GOD DWELLS AMONG HIS PEOPLE

In this week’s lesson, we are going to explore that healthy relationship of blending obedience with presence. This lesson is important because God wants His people to live in His presence and experience His glory. To experience the loving presence of God, we must follow God’s plan for our lives. Beginning in Exodus 25:1 and extending through Exodus 31:18, God gave Moses instructions concerning the construction of the tabernacle and related issues. So we will take a brief tour of God’s “home” on earth, which He commanded the Israelites to build after He established a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Exodus 25-40 describes in great detail the blueprints and building of the tabernacle and its furnishings. Consider why so much time would be spent in God’s Story to describe a tent. I have furnished a print of that “tent” for us.

Read Exodus 26:30-33 Follow God’s Plan

We can learn a great deal about God in a tour of His temporary earthly home. God told Moses “you are to set up the tabernacle”. The pronoun “you” is singular, so Moses was given the responsibility for getting the job done. Moses is the one to who God gave the covenant- Ten Commandants. God was trusting Moses again! The term “tabernacle” means dwelling place or home. Thus God wanted a home for Him in the midst of His people. Yet God’s presence with His people was tied to their obedience. When the Lord instructed Moses to set up the tabernacle “according to the plan”, He was referencing to the specifications given to Moses “on the Mountain”. Obviously, God could dwell anywhere on earth at any time He chose. The real issue at hand was whether His people desired His divine presence enough to follow God’s plan exactly. So this became an issue of free choice for the Israelites.

No one could see God’s face but He provided the visible symbol of His presence. The passages dealing with the instructions for and construction of the tabernacle demonstrated God’s desire to dwell among His people. These instructions include the curtain, described in verse 31, separated the two sacred rooms in the Tabernacle- the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. The priest entered the Holy Place each day to commune with God and to tend to the incense altar, the lampstand, and the table with the Bread of the Presence. The Most Holy Place was where God Himself dwelt, His presence resting on the atonement cover, which covered the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place. Even he could do so only once a year (on the Day of Atonement) to make atonement for the sins of the nation as a whole. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain in the Temple (which had replace the Tabernacle) tore from the top to bottom (Mark 15:38), symbolizing our free access to God because of Jesus’ death.

No longer did people have to approach God through priests and sacrifices. This set the stage for all of us to pray directly to God and not for any of us to go through intermediary. But think back to the curtain that God had Moses make and its direct, real connection to God’s Story and understand our God as a God of details. Just as He has attended to the details of the construction of His tabernacle, He attends to the details of our lives and redemption.  Hebrews 8:5 points out the earthly tabernacle was a precise copy or replica of God’s heavenly home. Now we see that having a precise copy or replica was to remind the people God’s ultimate purpose was to have them dwell with Him eternally.

Read Exodus 29:43-46 Encounter God’s Presence

Now God promised to manifest His presence among the people. Thus the tabernacle would become the place where Israel’s God revealed Himself and lived among His people. Moreover, God desired for His people to encounter His presence. God Told Moses He would meet with the Israelites at the tabernacle (tent of meeting). The term “meet” carried the idea of an appointment, a set time when people would gather to hear God’s words. As a result of God’s presence, the place would be consecrated, literally “made holy” by God’s glory. God promised the full weight of His majesty on behalf of the people as they met to praise and to thank Him for all He had done for them.

God promised to consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. By consecrating, or making things holy, God was instructing what was done there would be acceptable to Him. God also promised to consecrate Aaron and his sons. The priesthood belonged to Aaron and his descendants, as part of God’s ordained purposes for them to serve as priests. However, it is imperative for us to note that Moses, the priests, and Israel were just going through the symbols. The actual consecration of bot objects and persons was done by God. His grace made them effective. The purpose of this ritual and this consecration was that God would “dwell among the people of Israel” (v. 45). This ritual was to help them know that He was the God who had redeemed them from Egypt. The final phrase “I am the Lord their God” (v. 46) is uniquely a covenant phrase. Because they were His people through the Exodus and the covenant, they had a special ritual of worship. Why is encountering God’s presence regularly with other believers so important? (Sharing His love, care and promise.)

