And Yahweh said to Abram, go forth from your land, from your kin, from your father's house to the land, which I will show you, will make you a great nation. I will bless you, make your name great. So you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. The one who curses you, I will curse. and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. So Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go forth to the land of Canaan. Thus they came to the land of Canaan. And Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem to the oak of Morah. Now the Canaanite was then in the land Then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, to your seed I will give this land. So he built an altar there to Yahweh who had appeared to him. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I, the east and there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh. And Abram journeyed on continuing toward the Negev. Last week we began our study in these verses and today we want to continue on with them. Our primary focus last week was just verse one and And Lord willing, we'll get a lot further than that today. But in the last one, we pointed out how that God's calling is not always easy. And we saw how Yahweh had called Abram and how that Abram was not given direction as far as, he wasn't told exactly where he was going, he wasn't told what to expect, all that sort of thing. He's being told, you need to get away from your land, from your kin, from your father's house to the land where I'll show you. And Abram left a great example as he was obedient to Almighty God. Well, in this we find that as Yahweh gave him this call, that it's time for him to separate from his family, from the land and from his father's house, to go into the separate land. He says there in verse two and three, and I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you The one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. This great promise is given to this man named Abram. This promise that is given to a man who, at the age of 75 years old, he's married, he doesn't have any children, but he's being told that Yahweh is going to make him a great nation and his name is gonna be great and all of these things. Well, a nation through which someday all the other nations would be blessed God also promises protection, saying he'll bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse Abram. Although this promise is given to Abram in the primary sense, it's given to his descendants in the broader sense. And as we go along and we begin to read and we study and we go along through the book of Genesis, through the Bible, we begin to realize that this is speaking primarily, ultimately, to one branch of, about one branch of Abram's descendants, and that is the nation of Israel. And that is because in and through that nation would come the promised seed. Remember what was promised back in Genesis chapter three and verse 15? The seed of the woman. This is how that through him all the other nations of the world would be blessed because Jesus Christ can be born, Jesus being a Jew, Jesus being a descendant of Abram. Now certainly there are land promises that are given here and national promises and all of that, but understand something, there are two terrible ditches to fall on in this. One is to think that the land promises and all of that and they continue on through the Old Testament and even on into the New Testament. One is to think that those are not relevant, that somehow they got all canceled out or not to be fulfilled literally, there's that ditch that some people fall on. But then there's the other ditch and that is where people focus all their attention on the national promises that are given to Israel and they miss the spiritual promises, the promises of Jesus Christ. We've got to realize and understand that while it is true that that it is a great miracle that God would preserve the descendants of Abram, the nation of Israel, and that the people of Israel would be reunited to their land just as he promised and all of that. We've got to realize that this passage is not a blanket passage for us to automatically, either as individuals or as a country, to automatically approve everything that the modern state of Israel does. We can say, well, you know, it's true that it is a miracle that in ancient peoples, has been reunited and brought back to their homeland after thousands of years, that is a great miracle and all those things, but this does not mean that we're to automatically say, great job, we're glad you're doing this or that or whatever it might be as a nation. That's not what this verse is about. just because the modern state of Israel does something does not mean it's a blessing for the rest of the world. To believe that is to miss the point. The point here is that when he says, in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed, this is about the coming Savior, who would bring salvation to men, women, and children of all nationalities. Long ago, Long ago, God had promised that he would be born into the human family. Genesis 3 verse 15. I've repeated it several times, but I'll read it again. And I'll put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now it's becoming obvious that it's through the line of Abram that this is gonna take place. So in verse four, Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him, And Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Abram's faith was a perfect, was a great faith rather, a great faith. For him to go without knowing all of the details but noticed something in this. He had been told specifically, you need to go. What did Yahweh tell him? Go forth from your land and from your kin, from your father's house to the land, which I will show you. But then in verse four, So Yahweh went forth, so Abram rather, Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him and Lot went with him. Can you ever stop and think about that for a moment? Lot went with him. Yahweh said, go, get out from your father's house, away from your kin, away from the land. And Abram went just as Yahweh said, but Lot, Lot went with him. Now we're not told how that came about, just that it happened. Whether Lot volunteered to go and help his uncle, And think about, even though people were living longer than what they do now, the fact is, Lot was younger than his uncle, Abram, who was in his 70s. Maybe Lot volunteered to go to help him out. Maybe Abram or Sarai, his wife, asked him to go. I don't know, but somehow Lot's tagging along. That's not the original plan. That wasn't the original direction. Aren't we often like that? God gives us direction in his word and we're obedient sometimes, but oftentimes, oftentimes we try to hold some remnant of our past life, some remnant of something Verse six, Abram passed through the land as far as the side of Shechem to the oak of Morah or Moray. