bibleteacher.org: studies by Brother Thimothy

Book of Genesis consists of 8 God’s people history. Adam. Abel, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

14 chapters were devoted to life of Abraham. Major part of Hebrews chapter 11 is devoted to Abraham. In New Testament Abraham was mentioned 74 times.

Abraham friend of God

On three occasions Abraham is called the friend of God.“Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever” (2 Chronicles 20:7)“But thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend” (Isaiah 40:8).“And the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the friend of God” (James 2:23).

For sinners the greatest blessing is to be called the sons of God. One of the great blessings for a believer in this world is to be friend of God. Lord Jesus Christ said “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that fruit should remain: that what so ever ye shall ask of the father in my name he shall give it to you” (John 15:16). Friends are the real one who follow and obey. God ordained his friends to go and bring forth fruit, produce eternal fruit, and obtaining every thing from God.

God wants his disciples to be his friends. God said “How shall I hide from Abraham that things which I do” (Genesis 18:17). Gods secrets are revealed to his friends. “No good thing will be with hold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

It is not amazing that a man can be called “the friend of God”. Mysteries, which are hidden from the angels and Gods prophets and great men, yet revealed to those who become the friends of Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12).

Abraham Father of all believers

When we pray most of us used to pray “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. So there is lot of importance to the name of Abraham. Mathew 1:1 starts with Abraham not with Adam. Through Adam sin came into this world where as through Abraham separation from the world came or new race began. “The book of generations of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham”. Mathew 1:1. Jews claimed Abraham has their father. They called him as “our father” (Romans 4:1). Through Christ “he became the father of all that who believe” (Romans 4:11).

First appearance of God to Abraham

Birth Of Abraham

Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram. Nahor and Haran (Genesis 11:26). Terah was one hundred and thirty years old when Abraham was born. Abraham was born in Ur of Chaldees (Genesis 11:28), which is in the provenance of Mesopotamia. The name Ur means light. Chaldea means demonic. In turn Ur of Chaldea means “light of Demons”. Abraham was in this situation. Mesopotamia means “between the rivers”. The river ‘Euphrates’ and the ‘Tigres’ surrounded it. Between these two rives Mesopotamia is a great plain land. Chaldea is a part of Mesopotamia. All these geographical places give us that Abraham was bounded in demonic world of idols.

Sarah Introduced

But Sarai was barren; she had no child (Genesis 11:30). Sarai is 10 years younger than Abram. It is sad that Sarai was introduced in this way. But God had a purpose in her. God kept her barrenness until there is no strength in her and Abraham.

Person	Relation
Abram	Son
Nahor	Son
Haran	Son
Sarai	Abram’s wife
Milcah	Nahor’s wife
Lot	Haran’s son
Joshua
Stephen

God appeared to Abraham at Mesopotamia

First time God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2). Here along with brothers and Father &Wife he was practicing idol worship (Joshua 24:2). Idols have demons behind the scenes. We should not worship idols. "God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth." (John 4:24). We need to "Guard yourselves from idols." (1John 5:21). The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 7:25 ). We “changed the glory of incorruptible God into the image made like to corruptible man and to the birds and four footed beasts and creeping things” (Romans 1:23). And for some entertainment , profession , status are their idols. God appeared to the people like Abraham and unto us. “It is just the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) “not of works lest any (you and me) should boast “ ( Ephesians 2:9).

God appeared to Abram in Glory

God’s appearance to Abraham is purely based on the Gods mercy not on Abrams merits. It makes us surprise why people just followed Christ when he called them by telling, “Follow me”. Mathew 4:16 says “The people which sat in darkness saw great light and to then which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.” This light attracted people. Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers and he said unto them “Follow me I will make you fishers of men” (Mathew 4:18). And they straightaway left their nets and followed him (Mathew 4:20).In the same way when we yet sinners God called us. His calling is not accidental. God predestined it. (Ephesians1: 4 -6). He called us because before the foundations of earth God has chosen us. He had chosen us to make us holy and blameless. He is going to glorify us (Romans 8:28). When we called by God. There is a deep joy in our hearts, which was unspeakable. “Ye rejoice with joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8). So, there is nothing in us to boast. But we need to ensure that we are in Gods calling or not. Blessed are those who are called by God.