Read Exodus 40:34-38 Acknowledge God’s Glory

A lot has occurred from chapter 29. We know that the people grew restless while Moses was receiving God’s instruction and resorted to idol worship. Remember, God had called Moses to the top of the mountain four times. Moses destroyed the golden calf and then interceded for the wayward Israelites (32:1-34:35). Once the sin of idolatry had been removed from the camp (32:27-35), God began the restoration of the broken covenant. This gave Mosses a new vision of God. Moses knew that only God could reinstate the covenant as it had originally been God’s gift. So Moses pled for a continued reassurance of God’s presence and blessing through God’s pardon. God gave Moses reassurance that the covenant was being reinstituted (34:10). When Moses came down from the presence of God (34:29-35), Moses’ face was glowing. The attitude of the people toward Mosses reflected the awe with which they held for him, after seeing his face (34:30). So the tabernacle was completed as God had instructed.

The symbol of God’s presence had descended from the mountain and moved to the tabernacle. God revealed His glory in “the cloud” that covered the tabernacle.
The cloud” was first mentioned in Exodus 13:21-22. The cloud represented God Himself. This visible movement served to demonstrate to both Moses and Israel that God accepted and approved their labors. The glory of God so filled that tent that no longer could even Moses enter the Most Holy Place. The people broke their camps and made their marches in obedience to the lifting or settling of the cloud. God was now the people’s constant companion and guide. God is our constant companion and guide. The final reminder of the fire by night very likely referred to the burning presence of God’s glory. 500 years later, Solomon built the temple, replacing the tabernacle, and God filled it with His glory in the same way.

As the book of Exodus ends, the Israelites are free, redeemed people. On the way to the land of promise, accompanied and guided by the almighty God. So it has ever been. Those who have been redeemed by God are guided and sustained through the wilderness as they journey to the new land of promise- eternity. In God’s Story, God always leads those whom He has redeemed.

GOD INSTRUCTS HIS PEOPLE

So we have reached the Ten Commandments in God’s Story. These are God’s rules for the road of life. We can relate to God only on His terms. He establishes the standards to live as His people. These commandments are so important, Moses repeated them to the Israelites shortly before he died (Deut. 5:1-21). As we examine this aspect of God’s Story, let’s remember God’s commands are given out of His love and knowledge of what is ultimately best for us. We live victoriously when we choose to live in obedience to God’s commands.

Read Exodus 20:1-4, 7-8 Be Loyal to God

Being loyal to God means understanding His covenants! We see the merging of two great covenants as we study God’s Story in Exodus 20. Through the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:2-3; 15:5-21; 22:17-18), God promised to make of Abraham a great nation. The covenant was initiated by God, unilateral, and obligated God to Abraham and his descendants. The second covenant was the Mosaic Covenant. This covenant was initiated by God and obligated Him to Israel, but it also obligated Israel to the Lord and mandated their obedience (Ex. 19:4-6). This bilateral covenant carried the terms of the relationship we know as the Ten Commandments. How does verse 2 promote loyalty to God? (He is the source of everything and demonstrated the power to get the Israelites out of slavery. He promises to stay with us.)  What specific ways are we commanded to express royalty to God? (No other gods before Him. Make no idols. Don’t forget what He has done for us. Make God our first priority and honor His name. Be respectful of others.) So all of this fits into God’s Grand Story! Only through loving God and people do we truly follow His instructions.

Regardless of how we divide the individual Commandments, it is obvious that they fall into two basic sections. The first Commandments clearly governed the relationship between Israel and God, while the latter ones related to their relationship with one another. Many people mistakenly rush past Exodus 20:1 to get to the actual Commandments. This introductory statement points out several fundamental facts. First, the covenant was given by God. He “spoke all the words” of the commandment covenant. Israel did not enter into negotiations with God about it. They could only accept or reject it. By accepting the covenant, they were accepting the lordship of Yahweh; otherwise if they reject it, they were rejecting His lordship. Second, the covenant was rooted in Yahweh’s historical acts. God was laying claim to Israel’s allegiance because He had first redeemed them. While never minimizing the importance of the covenant, we should never magnify it over God’s redemptive act in Exodus. Third (and less significant) Israel was reminded of their heritage as slaves. They were free not because of their power but because God’s power. There was no basis for pride.

