Faith and Unbelief
Back to Abraham
Genesis 12: 4-20
Abraham has 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 obeys the call, as we read, "So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken unto him." He takes Lot, his nephew, with him, and Lot, with his worldly-mindedness, will prove an encumbrance to him. In the case of his father, Abram who was called allowed nature to lead, for "Terah took Abram," and this became a deadly hindrance. In the case of the nephew, Abram takes the lead, for we read "Abram took... Lot," and therefore, while this may become a weight, it cannot hinder faith answering to 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 gain 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 find "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." If God brings Abraham — the man of blessing — into the land of promise, he at once discovers that the Devil has already brought into that very land the man of the curse. In this way the Devil seeks to thwart the purpose of God, and hinder the man of faith from entering into possession of the land.
A Comparison
So 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 taking the heavenly ground that is the only true and proper portion of the Church.
For Abraham, Ur of the Chaldees 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 to 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 to the call, and what will sustain him in this outside position? Here the story of Abram is rich with instruction and encouragement.
Obedience of Faith
First, be it noted, that the great principle on which Abraham acted was the principle of faith. Obviously, if he has left one world, and has not reached the other, he has 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, lived by faith, and finally we read, "These all died in faith" (Heb. 11: 8, 9, 13).
Path of Faith
Secondly, answering to the call of God on the principle of 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, 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 but a tent in his world; as a pilgrim he was passing through to another world.
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" unto him; secondly the land is set before him as a future possession. He sees the King in His beauty and the land that is very far off. 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 little 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 in answer to the call, it is possible to grow in 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."
Response of Faith
Fourthly, 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" unto Christ without 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: 13-1 5).
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. It is ever thus, 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 upon 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 upon 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 discover, on the one hand our weakness, and on the other the grace and faithfulness of God.
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 allows the famine, the LORD can surely meet the needs of His own in the famine. However, under the pressure of his need, Abraham allows the circumstances to come between his soul and the LORD. Instead of calling upon 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 upon God to sustain him he goes down to the world for help. Having taken this false step, he finds, that though his immediate needs are met, he is faced with fresh difficulties occasioned by his false position. He fears that he will be killed in order to satisfy the lusts of Egypt. Having taken a position in which he can no longer count upon God to preserve him, he is left to his own resources to meet this fresh difficulty. Left to his own devices he sinks below the level of the world and acts a lie. With this equivocation he seeks 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 if God would not preserve him), and therefore Pharaoh takes her into his house" (J.N.D.). So again, at a later day in similar circumstances, Elimelech leaves the land of God in order to escape the fear of death by famine, only to find that death awaits him in the land of Moab (Ruth 1 :1-3). Abraham finds indeed, by this false step, relief from his immediate need, and even acquires riches, but at what a cost. For, in Egypt, he can pitch no tent and raise no altar, nor call upon the Name of the LORD.
The Faithfulness of Abraham's God
Yet, in spite of all 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 in His governmental ways we have to suffer for our folly. Thus it was that God acted on behalf of his failing servant. So we read, "the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife." In result, when the deceit is discovered, Abraham is dismissed by the world, for, Pharaoh says, "Behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way." And Pharaoh takes care that he does 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 is set free from a false position, but not without reproach and shame.
Lord Jesus, Thou who only art
The endless source of purest joy,
Oh! come and fill this longing heart;
May nought but Thee my thoughts employ.
Teach me on Thee to fix my eye,
For none but Thee can satisfy.
The joys of earth can never fill
The heart that's tasted of Thy love;
No portion would I seek until
I reign with Thee, my Lord, above,
When I shall gaze upon Thy face
And know more fully all Thy grace.
When from Thy radiant throne on high
Thou didst my fall and ruin see,
Thou cam'st on earth for me to die,
That I might share that throne with Thee.
Loved with an everlasting love,
My hopes, my joys are all above.
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.
Back to Abraham