GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 12

• Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:

Here is the calling of Abraham and the beginning of the unfolding of God's plan to save men (women) from sin and reconcile them back to God. Abraham was chosen of God to be the one to bring the Messiah (Christ) into the world.

• Genesis 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

This is a promise of God which will be fulfilled in full in the latter days.

• Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Before I get into the blessing and cursing which is important, the most important part of that verse is the latter part where it says that all families shall be blessed by the seed of Abraham. This is the part that refers to Jesus Christ and His salvation to all who will receive Him. Jesus (Yeshua) is the very Son of God that God sent into the seed of Abraham to provide this wonderful gift to all of us. This promise is given to all who believe and receive this.

As nations though we are given the promise of the Messiah but the whole world does not receive Christ, only some. So the warning of a blessing or curse is given here to Abraham also. This is literally true. Those that bless and help the descendants of Abraham (the chosen seed of promise) shall be blessed and those that curse them shall be cursed. Too bad the Germans during the holocaust didn't see this. This promise of God is still good. How other nations treat Israel is going to be brought out in judgment. Here is what Jesus said about the treatment of His brethren. I know this can apply to any believer in Jesus Christ as well as Israel but this describes the judgment of nations rather than individuals here so I believe it applies to Israel and most probably born again believers in Jesus.

• Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
• 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
• 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
• 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
• 35 For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
• 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
• 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
• 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
• 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
• 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

I take this literally but also we have other scripture to use that show believers and Jesus to be adopted into Israel. Believers in Jesus can be part of this promise. If someone is kind to a believer in Christ, it is the same as being kind to Christ.

• Luke 8:20 And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you."
• 21 But he answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

What a blessing and a wonderful promise that those that are not natural born into Israel can still be part of the family of God through faith in Jesus the Christ.

• Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
• 42 For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
• 43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
• 44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
• 45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
• 46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Because of their sin against God, the Jews were driven to other nations and persecuted severely. God will judge the nations that do this. Sometimes we take ourselves out of God's protecting hand when we rebel against Him. The Jews rejected the Messiah and did not recognize Him when He came the first time to die for our sins. This opened the door for Satan to persecute and attempt to destroy them because God's hand of protection was temporarily removed.

Notice though that I said temporarily. God has plans for Israel that no man can stop. He will not forget His promise to Abraham. Israel will not be destroyed. Israel will receive the gospel and be saved in the end. All nations that persecute Israel will be judged. During the holocaust many Jews were driven from their homes, put in train boxcars and killed. They suffered hunger, thirst, and misery that we can't really describe. I believe the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 25 were warnings to those nations who would do this to Israel.

God knew that this was going to happen. Although God warns Israel through the prophets what they would suffer, He also warns the nations that do these things, what would happen to them. Remember also that Gentile believers become adopted Israel so the these verses may apply to the treatment given to the faithful followers of Jesus as well as natural Israel. Notice that I rarely use the word church. This is done on purpose because not all the so-called church are true believers in Jesus Christ. The so-called church has been guilty of persecuting Israel more than secular nations.

Through Israel came Jesus Christ. Through Israel's rejection of Jesus, the gospel went to the Gentile nations. Those that are born again by God's spirit inherit this same promise that was given to Abraham. We become the seed of Abraham by adoption. We never replace Israel as chosen of God but will inherit the promises of God through faith in Jesus. We are children of the promise by adoption. The natural branches were cut off temporarily but they will be grafted in again. Many Jews are coming to Christ in these latter days. I rejoice in this.

The biggest mistake some churches have made for years is trying to replace Israel and the scriptures that speak of Israel with the church. We must not do this for that is why bible prophecy becomes hard to understand. We may excuse this before 1948 (Israel became a nation again in 1948) but now we have no reason to think the church ever replaces Israel. We may become part of Israel by faith in Christ but we never replace Israel.

Paul warns us not to boast against the branches (Israel). Let us be thankful to have heard the gospel and not be exalted in ourselves and think it is by our own holiness or that we deserve the blessings of God. It is by His mercy that we have heard and received the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Through Abraham though the whole earth is to be blessed as I mentioned before. This is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. This will be fulfilled in full at the second coming of Jesus Christ. He had to come the 1st time to make the sacrifice for sins.

• Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
• 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
• 6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Abraham was a kind hearted man. Notice how he always cares for Lot just as if he was his own son.

• Genesis 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there built he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.

No matter how we try to remove Israel from their land, God promised them the land of Canaan. The United States, Britain or any other nation has no right to pressure Israel to give up on inch of their land.

• Genesis 12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he built an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
• 9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
• 10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Here is the first instance of weakness in Abraham. He was chosen of God and good in so many ways but like many of us, we have moments of weakness. There was a famine so Abraham sought to go into Egypt instead of trusting God. I will not criticize him for this because we all probably would have done the same thing. When we see Abraham's weaknesses and faults, a lot of times we can see ourselves. This is my speculation here. God did not tell Abraham not to go down to Egypt. It might have been better if he did not but trusted God but that is speculation on my part, not scripture.

• Genesis 12:11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
• 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
• 13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.

We see fear and unbelief within Abraham similar to the same fear and unbelief we sometimes go through as Christians. Notice that God promised. God spoke directly to Abraham; yet Abraham experienced doubt and unbelief. God never once removed His promise because of Abraham's failure but we shall see many consequences come because of it.

We too suffer consequences when we fail God but God never withdraws His promise of eternal life to those who repent of sin and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ for salvation. We can always ask forgiveness and be renewed to God at any time.

• Genesis 12:14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
• 15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
• 16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
• 17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.

God could not allow Sarah to be touched because she was chosen of God to bare the line of Christ. The only child Sarah ever had was Isaac. I believe this was done on purpose so that we know for sure the line from which the Messiah was to come would be through Abraham and then Isaac.

• Genesis 12:18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
• 19 Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
• 20 And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

If God kept Pharaoh from touching Abraham's wife, then He would have kept Pharaoh from harming Abraham if Abraham would have came to Egypt acknowledging that Sarah was his wife.

Fear really gives us problems and it is not easy. We will see later that Abraham shows courage and also becomes an intercessor for the life of His nephew, Lot. Abraham is considerably good and kind but Abraham has moments of misgivings and doubt just like we do. We shall see though when we study the life of Abraham that our mistakes bring forth many troubles for us later on. DC

Genesis 13