This week’s “Wednesday Word” is a summary of Dr. Wellum’s exposition of Genesis 12 from Sunday March 16, 2008.

In Noah, God preserved the human race; however, the idolatry of Babel would lead to the confusion of languages and the creation of many nations.  In Abraham, God plucks out one man from the now dispersed human race and purposes through him a means of blessing to all the nations.  Abraham is called by God to leave his idolatrous kindred and his homeland and go to the land which God would reveal to him (12:1).  It is here in the context of this calling that God first reveals his covenant with Abraham and assures him of his plans to make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great that he might be a blessing to all the nations (12:2). 

This Abrahamic Covenant, initiated here in chapter 12, is picked up three more times throughout the course of Genesis.  Chapter 15 speaks of the inauguration of this covenant between God and Abraham where Abraham envisions a fiery torch passing through the pieces of the animals, signifying that it is God alone who will sustain the covenant.   In chapter 17, circumcision is established as the sign of the covenant between God and his people.  And finally, in chapter 22, Abraham is tested and found faithful, resulting in God’s recollection of the covenant, “‘And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’”   

There is clear tension between the unconditional nature of the covenant’s inauguration in chapter 15 and its depiction as being based on Abraham’s obedience in chapter 22.  Is the covenant carried out on the basis of God’s faithfulness alone, or is the covenant’s future subject to the level of obedience of those who find themselves within it?  Abraham, together with the rest of Israel’s most faithful, though they will have much success within the covenant, ultimately will fall short of God’s standard for obedience.  Clearly, then, the only hope for God’s promise to Abraham is that it is sustained and upheld by God alone.   However, the need for obedience still remains.  How then will God justly keep his word? 

The pattern of disobedience will remain unbroken until the arrival of the one man, Jesus Christ, who will obey on behalf of all those who find their faith in him.   In Jesus Christ, God passes through the animal pieces and upholds his covenant with Abraham.  Only those who find themselves united with this perfectly obedient son will receive the blessings promised to Abraham.
 
“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (1 Cor 1:20).

Audio from this week’s lesson: Genesis 12.

~TDG