Look to The Rock from
Which You Were Cut
Abraham the Believer: Part 1
Isaiah 51:1-2
By Dave Redick
Prominent in history – prominent in Scripture. That’s Abraham. If every reference to him were to suddenly and mysteriously vanish, we would be at a loss to explain much of contemporary history and much of the meaning of our very own Bibles.
Introduction
I have a couple of rocks at the pulpit with me this morning. More specifically, I have some agates that I borrowed from Jim and Estalee. I first discovered this couple's love of agates on a fishing trip I took with Jim last fall. We drifted the upper Willamette River and toward the end of our float (after catching a lot of fish, of course!) we set aside our fishing rods and began scanning the shoreline. It was my first such experience so I didn’t really know what to look for. Jim, of course, is a master agate hunter. We didn’t find any that particular day but later, when I visited their home again, Jim and Estalee showed me a portion of their collection. I have a couple of the rocks here. I wish you were closer so you could see them.
My sermon this morning is about a rock - a single rock – a very important rock that God wants us to examine carefully. You’ll find mention of it in Isaiah 51:1-2. Will you turn there with me please?
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
Who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him."
God wants us to become amateur Geologists of sorts. He wants us to study this rock from which we were cut. He wants us to study Abraham.
Our faith is cut from the same kind of material as the faith of Abraham. The New Testament uses Abraham as an illustration of faith over and over again. According to Isaiah’s pronouncement, we can learn something worthwhile by going back to consider th patriarch's life.
That is what I propose to do with you in the coming weeks. Lord willing, we are going to consider the life of Abraham in a series of messages that will take us through the various passages of Scripture that describe him.
According to the Bible, we are justified by faith. Yet the kind of faith the Bible speaks of is so often misunderstood. When we look back at the distant past to Abraham, we are looking back at the earliest specific mention of justification by faith.
With this purpose in mind, in this message I want to do a fly-over of Abraham’s life. We won’t be dealing with details this morning – just the vital statistics and the big picture. Then in the coming weeks, Lord willing, we will be going verse by verse through those passages in Genesis that encompass his life.
There is a note page among the material you found in your mailbox this morning. As I speak you might like to follow along and fill in the blanks to help preserve some of what is said.
We’ll begin this morning with Abraham’s …
1. Prominence
Abraham occupies important positions in both the Scripture and in our modern world.
*Two contemporary nationalities consider themselves to be descendants of Abraham – the Jews through Abraham’s son Isaac, and the Arabs through Abraham’s son Ishmael. The two boys never did get along very well in Scripture. As you know, their earthly descendants don’t get along very well today either. In fact, the hottest geopolitical region in the world today is the middle-east where these two races of people live – and it is in part at least, the result of things that Abraham did over 4000 years ago.
*Though he never wrote a word of Scripture, three world religions claim Abraham as a key ancestor: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
*The site believed by many to be the place where Abraham nearly offered his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering to God holds a Moslem shrine today called "The Dome of the Rock" which is the third holiest site of pilgrimage in Islam.(1) The common claim to Abraham is easily seen in the fact that the very same spot is also sacred to the Jews, thought to be the site of the original temple of Solomon. Nearby of course, you will also find several Roman Catholic shrines.
*The New American Standard Version of the Bible mentions Abraham’s name no less than 283 times. Of those references, 67 occur in our New Testament. A character with that kind of coverage has to be important.
*In Isaiah 41:8, God Himself calls this man, "Abraham my friend." He is called "Abraham the believer" by Paul in Galatians 3:9. This latter designation will be the title of our series.
The name his parents gave him was "Abram" which means "Exalted Father" – a rather unlikely name, don’t you think, for a man whose wife was childless well beyond the age of childbearing? But then the God who knows the end from the beginning(2) is not limited by such incongruities. He turned up the heat on that inconsistency many times over when He renamed Abram, "Abraham", which means "Father of a Multitude!"(3)
*The gospel writer, Matthew, dates his genealogy of Jesus from Abraham.(4)
*Luke mentions Abraham prominently in his genealogy.(5)
*Abraham figured eminently in the teaching of Jesus as the Master mentioned him numerous times in His discourses.
