A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

SIX
ABRAHAM:
Called To Begin A Nation
(Genesis 11:27-12:9)
The judgment of Babel reflected the failure of the descendants to begin nations and the
dispersion into all the earth reflected God’s plan for nations. God called Abraham to begin a
“chosen” nation among the nations of the earth. The emergence of Abraham unfolds the drama of
God’s relationship to His people. God begins a new “people group,” a new relationship of faith,
and the line through whom the Deliverer would come.
Apart from Jesus Christ, Abraham is in many respects the greatest man in Scripture. Moses,
David, and Paul would certainly be recognized as great in the minds of those who know their
stories, yet all of these would point to Abraham as their father and speak his name with respect.
Christians, Muslims, and Jews identify Abraham with the coveted title, “Friend of God” (2 Chron.
20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23). To this day the Arab world also calls Abraham El Kahil, meaning
“The Friend”; i. e., the friend of God.
Abraham holds a prominent place also in the New Testament. Apart from Moses, no other
Old Testament character is identified by name as many times. When one realizes that many of the
references to Moses are found in statements introducing citations from the Law, the life of
Abraham is clearly the most often Old Testament life referred to in the New Testament. He is there
identified as the Father of Israel (Acts 13:26), the Levitical priesthood (Heb. 7:5), the Messiah
(Matt. 1:1) and all Christian believers (Rom. 4:11; Gal. 3:16, 29).
Abraham’s life is also discussed in terms of being a type or Old Testament illustration of
the Christian believer (John 8:56), justification by faith (Rom. 4:3), justification by works (James
2:21) and living by faith (Heb.11:8-17). While the life of Abraham teaches many important
principles, his life is above all else the story of a man who lived by faith. He did not have
Scripture to guide him, nor did he have the examples of others who lived for God, yet Abraham
walked by faith. Abraham learned experientially that even when he failed God, God was faithful.
The story of Abraham is the story of a man who experienced the growing pains in a life of faith
until the times of his greatest testings when he demonstrated he was not “weak in faith ... but was
strengthened in faith” (Rom. 4:19-20). This study of the life of Abraham will be concerned primarily
with learning the principles of faith from the greatest man of faith who ever lived.
THE FIRST CALL OF ABRAM
(Gen. 11:27-31; Acts 7:1-4) (2092 s. c.)
Abraham would not have been remembered as the greatest man of faith and the friend of
God if he was judged by his family. Many Christians look at great faith as some type of inherited
blessing reserved for the children of ministers, missionaries, or a few deeply spiritual Christian
laymen. Terah, Abraham’s father, met none of these qualifications. Terah, whose name means
“traveler,” was a worshiper of idols (Josh. 24:2), probably involved in the worship of the moon
god. When years later the Prophet Isaiah wanted to remind the Jews of their humble beginnings,
he said, “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you
were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you” (Isa. 51:1-2).