By his own ingenuity and strength he hoped to survive
But all his plans were frustrated; he was not strong
enough to prevent Pharaoh from taking his wife and only God's direct
intervention prevented Pharaoh from violating her.
And Pharaoh became God's instrument for rebuking
Abram and escorting him across the state line
Yet for all this, he might have continued to doubt; for
God had not appeared to him as he did at Bethel
And, further, Abram is now a rich man; he might very well
be turned to trust in these riches, dwelling on the borders of Egypt in
contentment.
Why go back to the Land of Canaan?
Because God has promised it to him and by grace God is
now restoring Abram's faith in that promise
Abram proved weak to provide for himself, but God proved
abundantly strong.
He left Canaan for Egypt because the famine was
"heavy" there and he could not provide for himself
He leaves Egypt for Canaan and now it is his riches
that are "heavy"
God has graciously prospered Abram when he deserved
just the opposite
Abram's descendants will later be escorted out of
Egypt by Pharaoh's army (I use the term "escorted" loosely)
And they will take with them the plunder of Egypt,
each one having asked his neighbors to borrow gold and silver
So here Abram leaves with the plunder of Egypt which
he did not earn and goes back to a land he does not deserve
Yet God's grace is abundant and grants him beyond all
that he could have imagined.
He Retraces His Steps (3)
Abram expresses his repentance and faith in this story by
his movements.
As he traveled from the South to Egypt - out of the
promised land in doubt
So now he travels from Egypt to the South - back to the
borders of the promised land in faith.
And as he had traveled from between Bethel and Ai to the
borders of the land in the south in doubt
So now he does not stop in the south but continues back
to the very center of the land, to between Bethel and Ai, in faith
He returns to the very place where the Lord had appeared
to him before, confident once more that this is the place where he will
meet his God and hear the gospel
And He Reestablishes His Devotion to the Lord (4)
So comes back to the very altar he had built to God
That altar expressed his confidence in the power of God
and his dependence upon the Lord for mercy
We saw that there was no arrogance in that altar, it was
no tower of Babel proudly reaching up to heaven
It was a humble monument to Abram's inability to reach up
to heaven, thus pleading with God to come and meet him there.
And so God did and that humble altar became better than a
tower with its top in the heavens, for there Abram met the king of
heaven, the Lord of Hosts.
Returning to this altar, Abram again calls on the name of
the Lord
That is, he again worships God and acknowledges him
as sovereign
And he again claims the promises of God and the
relationship that God has established with him by that promise
He has been fully restored to faith and to the good
graces of God, not by any effort of his own, but because God himself
has so restored him.
Lot's Choice (5-13)
The Servants of Lot and Abram Quarrel (5-7)
The great wealth which Abram and his nephew Lot attained
in Egypt now becomes a source of strife.
Their servants quarrel with one another, each claiming
grazing and watering rights over a territory that cannot support them
both.
So we see a fresh confirmation of the wildly extravagant
way in which the Lord has blessed them both - their wealth is more than
they know how to sustain, like Peter pulling up a catch of fish so
great that the nets begin to break.
Yet there is an ironic note in this
The Canaanites and Perizzites then dwelt in the land
They seem able to share the land with these godless
heathen, yet they cannot get along with one another
So wealth, when we hoard it rather than sharing it
freely becomes a source of strife and jealousy among brothers in the
church
Yet Abram demonstrates himself a child of faith, more
interested in unity with his nephew than in worldly goods.
He makes Lot a princely offer
Abram Offers Lot His Choice (8,9)
Abram reminds Lot that they are brothers, i.e. close
kinsman, for Lot is actually the son of Abram's brother Haran.
Thus, they ought not to quarrel, and Abram is prepared to
see that they do not; cost is no object
So from their vantage point, overlooking the entire
Promised Land, Abram waves to the north and the south, saying take
whichever one seems better to you.
It is a staggering, princely gesture
God has promised this entire land to Abram's
descendants
Abram is in effect saying to Lot, Take anything, even
up to half my kingdom. And the better half of it, whichever you judge
that to be.
