 The Introduction of Abraham
Genesis 11:27-12:3
Rev. Owen Y. LeeFrom a sermon series entitled “The Gospel
According To The Patriarchs”
Our text plays a pivotal role in the unfolding of God’s plan of
redemption. These nine verses introduce us to the first of the
Patriarchs, Abraham, and unveil God’s promise to Abraham. The
Book of Genesis, written by Moses under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, is known as the “Book of Beginnings” – and Genesis
11:27-12:3 marks a new beginning in redemptive history.
Our primary focus will be on the first three verses of
Chapter 12. Yet we must bear in mind that a number of profoundly
important things have happened in Chapters 1-11. God created the
world and everything that is in it. He created man and woman and
placed them in the garden of Eden. They promptly sinned against
God, and God drove them out of the original paradise. Mankind
grew so wicked that God eventually judged them, wiping out the
entire human race with a great Flood, saving only Noah and his
family through the Ark. But even after the Flood, mankind
persisted in its wicked ways, leading to another judgment of
God, in which God scattered mankind across the face of the earth
at the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 12 recounts how God appeared to Abraham and told him
to go to the Promised Land. But how is the story of Abraham
related to, and connected with, all that has happened in
Chapters 1-11? Or is there a connection at all? Does the calling
of Abraham have anything to do at all with what has happened in
the first 11 chapters of Genesis?
The story of Abraham seems to come out of nowhere. For no
apparent reason, God appeared to an old man and promised to
bless him, form him into a great nation and make his name
famous. That’s great for Abraham, but what in the world does
that have to do with those epochal events in Genesis 1-11? And
more importantly, what does that have to do with us? I hope to
show you that the story of Abraham has everything to do with the
unfolding drama of those opening chapters -- and that, just as
importantly, it has everything to do with you and me.
The first 11 chapters present us with a familiar and
repetitive cycle: man’s sin, followed by God’s judgment upon
man’s sin, followed in turn by a redemptive word or act from
God. This cycle began with Adam and Eve. They sinned by eating
the forbidden fruit. God then cursed and judged them, expelling
them from the Garden of Eden. But God also gave a word of hope.
He gave what we call the “proto-gospel” in Genesis 3:15. God
promised that there would be a “seed of the woman” that would
crush the head of the serpent and reverse the curse. God also
covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness with animal skins, signifying
that one day the blood of another would be shed for the
forgiveness of their sin.
The cycle continues to repeat itself. As mankind grew and
multiplied, so did sin. In fact, sin abounded and got out of
control. Genesis 6:5 says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In response to
mankind’s great wickedness, God sent the great Flood, in order
to thoroughly annihilate the entire human race. But God was
gracious, and He sovereignly acted to save Noah and his family,
providing the Ark. God graciously allowed the human race to
continue through the line of Noah and his sons.
And then the cycle repeats again. Again, as the human race
once more began to abound again, so did sin. This time mankind’s
sin was revealed in their building a city and a tower that
reached up into the heavens. They built this city and tower in
order to make a name for themselves, to declare their greatness.
In response to man’s sinful arrogance, God again judged
humanity. This time, He judged them by confusing their language
and by scattering them across the face of the earth.
So Chapter 11, like Chapters 6-8, recounts the judgment of
God upon man’s sin. Chapter 11 yet again shows the human race to
be corrupt, rebellious, brazenly arrogant and utterly sinful.
But the cycle of “sin-judgment-salvation” must continue. And
what should we look for in chapter 12, if that cycle does indeed
continue? We eagerly wait for a redemptive word of blessing from
God, a word of hope from God – we look for a word of salvation.
And that is exactly what the call of Abraham is all about.
The story of Abraham is nothing less than the story of the
gospel. In the story of Abraham, we find the “good news” of
God’s gracious promise to redeem, forgive and bless sinners. At
the Tower of Babel, the nations have been judged and scattered
abroad for their sins. But that is not the end of the story. The
story does not end in judgment. There is hope for them. God
will, once again, open up a way for the nations to receive God’s
salvation and blessing.
And the way of blessing and life will be opened up through
Abraham. God will bless Abraham, so that in Abraham and in his
seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Through
Abraham, the judgment and curse pronounced at the Tower of Babel
to all the nations will be reversed, for in Abraham all the
nations of the earth will be blessed.
