Faith overcomes the world. It also overcomes our shortcomings. Abraham is called the father of the faithful and demonstrates how we can be victorious in spite of ourselves.
Do you feel like a conqueror? Do you feel you are the master of the kosmos, the “World, the order…and arrangement”[1] of things? You don’t? No surprise really, I don’t feel that way too often either. But 1 John 5:4 says
This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.
And if you and I don’t feel that way just imagine John’s audience. They lived in a very much more dangerous kosmos than ours. John in his epistle was writing to people who were right under the thumb of Rome. John was likely in exile on the isle of Patmos. The apostles (bar John) were dead – mostly killed by the kosmos – the Roman order. Jesus had not returned. There had been an amazing sign of God’s activity in the earth – in fulfilment of Bible prophecy the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. But if traditional datings are correct 1 John was written near the close of the first century[2] some 30 years after AD 70. As the generation passed away those who used Matthew 24 & 25 to predict the time of Jesus’ return were fast running out of interpretive options.
So another question. Who here believes Jesus is the Son of God? Well that’s marvelous. And transformative. That against all probability, despite all the delay, the changes and challenges, the passing of time you still believe Jesus is the son of God. And that’s it. On that basis you are a conqueror says John in his next verse:
Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
1 John 5:4-5
You believe? You conquer. We resist the simple power of that. Faith overcomes the world, it changes everything. But it is not a simple short thing. Let’s do a case study. Abraham
The father of the faithful
In Romans 4 Paul uses Abraham as his proof that we are saved based on faith. God’s grace is demonstrated in our salvation when we hold the faith of Abraham the one who according to Paul is:
the father of us all
Romans 4:16
Abraham is the template. Isaiah in Isa 51:1-3 points the faithful in a difficult point in Israel’s history back to Abraham and Sarah. Walk after their example and understand that God will bless you just as he blessed Abraham. God kept his promise Abraham & Sarah went from one couple to a nation. To several of nations. God keeps his promises. We just need to have the faith of our father, that long lasting faith that endures.
Design elements of Genesis
This morning is not a study class so I can’t share with you all of the interesting things which feed into the background and design of Genesis leading to Abraham. It’s one of the things I really enjoy, seeing some of the those big patterns and how the incidents fit into a narrative framework.
Genesis 1 presents a structured perspective of God’s creation, made for human flourishing. It’s kind of a mission statement. The plan. But of course it can’t last.
Gen 2-4 then has failure in a garden, grasping for equality with God, a division between brothers, violence, dispersal of and the building of a city.
Gen 5 has 10 generations set out from Adam to Noah and then the story hits restart. Geneologies in Genesis are usually ladders only the start and end matter.
Gen 6-10 repeats the story. Chaotic waters reboot creation. A morale disaster happens in a garden (or vineyard) resulting in a division between brothers, violence and the spread of humans and building of cities.
Gen 11 is the culmination of the second story – the humans grasp at equality with God via building a Ziggurat to reach heaven. Rather than destroy them with water again, God confounds their language resulting in – you guessed it – division and dispersal.
Then in the back half of Genesis 11 we have 10 generations of men from Shem to Abraham.
Genealogies in the Bible can be boring. The point is not to torture ourselves trying to construct meanings from the names like some kind of Biblical wizardry but rather to recognise a narrative device to link two people together. To see that there is a meaningful relationship.
Adam was the son of God. Noah was the new Adam, the second attempt. But Noah who is called righteous unlike Adam still failed. His judgement was poor and his children restarted the cycle of sin. Abraham is version three of the story. Abraham’s story consciously counters the backstory of human behaviour in Gen 1-11. Abraham won’t seek a name for himself. He leaves the city life for tents. He is married to a barren woman. He travels west when everyone else went east. And unlike Adam and Noah, God found a partner, a friend in Abraham who would direct his children in God’s way (Gen 18:19) to do what is right and just.
This is what God was creating – people who would image him in the earth and in Abraham he found not just a righteous individual but one who would pass that on to his descendants. Now so what? Well great that’s an introduction to Abraham. No it’s more than that. It’s a demonstration of God’s determination to save, to find people to partner with people. In Romans Paul says
because those whom he [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:29-31
God has a plan and while it didn’t work out with Adam or Noah God kept working looking for people who would walk with him. Who would be part of his family. God has called us because he wants us as he wanted Abraham. And if God is for us who can be against us? Well, we can be against ourselves, we can make some mistakes, but God will work with us and we will overcome those things – just as Abraham did.
Why did God pick Abraham? The bad bits….
Philo (the first century Alexandrian Jew) has a wonderful story about how Abraham was a monotheist before God called him to leave Ur (in a new calling different to the one in Gen 12:1-3[3]. Josephus is slightly less clear but seems to concur with this myth[4]. But wonderful stories aside the Bible is clear.
