God’s promises are closely linked to His purpose to save us! Keep this fact in mind as you study His promises. Every promise in the Bible relates to God’s plan to offer salvation and eternal life to all mankind, help us become like Jesus, bring final judgment on Satan and unbelievers, restore Eden, and establish His heavenly kingdom on earth.
Today we look at critical links between the garden’s tragic events, the judgment of the great flood, and God’s promise to Abram. How do God’s promises link these events?
Think about the garden. What happened there and what were God’s promises? God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, He had created for them. They were innocent, not knowing good from evil. His first promise was a warning not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They disobeyed and brought death upon themselves and all the human race. Physical death and spiritual alienation from God are the results of disobedience to God.
God’s second promise is directed at Satan and foreshadows how One would come to defeat him, “crush his head.” God has a plan to redeem us and the gospel is on God’s mind in this promise. Time passes and people have become very corrupt and evil. God discerns the thoughts and intent of people’s hearts are controlled by wickedness.
God decides to destroy the inhabitants of the earth and start over but He needs someone to carry on His redemptive plan. As the Bible tells us, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”Genesis 6:8. Noah and his three sons build the ark and God keeps his promise and saves their families and the animals. Noah has three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japeth. The earth will be repopulated through these men but it is Shem through whom God’s salvation plan will be advanced.
Genesis 10 and 11 chronicle the generations of Noah’s sons; almost 300 years pass from the flood until the birth of Abram in Genesis 11:26. Shem is the progenitor of the generations that lead to Terah and his son, Abram. This is the link between God’s promise to Noah and the promise God will make to Abram concerning His plan. Three hundred years elapse but God doesn’t forget His promises. He knows what He’s doing and you can depend on His word.
God plans to save us. Abram, later called Abraham, will become a key player in God’s plan. At the close of Genesis 11, we see that Terah has moved his family from Ur to Haran. Abram, Sarai, and Lot go with Terah from Ur to Haran. Abram’s father, Terah, dies at age 205 in Haran.
In Genesis 12 we get a clearer picture of God’s plan and His promise to fulfill it through Abram. Abram is on the move again. At age seventy-five Abram leaves Haran and heads toward Canaan as God instructed him. Here is the promise God made to Abram about His plan to save mankind,
“Go forth from your country, and your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I shall show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1
What does this promise include? A land that God will show him, make a great nation through him, make his name great so he will bless all the families of the earth, and bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. What we do not see is how the Lord is going to do this. (We know what is going to happen but Abram does not.)
Some serious things happen after Abram, Sarai, and Lot get to Canaan. He and his family go to Egypt to escape the famine, he lies to the pharaoh about Sarai being his sister, becomes rich, and gets escorted out of Egypt.
After returning to Canaan, quarrels break out between his and Lot’s herdsmen over pasture land. To keep the peace between them, Abram allows Lot to choose any land he wants; he takes the valley near Sodom. War breaks out among some neighboring kings, Sodom is ransacked and Lot and his possessions are taken. Abram gathers his small army, rescues Lot, and returns him and his possessions to Sodom. Abram begins to realize he is in a dangerous place.
Several years have passed since God made the promise we saw in Genesis 12:1. Abram has obeyed God but fulfillment has not happened. (God sometimes delays but He never forgets His promises to us.)
God comes to him in a vision to ally his fears, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1
Abram questions God, “O Lord God, what will you give me since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Since you have given me no offspring, one born in my house is my heir.” The Lord gives Abram a direct answer as to how the promise will be accomplished, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. ” Genesis 15:2-5
To consider:
What is God planning to do about our sin problem?
How do Noah and Abram fit into God’s plan?
What specific promises did God make to Abram concerning His plan?
What concern does Abram have about God’s promise?
TO BE CONTINUED……