Abraham the Father of all Believers

Introduction

Abraham lived 175 years  and yet we know little of his life. Almost everything deals with the expected seed. Although there has been previous announcements of the coming Redeemer  these were in veiled form. But with Abraham, the expectation of the “seed” became the all-prevailing chief thought.

 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, And to your seed, that ids Christ.  (Gal 3:16)

The prevailing thought  of the Patriarch’s life  “the expectation of the seed”  which  occupies scarcely little of his  personal life, but almost exclusively, in nearly every chapter, with  his expectation of the promised heir. The sight of Messiah’s day was the summit of his life.. The Lord Jesus in the N.T  speaks of the joy of Abraham.  

“Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)

What most remarkable point  about Abraham’s faith, is that he looked forward to Jesus’s day   Hebrews reminds us  Ch11:13  “all these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance”

1..The Free character of Salvation  In    

     Justifying and  glorifying

Although the promise of blessing to Abraham  was given in Gen Ch.12 and re-confirmed in Ch.13  It wasn't till Ch.15 that the most significant event happened.

In Gen Ch.15   God concludes with Abraham the covenant of faith, and it is in verses that we the Divine declaration of Justification.

In the Divine promise, the Lord gave assurance through his seed , but the human predicament of Abraham was that he was childless and advancing in years.  In the natural situation the situation was hopeless (v1-3)

 

But the promise of an heir through Abraham was most significant (v4)  And behold, the word of  the LORD came unto him saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own loins. Shall be thine heir. The seed was to  come forth from his line, (no substitute, not Eliezer  nor Ishmael   these were of human effort)

The Lord showed him the starry sky and confirmed his descendents would be in such number Abraham grasped God’s promise which ultimately centred in the greater Isaac (the Messiah) and resulted in justification.

   

Then he believed  in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him for righteousness. (v6)

Rom, 4:3   For what saith the Scriptures? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for  righteousness.          

Thus the gospel given to the Church age was foreshadowed in the covenant with Abraham. The new covenant is the continuation and glorious perfection of that former covenant. With justification  that Abraham received  there also came  the assurance of inheritance

Gen 15:7   I am the LORD who caused thee to migrate out of Ur of Chaldees, so as to give you this land for an inheritance With the declaration of righteousness - this beginning of new life the Patriarch received at the same time this inheritance, the goal of this new life. (see Hebrews 11:8-10)

There has to be this separation from the old former life into this new beginning, a new life motivated by the Spirit.

2. .The Central Basis of Salvation  The Resurrection  Power  of  God.

Not  only the sacrifice, but  also the victory of the sacrifice is necessary for the completion of redemption.

Paul reminds us in 1Cor. 15:17   And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.

The birth of Isaac was a  ultimate high point  in his  spiritual  journey. Abraham’s faith was being steadily educated towards this point.

1. His surrender of Country and kindred

2. His separation from Lot a possible heir

3. His rejection of his own plans and hopes for Ishmael

Abraham is the Father of all believers (Rom 4:11).

As such he is not only the

 beginning but the pattern of all believing experience.

There are 4 chief principles which in connection with him are plainly introduced  for the first time into the history of Salvation.

The Free character of Salvation  In Justifying and glorifying

The Central basis of Salvation   the resurrection power of God

The mediator of salvation     the coming Seed

The goal of Salvation    the heavenly City

The original promise given to Abraham in Gen Ch.12  “His  promise of a son” was when he was 75 years of age. It wasn’t till 25 years later that Isaac was born.

In Romans Ch.4 v18-22   Abraham considered his body dead with regards bearing a son.Yet He believed the promise given to him by the LORD

Heb.Ch.11:11 Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child. When she was past age

The promised seed was given, but the enaction if it  figuratively portrayed  “Life out of death” “Isaac was born out of death deathless of the womb”

The birth of Isaac also mirrored the birth of the Messiah who was born at his set time, Isaac was born at God’s given time, Abraham could not had anything to bring it about even though he tried through own human efforts.

Abraham’s faith had become a resurrection faith. Only so could Abraham  believe on Him who makes the dead to live and calls the non-exist ant as if it was already there.

Rom. Ch.4:17   As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth those things which are not, as though they were.

So it is with the Christian faith, and because in all ages “Saving faith” stands and falls with the resurrection of Jesus Christ  

The Christian believer is brought out of death into life he is made alive

(see 1Cor.15:17-19). (Eph. Ch.2 v1)  

This  strain of thought is further expanded in the sacrifice of Isaac. In Genesis Ch22

The  sacrifice at mount Moriah was unique, Abraham had sacrificed Isaac to God (Heb.11:17) and yet had not killed him. The external completion of the act had been suddenly prevented by God.

(Gen 22:12-13)

Thereby was proclaimed the principle, that it is not the external performance that makes the sacrifice to be a sacrifice, but the intention of the heart, not the presenting of the gift, but the devotion of the soul.

Moriah is where later the temple stood - where upon the altar of burnt offering on which the sacrifices pointed to Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection, where also on Golgotha the veil between the holy and the holy of holies would be rent (see Mark 15:38)

3. The Mediator of Salvation  The Coming Seed

The whole incident was fraught with deep spiritual meaning. Abraham prefigures the Father who spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all (Rom.8:32)

Isaac pictures Christ obedient unto death (Phil 2:5-8) The ram sets forth substitution atonement through Christ offered as a burnt offering in our place. (see Heb.10:5-10)

The life goal of Abraham lay not in himself but in the coming Mediator of Salvation. For this reason the sight of Messiah’s day was the summit of his life.

The Lord Jesus in John 8:56 says “Your Father Abraham, rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad”

On Mount Moriah, the Mediator secured for us the entrance into a life of faith within the veil

Heb 10:19 reminds us.   Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say his flesh

4. The Goal of Salvation      The Heavenly City

In Christ faith arrives finally at its goal, heaven and the heavenly city. Thus also Abraham. Lived as a stranger in the promised land dwelled in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise; for he awaited the city which has the foundation walls, whose designer and master builder is God.

Heb 11:9-16 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.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

All what we see through the life of Abraham are all lessons for us to learn in our Christian Experience. We also look for a better City “The Heavenly Jerusalem”