God’s Timeline – Part 20 The Call of Abram

 

God’s Timeline – Part 20

The Call of Abram

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

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SERMON INTRODUCTION

 

-         Creation Week

o   Adam, Eve, and the Fall

 

-         Cain and Abel

o   Evil Fills the World

 

-         Noah Did All God Commanded Him

o   The Flood

o   God’s Covenant with Noah

 

-         Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin

-         Nations of Noah’s Sons

-         Tower of Babel

-         God calls Abram

 

 

So, we have looked at the Creation week (4,000 B.C.), to the Flood (approximately 1,600 years later 2,400-2,300 B.C.) and an unspecified time later, the Tower of Babel.

 

What we do know from scripture is the covenant God makes with Abram takes place around 2090 B.C.

 

That means the Tower of Babel took place between 2,400 – 2090 B.C., my guess would be during that 300+ year stretch it took place closer to Abram than the flood because we know that it would take some time for Noah’s sons to have all the children and grandchildren listed in scripture.

 

We know Abram was born in 2165 (Genesis 11:26), so he was 75 when he was called by the Lord in 2090 B.C.

 

 

 

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 12:1-6

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

 

2 “I will make you into a great nation,

    and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

    and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,

    and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

    will be blessed through you.”

 

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

 

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

 

 

 

       I.         THE LORD CALLS ABRAM

a.      “Go where I will show you.”

 

b.     The Lord is our Shepherd, leading us.

 

c.      We are His sheep and should follow in faith and trust.

 

 

   II.         THE COVENANT

a.      God initiates the covenant, not man

 

b.     The promises to Abram

 

 

                                     i.      I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you.

 

                                  ii.      I will make your name great (unlike Tower of Babel)

 

                               iii.      And you will “be a blessing”

 

                                iv.      I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse

 

                                   v.      And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Jesus the Messiah)

 

 

c.      So, Abram went as the Lord told him & Lot went with him

                                     i.      Abram was 75 when he set out from Harran (located inside modern day Turkey)

 

 

III.         ABRAM TRAVELS

a.      Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot

                                     i.      Women are not mentioned very often in scripture, so when they are mentioned it is double important!

 

                                  ii.      They took all their possessions they had accumulated and people they had acquired in Harran and set out for the Land of Canaan.

 

 

b.     SLAVES in the Bible should NOT be interpreted by the lens of American History

 

                                     i.      There are three types of slaves in the bible.

1.      Temporary slaves

2.      Permanent slaves

3.      Actual Slaves

 

                                  ii.      Temporary slaves were people who owed a debt (like modern indentured servants who signed contracts promising to work for a certain number of years to pay off their debt they incurred for transportation to Virginia, as well as a supply of food, clothing and shelter). Once their debt was paid, they were free to leave the servitude.

 

                               iii.      Permanent slaves were people who chose to be a servant for the rest of their lives.  Why? For the benefits of being a servant to a great leader, such as Abram.

1.      It allowed you things you may not be able to get yourself, such as land, livestock, food, shelter, protection of a large clan, etc.

 

2.      Servants (permanent slaves) were to be treated very well by those they serve.

 

                                   iv.      Look at this as modern day “employment”

1.      You serve your employer

2.      You receive compensation for your service

3.      You get benefits for serving your employer whether financial, medical, insurance, vacation pay, etc.

 

 

c.      How did Abram treat his servants?

                                        i.      Look at the way he lived his life, and the fact that God chose him to be the father of many nations representing the Lord and God’s Kingdom.

 

                                     ii.      In the bible we read about;

1.      Abram’s servants were willing to go to war for him

2.      They were allowed to keep their fair share of the bounty

3.      The fact he trained them for war shows he respected and trusted them (they outnumbered him and could have destroyed him)

4.      They in turn respected and followed Abram

 

                                  iii.      Abrams slaves (servants) were allowed to have their own households

                                   iv.      Their own means of income

                                      v.      They were paid for their services

                                   vi.      They were allowed to keep the spoils of war

                                vii.      Slaves in bible times should be referred to as servants

 

 

 

CONCLUSION –

 

What would happen if you mistreated a servant today?  They would probably leave and sue you!

 

The bible speaks about this matter, and even calls kidnapping a death penalty offense.

 

How did America’s 17^th-19^th century slave trade take place? Beginning with kidnapping!

 

The biblical slave (with the exception of actual slaves such as the case with the Israelites in Egypt, for example) is NOT the same as the colonial European slave trade we all know from high school history class.

 

Bible slaves (temporary and permanent) should be referred to as servants.

 

The bible lists limits as well as defines how they are to be treated, and the punishments for mistreatments as well.

 

Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 15

 

 

Next week we will read about Abram and Lot parting ways (Genesis 13)

 

 

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