Basic to God’s claim upon Israel was that He was to have their sole allegiance. The words “before” (KJV) and “besides” (HCSB) offer the same meaning that this First Commandment made no claim to Yahweh’s being the only God. That comes much later in Israel’s history. So this statement –commandment- was that Israel could not have other gods. So God was claiming that “YOU SHALL HAVE ME”. This Commandment speaks to our contemporary culture from two directions. To those who would seek to pace their allegiance in God and in any other source of power; it is God’s demand for total commitment. On the other hand, for those who think there is no god at all, it is the divine claim that a person must have God.

The Second Commandment was not a prohibition against art work but against anything that might take the place of God in Israel’s understanding. In the ancient world, the idol maker was in many ways a theologian. His intention, in many cases, was not to say- “My god has the body of a lion or calf, the legs of a bull, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a man.” Rather he was saying, “My god has the speed of a lion and power of a bull, is exalted as the eagle, and has wisdom of a man”. So the idol makers were attempting to describe their god’s attributes. The basic thrust of the Second Commandment, in Moses day and is true today, was the prohibition against substituting anything for God. This situation is a real problem in today’s Christianity. Many today have the tendency to substitute allegiance to certain words and phrases that describe God for a genuine submission to God Himself. Even orthodox descriptions (like God is similar to a benevolent uncle) can become an idol. While not the full meaning of this problem, what we should do instead is compare the love of the mother to God’s love (although it never really measures up)- not God to some earthly person or thing. Can you think of other words or phrases that wrongfully compare God’s attributes to earthly items? (Anything that says God is like something on earth.) Nothing must be allowed to take God’s place in our lives.

Before moving to the Third Commandment, phrase “the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (NLT) is tucked in verse 5 (not read). For years this word “jealous” bothered me because of the connotation it has in modern society, until I learned it should better be translated “zealous” God. This word focuses upon an action rather than upon an emotion. It speaks of the fact that God will act to prevent Israel’s unfaithfulness only to transform it, if it occurs.

The Third Commandment may be the most misunderstood of all the Commandments. The usual interpretation is that it applies to cursing. Although, it certainly applies to such language! To apply its meaning so narrowly alone, is almost to misunderstand it completely. Basic to its proper and full understanding is to go back to the Old Testament concept of “name”. In seeking to grasp the meaning, we must also consider the fact that among ancient people, divine names were considered to have some magical properties. It would appear that this Commandment was clearly a prohibition against assuming that the mere use of the name of God would produce results (like some magic). God will not be manipulated by those who seek merely to use His power. The presence of God in anyone’s life should produce visible fruit.

The Fourth Commandment is the longest of all the Commandments (v. 8-11- but we are reading only verse 8) and also has been frequently misinterpreted. “Remember” should not be translated as an imperative but as a continuing action. The main feature of this Commandment is that a day that is holy is one which is devoted to God’s special purpose. It governs the use of all time, not just the seventh day.            We all are responsible for the use of the time that God has given us. The seventh day was peculiarly devoted to God’s service, but all time was a stewardship for Him. The early Christian churches began by keeping the Jewish Sabbath, which is Saturday, and the Lord’s Day Sunday- because of the resurrection of Christ. As the gospel spread to non-Jewish people, the Sabbath was dropped and the Lord’s Day was the only day set apart. So we Gentiles may be given credit for this switch, as we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. The Commandment does not necessarily command that Saturday be kept but that one day in seven be set apart especially for God. The real problem occurs when we try to define how to keep a day holy (a discussion for another time). Man’s responsibility is twofold: We must demonstrate that we recognize the holy nature of the day set apart for God and we must keep all time as God’s gift (think about the gift of eternity).

Read Exodus 20:12-17 Be Respectful of Others

In God’s Grand Story the first three Commandments are vital to God that we understand them as much as humanly possible. That is why I spent a lot of time on them. Now we connect them to the other Commandments. If we stay loyal to God, we inevitably will be respectful of others. In Matt 22:3-40, we find Jesus’ answer when asked what Commandment was the greatest of all.  Jesus said “love the Lord your God” (v.37). Jesus added a second command, so important He did not separate it from the first: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (v.39). This two part answer summarized the whole of God’s instruction to His people (v.40). God revealed His expectations for how people were to relate to one another by focusing on the home. The Fifth Commandment is based on the assumption the parents would honor God by teaching their children His ways (Deut. 6:7). Also like the fourth, it was stated in terms of continuing action. Paul, in Ephesians 6:2, took it one step further when he addressed the adults of the covenant community in Ephesius and was extending it to old parents- senior citizens.