*Jesus spoke of Abraham’s role in his graphic account of that pre-New Testament nether-land place called "Hades" and "Abraham’s Bosom" in Luke 16.(6)
*Peter used God’s promise to Abraham to point out to the skeptical Jews in Acts 3 that Jesus is the Messiah.(7)
*Stephen used Abraham as the anchor point of his ill-fated sermon to the Sanhedrin council in Acts 7.(8)
*Paul used Abraham in Romans to teach justification by faith apart from works of human merit.(9) He used him again in Galatians to show the Jews that justification by faith was what God had in mind all along for His people.(10) In Galatians also Paul makes the statement that God "preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham" when He promised him that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.(11)
*The Hebrew writer used Abraham to illustrate the faith with which men gain approval.(12)
*James used him to expose the uselessness of dead, workless faith.(13)
Prominent in history – prominent in Scripture. That’s Abraham. If every reference to him were to suddenly and mysteriously vanish, we would be at a loss to explain much of contemporary history and much of the meaning of our very own Bibles. Isaiah was wise in his exhortation for us to "consider Abraham." Our subject at hand is well worthy of our time and effort.
2. Origins
*According to the reckoning of William Smith in his work, OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY, Abraham was born about 2166 BC, a whopping 4,166 years ago!(14) Smith places the Patriarch’s death at about 1991 BC. Abraham lived 175 years on this earth.
*Abraham was born nine generations after the Great Flood – close enough to that terrible event for man to recall it but again, far enough descended from it that many had forgotten or discounted its significance. He lived in a world that had once again turned its back on the Creator. Abraham was a descendant of one of the three sons of Noah - Shem. He lived his 175 years during that postdiluvian time when life spans were rapidly decreasing.
*Abraham was probably the youngest of the three sons of his father, a man named Terah. According to Joshua 24:2, Terah was an idolater. That passage, spoken to Israel just prior to General Joshua’s death, states clearly, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely Terah, the father of Abraham… and they served other gods.’"
It is tempting to enter into speculation about the kind of upbringing Abraham must have had as he was reared in an idolatrous home, among an idolatrous people – and many have. I’ll refrain from that this morning for the most part. However, I will mention that Jewish tradition has the family of Abraham, before God called him out of Ur, engaged in the trade of idol-making.(15) That same tradition has Abraham stubbornly resisting the idolatry of his family, even to the point of breaking the helpless images into pieces and employing sarcasm in his speeches as a technique of winning over his adversaries.(16) Of course, there is nothing of this sort mentioned in Scripture so we’ll have to leave the speculation there.
*Abraham’s home town, before God called him out of it, was the ancient city of Ur or "Ur of the Chaldeans" as it is called by both Moses and Nehemiah.(17) Ur was a thriving metropolis located just upstream from the convergence of the two great rivers that drained ancient Mesopotamia, the Tigris and Euphrates. These, in turn, dumped into what is today called the Persian Gulf.
A successful businessman was once asked what he thought was the key to a thriving business. He responded "location, location, location." If there is truth to that, and there probably is, then ancient Ur had it all. A city located in a the most fertile river valley in the region, served by a natural conduit to the open sea, it could not help but prosper – and it did. Terah, Abraham’s father, lived there during the period of its greatest prosperity – the so-called Third Dynasty of Ur.(18) The city’s population during that period has been estimated at 500,000 – just a little smaller in number than the city of Portland, Oregon.
*The Chaldeans are noted in history for their study of the heavens. It may be that the so-called Magi or "Wise Men" in the gospel accounts of Jesus birth were Chaldean astrologers, studying the heavens. In the clear, transparent atmosphere of their homeland, the stars and planets blazed with an extraordinary brightness, beguiling them into a system of Nature worship. From them came the pseudo-science of astrology which really began as a system of worshipping the stars and planets.
The idolatrous religious climate of Ur, Abraham’s hometown, reflected this stargazing preoccupation quite notably. Their dedication to the heavenly bodies was visible from miles around the city due to the imposing presence of a huge manmade mountain of brick and tar called the Ziggurat, on top of which was the temple of Nanna, the Moon-god. While there were many shrines and temples dedicated to lesser gods scattered around Ur, Nanna was believed by the city’s inhabitants to be the king of the gods. He was the patron god of Ur in the time of Abraham. It is reasonable to assume that Terah, Abraham’s father, was a moon-worshipper.
As with many such systems of nature worship, this dedication to the creation rather than the Creator quickly degenerated into rites of gross indulgence. Human sacrifice was not unknown. Many years later, the great Apostle Paul would write to the Romans,
"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."(19)
People often say today that if God would just give some sort of miraculous sign, they would believe. Yet even after the destruction of nearly every living thing on the earth in those ancient times, people still rejected the truth.
*The ancient city of Ur has been extensively excavated ion recent times. Hundreds of artifacts in the ruins of the city confirm both its existence and history. Time forbids me to talk about them here other than to say that they confirm the rich prosperity of the city of Ur in Abraham’s day. When Abraham left Ur at the order of the God of Heaven, he was probably leaving a life of great prosperity and luxury – a consequence that is not unknown to worshippers of the God of Heaven today. We’ll talk more of that in the next message.