God’s word in First appearance

“Get thee out of thy country and thy kindred”. God had two commands in his first appearance “Get out of thy country” (Acts 7:2 ) and “Leave your kindred”. Even we wont see any promise connected with these two commands. In further appearances it confirms that For obeying the first command he is going to Give a land. This was promised in the second appearance of God to Abraham(Genesis 12: 1) . And For obeying the second command God promised Make you a great nation. This also promised in his second appearance ( Genesis 12:1) . So, in turn Abraham had two commands to obey and from God’s perspective two promises he needs to fulfill.

Terah bought Abram to Haraan

We wont see that Abram taken initiative to come out of Mesopotamia but Terah taken his entire family from Ur to Haraan. Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haraan, and dwelt there (Genesis 11:31). Whenever we received Gods call or message we need to obey perfectly. Here we can observe Abram needs Terah to obey Gods command. Even God used Terah to bring Abraham out of Ur. Terah is not sufficient to fulfill Gods command. Terah brought Abraham only up to Haraan. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haraan. (Genesis 11:32)

Our Christian systems in this world may not sufficient to fulfill Gods command. We need to reach Canaan, not Haraan. Our systems help to leave idols and live a good life to some extent. But doesn’t serve the full purpose of God. God purpose needs to be fulfilled by coming into Canaan. Canaan shows the church life. Canaan is a place where we can have fellowship and enjoy His presence with people. Haran is the place where Isaac ( Genesis 24 ).

Terah Died in Haran

In Mesopotamia Haran died (Genesis 11:28 ). After that Terah bought the family to Haran (Genesis 11:31). Haran means dry. Whether as person or place, Haran is Haraan. It means dry. While Journeying to Canaan we should not allow Haran to stay long time. Dryness should not be there. Haran died as person in Ur. But Terah and Abram ended up in Haraan. They should not stay long there. Staying there shows us “Dry” Life. They have to leave this place as soon as possible. But they stayed there. Distance between Mesopotamia and Haran is 500 miles, which might have taken 15 days journey approximately.

First appearance notable points

In First appearance of God to Abraham, Abraham doesn’t obeyed God. We don’t know exact reason. May be young to take this decision or not concerned much about it. And he shared the information with Terah & others. Haran died. Terah initiated bringing out Abram from Ur to Haraan. It shows us even we are not obeyed to God. God under his own sovereignty he does his work He never fails. He uses people like Terah when ever He needs. But Terah is no sufficient for our whole Journey. Important in this is Gods appearance to Abraham and His calling. Did God appear to you? . Are you in His calling? Blessed are those called by God .

Second appearance of God to Abraham

Now the LORD had said unto Abram

In Genesis 1:1 the name of God is “Elohim” (Genesis 1:1). In Genesis 12:1 his name is “Jehovah”. Jesus is the name of New Testament God “and he shall bring forth a son and though shall call his name JESUS (Mathew 1:21). Jesus means, “Jehovah is my saviour” since the name of Jesus includes Jehovah we may say that Jesus is New Testament Jehovah and Jehovah was Old Testament Jesus.

Jehovah appeared to Abram (Genesis 12:1)

In Gods first appearance he mentioned that "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred"(Acts 7:2). In second appearance he added a new item " and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee". (Genesis 12:2) His father Terah bought Abram out of the country to Haran “and the days of Terah were two fifty years and Terah died in Haran (Genesis 11:32). But God wants Abram to leave his father's house. Abraham needs to sacrifice his family to obey completely to the Gods command.

Gods word in Second appearance of God

“Now the Lord hath saith unto Abraham Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house unto a land that I will she thee. And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”.