Then the Sixth through the Tenth Commandments are short, fairly easily understood commands. It starts with the right to live, which covers abortion as well as killing another man, woman, or child. Then we learn that God places high value on marriage between a godly man and a godly woman, as this relates back again to the home. Then God states that He places high value for personal property. This is also extended to the need for each person to “carry their weight”. This command and the ninth tell us the need to respect others when it says to be an honest witness when disputes arise. While it doesn’t specifically say “Do not Lie”, speaking truth is always the right thing to do but refraining from lying misses the legal context of bearing false testimony. Finally the Tenth Commandment wrapped up God’s instruction dealing with your neighbor. To covet is to wish to have the possessions of others. It goes beyond simply admiring someone’s possession or thinking “I’d like to have one of those”. Covet is envy- resenting the fact that others have what you don’t. Since only God can supply all our needs, true contentment is found only in Him. Coveting is the first step down the road of disrespecting others.

Read Exodus 24:4-8 Be Committed to Obedience

To this point in this lesson, we have examined the terms set forth by God to Moses, by which the covenant people were to relate to Him and to others. God demands His people’s loyalty to Himself alone. However, we have yet to see the people’s response. First we see Moses’ response. To understand this unusual covenant ratification ceremony, we need to understand the Bible’s view of sin and forgiveness. God is sovereign judge of the universe and He is also absolutely holy. So He condemns sin and judges it worthy of death. Moses uses the animal’s blood (substitute for the sinner) as proof that one’s life had been given for another and to show that the sinner could once again approach God because something had died in the sinner’s place. This brought unanimous positive response from the people. They agreed to “do and obey everything that the Lord commanded”. In this case, both “do” and “obey” express emphatically the peoples’ compliance. Once the people demonstrated willingness to live by God’s commands, Moses took the other half of the blood, to show that the penalty for their sin had been paid and they could be reunited with God. Through this symbolic act God’s promises to Israel were reaffirmed. “Nothing But the Blood”! Christ’s sacrifice invoked similar imagery for His own blood at the Last Supper (Matt. 26:28 & Mark14:24) as God’s Story continues.

GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE

As we continue to look at God’s Story, we focus attention on that glorious time God delivered His people from involuntary enslavement in Egypt. Four Hundred years before, God initiated a covenant relationship with Abram, who needed only to respond with faith and obedience. Abram’s descendants multiplied in Egypt. Those four centuries began with Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery (Gen. 37) only to see him in a place of keeping others alive (50:20). Famine forced Jacob and his remaining sons to journey into Egypt. Ironically, the brother sold as a slave became by God’s grace the deliverer of Jacob’s family. This movement from enslavement to deliverance is a major theme in God’s Story.

Read Exodus 3:7-10 God Cares

Eventually, Jacob and Joseph died, but their descendants multiplied (Ex. 1:1-14).Feeling threatened, the Egyptians enslaved the people and forced them to work in building programs. When the people cried out (verse 7), God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Hebrews (2:24). God called Moses to be His deliverer, identifying Himself as the God of the patriarchs (3:6). Thus, God helped Moses see the connection between the covenant He made with Abraham 400 years earlier and deliverance He was about to bring to the Hebrews. The statement of God to Moses was directly related to the statement about God in 2:24-25. The earlier statement told what God knew and was experiencing in relation to the oppression of the Hebrews. This statement builds upon that and sets forth boldly what God has done and will do in their behalf. “I have come down to deliver them… and to bring them” (v.8) sets forth the divine condescension n and its purpose. God, who has been suffering with His people, is now about to do something about it. So God was about to keep His promise. Moses’ encounter with God, as our encounters today, could not be separated from God’s covenant promises to His people.

