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Scripture Reading: Gen. 11:31; 12:1-4; Acts 7:2-4; Gen. 22:16-18
I. Working on Abraham:
А. Calling him:
1. The first time — Gen. 11:31; Acts 7:2-4a:
а. By appearing to him as the God of glory.
b. Through his father Terah.
c. With his nephew Lot and his wife Sarai.
d. Out of Ur of the Chaldeans and from his relatives.
e. Into Canaan.
f. Stopped at Haran.
2. The second time — Gen. 12:1, 4:
а. After the death of his father Terah.
b. Out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father’s house.
c. Unto the land that Jehovah would show him.
d. Going with his nephew Lot at seventy-five years of age.
B. Promising him — vv. 2-3:
1. To make of him a great nation.
2. To make his name great.
3. To bless him and make him a blessing to others.
4. All the families of the earth to be blessed in him; announcing the gospel beforehand to Abraham (Gal. 3:8).
C. Appearing to him the third time and promising him that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed — Gen. 12:7.
D. Saving him from Pharaoh’s insulting of his wife — vv. 10-20.
E. Promising to give to him and his seed all the land that he saw, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, and to make his seed as the dust of the earth — 13:14-17.
F. The priest of God, as God the Most High, blessing Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God the Most High / Possessor of heaven and earth” — 14:19.
G. Speaking in a vision to Abraham that He is his shield and his exceedingly great reward; only he who will come from his own body shall be his heir; his heirs will be as many as the stars in heaven; he believed in Him, and He accounted it to him for righteousness; and his seed will be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, be afflicted by them for four hundred years, and in their fourth generation return to Canaan; in that day He made a covenant with him to give to his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates — ch. 15.
H. Not speaking to Abraham for thirteen years because he took Hagar as his concubine, who brought forth for him a son, Ishmael, when he was eighty-six years old — ch. 16.
I. Appearing the seventh time to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old and making with him the covenant of circumcision so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations, and changing his name from Abram to Abraham and his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah, of whom Abraham would have a son, Isaac — ch. 17.
J. Appearing the eighth time to him by the oaks of Mamre, fellowshipping with him as with His friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23) — Gen. 18.
K. Saving his wife from Abimelech, king of Gerar — ch. 20.
L. Giving him Isaac, a son of Sarah, and casting out Ishmael, his son of Hagar — 21:1-14.
M. Speaking to him the tenth time to prove him by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him and he passing His proving; speaking to him the eleventh time to stop him from offering his son Isaac and he replacing Isaac with a ram (typifying Christ — John 1:29) for a burnt offering; and speaking to him the twelfth time to promise him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore, and in his seed (Christ — Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1b) all the nations of the earth would be blessed — Gen. 22:1-19.
N. Blessing him and leading his old servant to secure Rebekah as wife to his son Isaac — ch. 24.
II. Judging Sodom and Gomorrah:
А. To burn Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain with brimstone and fire — 19:24-25.
B. Because of their grievous sin — 18:20.
C. Because of Abraham God sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow — 19:29, 12-22.
D. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt by looking back — v. 26.
Thus far, we have seen God’s history in eternity past. We have also seen His history in time in creating the universe, in judging Satan and the universe, and in restoring the judged universe and creating man. Even the creating of man is part of the real history of God. Genesis does not merely tell us a story of how man was created. God’s creation of man is actually a marvelous part of God’s history in this universe.
Genesis 1:26 says that God created man in His own image and according to His own likeness. The model, the prototype, for man’s creation was God Himself! Of course, God is almighty, but I believe that before creating man, God should have had much consideration. Carpenters who make furniture spend much energy to make designs before they actually make a piece of furniture. In His creation of the universe, God spoke things into being. He spoke, and it was (Psa. 33:9). God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). Why would God not say, “Let there be man,” and there was man? God did not create man by speaking him into being. He created man in a marvelous way.
Genesis 2:7 says that God made man with a form. God then breathed the breath of life into this form, and that breath became man’s spirit. The result was that man became a living soul. Then God put this man in a particular place, a garden. On the earth there was a garden, and this garden was full of trees that were pleasant to the sight and good for food to nourish man. But among those many trees were two trees — the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 9). By the side of the tree of life was a flowing river, and at the flow of the river there were three precious materials — gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (vv. 10-12). Genesis 2 says that God caused man to sleep, opened up his side, and took out a rib of that man. God used that rib as the material to build up a building, and that building was a female (vv. 21-22). We have to enter into the significance of all these things. Actually, Genesis 1 and 2 are not a history of Adam but a history of the Creator, of the wise Architect, God. The first two chapters of Genesis are a part of God’s history.
