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. 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. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 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. 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. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.
Genesis 12:4-20
Abraham had been set free from the ties of nature, though at the painful cost of death coming into the family circle. After his father was removed by death, Abraham obeyed the call, as we read, “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.”
He took Lot, his nephew, with him, and Lot with his worldly-mindedness would prove an encumbrance to him. In the case of his father, Abraham who was called allowed nature to lead, for “Terah took Abram,” and this became a deadly hindrance. In the case of the nephew, Abraham took the lead, for we read “Abram took...Lot,” and therefore, while this might become a weight, it did not hinder faith answering the call.
When nature took the lead, we read, “They went forth...from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan.” But they never reach the land under the leading of Terah. Now, when faith takes the lead we again read, “They went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came” (v. 5).
A Contrast
Arriving in Canaan, they found “the Canaanite was then in the land.” This is deeply significant. Of Abraham, God had said, “I will bless thee.” Of Canaan, God had said, “Cursed be Canaan.” God brought Abraham—the man of blessing—into the land of promise, but he at once discovered that the devil had already brought into that very land the man of the curse. In this way the devil sought to thwart the purpose of God and hinder the man of faith from entering into possession of the land.
A Comparison
So it is with the Christian. He is called out of the present world, he is a partaker of the heavenly calling, he is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. But, answering to the call and leaving the world, he finds that he is opposed by “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The believer that seeks to enter into his spiritual blessings will find there is arrayed against him spiritual wickedness seeking to prevent him from taking the heavenly ground that is the only true portion of the Church.
For Abraham, Ur was in the past; the possession of the land was yet future. In the meantime he had neither the world that he had left, nor the better world to which he was going. This, too, is the position of the Christian who answers the call of God. He has left this present evil world and he has not yet reached the world to come.
What then, we may ask, is the portion of the one who answers the call, and what will sustain him in this place outside the present world order and not yet enjoying the world to come? Here the story of Abraham is rich with instruction and encouragement.
The Obedience of Faith
First note that the great principle on which Abraham acted was the principle of faith. Obviously, if he had left one world, and had not reached the other, he had nothing for natural sight. It is not that he did not see, but, what he saw was by faith. Thus we read, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed”; and, again; “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise.” He and his own lived by faith, and finally we read, “These all died in faith” (Heb. 11:8-9, 13).
The Path of Faith
Answering the call of God on faith, Abraham and those with him became “strangers and pilgrims.” As the Holy Spirit in the New Testament can say of them, they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). This comes before us very strikingly in his history. In Haran, where Abraham was detained for a time, we read, he “dwelt there”; but when he arrived in the land, we read he “pitched his tent” as one that had no certain dwelling place. Moreover, we read that he “passed through the land.” As a stranger he had only a tent in this world; as a pilgrim he was passing through to another world.
The Portion of Faith
Thirdly, we learn what sustained Abraham in this pilgrim path. We are told, “The Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Mark well these two things. First, the twice repeated statement “the Lord appeared” to him; secondly, the land was set before him as a future possession. He pursued his journey as a stranger and a pilgrim in the light of the glory of the God who had called him, and the blessedness of the land to which he was going. So we read in the New Testament, “He looked for a city which hath foundations,” and again, he looked for “a better country, that is, an heavenly” (Heb. 11:10,16).
Nor is it otherwise with ourselves. It is only as we have Christ Himself before us in His glory and the blessedness of the heavenly home to which we are going that we shall, in any measure, bear the stranger and pilgrim character. It is not enough to know the doctrine of Christ, and that heaven lies before us at the end of the journey, but, like the Apostle, the desire of each heart should be, “That I may know Him,” and “apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:10,12).
Taking a place outside this world order in answer to the call, it is possible to grow in our personal acquaintance with the Lord Himself, for He has said, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”
The Response of Faith
After the Lord appeared to Abraham, we immediately read, “There builded he an altar” This surely speaks of worship. In the Epistle to the Hebrews those who “go forth” to Christ outside the camp not only take up their pilgrim character as having no continuing city, but they become worshippers who “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually” (Heb. 13:13-15).