Turning to our text, particularly Genesis 11:27-32, we notice
two key elements. First of all, in verse 27 we read, “Now these
are the generations of Terah”. It seems like a harmless and
ordinary phrase; nothing to get too excited about. Yet it is a
very important phrase. In the Book of Genesis, the phrase “these
are the generations…” serves as a marker alerting you to the
start of a new section. Why is this so significant? Because when
we come to 11:27, we are not only about to begin a new section
in the Book of Genesis; we are also about to enter upon a new
phase in the history of redemption.
As I said earlier, Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. In
chapter 1, Moses wrote about the creation – the beginning – of
the world. Now, in Genesis 11:27 and following, Moses writes
about another creation, another beginning. This time, it is the
creation of a new human race, the beginning of a new race of
people that will experience the blessing and salvation of God.
By calling Abraham and by promising to make him a great nation,
God promised to create a new race of people that would love and
glorify God, a new humanity that would be renewed into the image
of God, a new family of people that would dwell with God and
enjoy His blessed presence forever. This new humanity would
initially take the form of national Israel; then it will take
its final form in the Church of Jesus Christ.
The second key element we notice in our text is how the
author of Genesis introduces and describes Sarah, Abraham’s
wife. He says nothing of her physical beauty, though we know
that she was an extremely beautiful woman. In fact, Sarah was so
beautiful that it caused Abraham to fear for his life. In those
days, men were known to kill other men in order to steal their
wives. So the “safe” thing for Abraham to do was to introduce
Sarah to other men as his sister, and then give Sarah to them as
their wife! Abraham was not very heroic or noble, at least when
God first called him. What kind of man gives his wife to other
men in order to save his own neck? It’s rather pathetic, isn’t
it?
What, then, does the author of Genesis say about Sarah, if he
makes no mention of her surpassing beauty? All he says about her
is that she is barren. The author, in fact, goes out of his way
to make this point emphatically in verse 30: “Now Sarai was
barren; she had no child.” The author establishes the theme that
will move the story of Abraham along from here on out. God
promised Abraham a son, assuring him that through this son he
would have descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and
the sand on the seashore. But how could this be, with Abraham
married to a barren woman unable to have children?
What better way to show how Abraham’s faith would be tested!
Would Abraham believe God’s promises, even though the
fulfillment of those promises seemed impossible? Would Abraham
believe that God could really give him a son in his old age –
and through a barren woman? Would Abraham believe that God could
really bring forth life from the dead – from the deadness of his
old body, and from the deadness of Sarah’s barren womb? This
critical detail about Sarah’s barrenness dramatically sets the
stage for the story of Abraham – the inspired account of our
“father in the faith” waiting for the son that God had promised
him.
The “proto-gospel” that was first given in Genesis 3:15 takes
fuller and more definite shape with Abraham and the promises
made to Abraham. We must understand God’s promises to Abraham in
light of Genesis 3:15. What God promised to Abraham has
EVERYTHING to do with Genesis 3:15. In fact, the entire
Scriptures are about the outworking of Genesis 3:15 on the stage
of human history.
In Genesis 3:15, God said that He would put enmity between
the serpent and the woman, and between the seed of the serpent
and the seed of the woman. Furthermore, the seed of the woman
would crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent would
bruise his heel. The “seed of the woman” must be understood in
two senses: a corporate sense and an individual sense. God’s
promises to Abraham help us to understand both senses.
We turn first to the corporate sense. The “seed of the
woman”, in the corporate sense, refers to the godly line of
people, the collective children of God. The “seed of the
serpent” then, in the corporate sense, refers to the ungodly
line of people, the collective children of the devil.
When God said that He would put enmity or hatred between the
children of the woman and the children of serpent, God was
really speaking the gospel. Now what do hatred and enmity have
to do with the gospel? In the beginning, before the sin and fall
of man, God and man were friends. Man was the son of God. Man
and the serpent were mortal enemies. But after man listened to
the voice of Satan and sinned against God, God and man became
enemies. By his sin, man put enmity between himself and his God.
At the same time, man and the serpent became friends. Man became
the child of the devil. An unholy alliance was formed between
sinful man and Satan.
So when God said that He would put enmity and hatred between
the children of the woman and the children of the serpent, God
promised that He would take some from the children of the
serpent and re-make them into the children of the woman. God
would form a line of people that would once again become mortal
enemies with the Serpent, a line of people that would once again
become the friends of God, even the children of God. God would
reconcile His people to Himself by putting a holy enmity between
them and the devil, and He would put a holy love between them
and Himself. God and a chosen group of human beings would become
friends once again. A chosen group of people would experience
the blessing of communion and fellowship with God, the blessing
of being the children and heirs of God, the blessing of having
God as their Father once again.
