“By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he
went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10)
God's
grace was set upon Abraham from eternity (Rom. 8:28-30). He was the
object of God’s everlasting love, chosen to salvation before the world began.
Therefore, at the appointed time of love “the
grace of God that bringeth salvation” came to Abraham while he was in Ur of
the Chaldees, a land of idolatry (Gen. 12:1-4; Josh. 24:2,3). While Abraham was
yet in the darkness, death, and degradation of sin and unbelief, the Lord God
called him to life and faith in Christ.
Because the Lord God chose Abraham, he called him. Because
the Lord called him, Abraham believed God and journeyed to a land he had not
seen. It was not Abram’s faith that caused the Lord to choose him and call him.
It was God’s election and God’s call that caused Abram to believe. Faith is the
gift of God’s grace, not the cause of it (Eph. 2:8-9). The Lord changed his
name from Abram (a father) to Abraham (a great father, or a father of great
multitudes) fifteen years after he left Ur (Gen. 17:1-5).
Abraham was called of God to go out to a place unknown to
him and to be a sojourner, a pilgrim, in that land. The Lord God leads his
people in the way he has determined, in ways known only to him. We know not the
way we should take; and we know not the way we shall take --- That is
determined by our God. Faith follows his direction when it knows not where it
shall go, how, or why (Acts. 27:21-25).
Abraham lived in Canaan, the land of
promise, by faith. He lived in that land for a little more than seventy-five
years. He fully believed that God would give this land to his seed. Yet, he
never had an inheritance in it (Acts. 7:4, 5).
He died when Isaac was seventy-five years
old. Jacob was fifteen. All that time they dwelled in tents. Israel later
possessed the land (Jos. 23:14). But God’s promise and Abraham’s faith looked
far beyond the physical land of Canaan. Abraham looked for a permanent home
with Christ in heaven. His hopes and expectations were upon the world to come.
He lived in this world with the eyes of his heart fixed upon another world.
It was this faith, faith in the Lord God who
revealed himself to him in Mesopotamia, which moved Abraham to obey the Word of
God and enabled him to do and suffer all that God required (Rom. 8:17, 18).
These
things are not written in the Scriptures merely to give us a biographical account
of a great man, or merely to inspire us with admiration for Abraham. They are
recorded by Divine Inspiration to teach us what faith is and how we must live
by faith while we live in this world.
Abraham is not merely the physical father
of the Jewish race; he is the spiritual and exemplary father of all God’s
elect, the father of all true believers, the true Israel of God.
The word “father” conveys much more than the physical head of a
family. It is often used to speak of the first of a specific class. George
Washington is called “The father of our nation” because he was our first
President. Thomas Jefferson is called “the father of democracy” because he was
a very dominant influence in the development of our democratic government.
Abraham is called “the father” of all
who believe not because we get our faith from him or by connection with him,
but because he is the first man mentioned in the Bible as one who believed God
(Gen. 15:6), -- because he so greatly exemplified what it is to believe God, --
and because the Lord Jesus Christ in and by whom we are saved is Abraham’s Seed
(Rom. 4:11, 16; Gal. 3:6-9, 13-14, 16, 29.