Last week we covered the covenant with Noah, today we move on to Abraham. My study is based on the book Learning about the Old Testament by Allan Harman.
Abraham’s relationship with God was covenant lived out over time.
Starting off in Ur and leading all the way to Canaan. Abram at first and then later Abraham.
Having his faith tested as he needed to believe
- God would make him into a great nation. This was hard. They were childless a long time, he made alternative arrangements, and then God blessed them with a child.
- The land of Canaan would be his home. The home he and his family (which would be a great nation) would need to live in. Believing that God could turn this into reality.
- Through him, through his family, all nations of the world would be blessed. Stop and think about that a moment. How does one even grasp that idea? Would it be your whole family or just a part? How does one believe in that idea? It seems too big to grasp, yet God put it as part of his covenant with Abraham.
God repeated these three aspects of the covenant with Abraham’s offspring Isaac and Jacob.
Part of the seal of that covenant was circumcision for the boy children in Abraham’s family.
Throughout their relationship God revealed himself to Abraham, sometimes physically, but always in relationship. Abraham’s faith in God was deep and solid. His trust in God’s care and provision was overall steady. It wasn’t perfect, he made errors, he sinned, but in the end his love for God was real.
This is a foundation laid isn’t it?
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