Genesis 12:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the call by which Abram was taken out of his homeland into the land God had promised. This call was meant to test his faith and obedience, and also to set him apart for God and for special service and blessing. We can learn some of the details from Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:2.

Stephen tells us, first, that the God of glory appeared to Abram and gave him this call. God showed his glory so clearly that Abram had no reason to doubt the call came from him. Later, God spoke in many different ways, but this first call came with a direct display of his glory. Second, this call came to Abram in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. So we should rightly read, “The Lord had said to Abram,” meaning that God first spoke to him in Ur of the Chaldees. In obedience, Abram came out of the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran, or Charran, for about five years. Then, after his father died, God gave a fresh command that led him into the land of Canaan.

Some think Haran was still part of Chaldea, so Abram had not really left his country yet. Others think that after living there five years, he began to settle there and think of it as home, until God showed him that this was not the place meant for him. If God loves us and has good things prepared for us, he will not let us settle for anything short of Canaan. He will kindly repeat his call until the good work he has begun is completed, and our souls rest in God alone.

In this call, we find both a command and a promise. The command was a hard one: “Get out of your country” (Genesis 12:1). First, this tested whether Abram loved his native land and his close family, and whether he could leave everything behind to go with God. His country had become full of idolatry, and his relatives and father’s house were a constant danger to him. He could not stay among them without being influenced by them. So God said, in effect, “Go out at once.” Anyone living in a sinful state should make every possible effort to get out quickly. “Get out for your own good” is another way to understand it. Those who leave sin and turn to God will find that they gain far more than they lose (Proverbs 9:12).

This command to Abram is much like the gospel call, by which all believers, the spiritual children of faithful Abram, are brought into covenant with God. Natural affection must yield to God’s grace. Our country is dear to us, our relatives even dearer, and our father’s house dearest of all. Yet we must love them less than Christ (Luke 14:26). If they ever compete with him, his will and honor must come first. We must also leave sin and every path that leads to it, especially bad company. We must turn away from the idols of evil that have been set up in our hearts, and get out of the way of temptation. If something like a right eye leads us into sin, we must be willing to part with it (Matthew 5:29). Those who mean to keep God’s commandments must leave the company of evil people (Psalm 119:115; Acts 2:40).

We also must hold the world and all its comforts with a holy distance. We should no longer treat it as our true home, but as a place where we are only staying for a time. We should keep loose hold of it and live above it, with our hearts set elsewhere.

Second, this command tested whether Abram could trust God beyond what he could see. He had to leave his own country and go to a land that God would show him. God did not say, “It is a land I will give you,” but only, “a land I will show you.” He did not tell Abram what land it was, or what kind of land it would be. Abram had to follow God with simple trust, taking God at his word even without detailed proof that he would not lose by leaving his homeland. Those who deal with God must deal on trust. We must give up things we can see for things we cannot see, and accept present suffering in hope of future glory (Romans 8:18). What we shall be does not yet appear (1 John 3:2), just as it did not appear to Abram when God called him to a land he would show him. This taught Abram to live in constant dependence on God’s guidance, always looking to him.

Along with the command, God gave Abram a rich promise, really a cluster of promises, many of them great and precious. Every command from God comes with promises for those who obey. When God makes himself known as a rewarder, he does not fail to keep his word. Here are six promises.

First, “I will make of you a great nation.” When God took Abram away from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people. He cut him off from being like a branch of a wild olive tree, so that he might become the root of a good olive tree. This promise was a great comfort to Abram, because he had no child at the time. God knows how to match his blessings to his children’s needs. He has a remedy for every wound, and he will provide the first one needed most. Yet this promise was also a great test of Abram’s faith, because his wife had long been barren. If Abram believed, it would have to be against hope, resting only on God’s power to bring children from what seemed impossible and to make them into a great nation. God is the one who makes nations. By him they are born at once (Isaiah 66:8), and he speaks to build up and plant them (Jeremiah 18:9). If a nation becomes great in wealth and power, it is God who has made it great. He can raise a great nation from dry ground and make a little one become a thousand.

Second, “I will bless you.” This may mean especially the blessing of fruitfulness and increase, as God blessed Adam and Noah. Or it may mean more generally, “I will bless you in every way, with all kinds of blessing, from above and below.” Abram was leaving his father’s house, and God promised him a father’s blessing, better than what he had received from his ancestors. Obedient believers can be sure they will receive the blessing.

Third, “I will make your name great.” By leaving his country, Abram gave up his reputation there. God says, in effect, “Do not worry about that. Trust me, and I will give you a greater name than you could ever have had there.” Abram had no child and may have feared that he would leave no lasting name behind. But God promised to make him into a great nation, and so to make his name great. God is the source of honor, and promotion comes from him (1 Samuel 2:8). The name of obedient believers will surely be honored and made great. The best fame is that which the elders obtained by faith (Hebrews 11:2).

You will be a blessing. That means, first, your happiness will be a pattern of blessing. People who want to bless their friends will pray that God would make them like Abram, as in (Ruth 4:11). God’s dealings with obedient believers are so kind and gracious that we do not need to wish for anything better for ourselves or our friends. To have God as our friend is blessing enough.

Second, your life will be a blessing to the places where you live as a stranger. Good people are a blessing to their country, and it is both a great honor and a great joy to be used that way. Then God adds, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse the one who curses you.” This made it like a mutual covenant, with duties on both sides, between God and Abram. Abram fully took God’s side, and here God promises to take Abram’s side.

God says he will be a friend to Abram’s friends. He will count kindness done to Abram as done to himself, and he will reward it. God makes sure that no one loses in the long run by serving his people, even if it is only a cup of cold water. He also promises to stand against Abram’s enemies. Some would hate and curse Abram himself, but their empty curses could not harm him, and God’s righteous curse would surely come on them, as in (Numbers 24:9). That is a good reason for us to bless those who curse us, because it is enough that God will judge them, as in (Psalm 38:13-15).

“In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” This promise crowns all the others, because it points to the Messiah, in whom all God’s promises are kept and fulfilled. Jesus Christ is the great blessing of the world, the greatest blessing the world has ever received. He is a blessing to households, because salvation comes to a house through him, as in (Luke 19:9). When we count our family blessings, we should put Christ first, as the highest blessing of all.

But how are all the families of the earth blessed in Christ, when so many do not know him? The answer is this: all who are blessed are blessed in him, as in (Acts 4:12). All who believe, from whatever family they come, will be blessed in him. Some from every family on earth are blessed in him. And there are some blessings that all families of the earth share through Christ, because the gospel salvation is a common salvation, as in (Jude 1:3).

It is a great honor to be connected to Christ. That is what made Abram’s name great, that the Messiah would come from his family line, much more than merely being the father of many nations. It was Abram’s honor that Christ would be his descendant by nature. It will be our honor to be Christ’s brothers and sisters by grace, as in (Matthew 12:50).