The description of the land as “flowing with milk and honey” (v. 8) is typical of the Old Testament’s description of Canaan. Such a land would have been the ideal of an agricultural nation who had to struggle for a harvest. This “land flowing with milk and honey” is the land of Israel and Jordan today. This was poetic word picture expressing the beauty and productivity of the Promised Land. However, this territory of Canaan was occupied by both wandering and settled clams of various racial and national origins. The list in verse 8 is not intended to be exhaustive (Gen. 15:19-21; Ex. 3:17; Num.15:29). The list is considered to be typical of the pre-conquest inhabitants of the land. The listing of these different people indicates that God knew He was giving Moses a difficultly assignment and that Moses would need all of the encouragement that God could give Moses. This is the same type of incident we learned that God did with Abram in last week’s lesson. See how God controls His Story! So this tells us that when we get an assignment from God, He will stay with us and provide encouragement. What does it mean to you that God sees and hears our pain? (That He loves and cares for us! David in his writings of the Psalms gives us great examples of how it feels.)

Read Exodus 12:12-13, 29-31 God Judges

Between God’s call to Moses (chapter 3) and these verses in chapter 12, God’s Story is about how He judged the false gods of Egypt with nine of the ten plaques. Pharaoh had remained hardened and unconvinced of God’s power, through these nine plagues, trusting his gods to deliver him. Now Yahweh decided to act in one last decisive plague. None of “the gods of Egypt” could prevent Yahweh’s onslaught. In God’s Story, He alone can deliver people from bondage. The blood was a sign of God’s protection, of His gift of life. As we think about Jesus’ crucifixion, Abram’s sacrifices, and now the establishment of the Passover, blood has always been God’s sign of life. God promised to “pass over” the houses with the “distinguishing mark” instead of passing through them in judgment. For the first time, whether anyone experienced the plague was not a question of nationality or race, but one of faithful obedience. Whoever did not trust and obey would not be spared.  In this last plague, as it is today, deliverance became a matter of faith.

There was no way of recapturing the devastation of Egypt on the night of death. The dark stillness was suddenly broken by weeping. Forgetting his wrathful pledge that he would never see Moses or Aaron again, Pharaoh sent for them and in his grief he urged them to depart. Not any of the gods of Egypt had been able to protect their first born. Every first born child of the Egyptians died, but the Israelite children were spared because of the blood of the lamb. How appropriate is this fact to us today? So begins the story of redemption, which is the central theme of the Bible. In Old Testament times, God accepted symbolic offerings. Jesus had not yet been sacrificed obviously, so God accepted the life of an animal in place of the life of a sinner. Jesus’ sacrifice made animal sacrifice no longer necessary. We must recognize that if we want to be freed from the deadly consequences of our sins, a tremendous price must be paid. But we don’t have to pay it. Our part is to trust Jesus and accept the gift of eternal life. Our sins have been paid for and the way has been cleared for us to begin a relationship with God (Titus 2:14; Hebrews 9:13-15, 23-26). The Israelites were learning their need to trust God. We must trust God’s Story all the way to the cross of Christ.

Read Exodus 14:5-6, 13-14, 21-26 God Delivers

Think about what our life would be like if God delivered only judgment and not mercy. We are offered God’s mercy just as was the Israelites. As God’s Story continues, the Israelites will experience God’s continued mercy first hand. Because the Pharaoh decided to go to bring Israel back, he experienced God’s judgment. Pharaoh had not only given Israel permission to go but had ordered them to go. As Pharaoh received reports of the lack of progress on the work that the Israelite “slaves” had been doing, he realized that their departure had done away with the major source of cheap labor. The economic consequences began to sink in and both Pharaoh and his people regretted releasing the Hebrews from slavery. Also upon hearing that the Israelites were wandering aimlessly, the Pharaoh saw his opportunity to pursue them. The Pharaoh’s intent was to capture them and bring them back using a fast moving chariotry that could overtake the Hebrews.

Upon learning the Egyptians were in hot pursuit, the Hebrews were losing faith. Moses showed strong leadership when the Israelites complained against him about leading the out of Egypt. Some had convinced themselves they were better off serving the Egyptians. However, Moses calmed the people by assuring them they would “never see again” the Egyptians and told them they that the “Lord will fight” for them. Moses was introducing the Hebrews to the concept of holy war- the idea that Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, would intervene on behalf of His people to deliver them from oppression of heathen armies. The “salvation” of which Moses spoke was used in the sense of military victory. The biblical concept of salvation moves forward from this early meaning to the latter one of spiritual deliverance from sin and death. So Moses confidently predicate that God was going to win a mighty victory over Pharaoh and that after this, Egypt would no longer be a problem to Israel.