We have seen that Genesis 3 reveals how God saved man from his fall. Then we saw how God dealt with Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. With these men we can see the history of the acting God on the positive side. Then on the negative side, God judged those who forsook Him and took the way of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the way of death.
For us to study the Bible by viewing it as the history of God gives us an entirely new view. The Bible is an old book, but we have a new way to study it. The most crucial point in taking a photo is the angle at which you take it. If you do not have the proper angle, you cannot have a proper photo. If we take a picture of someone, and it is a photo of his feet, this means that we took the picture at the wrong angle. We need to view the Bible from the angle of the history of God to have a proper and complete view of the divine revelation.
In this chapter we want to see God’s history in the life of Abraham. When we look at Abraham’s life, we need to see it from the proper angle, the angle of the history of God. When I was with the Brethren, they stressed that Abraham had two kinds of descendants. One was likened to the stars of heaven (Gen. 15:5), and the other was likened first to the dust of the earth (13:16) and second to the sand on the seashore (22:17). These three expressions involve the heaven, the earth, and the sea. There are the stars in the heavens, the dust of the earth, and the sand on the seashore. We need to consider the significance of these expressions.
Genesis 13 tells us that God came to visit Abraham after his nephew Lot left him. God was a real friend to Abraham. He realized that Abraham was lonely, so He came to Abraham. The servants of Lot had been fighting with the servants of Abraham, and this fighting was due to the shortage of land. Then Abraham said to Lot, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left” (v. 9). Lot looked at the land around them, and he chose the plain toward Sodom because that was fertile. That plain was well watered and was like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt (v. 10). Lot chose the best part of the land, and he departed from Abraham.
Then the Lord spoke to Abraham and said, “Now lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed forever” (vv. 14-15). Northward was toward Lebanon, southward was toward Egypt, eastward was toward the Euphrates, the Great River, and westward was toward the Mediterranean Sea, the Great Sea. As much as Abraham could see in these directions, God would give to him and to his seed. Furthermore, God told him that He would make his seed as the dust of the earth (v. 16).
In Genesis 13 there was a quarrel over the land, and Lot chose his portion, which was the best portion. Then in chapter 14 there was a war, and in that war the very place chosen by Lot, Sodom, was defeated and taken, and Lot, his family, and all their possessions were captured. When Abraham found out about this, he armed his trained servants, three hundred eighteen men, and he defeated the invaders to deliver Lot and his family. Thus, Lot, his family, and his possessions were all recovered (vv. 14-16).
Lot was recovered back into safety, but Abraham may have wondered what he would do if the four kings whom he had defeated would return again to fight against him. At that juncture God came in. This time God asked him to look up at the heavens. God said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be” (15:5). This implies that God was training Abraham. Abraham’s earthly descendants could be captured but not his heavenly descendants. It was as if God said, “Abraham, I, the almighty God, Jehovah, am not only giving you descendants from the earth. I am also giving you descendants from the heavens. Your enemies can deal with your descendants from the earth, but they cannot do anything with your heavenly descendants.”
In Genesis 22 God tried Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham was obedient to God’s desire, and he was charged to offer Isaac on Mount Moriah (v. 2). Mount Moriah eventually became Mount Zion, the place where the temple was built in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3:1). When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God intervened. Then Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket, and he offered that ram up for a burnt offering instead of his son (Gen. 22:13). God prepared this ram as a substitute for Isaac. This ram typifies Christ. Before Christ was crucified, He was typified as the crucified One on Mount Moriah. Because Abraham did not withhold his only son in obeying God, God promised him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore and that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (vv. 16-18).
In Genesis 22:17 Abraham’s seed is likened to the stars and the sand, not the dust. We have to consider why the Bible likens Abraham’s earthly descendants to dust and then sand. Actually, the sand comes from the dust. When the dust on the seashore is scoured, washed, with water, what is left is the sand. The children of Israel first were dust. Then the “waves of the Great Sea” came upon them again and again. What are these waves? We saw in our life-study of the book of Joel that four kinds of locusts came to devastate Israel (1:4; 2:25). All those locusts were like the waves from the Mediterranean Sea. They came up like waves to scour Israel as the dust again and again. Eventually, what was left was the sand on the seashore of the Mediterranean. Thus, the dust and the sand are eventually one. This fits the historical record. Throughout the centuries the waves of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Greece, and of Rome came upon Israel again and again. The issue of this was the sand. Thus, Abraham had only two kinds of descendants: one is the New Testament believers, who are likened to the heavenly stars, and the other is the Jews, who are likened to both the dust and the sand.