Abraham worshipped idols before he left Haran – Josh 24:2. Both Ur and Haran were centres of moon worship[5] and the names and titles of the goddess are woven into particularly the female family names in Gen 11:29 (and likely Terah)[6].
Abraham’s past was not overly auspicious. Not only was he associated with the moon god Sin, he was from the east – Mesopotamia. The successive failures of humanity in Gen 1-10 as they flee east each time have finally landed humanity in Mesopotamia. Later Jewish readers like Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah would doubtless take comfort in this tale of God calling a family, an imperfect family, out from Mesopotamia to the land of Israel.
If we wished to be harsh we could well paint a disturbing portrait of Abraham that goes well beyond his idolatrous roots.
Abraham deliberately deceives about his relationship with Sarah because he was afraid the locals would kill him to take Sarah. So in Gen 12 Sarah gets dragged off into the harem of Pharaoh and then in Gen 20 off to the harem of the local warlord Abimelech. You can only image how Sarah felt about being sent for the rest of her life into a harem to save Abraham’s fearful and deceitful skin.
Ethically we would, or should, have a problem with Abraham having slaves. Both before and after his calling he acquires slaves. Worse than that he accepts Sarah’s suggestion and procreates with Sarah’s slave Hagar. In our day we would call Hagar a sex slave. This is uncomfortable. Later on at Sarah’s urging he throws Hagar and her son out into the wild and harsh world where very predictably they nearly died of exposure in Gen 21.
Paul says 1 Corinthians that the believers there had some very shady pasts and gives them a warning:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived!
1 Corinthians 6:9
He then goes on to list a series of immoral behaviours. But the point we want is in v11
Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God
1 Corinthians 6:11
Our past is history because we have been washed. We might have been worshiping the moon god, we might demonstrate repeated weakness. Guess what – so did the friend of God (James 2:23), the father of the faithful. Let’s not be thinking we are done because of our faults. Do we believe that Jesus is the son of God? Yes and we come regularly to be reminded that we are sanctified, that we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. The past is gone and in faith we are conquerors.
Why did God pick Abraham? The good bits….
What did God see in Abraham?
Well Abraham was selfless from the start.
While I don’t like speculation there are some reasons to entertain the idea presented by Josephus[7] and the Jewish Targums[8] that Abraham married his niece Iscah who was also called Sari. The idea has limited other support or evidence[9] beyond the contextual flow in Gen 11. You can make your own decision. In Gen 11 we are introduced to the genealogy of Abraham and his two brothers. Unusually we have mention of women. Sarah is named in v29. Then we find out about the daughters of Abraham’s dead brother. The two daughters are named Milcah and Iscah (and we’ve already heard about Lot). Then we go back to Sarah in v30. The grammar of Gen 11:29 (a singular verb but two people acting) is reminiscent of Gen 9:23 where Shem takes the lead in initiating action with his brother Japheth). Abraham initiates the marriage of himself and his brother to two women. His surviving younger brother goes first which is quite against protocol of the oldest (and the instigator) going first. The younger brother marries his niece Milcah, Abraham goes second marrying the barren Sarah. The contextual flow means this is likely Iscah – the other orphaned niece. So Abraham and his brother marry their orphaned nieces thereby providing for them (it was definitely a unpleasantly patriarchal culture). But in that context it was a caring act.
In the context of Gen 11 where people are out building towers to make a name for themselves, here is Abraham letting his brother chose first and then redeeming the barren niece. Abraham was not out to make his own name great. Others came first.
Abraham will also seemingly adopt his nephew Lot into the household as well. Abraham (when not afraid for his life) is selfless.
Later Abraham will settle tension between his broad household and Lot’s by letting his nephew (who) chose first which part of the land would be his nomadic territory. Abraham lets the younger, the less important, go before him and chose the best part.
Abraham will also take the lead in providing for and serving the three travellers who come unannounced to his camp in Gen 18. When Hebrews says
Do not neglect hospitality, because through it some have entertained angels without knowing it
Hebrews 13:2
It is clear that this episode is in view.
In Gen 23 when he buys the field and cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah he doesn’t engage in the expected bargaining but rather stumps up the first asking price of 400 pieces of silver (around 40 years labouring wages) a price which was exorbitant[10] – despite the flowery language of the sellers.
Providing for, caring for others. Putting others first. Generous in hospitality (and business). We have no record of God instructing Abraham about these things. They were just him and perhaps why God chose him.
Abraham demonstrated an enduring faith
Abraham had good bits as well as some darker parts. But he demonstrated an enduring faith, one that kept going.
