Abram hears from the LORD
Gen 11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Abram had two brothers.
Gen 11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
Lot was Abrams nephew.
Gen 11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
Lots father died in Ur.
Gen 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
Gen 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
This is important, Sarai and Abram could have no children, naturally.
Gen 11:31 And 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 Haran, and dwelt there.
Terah, the father of Abram was on his way to Canaan. Along with him was his grandson Lot, Abrams nephew, Abram's wife Sarai, his half sister and his wife; they came to the city of Haran.
Terah means delay.
There are thousands today who have left Ur and come to Haran and settled down there, who will die there. The word Haran means "parched," and it is indeed a parched and barren place to live. Many, like Terah, have left the world and its ways; they have joined a church. They have got religion. They live moral lives, while they sing the songs of Zion and go through the outward motions of faith. But they will never go farther than Haran. They are dying there; they are religious, but not born again. What a parched experience that is.
Gen 11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Abram's father Terah died in Haran at he age of two hundred five. No longer were people living 900 years, but they still were living longer than what God limited man's life span; to one hundred twenty years, after the flood.
Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:
The LORD had said to Abram: Leave your country, your relatives, and from your father's house, unto a land I will show you. They were headed there before they stopped to dwell in Haran. God had called him and he was to leave his land, his kin and his father's house behind.
You must no longer depend upon what you have been depending on -- the opinions, the attitudes, the philosophy in which you have been reared. These are wrong. They are based upon the lies of Satan and you must not live on this basis any longer. You must learn to accept the truth reflected in the Word of God, though it cuts right across the philosophy of this world. You must, above all, leave your father's house, that is, dependence upon yourself.
We are also called, we are to leave behind the old idols and lifestyle, denying our old Adam nature and to follow Jesus.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mark 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
Mark 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Mark 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Covenant with Abram
Gen 12:2 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:
Gen 12:3 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.
1. A great nation
Not only a nation of people but a Spiritual nation of those of faith in the promises of God.
Gal 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
2. blessing, make name great, be a blessing
Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
John 5:44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
3. bless those who bless thee, curse those who curse thee
Jesus spoke:
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
The blessings come by faith and obedience.
4. All families of the earth blessed in you, in Jesus
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
John 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Gen 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
Abram departed, he moved out, he obeyed the LORD.
Gen 12:5 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 Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
Sarai, means princess. They had arrived in the land of Canaan, with cattle, possessions, Lot and their servants.
Gen 12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
Sichem, means shoulder, strength
plain: 'elown , tree, great tree, terebinth,oak, unto the oak of Moreh.
Moreh, means instruction
Abram was instructed by God. The word of God and the power of God is our strength. We walk by the word of God and the leading of God, by faith.
Psa 119:105 NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Gen 12:7 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.
The LORD promised the land that Abraham walked on to his future seed. He built an altar at the place of instruction, in Moreh, which was inhabited by idolatrous Canaanites. The cursed people of Ham. An altar is a place of worship and also a place of offering a blood sacrifice for sin.
The cross of Jesus is our daily cleansing from sin.
1 Cor 15:31 ... I die daily.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gen 12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
Bethel means, house of God and Hai means, ruin. The walk of faith is toward the things of God or toward the ruin of the flesh. We walk in the Spirit of God or in the flesh. Here he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon His name. We hear from God and walk in the Spirit. We are continually learning in our spiritual walk. We continue to walk as pilgrims in the light of God. Our resting place is the city of God.
Heb 11:8 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.
Heb 11:9 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:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Gen 12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Everyone is living in one of three places -- Ur, Haran, or Canaan.
Ur is the land of death and darkness, the land into which we were born. Haran is the half-way house where we gain the outward appearance of being religious but where there is no inward reality. Canaan is the land of power and blessing, the place of the Spirit's fullness.
Where are you now and where are you going?
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