Now we need to consider the significance of Abraham in the divine revelation. What does he signify? The Bible begins to speak of Abraham from the second part of Genesis 11 through Genesis 24. Then Genesis 25 begins to speak about Abraham’s son Isaac. There are many persons, matters, and things in Genesis that signify something. Abraham is a sign, but what does he signify?
Abraham is a sign of God’s chosen people. We are God’s chosen people, but how can we know what kind of people we should be? God prepared a sign in Genesis 11—24 to show us, and this sign is Abraham. Abraham is a sign prepared and provided by God for us to see. As God’s chosen people, we all need to be Abrahams. In a sense, our name should be Abraham. All of us keep the name of our father and forefathers. Lee is my forefathers’ name, so my name is Lee today. In this sense, all of us are Abrahams, since he is our forefather (Rom. 4:12). Abraham is a sign signifying what kind of people we should be. In other words, he is a model, a sign, of the Christian life. What is the Christian life? The Christian life is the life that Abraham lived.
This life of Abraham, which became a sign, was altogether motivated and initiated by God. It was not anything of Abraham by and in himself. Nearly everything he did in a positive way was motivated by God. One thing he did, however, which was absolutely not motivated by God, was his taking of Hagar as his concubine. That was proposed, motivated, and stirred up altogether by his wife (Gen. 16:2-3). The issue of Hagar was a son named Ishmael, but Ishmael was rejected by God (17:18-19; 21:10-12a).
The sign of Abraham shows us that in the Christian life nothing should be of us. Instead, everything should be motivated, stirred up, and initiated by God. Our being saved surely was not motivated by us. We became Christians and entered into the church life because God motivated us. God is the Motivator in our Christian life. In the church life there are people of every color from many different countries. Who collected us together? It was God who motivated us and gathered us together into the church life. We need to realize that whatever is motivated by us will be a calamity. If you motivate your marriage life, be assured that your marriage will sooner or later be a calamity. We Christians should not motivate anything. God should be the Motivator of everything in our lives. Whatever we motivate will be a calamity, a suffering.
God motivated Abraham by calling him. He called Abraham the first time by appearing to him as the God of glory (11:31; Acts 7:2-4a). God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans and from his relatives into Canaan. On the one hand, Abraham received God’s call, but on the other hand, he was not so willing to carry out God’s call. Abraham came out of Chaldea, but instead of going into Canaan, he went with his father Terah and his nephew Lot and stopped at Haran. No doubt, Abraham was not willing to leave his nephew, his relative. Probably he proposed to his father to bring Lot with them. God motivated his calling, but he was not willing to carry it out absolutely. Thus, Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldeans with Terah, Lot, and his wife Sarai. They all came out of Chaldea, the country full of idols. At that time mankind had become joined with Satan, making themselves one with Satan, so God had given them up. God then came to another person to motivate something, to get a new race. This person was Abraham.
God called Abraham the second time after the death of his father Terah (Gen. 12:1, 4; Acts 7:4b). God called him out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father’s house into the land that Jehovah would show him. Thus, Abraham went with his nephew Lot at seventy-five years of age.
Abraham left Chaldea, but he became stuck at Haran. This may have been motivated by Abraham’s father, and this displeased God. Eventually, Terah died at Haran, and this should have been taken by Abraham as a warning. At that time God came again to motivate him further. That was his second calling by which he was motivated and led by God into the land of Canaan.
When Abraham responded to this second call, God undoubtedly was very happy. I believe that God was happier with Abraham as the one called by Him and sent by Him than He was with Adam as the one created by Him. Do you prefer to be a descendant of Adam or a descendant of Abraham? Abraham is much more pleasant to God than Adam is. Abraham is a wonderful sign of the Christian life. The Christian life should be and could be a pleasant matter to God. It is always a pleasant thing to God for us to live the Christian life.
God promised Abraham to make of him a great country, to make his name great, and to bless him and make him a blessing to others (Gen. 12:2-3). Eventually, Abraham became a blessing to all the earth. In the previous chapter we saw Noah’s prophecy concerning his three sons (9:24-27). According to this prophecy, the sons of Japheth, the strong ones, would dwell in the tents of Shem. That means that Shem is a blessing to all these strong ones on the earth. In one sense, when we believed into the Lord, we confessed and admitted that we were weak persons. But in another sense, everyone who has believed into Christ is a strong one. If we were not strong, we could have never believed into Christ. Many of us are the descendants of Japheth who have entered into the tents of Shem. These tents are the blessing.
