Throughout the story of Abram/Abraham, God’s promises are closely tied to Abraham’s obedience & faithfulness. The account begins with Abram’s obedience to the divine command: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you…So Abram went, as the LORD had told him.”
On multiple occasions, Abram built an altar to the LORD, signifying that he had renounced pagan idolatry & turned exclusively to the worship of the one true God. Abram also “called on the name of the LORD,” a key biblical phrase which conveys a great deal of meaning. As we noted from Joel 2, “Calling on the name of the LORD” indicates a steadfast commitment to forsaking wickedness and embracing God’s righteousness.
In Genesis 18, the patriarch received a divine visit in the form of three men. The text suggests that one of the visitors was the LORD himself, accompanied by two angels. God re-affirmed his pledge that Abraham & Sarah would have a son. But on this occasion, a specific timetable is offered: the promised son will be born within a year.
The three visitors then turn their attention to the wicked cities of Sodom & Gomorrah. As they do, the LORD makes this remarkable declaration, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:18-19)
This passage spectacularly confirms the tight bond between God’s promises and the obedience of Abraham and his descendants.
Let’s pause at this moment and reflect on the larger biblical narrative. Remember, God had originally pronounced a blessing upon his image-bearing human creatures. (Genesis 1:28) Divine authority was delegated to humanity. They were given the awesome responsibility of governing the world wisely and thereby allowing the creation to flourish. God intended his creation to be a place of joy, abundance, peace and life. But human rebellion had instead plunged the earth into violence, enmity, misery and death. The wickedness of mankind inevitably elicited curses rather than blessings. Genesis 3-11 describes the tragic effects of sin. At the end of these chapters, the key question becomes: how can God rescue and restore his creation?
Genesis 12 begins to answer this query. God’s promise to bless Abram in Genesis 12 echoes the divine blessing upon humanity in Genesis 1. God called Abraham and his descendants (the people of Israel) so that they might fulfill the role marked out for humanity from the beginning. Israel was meant to bear the image of God. Through obedience to the covenant, Isael would enjoy God’s blessing. Moreover, they would serve as a light to the nations. By looking to Israel, all peoples could come to worship and serve the one true God. In this way, blessing would be restored to all creation.
But this blessing always depended upon human behavior. The language is quite explicit. God chose Abraham so that his descendants might “keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Righteousness & justice are indissolubly linked with divine blessing.
In Genesis 21, Abraham and Sarah’s long-awaited child finally arrived: “Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.” (Genesis 21:1-3)
The birth of Isaac illustrates God’s faithfulness to his promises. Yet this wonderful moment is soon followed by one of the most disturbing accounts in the entire Bible. Genesis 22 abruptly describes how God tested Abraham by commanding him: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Genesis 22:2) Despite the excruciating nature of God’s imperative, Abraham astonishingly complied. Upon arriving at the designated location, Abraham bound Isaac on the altar. But just as he reached for the knife to slay his son, the angel of the LORD called out and restrained him.
The account concludes with this passage: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Once more, we see that God’s blessing is explicitly connected to Abraham’s obedience. Because he had obeyed God in the most distressing of circumstances, God would surely bless Abraham and through his descendants would bring blessing to all nations.
Abraham’s death is recorded in Genesis 25: “Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.” (Genesis 25:8)
Our overview of Abraham would not be complete without examining one final passage. In Genesis 26, God appeared to Isaac: “Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” (Genesis 26:3-5)
This passage serves as a fitting epitaph for the life of Abraham. Isaac had now become the bearer of God’s promises. He would enjoy God’s blessing, and through his descendants (the people of Israel) blessing would come to all the nations. The text makes it crystal clear that all this would come about because of Abraham’s obedience. This is yet another explicit connection between Abraham’s obedience and the promised blessing.
We might have expected that verse 5 would conclude “…because Abraham obeyed me.” But the text doesn’t stop there; it’s much more elaborate. Not only did Abraham obey, but he also “…did everything I required of him, keeping my commandments, my decrees and my instructions.” This language clearly anticipates the law of Moses later given to the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 28-30 serve as a summary of the covenant. This section is replete with the same kind of language which we find in Genesis 26:5. Among dozens of possible examples here are two:
“I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:16)
On the negative side, “All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you.” (Deuteronomy 28:45)
By applying the language of the covenant to Abraham in Genesis 26:5, the author (traditionally Moses himself) clearly intends to create a direct parallel between Abraham & Israel. The same pattern of obedience & blessing in the life of Abraham applies to God’s covenant with Israel.
Even more importantly, the same unbreakable connection between obedience and blessing applies to the new covenant. Modern evangelicals see Abraham as the quintessential example of “faith” – passive trust in God independent of any human action or effort. As we shall see, Genesis 15 recounts a time when Abraham trusted in God’s promise. But we must not cleave Abraham’s faith from his faithfulness. We must remember that Genesis 15 is part of a larger narrative. And as we’ve noted, this narrative repeatedly emphasizes that – despite moments of failure – Abraham’s life was characterized by obedience.
The writers of the Bible never separate belief from behavior. Not for Abraham, not for Israel and not for those of us who follow Jesus the Messiah in loyal obedience.
