Genesis 12:3b  “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Genesis 22:18 “In your (Abraham’s) seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In last week’s article, we answered the question “Where in the Bible is Israel first mentioned?” Now, we move to our second question: “What is the blessing of Abraham, and how did he get the new name that means ‘father of many nations’”?

We will answer the third question – “What does it mean ‘I will bless those who bless you (Abram), and whoever curses you I will curse” – in next week’s article.

When we first meet Abraham, his name is Abram, meaning “exalted father”, given to him by his father Terah, who lived in the city Ur in southern Mesopotamia on the Euphrates River.

Genesis 11:31 says Terah left Ur with Abram, Lot and Sarai, set off for the land of Canaan but instead settled in the city of Haran. Genesis 12:1-3 is the starting point of God’s calling on Abram’s life:

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go 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.’”

God calls Abram out from his home in Haran and tells him to go to a land that He will show to him, making 3 promises to him:

1) The promise of a land of his own;

2) The promise to be made into a great nation; and

3) The promise of blessing all peoples on earth (repeated in Genesis 22:16).

We covered promise #2 – Abraham made into a great nation – in article #637 last week. In this article, we focus on promise #3 – blessing all peoples on the earth. These promises form the basis for what will later be called the Abrahamic Covenant (established in Genesis 15 and ratified in Genesis 17).

What makes Abraham special – why God changes his name from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many nations”) – is explained in Genesis 22 (and Genesis 12:4). It is because he obeyed God:

“In blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen. 22:17-18).

The actual change from Abram to Abraham occurs in Genesis 17:4-5: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.”

Genesis 12:4 records that Abraham went “as the LORD had told him”, and Hebrews 11:8 specifically uses Abraham as an example of faith for his obedience to God in Genesis 12:4 – “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

We are not told anything about the religious life of Abraham and his family before God called him. The people of Ur and Haran worshiped the Babylonian pantheon of gods, in particular the moon god Sin.

God called Abraham out of a pagan culture. Abraham knew the call of YHWH, the LORD, and obeyed willingly, not hesitantly. And this led to the Abrahamic Covenant first outlined in Genesis 15:5-6.

“Then He (the word of the Lord) brought Abram outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

Theologically speaking, Abraham’s life is a living example of the doctrine of “sola fide”, justification by faith alone.

Twice the apostle Paul uses Abraham as an example of this crucial doctrine – in the entire 4^th chapter of Romans and in multiple verses in chapter 3 of Galatians.

Romans chapter 4, Galatians chapter 3: Abraham’s life = “Sola Fide”

Romans 4:1-4 Abraham saved by God’s grace through faith è “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.”

Romans 4:5-6 David saved by God’s grace through faith è “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.’”

Romans 4:9-12 Abraham Justified Before Circumcision è “Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?

Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”

Romans 4:13-15 The Promise to Abraham Not Granted Through the Law è “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.”

Romans 4:16-22 The Promise to Abraham Granted Through Faith è “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence of Him whom he believed –

God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about 100 years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Romans 4:23-25 The Promise to Everyone Granted Through Faith è “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

Galatians 3:6-9 The Promise to Everyone Granted Through Faith è “Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So, then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

Galatians 3:14,16 The Promise to Everyone Granted Through Faith è “The blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. To Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”

Galatians 3:18 The Promise to Abraham Granted Through Faith è “For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

Galatians 3:29 The Promise to Abraham Granted Through Faith è “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

God declares Abraham “righteous” (right with God) because Abraham’s faith in God as a Person. His faith in God led him to obey God, which is again reinforced in the New Testament in Romans 3:28 – “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

Abraham did nothing to earn his God’s justification as righteous. His faith in God was enough. And we see this in Genesis – in the gospel! The gospel didn’t start with the life and death of Jesus. It goes back to Genesis, with its first mention in Genesis 3:15 – “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

A more detailed picture of the Gospel = Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15:5-12,17-21

Verses 5-6: “He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And Abram believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to Abram for righteousness.” God makes an unconditional promise to Abram.

Verses 7-8: “Then He said to him, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.’ And he said, ‘Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?’

Verses 9-10:“So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a 3-year-old heifer, a 3-year-old female goat, a 3-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in 2, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in 2.”

God’s 1st covenant (salvation by faith, through shed blood) requires a sacrifice: God has Abraham kill 1 each of the 5 acceptable animal sacrifices (cow, sheep, goat, pigeon, dove), cut them in half, place the halves on opposite sides to prepare for the covenant ceremony (Jeremiah 34:18-19).

Verse 11: “And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

The vultures symbolize Satan, as he tries to thwart God’s plans. Abram’s alertness to drive them away symbolizes the need for believer’s alertness to thwart the enemy.

Verse 12:“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.”

God puts Abraham to sleep because the covenant doesn’t require any promise from him.

Verse 17:“And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.”

Only God passes between the dead animals! The covenant places NO CONDITIONS on Abram – this is God’s solemn vow to fulfill His promise to Abram for JUSTIFICATION by GRACE through FAITH.

• Old Testament ‘Covenant’ is not a contract, which is a joint obligation (in a covenant, each individual is bound to their vow).

• Old Testament ‘Covenant’ is not a commitment, where there is limited consequence if broken (in a covenant, there is a strict penalty to anyone making the covenant if that person fails to keep their vow).

• “Smoking oven” and “Flaming torch” symbolize God’s presence (Exodus 19:18) and Cross of Christ.

• “smoking oven” symbolizes the SUFFERING that must first come, to satisfy God’s wrath towards sin.

through the sacrificial offering of a sinless, perfect Savior (Hebr. “smoke” = “àshan” = “burn with anger”, as in Deuteronomy 29:20). This is a picture of the future cross where Jesus Christ will suffer for the sins of mankind (Isaiah 53; 2Corin. 5:21; Galatians 3:13-14)

• “flaming torch” symbolizes the GLORY afterwards, as the Lord, who is the True Light of mankind, leads His people out of the bondage of sin into the freedom of God’s forgiveness through His offering of Himself (Exodus 13:21-22; John 1:4-5, 9; John 8:12).

When two people performed this ceremony: they were literally saying to each party in the covenant “may what happened to these animals also happen to me, if I break my covenant with you”

Verses 18-21: “On that day the Lord made a COVENANT with Abram, saying: ‘To your descendants

I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the River Euphrates – the Kenites, Kenezzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

The Hebrew word for ‘Covenant’ is “diatheke” =

“to cut or divide by a sacrifice, to secure the obligation of those involved to fulfill their vow.”

Notice in Genesis 15:18, when God makes His covenant with Abram, He identifies his descendants as the ISRAELITES. Yet, in Genesis 12:3b and Genesis 22:18 God makes His promise to Abraham that ALL NATIONS (not just Israelites) will be blessed through him and his “Seed” – Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 15:5-6, Romans 4:3,22 and Galatians 3:6-9,16, is the answer to our question: “What is the blessing of Abraham, and how did he get the new name that means ‘father of many nations’”?

We can depict this new name for Abraham – the “Father of Many Nations” – by using an hourglass:

1. Top of the Hourglass = entire world population (my “physical identity” as a person created by God)
2. Middle Neck of the Hourglass = Abraham (God’s covenant of justification by faith through one man)
3. Bottom of the Hourglass = those who place their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (my “spiritual identity” as a child adopted into God’s family through the blood of Jesus Christ)

“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance” _ Article #638