Why do we sometimes miss “the seas God parts for us”? First, what do you think this means? (It points to the help or solutions that God provides for us.)There was apparently no way of escape, but the Lord opened up a dry path through the sea. Sometimes we find ourselves caught in a problem and see no way out. This story tells us not to panic; God can open up a way. The God who created the earth and water performed a mighty miracle at exactly the right time to demonstrate His great power and love for His people.  The God of Israel (our own true God) had defeated the gods of Egypt. God delivered the Israelites and deliverance is an important feature of God’s Story. So God is showing His care for His people, His judgment on those who oppressed His people, and His deliverance of His people. This vital relationship between God and His people serves as the central core of God’s Story, which continues as we enter into this vital relationship of faith.

GOD CHOOSES A PEOPLE

In last week’s lesson we examined God’s good creation and Adam and Eve’s sin. As we continue to look at God’s Story, we turn our attention to God’s plan to address human sin and the death and devastation it brought. Genesis 4-11 contains several stories demonstrating how sin continued to worsen and spread in the generations following Adam and Eve. The Lord reached a moment of regret for making humans when He observed their corrupted thoughts and unbridled sin (Gen 6:5-6). The pinnacle of human depravity surfaced in the tower of Babel (11:1-9). People thought they could obtain community, security, and identity by their own initiatives without God. God confounded their language and scattered them across the face of the earth.

This study skips the events surrounding Noah and the flood. It also skips the details concerning the tower of Babel (where people tried to build that tower to the heavens to reach God on their own), which occurred after the flood. So God had to deal with the sinful people that lead to the flood and then again with those who built the tower. How would God bring salvation to lost, scattered humanity? God could have rescued people from sin any way He wanted, but He chose to work with one man, Abram and his descendants. God decided to choose a people for Himself who would do His work of evangelism in the world. So our story of God’s plan for that one man begins in Genesis 12.

Read Genesis 12:1-3 A Plan of Blessing

God’s Story is one of divine provision for human need and people’s response to that provision. Our greatest need is to be restored to a vibrant relationship with God. This lesson can help us decide whether we are fully willing to trust and obey God. Abram, later to be renamed Abraham, had the same choice. When God called him, Abram moved out in faith from UR to Haran and finally to Canaan. God then established a covenant with Abram, telling him that he would found a great nation. Not only would this nation be blessed, God said, but the other nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram’s descendants. Israel, the nation that would come from Abram, was to follow God and influence those with whom it came in contact. Through Abram’s family tree, Jesus Christ was born to save humanity. Through Christ, people can have a personal relationship with God and be blessed beyond measure.

The concept of covenant was not new. God made a covenant with Noah before the flood, If he would trust God and come into the ark, then God would preserve his family through the flood (6:18). God made another covenant after the flood: He would never again destroy the earth and life upon it by a flood (9:11). In the first instance the covenant was conditional upon the people sharing in it. The second was an unconditional promise. God’s covenant with Abram had a new and distinctive dimension. God was seeking a faithful people through whom He could do a redemptive work in the world. God promised to bless Abram but God had one condition: Abram had to do what God wanted him to do. This meant leaving his home and friends and traveling to a new land where God promised to build a great nation from Abram’s family. At our ages, how would we respond to these conditions? (We would be very reluctant at best! It would certainly take a lot of faith.) Abram obeyed, walking away from his home for God’s promise of even greater blessings in the future.

God may be trying to lead us to a place of greater service and usefulness for Him. The challenge for anyone faced with that type of decision is to not let the comfort and security of one’s present position make one miss God’s plan for them. So God called Abram to enter into covenant with Him and to become the originator and ancestor of a nation of people who would live in covenant with God. Note that the word covenant does not appear in these verses that record the call of Abram. In Genesis 15:18, however, the relationship between God and Abram is described as a covenant relationship, and the concept of covenant became central in the Hebrew conviction about their relationship with God. The Hebrews became the “covenant people”, which was especially crucial for the Hebrews. It became a focus for their development as a people and for all their subsequent national history. God’s gifts bless most richly not when we are “possessed” but when they are permitted to flow through life like a stream of living water.

