(Genesis) Genesis 17:5-7 — J. Vernon McGee

Abraham’s Renaming and God’s Promise to Make Him a Father of Many Nations

And he goes on to say, "...neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee.". Now the word Abram means high father, a father of the height, exalted father.

And Abraham means, as we are told here, father of a multitude. Now suppose in that day, and now I'm injecting a little story in here to illustrate this, to show you something of the faith of this man Abraham.

Abraham’s Faith Before He Had Children

Now suppose one morning that Abraham and Sarah got up, and they were working around the tent, and all of a sudden out at their little oasis, where they had a spring there at Hebron, and the well that he had there, why there appear a group of traders.

They've come down from the north, and they are on the way down to Egypt. And they want to know if they can water their camels, and Abraham goes out to meet them. And there were a great deal of hospitable people in that day, by the way.

Quite interesting, we speak of the cave man of way back yonder, and how terrible he was. May I say to you that in that day, a stranger couldn't go through the country without somebody had opened their home, and they would entertain him.

If you came into Los Angeles, a stranger, friend, and knew nobody, I don't know anybody to take you in. Frankly, I don't. And there are a lot of Christians in this area. Our culture is altogether different today, but we certainly like the hospitality they had in that day.

And Abraham went out to meet them, said, sure, help yourself, said, I'll feed you stock, and would you like staying for a while? And they said, no, we're in a hurry to get down to Egypt, we're on a business trip.

And one of the men says, my name is Allah, and the other one says, my name is Allah Baba. And they said, what's your name? He says, my name is High Father. And they said, my, boy or girl? And Abram said, well, I don't have any children.

He said, you mean to tell me that you don't have any children, and your name is Abram? And he said, yes, my name is Abram. And so they laughed. They said, how in the world can you be a father and not have children?

And they ride off on the desert laughing. And they come back six months later. And when they come by again, Abram goes out to greet them again, and they said, they all began to laugh, hello there, High Father.

And he said, my name's not High Father anymore. Oh, they said, what is it? He said, father of a multitude. And they said, my, must have been twins. And Abram says, no, I still don't have any children.

And then they really laugh. They say, how ridiculous can that be? Well, here is a man who was a father before he had any children, and it's Abram. And he's that by faith now. But 4 ,000 years later, where I sit and where you are listening right now, we can say that God sure made this good.

God Fulfills the Promise Given to Abraham

The name stuck, if you please. And he's still Abraham, the father of a multitude. Now God says in verse 6, and I'll make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

Has God made that one good? He certainly has. Now in verse 7, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant. Now what kind of covenant did God make with Abraham?

The Everlasting Covenant and the Promise of Everlasting Life

An everlasting covenant. Well, if it's everlasting, is it good today? It certainly is. You see, God promised you and me everlasting life if we would trust Christ, and that's a covenant God made. And my friend, if God's not going to make this one good he made to Abraham, you better look into yours again.

But I have news for you. He's going to make yours good, but he's also going to make Abraham's good. But we'll have to wait next time to see this covenant.