The Call of God
Back to Abraham
Genesis 11: 31 to Genesis 12: 3
In the first portion of the life of Abraham there passes before us the path of faith that answers to the call of God; the hindrances to the path; the faith that takes the path; and the blessings in the path as well as the failure, temptations, and conflicts in the path.
THE CHARACTER OF THE CALL
A Divine Call
The first great truth we learn in the opening portion of Abraham's history is the blessed character of the call of God. From Stephen's address, recorded in Acts 7, we learn that "the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia." Here then we discover that which distinguishes the call from every other call, it comes from God — the God of glory. In this world with its cities and towers reaching up to heaven here is nothing that speaks of God, but only that which exalts and displays the glory of man. "The God of glory" speaks of another scene in which there is nothing of man but everything that displays God. This is the God who, in wonderful grace appears to a man who was living in a world estranged from God and sunk in idolatry. It is then the glory of the One that appears to Abraham that gives such importance to the call, and gives faith its authority and power to answer to the call.
A Separating Call
Secondly, we learn that the call is a separating call. The word to Abraham is, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." Abraham is not told to remain in the city of Ur and deal with man's wickedness, or attempt to improve its social condition, or reform its domestic ways, or attempt to make it a better and a brighter world. He is called to come out of it in every form. He is to leave the political world - "thy country"; the social world — "thy kindred," and the family world — "thy father's house."
The call today is no less definite. The world around us is a world that has the form of godliness without the power - the world of corrupt Christendom; and the Epistle that tells us that we are partakers of the heavenly calling exhorts us to separate from its corruption. We are to "Go forth therefore unto Him [Jesus] without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13: 13). It is not that we are to despise government — it is still God's appointment. Nor can we neglect family ties — they are ordered of God. Nor are we to cease to be courteous, and kind, and do good to all men as we have opportunity. But, as believers we are called from taking part in political activities of the world, the social round, and the whole sphere in which unconverted members of our families find their pleasure without God. We are not asked to reform the world or seek to improve its condition, but to come out from it. The word is still, "Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18).
An Assuring Call
Thirdly, if the call of God separates Abraham from this present world, it is in view of bringing into another world "a land," that God says, "I will show thee." If the God of glory appears to Abraham it is in order to bring Abraham into the glory of God. Thus the wonderful address of Stephen that commences with the God of glory appearing to a man on earth, ends with a Man appearing in the glory of God in heaven. In closing his address, Stephen looks up stedfastly into heaven and sees the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and he says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Looking upon Christ in the glory we see the wonderful purpose that God has in His heart when He calls us out of this present world. He has called us to glory, to be like Christ and with Christ in a scene where everything speaks of God and all that He is in the infinite love of His heart. God does not say to Abraham, "If you answer to the call I will immediately give you possession of the land," but God says, "I will show thee the land." So God gives us with Stephen, if we answer to His call, to see the King in His beauty and the land that is very far off. We look up and see Christ in the glory.
An Advantageous Call
Fourthly, there is great present blessing for the one who answers to the call. As separated from this present evil world, God says to Abraham, "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great." The men of this world seek to make a great name for themselves; they say, "Let us make us a name." But God says to the separated man, "I will bless thee and make thy name great." The tendency of our natural hearts is always to seek to make a name for ourselves, and the flesh will seize upon anything, even the things of God, to exalt itself. This tendency was seen even among the disciples of the Lord when they had a strife as to which of them should be accounted the greatest.
The scattering of man at Babel, and the divisions of Christendom, as well as every strife among the people of God, can be traced to this one root — the vanity of the flesh seeking to make itself great. The lowly mind of the Lord Jesus was to make Himself of no reputation. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a Name which is above every name." God has made His Name great, and to the one that has His lowly mind and follows Him outside the camp in answer to the call, God says, "I will make thy name great." God can make a much greater name for the believer in His world of glory than we can make for ourselves in this present evil world. If honestly confessed, it would be found that the true motive for many remaining in a false position, is the secret desire to be great, and thus they shrink from the path of obscurity outside the religious world of the day. Can we not see in Scripture, as in daily experience, that those who have been spiritually great among the people of God have ever been separated men — men who have answered to the call of God; while any departure from the separated path has led to the loss of influence and all true spiritual greatness among the people of God.
A Beneficial Call
Fifthly, God says to Abraham, "Thou shalt be a blessing." In the outside path, not only would Abraham, himself be blessed, but, he would be a blessing to others. We do well to mark the import of these words. How often a believer remains in an association which he would admit is not according to the Word of God on the plea that he will be more useful to others than in the outside place of separation. However, God does not say to Abraham, "If you stop in Ur of the Chaldees, or in the halfway house It Haran you will be a blessing," but, answering to God's call he is told, "Thou shalt be a blessing."