Who, then, are the children of the woman? Who are those that
would make up the godly line? Who are those that would belong to
this new humanity that is reconciled to God? In light of our
text, the answer is clear: It is the descendants of Abraham that
would be the children of the woman. The line of the godly, the
line of the redeemed, would now run through Abraham and his
line. The children of Abraham are the “seed of the woman,” the
people God would bless and call His own. This godly line of
Abraham finds fulfillment first in the nation of Israel, and
then ultimately in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Genesis 3:15 is thus essential to understand properly and
fully the story of Abraham. In giving Abraham a son – and
through that son a multitude of descendants – God faithfully
kept His redemptive promise to preserve the children of the
woman, to create a people who would hate the devil and love God.
Reading Genesis 12:1-3 in light of the “proto-gospel” also helps
us understand the true nature of the blessings God promised to
Abraham and his children. What God intended to give Abraham and
the godly line that would come through him was not just a piece
of land in Palestine. It was not mere temporal, material
prosperity. God intended to give them heavenly blessings: the
blessing of the forgiveness of sins; the blessing of
reconciliation with God; the blessing of being God’s beloved and
treasured people; the priceless blessing of eternal life with
God in the land of heaven.
We now come to the individual sense of the “Seed of the
woman.” This Seed, in the singular, refers to the Messiah.
According to Genesis 3:15, there would come an Individual who
would crush the head of the serpent, while the serpent bruised
Him on the heel. Who would this Individual, this Messiah, be?
The story of Abraham gives an unmistakable clue: It would be the
Son of Abraham. The Messiah who was to crush the head of the
serpent would come from the line of Abraham; He would be the
Seed of Abraham. This Seed would not be Isaac, but the One
greater than Isaac, the One to whom Isaac points: our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul understood Jesus Christ to be the true Son
of Abraham, the One in whom all the nations would be blessed.
Paul explains this in Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were
made to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, ‘And to
seeds,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your
seed,’ who is Christ.” Jesus is the true Son of Abraham; He is
the True Seed of the Woman. Jesus was bruised on the heel by the
serpent when He was crucified, when a nail was driven through
His feet. Yet it was in His death that Jesus crushed the head of
the serpent, for it was by His death that Jesus redeemed and
saved the chosen people of God. Satan’s ultimate aim is to
separate God’s people from God; this aim, however, is doomed to
failure. Christ, by His death on the cross, has reconciled us to
God, brought us back to God – having put away our sins forever
by the shedding of His precious blood.
So we now know what the story of Abraham has to do with
Genesis 1-11. But what does the story of Abraham have to do with
us? It has everything to do with us! Do you earnestly desire the
forgiveness of your sins? Do you wish to belong the children of
the woman, and not to the children of the serpent? Do you long
to be blessed by God and be assured of a place in heaven? Do you
hunger for the blessings promised to Abraham and his children?
Then it is imperative that you become a child of Abraham, for
it is only the children of Abraham that will experience the
blessings of God. How do you become a child of Abraham? How does
Abraham become your Father? The Apostle Paul gives the answer in
Galatians 3:7: “Know then that it is those of faith who are the
sons of Abraham.” Galatians 3:26-29 unfolds the blessings of
being a child of Abraham: “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of
God, through faith. For as many as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then
you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
You become a child of Abraham by faith, by believing and
trusting in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of
sinners. The blessings promised to Abraham come to us through
faith in Jesus Christ. As believers in Jesus Christ, as the
spiritual children of Father Abraham, we are blessed by God and
embraced as God’s children. As “Abraham’s offspring,” we can
rejoice in what Hebrews 11:8-19 says about Abraham and his
children. We, too, will one day enter into the Land that Abraham
looked for; we, too, will enter into the eternal city of heaven
whose builder and maker is God.
My dear brothers and sisters, my fellow children of Abraham:
Ours is the gospel, and ours are the blessings promised to our
Father Abraham. Let us rejoice over the gospel. Let us worship
our great God with hearts full of gladness, giving thanks to Him
for all the blessings we have received in the One who is the
Seed of Abraham, the One who is the promised Seed of the Woman:
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because our Savior delivered Himself up to the cross, because
the sacred head of our Savior was wounded, because the heel of
our Savior was bruised – we are no longer the children of the
serpent. We are the children of the woman! We are now and
forevermore the children and heirs of God and of all His
glorious blessings. Praise be to God, our Abba Father!
Amen and amen!
Rev. Owen Y. Lee
Pastor
New Life Mission Church
Burbank, CA
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