Abraham’s Journey
Notes:
DISCUSSION QUESTION: What do we know about Abraham? Abraham was originally called Abram but God renamed him Abraham in Genesis 17:5 to signify him being the father of many nations. Abraham’s descendants included both the Jewish nation by his son Issac and the Arabic people by his son Ismael.
DISCUSSION QUESTION: Why was Abraham leaving his home considered such a great act of faith? Abraham was praised for his great faith in God. Most significant of his praise was for the fact that he left his home at the direction of God even though he did not know where God was sending him (Hebrews 11:8). This showed his faith in doing whatever God wanted. Travel at this time was very dangerous. There was not a lot known about the different lands and you would never know whose land you would be traveling through. There was no real government or laws to protect you. The law of the land was the law of the mighty.
God had promised that Abraham would have descendants that would develop into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3). As Abraham grew older and his wife Sarah did not have a child, Sarah offered her servant Hagar to be the wife of Abraham so that he could have a child. Later, God blessed Sarah with a child by Abraham even though she was well past normal childbearing age (Genesis 17:15-17). Finally, as an ultimate test of Abraham’s faith, God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Issac as a sacrifice. When Abraham obediently began to do this, God stopped him from doing so (Genesis 22:1-18). Like all men, Abraham’s life was not without fault. When Abraham was in Egypt, he was afraid that men would want to kill him and take his wife so he declared that she was his sister (Genesis 20).
God predicted that through Abraham all the people of the world would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). This prophecy came true as a result of Jesus being the direct descendent of Abraham for because of Jesus, the whole world is blessed with the opportunity of salvation.