Abraham not only realized something of the glory of the land in the far future, but he caught a glimpse of the glory of the One that had appeared to him. The gift of the land might well call forth his thanksgiving, but the blessedness of the Giver made him a worshipper. This always happens, for worship is the outflow of a heart that is filled with the glory of the Person we adore.
Resource of Faith
Fifthly, Abraham “called upon the Name of the Lord.” This speaks of dependence on the Lord. Whatever his needs, whatever the privations of his pilgrim journey, whatever opposition he may have to meet, whatever temptations might cross his path, he had an unfailing resource—he could call on the Name of the Lord.
In every day of difficulty the godly find their resource in the Lord. In the day of ruin before the flood there were those who, like Cain, “went out from the presence of the Lord”; but, there were also the godly who “began...to call upon the Name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:16,26). So in the dark days of Malachi the godly found their resource in the Lord, for we read, they “thought upon His Name” (Mal. 3:16). In the early days of the Church, believers were known as those who “called on this Name” (Acts 9:21). In the midst of their persecutions it was to the Lord that they turned. And in the midst of the ruin of these last days, we are assured that there will be still those “that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22).
However striking the faith of Abraham, we are made to realize that he is a man of like passions with ourselves. No one takes the path of faith without being tested. The test is allowed to uncover to us on the one hand our weakness, and on the other the grace and faithfulness of God, “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Heb. 13:6).
The Faithlessness of Abraham
In Abraham’s history the test came in the form of a famine. It was a severe test for “the famine was grievous in the land.” If the Lord allowed the famine, the Lord could surely meet the needs of His own in the famine. However, under the pressure of his need, Abraham allowed the circumstances to come between his soul and the Lord. Instead of calling on the Lord, he followed the dictates of mere reason, or common sense, and, for a time, stepped out of the path of faith and “went down into Egypt.” Instead of counting on God to sustain him, he went to the world for help.
Having taken this false step, he found that though his immediate needs were met, he was faced with fresh difficulties occasioned by his false position. He feared that he would be killed in order to satisfy the lusts of Egypt.
Having taken a position in which he could no longer count on God to preserve him, he was left to his own resources to meet this fresh difficulty. He sank below the level of the world and acted a lie. With this equivocation he sought to protect himself at the expense of his wife.
Unbelief, carrying its own judgment, constantly leads into the very evil one seeks to avoid. As it has been said, “The sons of men would build a tower lest they should be scattered abroad, and the Lord scattered them because they built it. Abram, fearing lest Pharaoh should take his wife, says she is his sister (as God would not preserve him), and therefore Pharaoh takes her into his house” (J. N. DARBY). So again, at a later day in similar circumstances, Elimelech left the land of God in order to escape the fear of death by famine, only to find that death awaited him in the land of Moab (Ruth 1:1-5).
By this false step, Abraham found relief from his immediate need, and even acquired riches, but at what a cost. For in Egypt he could pitch no tent and raise no altar, nor call on the Name of the Lord.
The Faithfulness of Abraham’s God
Yet in spite of failure, God is faithful to His own. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God does not give up His people when they break down. He acts on our behalf, though we have to suffer for our folly. Thus it was that God acted on behalf of his failing servant. We read, “the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.”
In result, when the deceit was discovered, Abraham was dismissed by the world, for Pharaoh says, “Behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.” And Pharaoh took care that he did go, for he “commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.” Alas when the world dismisses the people of God, not because of their faithful witness to God, but because of their own shameful conduct! Thus, in the goodness of God, His poor servant Abraham was set free from a false position, but not without reproach and shame.
Oh, what is all that earth can give?
I’m called to share in God’s own joy.
Dead to the world, in Thee I live,
In Thee I’ve bliss without alloy:
Well may I earthly things resign;
“All things” are mine, and I am Thine!
Till Thou shalt come to take me home,
Be this my one ambition, Lord,
Self, sin, the world, to overcome,
Fast clinging to Thy faithful Word:
More of Thyself each day to know,
And more into Thine image grow.