A Preserving Call
Sixthly, Abraham is told that in the outside place he would have the preserving care of God. He may indeed have to face opposition and trial, for it is ever true that 'he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59: 15), but God says to the separated man, "I will bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." The separated man is preserved from many a trial that overtakes the believer who remains in association with the world. The mercy of the Lord saved Lot from the doom of Sodom, but, in that false association he lost everything — wife, children, wealth, and name.
An Effectual Call
Seventhly, acting in faith in God's word Abraham is old, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Me know the use that the Spirit of God makes of this promise. He says, "The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen on the principle of faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed" (Gal. 3: 8). Abraham did not, and could not foresee the far reaching effect of the principle of faith on which he acted in answering to the call of God, but God foresaw that it was the one way of blessing for all the families of the earth. So now in our little measure, none but God can foresee the far reaching effect in blessing for others that may result from one soul that in simple and whole-hearted faith, answers to the call of God.
The Hindrance to Answering the Call of God We have seen the blessed promises that are connected with the call of God, and we shall learn how faith responds to the call. First, however, in this deeply instructive history, we are permitted to see how often the man of faith may be hindered for a time from answering to the call.
From Stephen's address, recorded in Acts 7, we learn that the call came to Abraham, "when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran." In answering to this call he is hindered by the ties of nature. The call came to Abraham, but nature apparently can at times profess great zeal in answering to the call, and even take the lead, for we read, "Terah took Abram . . . and went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan." Nature may essay to tread the path of faith, and, at the start, do the right thing with the best of intentions; but in its self-confidence nature always undertakes to do more than it has the power to accomplish. Thus it comes to pass that while Terah leaves Ur "to go to the land of Canaan," he never reaches the land. Nature stops halfway at Haran, and there he dwells to the day of his death.
But what of Abraham, the man of God? For a time he allows himself to be hindered from fully obeying the call of God. It was not simply that his father was with him but he allows himself to be led by his father, as we read, "Terah took Abram." The result being that he stops short of the land to which he is called. So we read, in Stephen's address, he came "out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed into this land."
How many of us have been hindered for a time from taking the separate path, consistent with the call of God, by some loved relative. The call reaches the believer; he acknowledges the truth, but delays to answer to it because some near relative is not prepared for the outside place. The soul clings to the hope that by waiting a little the relative will be brought to see the call, and then both can act together. Faith, however, cannot lift nature up to its own level, though, alas, nature can drag down and hinder the man of faith. Many pleas can be raised to excuse this halfway halt, but in reality it is putting the claims of nature above the call of God. Then, as in Abram's history, God may have to roll death into the family circle and remove the one that we allowed to hinder us in obeying God's call. Thus it was not until his Father was dead that Abram fully answered to the call of God.
To walk with God! Oh fellowship Divine!
Man's highest state on earth — Lord, be It mine!
With Thee may I a close communion hold,
To Thee the deep recesses of my heart unfold:
Yes, tell Thee all — each weary care and grief
Into Thy bosom pour, till there I find relief.
Oh! let me walk with Thee, Thou Mighty One!
Lean on Thine arm, and trust Thy love alone;
With Thee hold converse sweet, where'er I go;
Thy smile of love my highest bliss below;
With Thee transact life's business, doing all
With single aim for Thee, as Thou dost call.
My every comfort at Thy hand receive,
My every talent to Thy glory give.
Thy counsel seek in every trying hour,
In all my weakness trust Thy mighty power.
Oh! may this high companionship be mine
And all my life by its reflection shine.
My great, my wise, my never-failing Friend,
Whose love no change can know, no turn, no end!
My Saviour-God! Who gav'st Thy life for me,
Let nothing come between my heart and Thee!
From Thee no thought, no secret would I keep,
But on Thy breast my tears of anguish weep.
My every wound to Thee I take to heal,
For Thou art touched with every pang I feel
In Thee, and Thee alone, I now confide
And Thee I'd follow, as my Lord and Guide.
Thy Holy Spirit for my guide and guest.
Whate'er my lot, I must be safe and blest.
Wash'd in Thy blood, from all my guilt made clean,
I in Thy righteousness alone am seen:
Thy home, my home — Thy God and Father mine!
Dead to the world — my life is hid with Thine;
Its lightest honours fade before my view —
Its pleasures, I can trample on them too.
With Thee, by faith I walk in crowds alone,
Making to Thee my wants and wishes known:
Drawing from Thee my daily strength in prayer,
Finding Thine arm sustains me everywhere:
While through the clouds of sin and woe, the light
Of coming glory shines more sweetly bright;
And this my daily boast, my aim, my end,
That my Redeemer is my God — my Friend!
Back to Abraham