Galatians 3:8 says, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles out of faith, announced the gospel beforehand to Abraham: ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” Here Paul says that the promise God gave to Abraham, “In you shall all the nations be blessed,” was the gospel. That was the preaching of the gospel beforehand to Abraham. Eventually, Genesis 22:18 reveals that this blessing actually is not Abraham himself but his descendant, his seed. This seed of Abraham is Christ (Gal. 3:16). Christ has become the biggest blessing to the whole earth, and Christ came out of Abraham. The Christian life is a life always motivated by God in everything so that we can be blessed with Christ and become a blessing in Christ to others.
God appeared to Abraham the third time and promised him that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed (Gen. 12:7). God appeared and spoke to Abraham altogether twelve times.
Genesis 12:10-20 shows how God saved Abraham from Pharaoh’s insulting of his wife.
God promised to give to Abraham and his seed all the land that he saw, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, and to make his seed as the dust of the earth (13:14-17). God was telling Abraham that he would get as much as he could see. Northward was surely up to Lebanon, the northern border of the good land. Southward was to the river of Egypt, the Nile. Eastward was to the great river, the river Euphrates. Westward was to the seashore of the Mediterranean. Abraham saw the boundaries of the good land.
The priest of God, as God the Most High, blessed Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God the Most High, / Possessor of heaven and earth” (14:19). This was something apparently not motivated by God but motivated by Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of God. Abraham was the victor who had defeated the enemies of God. Through Abraham God could be declared as the Possessor of heaven and earth. In other instances in the Bible, God could be called only the God of heaven (2 Chron. 36:23; Neh. 1:5; 2:4, 20) because of the lack of someone standing with God on earth to defeat God’s enemies and gain the victory for God. But when Melchizedek came to bless Abraham, he could refer to God as the Possessor of heaven and earth. This means that there was a victor, an overcomer, on earth who stood with God.
In Genesis 15 God spoke in a vision to Abraham that He was his shield and his exceedingly great reward (v. 1). The Lord was both Abraham’s protection and his reward. God rewarded Abraham because Abraham was victorious over all of God’s enemies.
God also told Abraham in Genesis 15 that only the one who would come from Abraham’s own body would be his heir (v. 4). In Genesis 16 Hagar became Abraham’s concubine through the motivation of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Sarah proposed this to Abraham, and Abraham agreed. But God denied and rejected the son produced through Hagar. God told Abraham that his heir must be from his own body and that his heirs would be as many as the stars in heaven (15:5).
Abraham believed in God, and God accounted it to him for righteousness (v. 6). Romans 4 develops this point strongly by saying that Abraham was a forefather of all the ones who are justified by God through believing into Jesus Christ. Abraham was a pattern, a model, a sign. Thus, the model of the Christian life is one who is first called by God and then justified by God. After being called, you must be justified by God. Being justified by God means that you are in harmony with God. In other words, between you and God there is nothing contradicting and there is a harmonious situation and condition. This means that you are righteous according to God’s righteousness. When you are justified, your righteousness matches God’s righteousness. Abraham entered into a situation that was absolutely in harmony with God.
In Genesis 15 God told Abraham that his descendants would be as the stars in heaven. Genesis also reveals that his earthly descendants would be as the sand on the seashore. We pointed out that the oppressing nations were like the waves out of the Mediterranean Sea coming upon Israel again and again to make Israel as the sand of the seashore. Actually, the first wave of water came from Egypt. God told Abraham in Genesis 15 that his seed would be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, and be afflicted by them for four hundred years (v. 13). In their fourth generation they returned to Canaan. God also made a covenant with Abraham in the day that He spoke to him in Genesis 15 to give to his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates (v. 18).
Two things are very prominent in the life of Abraham. First, God made Abraham’s descendants as the stars in the heaven. These are the New Testament believers as his heavenly descendants. Second, He would make Abraham’s earthly descendants as the sand on the seashore. The remnant of Israel as the dust of the earth passes through wave after wave of tribulation. Eventually, in the millennium the remnant of Israel, who have passed through the scouring waters, will become as the sand on the Mediterranean seashore.
God did not speak to Abraham for thirteen years because he took Hagar as his concubine, who brought forth for him a son, Ishmael, when he was eighty-six years old (ch. 16). Abraham offended God, his Friend. Thus, God would not fellowship with Abraham for thirteen years. Genesis 16:16 says, “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.” Then Genesis 17:1 says, “And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram.” This shows that for thirteen years there was not any communication, fellowship, or speaking between God and Abraham.
God appeared the seventh time to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old and made with him the covenant of circumcision so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations. He also changed his name from Abram to Abraham and his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah, of whom Abraham would have a son, Isaac (ch. 17). The covenant of circumcision is a sign. All the chosen ones of God should be circumcised, meaning that they should cut off, crucify, their flesh (Gal. 5:24). The body of the flesh should be cut off, crucified (Col. 2:11), to regenerate us and renew us, making us a new person. Abraham was living a model of the Christian life, because the covenant of circumcision signifies that he was crucified, regenerated, and renewed. This was so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations.
