I will make you very fruitful

“I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.” (Genesis 17:6)

 

Abraham is called the ancestor of faith in the Bible. His name was Abram at first, but Abraham a new name was later given to him, in Genesis 17:5. Abram means ‘high father,’ and Abraham means ‘father of many people.’ Both are good names in the meaning, but especially the latter signifies the ancestor of all the people who have been promised by God. His hometown was Ur the land of Chaldean, and God made him leave the land, relatives and father’s home and go to Canaan. God planned ahead to make him very fruitful; to be made nations and kings from him.

 

All the human affairs are ultimately done in the hand of God. You won’t have to argue why God does that. For human duty is only to identify reasonable cause in that situation and to take all possible measures to do. If you have anything hard to understand when you are reading the Bible, you need to have a waiting time of relying on the Holy Spirit, not to make it a forced interpretation. Because I believe that there will be times when God will permit you so that you understand, for reference to 2 Peter 3:16. We do not know what the conditions and reasons were for Abram’s selection. But what we know is just the fact in the providence of God, that He opened through Abraham up a panorama of salvation in history. Terah, Abraham’s father, was not a special character compared to others, but he a man who lived in Ur of Chaldean had served idols, in Joshua 24:2. God called Abram out to leave there.

It’s really unseemly to see people who like to be proud of even a little thing. However not just a certain person, but everyone lives with such an attitude. Someone might be angry at me saying so. “I don’t!” he will say. Don’t argue with others about whether you really don’t or not, but ask the Lord about it truly, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the reason I am talking about this means for everyone to obey God’s call only, on the humble and equal footing before God.

Most of people expect to live under the name Abram. For Abram expresses the ideal of a normal, simple father. But God changed the name Abram into Abraham. Living as Abram is of course worthy in general, but living as Abraham gives a deep and far-reaching ideal in Christ more than the Abram’s. If people who believe in Jesus live on the level of the common people, it’s just like staying in Abram. Many Christians spend their entire lives in such places as hostess for clothing, food, housing, and child care. And there are many leaders who teach the Bible and faith, by weighing in general matters as success or failure. Well, what’s the average person like Abraham? Well, how can you describe a man like Abraham as an ordinary person? It is never easy to be a great man as Abraham.

Even after receiving the great name Abraham, his faith still seemed to be lacking. When they heard “You’ll see your son,” Abraham was ninety-nine years old at that time and Sarah was eighty-nine years old. And they could not believe it. So Abraham laughed and denied it with his heart. Abraham’s attitude was commonly normal to all eyes. But faithful nature is different than rationally normal or not. If you rely on God’s hands, there is nothing you cannot do. To say that there’s nothing impossible about a believer is not to say what man can do by himself alone, but it is talking about what God can do. Common sense alone was not enough for Abraham to believe what God had said, but God made him obedient in the Holy Spirit, and He gave him the result of obedience through faith.

 

Abraham is an ancestor of faith for salvation. Through him, Israel was guided by God, and the Savior Jesus Christ came through the lineage of Israel, for all the people in the world. Now in Christ, anybody can have a life of faith like Abraham. Just as Abraham is the father of many people, Christian is in the same position as a father for many people. I sincerely hope that you will live for the world as a stump of faith.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Dec 8th 2019)