Read Genesis 12:4-7 A Response of Obedience

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him”.  We are told Abram was 75 when he obeyed God’s call and he lived until he was 175 (25:7). Abram’s way of life in Canaan was the way of a semi-nomad, but it was not a mere migration. Abram was on a mission! God planned to develop a nation of people He would call His own. He called Abram from the godless, self-centered city of UR to a fertile region of Canaan, where a God-centered, moral nation could be established. Though small in dimension, the land of Canaan was the focal point for most of the history of Israel as well as for the rise of Christianity. This small land given to one man, Abram, has had a tremendous impact on world history. Abram did not go alone or travel empty-handed when he left the community, security, and identity he had known in Haran. We are told Abram took Sarai, Lot and all the possessions they had accumulated with him. How are we confronted daily with the choice to trust God or ourselves to provide life’s necessities? (Choices of where we go, what we eat, on what to spend money, to read the Bible, what to watch on TV, what book to read, etc.)

The first stop Abram made in Canaan was at Shechem (means “shoulder” because it rests on the shoulders of two mountains where Joshua would later perform a covenant renewal ceremony –Josh. 24:1-25). Shechem was in the center of Canaan, where the “oak of Moreh” was located. “Moreh” means teaching and apparently this was a Canaanite religious center. More importantly than the place, is the act of worship there. Abram built an altar to the Lord who appeared to Abram and declared that this land would be given to Abram’s descendants. This promise had two significant meanings. First, it identified the land of Canaan as the land God had promised to the people of Abram for a national homeland. Second, it indicated that a new religious day was dawning. At the center of pagan religion God was declaring His sovereignty. Altars were used in many places for sacrifices but for God’s people altars symbolized communion with God and commemorated notable encounters with Him. Abram was reminded by altars that God was the center of his life. Regular worship helps us remember what God desires and motivates us to obey Him.

Read Genesis 15:5-8, 13-17 A Relationship of Faith

God called Abram and his descendants and had given them good land. The missing piece of the puzzle was God’s motivation which was “relationship”. God sought (and still does) a relationship with His people, even though they (and us) had distanced themselves from Him by sinning. The relationship God established with Abram was a major key in God’s Story. What God did, described in verse 5, calmed Abram’s fears about how Abram’s foreign-born house slave would become his heir because he had no son by Sarai (15:2-4). God said to look at the sky and “count the stars”—“your off-springs will be that numerous.”  Maybe we need reminders of our own journey of faith with God. What could we establish as physical reminders of our journey with God? (Maybe we could look to the sky, maybe we need to look at the beauty of nature, maybe we need to see our families grow, maybe we must be at church regularly!) Abram wasn’t promised wealth or fame; he already had that. Instead, God promised descendants like the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore (22:17 too numerous to count. When God said “if you are able to count them”, God was indicating the enormous task He had given Abram and indicating that Abram needs to get away from distractions. There are times when that is true for us as well! What Abram did not yet fully understand was that God was planning all along to give him a son by Sarai. God’s blessings are beyond imagination!

Although Abram had been demonstrating his faith through his actions, it was his belief in the Lord, not his actions that made Abram right with God (Romans 4:1-5). We, too, can have a right relationship with God by trusting Him. Our outward actions- church attendance, prayer, good deeds- will not by themselves make us right with God. A right relationship is based on faith- the heartfelt inner confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. Right actions will follow naturally as by-products.

Then God gave Abram some insight to the future. Possession of the land by the Israelites would not take place for 400 years. During this time Abram’s descendants would be enslaved and oppressed in a land that did not belong to them. God gave Abram yet another promise in this prophecy- God would judge the nations they served (meaning Babylon, Assysia, etc.) While verse 17 seems difficult to understand, it put the seal of God’s commitment upon the covenant. In the darkness at the end of the day, Abram saw “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” pass between the divided part of the covenant sacrifice. God affirmed His covenant with Abram by giving Abram a sign. The fire and smoke suggest God’s holiness, His zeal for righteousness, and His judgment on all the nations. God took the initiative, gave the confirmation, and followed through on His promise. God’s passing through the pieces was a visible assurance to Abram that the covenant God had made was real. Unity would come again across the face of the earth. The tragic fragmenting effects of Babel would be overcome at last. God had a purpose for Abram descendants greater than their most expanded imaginations could conceive. God’s thoughts are indeed higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). He would finally make the world one again and He is always ahead of mankind in His wise and gracious purpose. As in the days of Abram, God continues to choose a people to be His witness in this world—to continue God’s Story.