3 Fold Gods command

Two of the God’s commands in this appearance are repetition of the commands in the first appearance. The third command is “Leave your fathers house” (Genesis 12:2). Terah brought Abraham to Haran. Terah died in Haran. God commanded him to leave his father’s house. God’s call was so strong and specific to Abraham. It is very hard decision to take. But Abraham has to obey, but he didn’t obeyed completely. In the similar way when we come to New Testament Lord Jesus Christ said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26). In order to obey his call in all our daily activities we need to put Lord Jesus Christ has first. This is very very difficult to put into practice but we willingly and joyfully put this in practice we will enjoy the Gods presence and his grace in all our ways. We will become better children of God.

7 fold blessings to Abram

a. I will make of thee a great nation: In first appearance of God to Abraham we observed that “But sarai was barren. She had no child” . But God was talking about great nation. As we learned a lesson as a children of Abraham through Christ every believer have this promise. We strive a lot of to proclaim the gospel but we never succeeded. We are barren in giving spiritual birth. But Gods promise to each one of us is “I will made thee a great nation” through us God want to work in other person one by one many people will be saved. We are all become Gods family. This will be possible only through Christ with out Christ we are barren.

Abraham will be a blessed person. because god blessed him. God blessed him both spiritually and materially. God wants us to receive blessings through God. Day-by-Day he wants us to enjoy him. Specifically here God promised the blessing of the spirit. This we can found in Galatians 3:14 “Through the work of Jesus Christ God has blessed the gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham and we Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith”.

f. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed: This is the first time that Gospel was preached. Gospel was not preached from Mathew 1:1 Preaching of Gospel was started in Genesis 12:2. This was confirmed by Paul in Galatians 3:8 “And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify that the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations be blessed”.

9 Fold Spiritual Blessings to all called ones

In the same way God blessed all who responded to the Gospel with "all spiritual blessings" (Ephesians 1:3). Spiritual blessings are 9 fold.

These 9 fold spiritual blessings came to us by responding to the Gospel. Responding to Gospel is also work of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit makes us to

Faith is the work and gift of God in the soul (Romans 10:1-9, Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 2:8-9)

Mathew 1:1 says “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham”. Now as sons of Jesus Christ we can inherit all the blessings given to Abraham as well as all the blessing mentioned in Ephesians 1:1-14. Blessings mentioned in Ephesians 1:1-14 are planed by the father, purchased by the son, and presented by the Spirit. There is no need from our part we need to do, we just need to enjoy these blessings. It was not by using our mind but by the enlightenment. Our enlightenment comes again from the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:15 – 23). So we need to pray that we might know God, Gods calling, Gods riches & Gods power other wise we may miss the mark.

Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him:

Abram departed from Haraan, which is a dry land. We need to praise God for t that. Even a called one is in Dry land. God visits and gives him blessings but we need to come out of dry land. We should not spend much time in the Dry land. We should not be babes in Gods understanding. We need to enlighten with the blessings what God bestowed on us. We need to get out Haraan. “Seasons of refreshments comes out from the presence of God”. (Acts 3:19). “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.” (Hebrews 11: 8) Abraham obeyed God’s calling and went out of Haran (Genesis 12:4) by faith. God removed Abraham into the Land of Canaan (Acts 7:4).

Lot went with him

God told Abraham that "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:" (Genesis 12:1). It means that Abraham has to leave Lot in Haraan. In Ur God doesn’t mention about father's house. In Ur he just told "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house unto the land that I will show thee" (Acts 7:2). Here he added "...from thy fathers house"(Genesis 12:1). Abraham obeyed God "So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him"(Genesis 12:7). Lot is a close relative to Abram. This made Abram to allow. Lot to come along with him. Abram doesn’t have sons. Lot is like son (own brothers son). Abram is growing older and became 75 years old. Lot means, “Veil”. Covering. e.t.c. It is true in our case. When Gods calls us there is a lot of wrapper by our relatives around us to fulfill Gods calling. We need to remove that covering in order to obey fully Gods Word. What we can learn here is Even Abram moved out of Haran with faith but obeyed Gods word partially. God was so specific what and all Abraham has to leave but Lot went with Abram. it made lot of loss to Abram to recover. Because of Lot here is a strife between the servants of Lot and Servants of Abraham. Abraham has to fight against 4 kings e.t.c. Lot left Abraham after there is a quarrel between Abraham’s servants and Lot Servants.