I have had the joy and misfortune of trying to read Fear & Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard[11] an interesting but very dense book on Abraham and faith. He makes the point that when Abraham received the promise of a son in Genesis 12 it was theoretically possible, unlikely but possible, for the couple to have a child. Time passed and the possibility began to pass. Eventually however the possibility went from ridiculous small to zero. Yet Abraham still believed, he still hung on to hope. What once needed great faith now needed far more – the belief in the impossible.
Elsewhere he talks about the positive youthful faith of a new believer. It is amazing and refreshing, there is an exuberance and certainty in young believers which is awesome. But Abraham demonstrates an even greater faith – one which continues despite realising the object of it’s hope is impossible[12]. Abraham & Sarah knew they couldn’t have children when God called them from Haran. And then Sarah ceased her monthly cycle. For 30 years Abraham and Sarah believed, a faith which endured well after the impossibility of their faith was plain.
Over time Abraham and Sarah saw change in their faith. Initially I believe Abraham thought Lot would be his heir and the basis of the promises. Then there was Eliezer his chief servant, but no God said the heir would be his own son. So then there is Ishmael through Hagar but no the child would come through Sarah and ultimately we get to Isaac some 25 years after God spoke to him in Haran. That’s lots of changes, lots of false hope over time. Their faith had to develop and adapt to the changing understanding of exactly how God would fulfil the promises. Sometimes their interpretations weren’t aligned with God’s plans. But still they kept on believing.
We believe – even though it seems so impossible – that the kingdom is coming. For 2,000 years this has been the hope of disciples. Over time opinion on particularly the timing of the kingdom have changed. I remember the buzz about 1988 and to a lesser extent 2007. The popular (but never mentioned in the Bible) 7,000 year plan is due for its umpteenth adjustment. But other than prophecy models it is more likely that every disciple will have to retool elements of their faith as empirically things don’t work the way we once thought.
This is the faith life we are called to. Like Abraham to continue on past the point of despair, past the point of human surrender. And also like Abraham and Sarah to recognise that sometimes we need to realign to a better understanding of God’s plan.
Tried faith is far more valuable than refined gold says 1 Pet 1:7. God values our faith, our persistence.
What does God want from you?
Abraham had good bits. He also had a rough background and was prone to making mistakes when he was afraid. But he didn’t quit. And he is there in Hebrews 11 as an example of faith – an example of enduring.
But the example of Abraham and all the faithful in Hebrews 11 is not meant to be a list of exclusive heros, a list of unattainable champions who we admire but can never be like. No. The point of Heb 11 is the final verse transitioning into Hebrews 12.
For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.
Heb 11:40
Abraham demonstrated that faithful endurance and the point of Heb 11:40 is NOT that these individuals have something unattainable but rather their triumph demonstrates our success IS possible. Abraham had his rough spots. He had to adjust his thinking about God’s plan over time. But he kept on believing. And he is there as evidence that with faith we can conquer despite ourselves.
But there is something here in Hebrews 12 that I also want to highlight. The writer in Hebrews goes on to encourage them and to see trial as part of God’s perfecting process. But the conclusion of the passage is in v12
Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed
Hebrews 12:13-13
Salvation is a joint exercise. What are we to do in this life of faith? Help. Hold up the weak hands the shaky knees. We don’t look at each other and judge. We don’t question why this person is a bit wobbly we help, we help each other’s faith. Help each other to keep going. Make it easy, make the paths smooth for others.
We should be selfless, putting others first – the positive qualities Abraham displayed. And we will keep going, keep on believing even though time marches on – just as Abraham and Sarah did.
We know the gospel means we are included in the grand plan of God. That while we are not literally Abraham and Sarah’s children we are included in the promises which reach beyond the temporal to the eternal as Peter wrote to his Gentile audience:
{God} has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet 1:4
2 Peter 1:4
We are part of the promises, part of the family of faith and this morning we come to celebrate the victory that we share. We will keep on carrying this faith, helping each other on the way knowing that – as impossible as it seems – one day we will be victorious along with Abraham, Sarah and all the faithful of old. For (to expand Heb 11:16) our
God is not ashamed to be called our God, and he has prepared a city for Abraham, Sarah you and me and everyone who believes that Jesus is the son of God
a somewhat altered version of Hebrews 11:16
by Daniel Edgecombe
[1] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
[2] Stephen S. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 51, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1984), xxxii.
[3] Charles Duke Yonge with Philo of Alexandria, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 417.
[4] Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 38.
[5] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987), 273.
[6] Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17 (p. 363). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[7] Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 37.
[8] Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 87.
[9] Richard S. Hess, “Iscah (Person),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 509.
[10] Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ge 23:14.
[11] Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling; Repetition, ed. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, vol. VI, Kierkegaard’s Writings (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 17–18.
[12] Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling; Repetition, ed. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, vol. VI, Kierkegaard’s Writings (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 47–48.
Living Faith 