Let’s move on now to Abraham’s
3. Character
What kind of man was Abraham? Given the things said so far of his prominence and origins, one not better informed might put him somewhere close to perfection. We know, however, that such was not the case.
Herbert Lockyer has probably said it best in his book, ALL THE MEN OF THE BIBLE, when he commented of Abraham, "His character, like the sun, had its spots."(20) Abraham the believer, the so-called "friend of God," while known and appreciated for his great faith, also had some shortcomings.
*He believed God’s promise about making him a great nation, but when his wife faithlessly persuaded him to have children by her handmaid Hagar, he caved in to her wishes. We’re still dealing with the effects of that blunder today. Then there was that shameful time when he sent Hagar and Ishmael away due to the jealousy of his wife Sarah.
*God’s promise to make his descendants as numberless as the sand of the seashore necessarily included the preservation of his physical life so that the promise would be fulfilled. Abraham however, gave in to his fears and left Canaan, the land of promise and fled down to Egypt for a time during a famine.
*Then there were those two times he allowed his wife to be taken into the harems of pagan kings by telling them the half-truth that she was his sister rather than his wife.
Abraham was a man of strong faith but he wasn’t a faultless man. Though the Bible tells the wonderful story of his great contribution to the cause of faith, His humanity certainly bleeds through the pages – which makes Paul’s statement of him in Romans 4:3 all the more meaningful: "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." The point behind the point there is that it took something other than his own performance to justify him.
We’ll move now to the …
4. Benefits
Let me give you a few of the major benefits I anticipate in this study so that you will be assured it is worth your time to pay close attention.
If we were putting together a jigsaw puzzle, we might say that the story of Abraham gives us some key parts of the overall design. God’s promise to Abraham, given to him several times over the course of his lifetime, is really what the rest of the Old Testament (and much of the New) is all about. In fact, though the gospel is primarily a New Testament concept, Paul tells us in Galatians 3:8 that God "preached the gospel beforehand" to Abraham in the mention of His promise. We’ll see more of what that means in this series.
From my perspective, much of the "Christian" world today is caught on the horns of a dilemma – the various denominations pushed by the theology of their founders to one extreme or another. Some say we are justified by faith alone in which the concept of works has no meaning whatsoever. Others say that if you wish to be saved, you must work your way to heaven. I believe you will find in the story of Abraham the believer the blessed harmony between these two concepts – namely that we are saved by a working faith.(21) It’s a concept that is liberating and confidence building.
To assist you in gaining the most in this study, there will be tapes and full manuscripts available of all the messages. You can see Leroy for the tapes and me for the manuscripts. In addition, there will be handouts each week to help you in your note taking.
Conclusion
I’ll end our fly-over this morning with this quote by R. L. Wheeler:
"If I had the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of John, the meekness of Moses, the strength of Samson, the obedience of Abraham, the compassion of Joseph, the tears of Jeremiah, the poetic skill of David, the prophetic voice of Elijah, the courage of Daniel, the greatness of John the Baptist, the endurance and love of Paul, I would still need redemption through Christ's blood, the forgiveness of my sin."
So would I and so would you. That is what we are about here in this church. We have found the way to forgiveness and peace with God and we want to share it with as many as possible while there is time. If you are with us this morning and you don’t know what God’s forgiveness is all about or you don’t know how to receive it – we would love to help you learn. You need only let us know.
Footnotes: (Use your "back" button to return to your place)
1. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99.
2.
Isaiah 46:10
3. Genesis 17:4-5.
4. Matthew 1:1-2, 17.
5. Luke 3:34.
6. Luke 16:23-30.
7.
Acts 3:13, 25.
8. Acts 7:2-32
9. Romans chapter 4.
10. Galatians chapter 3.
11. Galatians 3:8
12. Hebrews 11:8, 17.
13. James 2:21-24
14.
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY by William Smith, Revised by Wilbur Fields,
1970, College Press Publishing, Joplin, MO.
15.
OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY, 1973, Charles Pfeiffer, Baker
Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, p. 55.
16. ABRAHAM, F.B. Meyer, American edition, 1979, p. 12.
17. Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7.
18. OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY, William Smith/Wilbur
Fields, 1970, College Press Publishing, p. 64.
19. Romans 1:20-25
20. ALL THE MEN OF THE BIBLE, Herbert Lockyer, Zondervan, 1958, p. 28.
21. Galatians 5:6; Also James 2:21-24 – "Was
not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was
perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘And Abraham believed God, and
it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God."
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.