/After these things, was a word of Yahweh to Abram in a vision, saying,
"Don't fear, Abram; I--a Shield to you; your reward, very great." And
Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will You give to me, and I myself walk
childless, and a son of acquisition of my house, he is of Damascus,
Eliezar?" And Abram said, "Look, to me You have not given a seed, and
look, a son of my house--an heir to me!" And look, the Word of Yahweh to
him, saying, "This one will not be your heir, nevertheless, yet what
comes forth from your inner parts--he will be your heir!" And He took
him outside and said, "Behold, now, the heavens, number the stars if you
are able to number them." And He said to him, "So will be your seeds."
And He believed in Yahweh; and He considered it to him--righteousness!"
/
Today's lesson gives us part 1 of Abraham's story, and the Gospel gives
us the Paul Harvey-esque "rest of the story". We see both Abraham and
his servant Eliezar (Lazarus in Greek) now home in heaven. We pretty
much know how the beggarly servant got there. He had no choice but to
rely on God's mercy for both this life and for the next. And we pretty
much know why the rich man didn't make it to heaven. It's easier for a
camel to go thru the eye of a needle than for the rich to be saved,
Jesus reminds us.
But how, exactly, did Abraham make it there? He was a really rich man,
after all. He acquired great wealth in Syria, in Egypt, and elsewhere.
Animals, slaves, and all kinds of riches belonged to him. We might think
that Abraham must have been the exception to the rule of impossibility
for a rich man to make it to heaven. We might assume that he was just a
really good guy who always walked in the ways of the LORD. We might
imagine Abraham to be an upright guy... but we couldn't be more wrong!
Abram was anything but a faithful follower of Yahweh, at times. In
Egypt, he was quick to lie that his gorgeous wife Sarai was only his
sister, handing her over into the king's harem in exchange for lots of
riches. He did the very same thing a second time when King Abimalech
took a liking to the beautiful Sarah. Then, when he failed to believe
the promise of God to provide an heir, he & Sarah conspired for him to
go into the slave Hagar and attempt to have a child by her in foolish
attempt to help God out (as if the Almighty God ever needs man's help!)
No, Abram wasn't a very upright guy whatsoever, as the biblical witness
attests. God didn't take him into heaven because he had done good things
with his life. Abraham just wasn't righteous enough to earn eternal
life. And the same is true for you. You can try all you want to be good,
faithful Christian people, but that won't gain you even one day of life
in the paradise of heaven. For God knows that you have not measured up
to His yard-stick of "be ye perfect; holy as the LORD God is holy." You
are sinners who have forfeited any right to life in heaven. You just
aren't *righteous* enough on your own to merit life heaven.
Yet, although he was a scoundrel of a sinner at times, Abraham made it
into heaven anyway! How? Jesus once, when discussing the possibility of
a rich man like Abraham making it into paradise, told His disciples,
"With man this is impossible." It wasn't possible for that rich man, in
Jesus' day, to sell all his wealth & give it to the poor. It wasn't
possible for Abraham to ever do enough either to merit eternal life. Nor
is it possible for you to do a single thing to earn life in heaven for
yourself. With man, it's just plain impossible.
Abram didn't live a righteous life. But he believed in Yahweh, and God
counted it as righteousness to him. What? All Abraham had to do was
believe in God, and that made him righteous in LORD's sight? Yes,
although even his belief in the LORD was a gift of God. You see, God
created Abram's faith when He first promised that, in him, all the
families of the world would be blessed. That Word of promise made
Abraham a believer. God promised the blessing of Abram's *Seed*.
Now most folks overlook the whole "seed" thing, translating it
"offspring" or "descendants". But that's not it at all. God had long ago
promised that Eve's one, singular Seed would crush the devil one day.
That Singular Seed was Jesus. God promised that same Seed to come thru
Abram's line. This was no ordinary offspring for Abram. This One was a
man, Who was also GOD! As man, Jesus could be the seed who would give up
his life at the +. As God, what looked like defeat there would actually
crush Satan, once and for all!
Abram was saved by believing that Yahweh was that Seed-to-come, in the
flesh, to bring victory over sin, death & Satan. His faith looked way
into the future, to the + of Jesus. There, Jesus took Abram's sins into
His Own body on that tree and died for him. In exchange, Jesus gave
Abraham the holy righteousness of His perfect obedience under God's Law.
What Jesus did to save Abram, He has done to save you too! Your sins are
washed clean to the +, & His holy body & blood are yours now! You look
to the same + of Christ for your salvation.
Like Abram, you are saved by the gracious promise of the gospel, which
brings you to faith in Jesus! Amen.
John C. Drosendahl, Pastor
[email protected]
