention of continuing the journey to Canaan. Terah was a big obstacle to Abram obeying God but once Terah died, it Abram’s time to move.
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 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.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
Blessings and experiences awaited Abram. The key to them was Abram going all the way, in obedience to God’s command. Let us not go halfway with God but travel fully to where He wants us to go. While our salvation is secure if we only go halfway, our spiritual rewards will be limited. We will be rewarded accordingly. Jesus told the rich young ruler to leave what he had and follow him but though the rich young ruler had expressed interest in Jesus, he decided not to obey him or follow him after all, much to his loss. As for Abram, once he decided to fully obey, the blessings of doing so would come to him, his family, the nation that he would father, and, indeed, the entire world.
So, Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. (Genesis 12:4,5)
Lot had no living father, and Abram and Sarai no living son, so Lot became like a son to Abram and Sarai, and they became as his parents. But God’s calling was on Abram. His going to Canaan was a key moment in human history: God chose Abram as the first step in building His people Israel. Abram became a giant of faith, being the father of the believing. His full obedience would be the start of endless blessings. Yet, it must be said that he was a flawed hero of the faith. Indeed, Abram struggled to believe, trust, or obey God fully, as we will hear in these next several sermons but he was a prime example of one who lived out the wise words of Corrie Ten Boom: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” We can trust Him. We just need to do so. The kind of faith that God blesses is the faith that is willing to leave everything behind for the sake of obeying Him. Jesus told the rich young ruler to leave everything behind and to follow him, but that man turned away. Will you follow the Lord? That is the question the life of Abram/Abraham forces us to look at.
Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel concerned the plans of humans. Genesis 12 is about the plans of God. “I will show you the place to go to. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you I will curse.” God would do all that. Abram just needed to obey His word. With you, with me, with us; God will do His part. Will we do ours? Are we willing to trust God enough to go where He tells us, to do what He commands us? If we are, and if we do, the joy, peace, and hope that the Advent candles speak about will be ours. “Know God, know peace/hope/joy. No God, no peace/hope/joy.” Let’s pray…
