The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis Chapter 12 - Part 1)

The Significance of Genesis 1–11 for Understanding Abraham

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. You know, you can tell a lot about a person's faith based on what they believe about the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis.

So if you're still with me up until this point, that's a very good sign. So turn, if you would, to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis 12 really is a turning point in biblical history. God is now calling out a people from the world for himself.

And he starts with this man, Abraham. So the title of the message is the call of Abraham, or Abram as he's called in this chapter, and I'll explain that in just a moment. But Abraham has to be one of the most important figures in all of the scripture.

He's right up there on that level. Men like Moses and Joshua and David and Peter and the Apostle Paul and probably above some of those men. Not that it's a contest, but maybe we need to take some time and look at what the scripture says about him.

And you might be surprised at the application because people hear the name of Abraham and they think, yeah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the nation of Israel. And that happened back then. But it really is important teaching for New Testament Christians.

So we'll read in just a moment. But Abraham, he's mentioned briefly in the previous chapter in order to connect him with Noah through the line of Shem. So Abraham is of the Semitic race. Some people say it, but we know there's only one race, the human race.

But this is the Semitic people through the line of Shem. But the Lord, here's the point. The Lord is going to do something new now on the earth. He is going to form a nation so that they would be a testimony and a light to the world.

Back in chapter 11 in the story of the Tower of Babel, I think this is the connection. The idolaters tried to build a nation, a city-state, to make a name for themselves. They did this in rebellion to God.

And this seems to be the Lord's response. That, okay, you want to try and build your nation? You want to try and build your kingdom, Babel? You want to do that without me? Not only will it not succeed, but now it's my turn.

It's time for me, the Lord, to build a nation. A nation that would become the foundation for the kingdom of God on earth. More important than that, a nation that would bring forth the anointed one, the Messiah, who would bless the whole world.

Let's begin reading in Genesis 12, starting in verse 1, because God started all of this through this one man, Abraham. Genesis 12, starting in verse 1, Now the Lord had said to Abram, Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation.

And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And may God add a blessing to the reading of his word. Such an important chapter, such an important passage right there. So Genesis 12 marks the story or covers the story of the call of Abram. And you see at this point, his name is not Abraham.

It's Abram. So Abram means father. Later, the Lord will change his name to Abraham, which means what?

Do you know?

Father of many nations. But ironically, at this point, Abram, which means father, he's not a father, is he? But he will eventually have two sons, the first, Ishmael, and then Isaac. Isaac, of course, is the child of promise that his wife Sarah bore miraculously.

Isaac will then have a son named Jacob. And Jacob will have his name changed by God to Israel. And Israel, Abraham's grandson, will have 12 sons who basically they become the heads of the 12 tribes, which eventually form this new nation, God's nation, Israel.

And it all begins right here in chapter 12 with Abraham.

The Abrahamic Covenant as a Promise of Grace

Now, why is that?

Why does it start right here? Well, because you can trace back the lineage to this man, Abraham. Yeah, but you can follow the lineage back further, can't you? You could follow it back further to Shem.

You could follow it back further to Noah. You could follow it back to Seth. So why does it start right here? Well, it starts here because this is when God made his promise. This is where he makes the covenant that we call the Abrahamic covenant.

And it is tied in with our salvation. So first, let's define terms. What is a covenant? I sort of gave you the answer in what I just said, but what is a covenant?

Right.

That's the most simple way to define a covenant. It is a promise, or we think of a binding agreement. Today, people have contracts. Not exactly the same, but that's an idea. It's an alliance between two individuals.

It can also speak of friendship. And we know that Abraham was called the friend of God. So don't miss how significant this is, that the God of all of creation would stoop down and make a covenant with an individual, a man living in a pagan land full of idolatry.

How amazing is that, that God would do this with a man? I don't think that speaks of Abraham necessarily, as though he were the most godly man on the face of the earth. We know that was the case with Noah at the time.

The Bible says that much. Some believe that Abraham at this time was an idolater. A lot of people would just assume that. We don't know that exactly. We do know that he's living in a land full of idolatry, Ur of the Chaldees.

We know that his father was an idolater, according to Joshua 24 verse 2, which is probably why the Lord tells him, first and foremost, you need to leave your father's house. Of course, Abraham didn't exactly follow the Lord's command right away, but we don't have time to get into that.