Furthermore, his name and his wife’s name were changed from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. Because the person is changed, the name should also be changed. Eventually, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. This means that after we have been crucified and regenerated, we will bring forth the real seed. Otherwise, we will produce Ishmael. If we are not crucified, regenerated, and renewed, we cannot produce Isaac. We will produce false Christians, not the real believers. We can produce the real believers only by being circumcised, that is, by being crucified, regenerated, and renewed.
God appeared the eighth time to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, fellowshipping with him as with His friend (Gen. 18; 2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23). In the past I wondered why God came with two angels to visit and stay with Abraham. God conversed with Abraham. Abraham served Him water for Him to wash His feet, and Abraham’s wife made a meal for Him. God talked with Abraham as a friend. Abraham saw God, conversed with God, and walked with God. Then God was forced to tell him what He was about to do to Sodom. God indicated that He could not hide this from Abraham, because Abraham was His intimate friend. Actually, God’s purpose and intention in coming to visit Abraham was for Lot’s sake.
God told Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom, with the intention that Abraham would intercede. God was motivating Abraham to pray for Lot. Actually, God and Abraham, as close friends, were speaking of Lot, but they did not mention Lot’s name. Eventually, Lot was saved from Sodom, meaning that God answered Abraham’s prayer. Genesis 19:29 says that when God destroyed Sodom, He remembered Abraham and sent Lot out. This means that He answered Abraham’s intercession. This shows that our living the Christian life must be to the extent that we become God’s friend and God becomes our Friend.
Genesis 20 shows how God saved Abraham’s wife from Abimelech, king of Gerar. This was like the trouble that Abraham had regarding Sarah with Pharaoh in Genesis 12. First, Abraham was in trouble with the king of Egypt because of his wife. Then he was in trouble with the king of Gerar because of her. Both times God came in to save him.
God gave Abraham Isaac, his son of Sarah, and cast out Ishmael, his son of Hagar (21:1-14). This is a part of God’s history. God’s giving of Isaac to Abraham and His casting out of Ishmael are also signs, signifying that everyone who is born of grace through faith is a real son of Abraham. Anyone who is taking the law as the source, according to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is a descendant rejected by God. These two sons with two mothers are an allegory of the grace of the New Testament and the law of the Old Testament. This is fully developed in Galatians 4.
God spoke to Abraham the tenth time to prove him, to try him, by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him. Abraham passed God’s proving. Then God spoke to him the eleventh time to stop him from offering his son Isaac and he replaced Isaac with a ram (typifying Christ — John 1:29) for a burnt offering. God spoke further to Abraham the twelfth time to promise him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand on the seashore. God told Abraham that in his seed (Christ — Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1b) all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:1-19).
Genesis 24 shows that God blessed Abraham and led his old servant to secure Rebekah as wife to his son Isaac. The last thing God did for Abraham was to help him get a daughter-in-law.
The negative side of God’s history during the life of Abraham was God’s judging of Sodom and Gomorrah. The positive side was God’s motivating, stirring up, and initiating the divine things in Abraham’s life, which is a sign of the Christian life. On the negative side, God judged Sodom and Gomorrah.
He burned Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain with brimstone and fire (19:24-25) because of their grievous sin (18:20). Because of Abraham God sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow (19:29, 12-22). This is also a part of God’s history. When God judged the evil world, God remembered His friend’s talk with Him concerning Lot, even though they did not mention Lot. When Lot and his family were fleeing, Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt by looking back (v. 26). Her lingering look back at Sodom indicated that she loved and treasured the evil world that God was going to judge and utterly destroy.
We can see that Abraham suffered from two sources — from his wife Sarah and from his nephew Lot. In Genesis 13 Abraham had to solve the problem with Lot over the shortage of land. Then in Genesis 14 Abraham had to fight for Lot. Eventually, by the time of Genesis 18 and 19 Lot had entered into Sodom, the center of sin, which was condemned and judged by fire from heaven. Lot escaped from God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah to the mountains. But his two daughters made him drunk and committed incest with him. The children they had by this incest were Moab and Ammon. The Moabites and Ammonites were rejected by God even to their tenth generation (Deut. 23:3). This record of Lot should be a warning to us.
Through our fellowship in this chapter we can see that Abraham is a sign of the life of God’s chosen people. He is a sign of the Christian life. We all are the descendants of Abraham. He is our forefather and a sign to us. We should live according to the model of his life.
