Genesis 12:1

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

From Background Notes [BN] for July 5th & 6th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

And so when we arrive at Genesis 12, we find Yahweh in search of a prototypic nation, one which could enrich and bless all the nations of the earth. This is why the Bible tells the story of Abraham and his descendants.

A number of prominent texts makes the case for such a nation (Genesis 12:2; 15:14; 17:4-6, 16, 20; 21:13, and others). A curious intersection of God's two covenants takes place in Abraham's life. On the one hand, God makes a covenant with him in order to bless him, rolling back the effects of sin and the fall. "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6), as he undergoes the dramatic "cutting of the covenant" ceremony marking his relationship with God, redeemed by blood. But God's long-term purposes extend beyond Abraham's personal salvation and into the future of God's relationship with the nations of the world. It's difficult to drive a sharp wedge between "church and state" in such accounts as we find in Genesis. What God intended for Abraham was that he should become a light to the nations by becoming the sort of "nation" that modeled God's long-term purposes for all nations.[BN,2-3]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am