But here's the point. God made this covenant. He made this promise according to his own good pleasure. It really wasn't about Abraham the man as much as it is about God's grace. This is all a picture of God's grace.

No matter how upright Abraham may or may not have been, God was gracious to him. And that's where salvation comes in, because no matter how good or not good we are, we are saved by what? God's grace. No man deserves this honor.

No man deserves salvation. That's why it's of grace. So the Lord makes promises to Abraham. This covenant is considered. If you take notes, write this down. This is very important. You understand this about the covenant.

This is considered an unconditional covenant. It's an unconditional covenant, since in chapter 15, the Lord will confirm it by putting Abraham to sleep, which symbolizes Abraham's passive role. So it's God's faithfulness that is on display, and it's God's faithfulness that is emphasized over man's.

So later on, when God's going to make another covenant with Abraham's descendants, what's that other covenant? It's the covenant of the, begins with an L.

The law, right.

God makes the covenant of the law with the children of Israel. That's a conditional covenant. If you do this, then I'll do that. That's not the way it is with Abraham. God says, here's what I'm going to do.

So that's totally different. With the covenant of the law, they had to uphold their end. And of course, what did they do with that covenant? Well, they broke it. Because man always breaks covenant, because man is unfaithful.

God is what? God is faithful. So Genesis chapter 12 is the Abrahamic covenant. That's when it's introduced. Chapter 15 is where the covenant is ratified. As I said, it's unconditional. And not to get too off topic.

I don't think it is off topic, but it's worth mentioning. This is why. Genesis chapter 12. This is why modern evangelical Christians support the nation of Israel.

Okay.

There's a lot of other things you could talk about, and there's the political element and foreign policy. And that's not really what evangelicals are concerned about. We're concerned about God's faithfulness.

Evangelicals support Israel because of this unconditional promise. Because we believe that God still has a future for the nation of Israel. The apostle Paul in Romans 11, it's true, he calls them enemies of the gospel because they rejected it.

That's true. But he also talks about their restoration. So that's why we support them. God still has a plan for Abraham. The argument is that the unconditional nature of the covenant means there's another chapter in their history.

Say, ah, but they're unfaithful. It doesn't matter. God is faithful. If you say there's no future for Israel, that's, you know, if you were consistent, you would say that God breaks his promises. We don't believe that.

Okay, let's look at chapter 12, verse 2. What does God say to Abraham? He says, I will make you what? I will make you a great nation. Did God keep that promise? Yes, he did. And then he says, I will bless you.

Now, again, Abraham's name will be changed to father of many nations, but he's really known for one nation. I mean, let's face it. He's known for one nation, and that's the nation of Israel. So because of that, it's all about the covenant.

God makes the covenant with Abraham. He reaffirms it to his son Isaac, and then again to his son Jacob, so that sometimes we just refer to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Or shorthand, we say the God of Israel.

Land, People, and Government in the Promise to Abraham

So the next thing, what is this covenant about? Well, we see a few promises right here. God promises Abraham a nation, and to have a nation you need a few things, don't you? What do you need for a nation?

People.

People.

What else?

Land.

And a government.

Good. Those are the three things that you need. Number one, you need land. Number two, you need people to inherit that land. And then number three, you need some sort of government over that land. And I'll just put it out there right now.

That government or their king is a reference to the Lord. This is what the prophet Isaiah says, that the government, speaking of Christ, the government will be upon his shoulder. But first, obviously, to have a nation, you need land.

So the land that God is promising to Abraham is the land of Canaan. If you've been following along in this sermon series from Genesis, you remember that Canaan was actually an individual, right? Canaan was the grandson of Noah.

And because of what Ham did or what Canaan did, they received or he received a curse. So the land that Canaan's descendants settled in is now going to be taken from them and given to God's chosen people.

So to have a nation, you need land. The Lord says, get out of your country. This is Ur of the Chaldees. That's near Babel. And go to the land that I will show you. This is the land of Canaan. And he says, I will make of you a great nation.

This implies that Abraham is going to have many descendants. So skip down to verse 7. So Abraham leaves his homeland and he goes to this land. God is promising him. Verse 7, it says, then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants, I will give this land.

And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.