Immigrants of the Kingdom of God. Annang Asumang
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you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” (Gen 12:3 NRSV). In other words the mention of Abraham’s name will bring blessings to people. This is an extravagant promise of God indeed.
And Abraham proved this in real life. When Pharaoh seized his wife, God punished Pharaoh’s house. When Abimelech tried it again, God punished him also. God spoke to Abimelech in a dream, “You are as good as dead” (Gen 20:3). “Anyone who curses you will be cursed”—that was what was happening to Abimelech. When Abimelech repented of his evil intentions, Abraham laid hands on him and he was healed. That is what God turns people who love and fear Him into. They become satellite sources of blessings.
Disciples of Christ, who live like strangers in a foreign land, become fountains of God’s blessings. From them will flow God’s touch of healing to the society. They are sources of restoration, of grace, of renewal and revival in the land. They are the people God uses to turn the world upside down. That was the project into which God called Abraham. And we share this calling with him.
Walking by Faith and Obedience
The main distinguishing feature of Abraham’s life as an immigrant was his faith and obedience. His faith was one that took God at His word. We first notice this when God showered extravagant promises of posterity and land on him. God told Abraham, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars . . . So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5). Who would believe such an excessive promise? Yet, Abraham did. Abraham’s faith was so immensely simple that the modern cynical person may dismiss it as naïve. Abraham decided that when it came to faith in Jehovah, he was not going to be sophisticated at all about it. He would let God be true and every man be a liar. That was the nature of Abraham’s friendship with God.
Though simple, Abraham’s faith, was not a foolish a one. This is because it was based on a deep knowledge of the character and covenantal love of Jehovah God. Abraham reasoned to himself, “This God whom I worship, He is a just God. He does not lie, and is not a tease. This God I worship does not boast, does not bluff, does not need to impress anybody, and does not owe me anything. He does not depend on me in any way. Therefore if my God has gone out of His way to give me His promises, what reasons do I have not to believe Him? I do believe because I know my God to be who He is, the Lord of all the earth, with whom nothing is impossible. If He has said it, will He not do it?”
Several Christians struggle with believing God for three main reasons—they do not rely on the Word of God. Or when they do, they do not rely on the character of God. Or they forget about God’s Covenant. These three were the secrets behind Abraham’s faith. When life is hard, it is easy for believers to fall into the trap of believing our imaginations, and trusting our own calculations and expectations. It becomes easy for wishful thinking to take over and for us to put words into God’s mouth and to then expect Him to fulfill these wishes. That is not faith, and that is certainly not the nature of Abraham’s faith. Faith builds its foundations on the Word of God. It does not embellish, exaggerate, or make it say what we wish to hear.
After we have believed His Word, we need to continue believing because of God’s character. His character makes Him someone who will not change His mind. His character makes Him someone who binds Himself to His own promises. So when He has spoken, we should be sure that it will happen. Abraham believed God because He accepted God’s character as genuine, untainted and reliable.
Abraham’s faith was not just based on God’s Word, and God’s character; it was also based on God’s covenant. In Gen 15, where we get this record that Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness, his faith was confirmed with a covenant sealing ceremony (Gen 15:18). From then on Abraham knew that God’s promises were bound, not only to His character but also to His covenant, and to His oath. We can also be sure and have faith in the Word of God because God has sealed His promises to us with His covenant.
Abraham did not only believe; He also obeyed. After the first command from God in Gen 12, we are told, “So Abram left, as the LORD had told him” (Gen 12:4). How simple is this man’s discipleship. He didn’t ask any questions. He threw no tantrums, and he didn’t request for any assurances. Abraham obeyed God without any “if”s and “but”s. He made no hesitation, or reservations when obeying God. Abraham just got up and went, “as the LORD had told him”. He should have written a book titled “Obedience made simple”!
This was not the only occasion in Abraham’s life in which he demonstrates this unquestioningly simplified and unhesitant obedience. In Gen 22, we are told God came to Abraham and commanded him to go and sacrifice his son. This command, we must admit, is the most shocking command from God in the whole Bible. The writer softens our shock by prefacing the command with the warning that it was a “test” from God. For Abraham however, there was no preface at all. Though we, the readers, are told that it was a test from God, Abraham on the other hand was not forewarned about the test. That makes this command very dreadful—at least it should have been to Abraham.
So what should Abraham do about this shocking command? Shouldn’t he ask for a few more details about Moriah, about which mountain, and about the procedure? Shouldn’t he find out what happens now to God’s promises since Isaac, according to God, was the one through whom those promises would be fulfilled? Shouldn’t he examine why he needed to travel for three days to Moriah? Yet, Abraham didn’t do any of these. Instead, the Bible tells us that Abraham set off the next morning to Moriah to perform the sacrifice.
It is not as if Abraham is slavish in his relationship with Jehovah. When it was necessary, Abraham questioned and bargained and pleaded and challenged God to remain true to His character. For example, before this incident, Abraham had confronted and haggled with God over Sodom and Gomorrah. He challenged God, “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). Why then, did Abraham not do the same when it came to obedience?
Abraham obeyed because he trusted God. The fact is there is no true obedience if it is not acted out of faith. Every demand from God is a test of our faith and every act of so-called obedience that is not done out of faith fails that test in the first place. Abraham had this faith (James 2:21–22). He believed in the resurrection, so He was willing to sacrifice his son. He believed in the power of the Word of God so he trusted that God would speak and his son will come alive again. Abraham believed the character of God and so He acted in obedience.
Abraham’s obedience was also a covenantal obedience. His walk with God was based on a covenant of friendship, of deep love and affection. Because of this, Abraham knew that no command comes from God without this covenantal love. And within that covenant, Abraham’s responsibility was to obey. Abraham did not ask any questions of God because all the questions had been answered already within the covenant between him and Jehovah.
Obedience will be straightforward to God’s children if we were to constantly remind ourselves of Calvary’s covenant. If we were to experience and know on a daily basis how much God loves us, no commandment from Him will be so unreasonable, so reckless, and so shocking to us. What else can beat the shock of God giving up his own Son to die in our place on the cross? What more does God have to do to show that he loves us?
Jesus has demonstrated to us how much He loves us by laying down His life for us (Jn 15:13). Now, as His friends, He calls upon us to obey His commandments. It is when our relationship with God becomes a practical living out of this covenant of friendship, that obedience becomes less convoluted. When we too have come to the place of deep friendship with Him, then we will be enabled to obey like Abraham.
Discussion Questions
1. There is a common saying within some Christian circles that some believers are too “heavenly minded” to be of any earthly use. How does Abraham’s life disprove this notion and show instead that if we are properly heavenly minded we would always be of use on earth?
2. What do you think about Abraham’s behavior as an immigrant in Egypt?
3. Faith, for Abraham, was a matter of relying on God’s Word, God’s Covenant and God’s Character. Explain how each one of these contributes to our own faith.
1. Edward Said,