The wealth is nothing. God provided plenty and can always
provide more.
But God is not pleased with strife among brothers so
Abram seeks to smooth that over, counting any cost as nothing.
Lot Chooses by Sight Rather than by Faith (10-13)
So Lot chooses the plain of the Jordan because it is
well-watered.
It seems a logical choice; the land is rich and can
support him.
Indeed it is like the garden of God, and isn't that what
this is all about?
Man was kicked out of the garden of God
Now he wants back in
What better way than to pick a place that looks most
like that garden
Yet ominous notes are introduced
it was well watered "before the Lord destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah". So the land is deceptive; it cannot provide for
Lot forever
It is not only like the garden of God, it is like the
land of Egypt
Again ominous, for Abram had just gone down to Egypt
in a demonstration of a lack of faith.
Now Lot chooses an Egypt-like place, hinting that he
is not free from that trust in material things that drove Abram to fend
for himself rather than relying on God
And, though the place looked like the Lord's garden,
it is filled with the very children of hell - "exceedingly wicked and
sinful against the Lord."
This as well ought to have warned Lot away if he
valued the fear of the Lord more than the treasures of the world.
But the worst thing that can be said about Lot's choice
is said in verse 12
"Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in
the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom."
Did you catch that?
Lot has moved out of Canaan, THE PROMISED LAND
He has by his own lack of faith and love of the world
forfeited his right to participate in and benefit from this promised
inheritance
He has turned his back on the gospel of God.
There may have been some thought before that Abram would
adopt Lot and Lot would be the seed to whom the promise would come.
Now there can be no such thought.
God must provide Abram another seed who knows how to
value this promise more than all the riches of the world.
The Lord's Renewal of The Promise (14-18)
He Expands the Promised Boundaries
He expands these boundaries in time
Before, God did not suggest how long Abram's
descendants would retain the land
Now he is told they will have it forever.
And he expands these boundaries in space
In 12:6,7 - as we noted - God promised Abram only the
land of Canaan.
Now he promises Abram the land as far as his eye can
see
Clearly this includes the land Lot chose;
Abram's eyesight is not worse than his nephew's
Yet Lot chose a land outside Canaan
What was then outside the promised land has in an
instant become a part of the promised land.
He will expand that promise again in 15:18
"from the river of Egypt to the great river, the
River Euphrates"
Abram cannot possibly see all that land from
where he is standing.
So we begin
Abram is being introduced to the principle of gospel
fullness
God doesn't do merely what he has promised
That would be wonderful enough.
But he chooses to glorify himself by constantly doing
more than what was promised, indeed more than we
can ask or think
This expansion will continue until the entire world is
Abram's and his forever.
Under Joshua, Abram's descendant, the land promised
in ch. 12, the land of Canaan, will be taken.
Yet the Israelites in that day will know they have
not yet received the fullness of what God promised, what he promises
here in vv. 14,15
Under King David, Abram's descendant, the territory
promised here will be received
And under King Solomon, Abram's descendant, the even
greater territory promised in chapter 15 will be appropriated
And still God isn't done
Paul calls the promise of this land to Abram a
promise that he would be "heir of the world" (Rom 4:13)
And so it is
The Lord God says to his servant, his only-begotten
Son in Isa 49:6 - "It is too light a thing that you should be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of
Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation
may reach to the end of the earth."
And so Christ comes as a light to the Gentiles as
well as the Savior of his people Israel
And the preaching of the gospel begins in Jerusalem
but soon goes out to Judea, to Samaria, and from there to the ends of
the earth.
It is like Ezekiel vision in Ezekiel 47.
He see's water flowing out from the temple to the
east
And as he walks in it east from the temple, the
water comes up to his ankles
He walks further and it comes up to his waist
Further still and it is too deep, water that one
must swim, a river he cannot cross
And this is the life-giving water that flows
forth from Christ the cornerstone of the living temple
The water goes forth deeper and wider, enveloping
everything in it's path
God is even now calling in the elect from every
corner of the world
Even now he is redeeming a vast multitude that no one
can count to sing praises to God and to the Lamb who sits on the
throne.