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. This journey was not an easy journey. I'm told by some scholars and commentators that it was about 400 miles. Just to put things in perspective, me and my family, we took a trip from our house to the house of Chris and Mavia Hazlip. That trip is 331 miles from our house to their house. It's not easy. Not even in a vehicle with heating and air conditioning on a paved road and all of that sort of thing. There's still lots of complaints and lots of trouble that can happen on the way. We had a flat tire and all those sorts of things. There's hazards that can happen along the way. You get tired. Making a trip like that, even with modern conveniences. Abram had no modern conveniences. There were no paved roads, there were no motor vehicles, none of those sorts of things. There was no air conditioning, nothing of the like. It was a 400 mile trip. And so even with the trade routes that may have been established because the Canaanites were already there, it could have taken weeks or even months to make the trip. These Canaanites were descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. So they were already established there. They were already mostly nomadic, but they were there. Verse seven, then Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, to your seed I will give this land. So he built an altar there to Yahweh who had appeared to him. So at this point, Yahweh appeared to Abram. Now this is interesting. The first time in scripture that we read of an actual appearance of God. Now, we read that God, Yahweh, had walked with and spoken with Adam, Enoch, and Noah, and perhaps he had been visible to them in some way, but the Bible doesn't tell us that. This would have been the pre-incarnate Christ who could have appeared before Abram there in the book of John chapter one John chapter one In verse 18 In John 1 in verse 18, the Bible says, no one has seen God in any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. And so we know that Jesus came in the flesh in the New Testament. We read about God appearing in the Old Testament. But I believe even then, that was the pre-incarnate Christ. God, again, confirms that His promises to Abraham that the land would be His, although at the time He owned none of it. At the time, He had not even a child. But he says that this land will be yours and your descendants. Much faith there. As we think about, as we think about that and consider the faith of Abram and all of those things we, We're reminded that, you know, we read the text and we know the ending. We know how things happen, especially those of us who are Bible scholars, or at least Bible readers. But Abraham, Abram didn't know any of that. But what did he have? He had the Lord. He had the Lord. Over in John chapter eight, John chapter eight. Verse 56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. You see, Jesus, said your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day he saw it and was glad he had faith looking forward he had faith knowing when Yahweh appeared to him it was Jesus that appeared to him there well We get back into our text in verses 8 and 9, Genesis chapter 12. Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel. He pitched his tent with Bethel in the west, and I is how I've always pronounced it, but looking at it, it does say Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh. And Abram journeyed on, continuing toward the Negev. As Abram journeyed, He took on the lifestyle of a nomad. In other words, he was a traveler. But as he traveled, as he went on, he was a pilgrim. He was a sojourner, as the writer of Hebrews says. But what we read here, as he sojourned in the land, As he lived the nomadic style, he still took time to worship. He didn't neglect the worship of Yahweh. We see him as he built an altar there to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh. Over in Hebrews, since I mentioned it as we bring this to a close, Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning of verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in a land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. You see, he sojourned and he was obedient. It was a foreign land, but he was looking for the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Not only did he have the faith to go, Not only was he obedient to go to the strange land, but he also had the faith to stay there. Sometimes that's the bigger battle than the going part. It would have been easy for him and Sarah to pack up and go back to familiar places, but they didn't. Abram was called into the land not to make a big name for himself, but rather he lived the life of a pilgrim, knowing that God's material blessing was good, but his spiritual blessing is far better. And that's what we learn from Abram. That's what we glean from Abram and his life. Yes, it's a wonderful thing, and we rejoice to see, as Yahweh makes these promises to him and fulfills them and we see those things and we rejoice the material, the land promises and all of that. But let us not forget, let us realize the primary focal point, the life of Abram. The text before us is Christ. This is what it's about. This is what kept Abram moving forward. This is what drove him, got him up out of bed every morning. This is what kept him going, was the promise. You and I, we look back in faith knowing that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried and he rose again. Abram looked forward to that promised seed. What a blessing to think, to know that what the scripture says here, that truly in him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And that's a fact. Well, We'll go ahead and stop there. Lord willing, we'll pick up and look at verse 10 on down and see Abram and Sarai in Egypt and look at the famine that was going on in the land there.