GOD’S PLAN IN DETAIL – THE STUDY GUIDE

The Promises made to Abraham

In Abraham God found someone who was willing to believe and obey him. While not perfect, he believed God and did everything God commanded him to do. Genesis 12:1-8 NLTThen the LORD told Abram,

"Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth - his livestock and all the people who had joined his household at Haran - and finally arrived in Canaan. Traveling through Canaan, they came to a place near Shechem and set up camp beside the oak at Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I am going to give this land to your offspring."

And Abram built an altar there to commemorate the LORD's visit. After that, Abram traveled southward and set up camp in the hill country between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar and worshiped the LORD.. Because of this God promised Abraham that he would have many descendants at some time in the future. Genesis 13:14-18 NLTAfter Abram and Lot had gone their separate ways, the LORD said to Abram:

"Look around to the north, south, east, and west. I will give you and your family all the land you can see. It will be theirs forever! I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count the specks of dust than to count your descendants.

Now walk back and forth across the land, because I am giving it to you."

Abram took down his tents and went to live near the sacred trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar in honor of the LORD., Genesis 15:1-6 NLTAfterward the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great."

But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since I don't have a son, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no children, so one of my servants will have to be my heir."

Then the LORD said to him, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you."

Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, "Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that - too many to count!"

And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith., Genesis 17:1-7 NLTWhen Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said,

"I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation."

At this, Abram fell face down in the dust.

Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them!

I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.", Genesis 21:1-7 NLTThen the LORD did exactly what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant, and she gave a son to Abraham in his old age.

It all happened at the time God had said it would. And Abraham named his son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was one hundred years old at the time.

And Sarah declared, "God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!"
. Abraham then had to wait for 25 years before Isaac, was born! He never received his promised inheritance and only lived as a visitor in the land that God had promised to give him. Hebrews 11:8-10 NIVBy faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God..

Several years after Isaac was born, God tested Abraham by commanding that he sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac back from the dead and would still fulfil the promises that he had made. He did what God commanded, until God finally stopped him at the very last moment. Genesis 22:1-12 NLTLater on God tested Abraham's faith and obedience.

"Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."

"Take your son, your only son - yes, Isaac, whom you love so much - and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will point out to you."

The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go.

On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance. "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men. "The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back."

Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the fire.

As the two of them went on together, Isaac said, "Father?" "Yes, my son," Abraham replied. "We have the wood and the fire," said the boy, "but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" "God will provide a lamb, my son," Abraham answered. And they both went on together.

When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood. And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the LORD.

At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Yes," he answered. "I'm listening."

"Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me.", Hebrews 11:17-19 NLTIt was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though God had promised him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted."

Abraham assumed that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead..

Because of his faith and obedience, God made an unconditional promise to Abraham that he would have both a vast multitude of descendants who would overpower their enemies and one particular descendant through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed.  Genesis 22:15-18 NIVThe angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said,

"I swear by myself, declares the LORD , that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.

Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." .

This one special descendant was Yeshua, The Messiah. Galatians 3:16 NIVThe promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.. The blessing was to make it possible for all men to have their sins forgiven and to be reunited with God so that they could finally have the opportunity to achieve their full potential as sons of God. Galatians 3:24-29 NLTLet me put it another way. The law was our guardian and teacher to lead us until Christ came. So now, through faith in Christ, we are made right with God. But now that faith in Christ has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians - you are one in Christ Jesus.

And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.. There can be no greater blessing than that!