Then by establishing with them under Christ a new
heavens and a new earth where nothing but righteousness dwells and
there is no knee left that fails to bow nor tongue that fails to
confess that Christ is Lord.
We have received the fullest expression of this promise
in Christ
The inheritance that is ours is nothing less than a
new heavens and a new earth and fellowship with God in Christ forever
Yet still there is one more expansion to this most
glorious promise
We are told that all these promises - as glorious as
they are - fail to adequately express the glory that is coming
We are too weak and feeble to understand how
truly glorious and amazing is the salvation that will be revealed
Even now we are the sons of God and it does not
appear what we shall be
So God says "Eye has not seen nor ear heard
Now unto him who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly
We have so many dear brothers and sisters in Christ who
insist that God must fulfil this promise by giving a small piece of
real estate to the physical descendents of Abram.
Have they not missed the point?
Have they not missed the glorious principle here
introduced?
God delights not to give merely what he has
promised.
He loves to give more, and more, and more
May his name be praised forever.
He Expands the Promise of a Seed
Abram's territory has been expanded and so has the
promise of the descendants that will fill it.
In 12 he was promised a seed who would inherit the Land
Now he is promised descendants, and their number shall be
as the dust of the earth.
Abram, who doesn't have a single descendant, is told that
one day his descendants will be uncountable.
And has this not been fulfilled exceedingly abundantly
beyond all that Abram could ask or think?
He was granted the one Seed, Christ, who became the
Savior of the world
In Christ, the Seed of Abram, all the families of the
earth are blest.
In Christ, we also are counted the seed of Abram
For Paul says it is not the children according to the
flesh who are counted as seed, but those who like Abram put all their
hope in this promise
You and I are the fulfilment of this glorious promise
to Abram
How could he understand how glorious it was
That there should be gathered before Christ this day
a vast multitude that no one can count singing praise to the Lamb who
sits on the throne.
Abram Responds to the Promise in Faith (17,18)
Where is the proof of this though?
Abram's promised a multitude of descendants; he has
yet to have one
How hard, how impossible, to dismiss what his eyes
tell him and believe this promise
And what is the current situation of his inheritance?
Remember, the Canaanite and Perizzite are in the land
Abram doesn't own a square inch of it.
When he offered to divide the spoil with Lot he was
offering to divy up what he didn't yet own - like two children deciding
which part of the backyard belongs to whom.
Yet God tells Abram, walk around like you own the place.
He's telling Abram to walk about the land in faith,
looking at every square inch of this territory, occupied by godless
men, and say, "They appear to hold sway now, but God has given this to
my descendants forever."
In faith, Abram dwells in Hebron, in the heart of the
promised land
In faith, he walks through it claiming the promise of
God, not conquering it by his might, but confessing that the Lord who
promised this land will surely give it to him
In faith, Abram builds and altar to the Lord, confessing
that it is not by might or by power, but by God's spirit that his
descendants will possess the land
He is as good as dead, more than 75 years old, yet he
believes he will have descendants.
He is surrounded by enemies, yet he believes their power
is nothing compared to the power of the One who promised.
Come, let us imitate the faith of Abram
We have received even more abundant and precious
promises in Jesus Christ
We, the descendants of Abram by faith, have been
promised a glorious inheritance - the kingdom of heaven
Yet we do not now see that inheritance
So let us fix our eyes on what we do not see
Let us walk about in this life confident that
this inheritance has been secured for us by the sacrifice and power of
Christ.
Do not be like Abram when he went down to Egypt,
trusting in his own strength and ingenuity.
Be like this Abram, restored to faith, confident that
whatever God has promised, that he will provide and more besides.
Then you shall have no fear.
We see the world full of strong and evil men and we
appear weak by comparison
Yet the weakness of God is stronger than men's
strength
Does it seem impossible that Christ should
conquer such strongholds of Satan as exist in this earth? He has
already done so?
Let us therefore walk among them with confidence.
What can they do to us? Even if they kill us we will but rise again
Benediction:
Ephesians 3:20,21
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.