Abraham Reached Canaan:

Until they reached Canaan God doesn’t told which place he has to go. Abraham reached a high place called Canaan. "And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haraan; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came." (Genesis 12:4,5). He taken every thing from Haraan. Only things needs to deal now is Lot. Canaan signifies the Good land. Church life in turn Christ it self. Christ is our Canaan, Church life is our Canaan.

Conclusion:

In this Chapter we found that God blessed Abraham with seven fold blessings. And he left Haran with faith. Lot also went forth to go to the Land of Canaan. Now Abraham is in Canaan. In next chapter we will see how God appeared to Abraham, which is 3^rd appearance of God to Abraham.

God Appeared to Abraham in Moreh

The Lord appeared to Abraham

"And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him" (Genesis 12:7) This was the third appearance of God to Abraham When God appeared first time He told “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.” (Acts 7:3). Terah brought Abraham out of Mesopotamia after Haran died. (Genesis 11:31).

When God appeared second time God said “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1). “So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;” (Genesis 12:4).” 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.” (Hebrews 11:8).

In the third appearance “And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land:” (Genesis 12:8). After Lot departure God appeared and added “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:15). Apostle Paul explained this vesrs clearly that God doesn’t promise to children but to a child and it is permanent. This can be fulfilled in Christ only (Galatians 3:16).

God appeared to Abraham at a place called “Moreh” (Genesis 12:6). Here God appeared to Abraham based on His obedience. Abraham came to the right place Canaan (Genesis 12:7). In Moreh God told him definite place where the land of promise and promised to give this land to his seed. Here the land represents Christ and His kingdom.

Abraham built an altar

In Bible before Abraham only Noah built an altar (Genesis 8:20). In Genesis 8:20 God made a covenant with Noah. Here with Abraham built an altar because God made a promise to Abraham regarding his seed and land. This is Abraham's first altar. Placing an altar testifies that he was a worshipper of living God. In our journey where ever we move we need to build an altar. Abraham built altars in 4 places.

Altar is not a tower nor city

"And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."(Genesis11: 2-4). They want a city with tower, which reaches the sky. That means they want to make a name. They want a monument to show their greatness. They want to be united. God doesn’t want us to build towers and cities. But he desires our worship, which can be found in altar and tent.

Altar and tent between Bethel and Ai

“Bethel” means “house of God” and “Ai” means “heap of ruins”. Ai and Bethel are contradicting each other. Bethel is a place where the called ones are gathered. The remaining is a heap of ruins. First we had an altar in Moreh. It shows our individual worship to God in our houses. Now we have an altar between Bethel and AI. Which shows our corporate worship. Altar is a place to worship God and testimony to "heap of ruins".

Every believer who is called by God must have worship personally and also corporately. He must have altar at home and between house of God and to the world.

Life with out an altar and tent is a life of Egypt. In Egypt we wont find any tent or altar (Genesis 12:14-20). In Egypt only pyramids will be there just as at Babel we have city and tower (Genesis 11:1-6). As children of Abraham we need to set up altar at homes and altar for worshipping God and also as a testimony to this world. Let us behave as sons of faith.

Abraham pitched his tent

He didn’t built a city. He can built since he was wealthy and came to a place where God shown to him. He recognized he was a man on the move. He had no permanent city. " "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 11:9-10).

In the same way our missionary journey in this world should establish altars and tents by looking unto the Jesus.

Called upon the name of the Lord

By record in the Bible we can see Abraham is the first person called upon God (Genesis 12:8). We are sure People like Adam, Abel, Enoch & Noah are prayed. But by record Abraham is the first person called upon the Lord. The "Called upon the lord" can be understood in two ways. One is simple prayer, which means he prayed for his protection e.t.c in other way we can understand as he proclaimed the name of the Lord, which means he preached about the true God. Many commentators support the second thought.

First appearance of God to Abraham

Person

Relation

Terah Died in Haran

Second appearance of God to Abraham

God Appeared to Abraham in Moreh