ABRAHAM:
FRIEND OF GOD
Introduction
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You’ll
remember that Abraham had three visitors show up on his doorstep. He is
dwelling by the terebinth trees of Mamre when three men happened by. We’ve
already discovered that two of these men are angels. But more importantly, we
already know that one of the men is the LORD Himself.
The
two angels with the LORD were on their way, on foot, to Sodom. However, Abraham
acted all friendly toward them and even gave them a hearty lunch. During the
course of lunch or just after it, the LORD told the ninety-year-old Sarah that she
was going to have a baby to her ninety-nine-year-old husband Abraham. Sarah
laughed into herself at this incredible news. Then she lied to the LORD saying
that she didn’t laugh.
Anyway,
we pick up the story just as the three visitors are leaving. We’re told in Genesis
18:16 that the three men rose from Abraham’s table and “looked toward Sodom.” Literally
it says that they “looked on the face of Sodom.”
Now, you’ll remember that Abraham’s nephew Lot lives
in Sodom.
So, the two angels are leaving
Abraham’s place a little after lunchtime, and they will arrive in Sodom in the
evening. (One may have expected angels simply to fly to their
destination, but they are in appearance as men.) How far did they have to
travel? Well, the trouble is that we’re not entirely sure where Sodom is. It
was wiped off the map, off the face of the earth! But let’s not get ahead of
ourselves.
The
scene at the moment is that the Abraham is seeing the men on their way. He’s sort
of walking them to the end of his driveway kind-of-a-thing. It’s as he’s doing
this that the LORD starts to confide in Abraham. We get the impression that the
two men, i.e., the two angels walked on ahead.
So,
what we’re looking at is the content of the words the LORD spoke to Abraham at
this point. I would like us to focus our attention of the words of verse 19 in
particular. For this verse tells us that the LORD has made Abraham His friend. But
not only that, it tells us the reason why He has made Abraham His friend.
For I have known
him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him,
that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the
LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him. Genesis 18:19.
The
general gist of what we’re looking at is: Friends of God obey the Lord and
teach others to obey Him too.
Reconciliation
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The
LORD has made Abraham His friend. To be God’s “friend” is to have been
reconciled to Him. To be reconciled is to be brought back into
friendship after estrangement. All mankind became estranged from God
when Adam ate the forbidden fruit. But look at the words at the
beginning of verse 19, “For I have known him.” Some Bibles have, “For I have
chosen him.” But the idea is that of knowing, such as in the LORD saying to
Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jer. 1:5a). It’s
the type of knowing David expresses in Psalm 139, “O LORD, You have searched me
and known me, You know my sitting down and my rising up…” It’s not just the
general knowing of an acquaintance. No, this is the intimate knowing of
a friend. It’s the type of friendship that has been through hardship
together. It’s the type of friendship that can be depended on, relied upon.
What
is friendship? My desk dictionary says a friend is One who is
personally well known by oneself and for whom one has warm regard or affection;
intimate. And friendship is The state or fact of being friends; mutual
liking and esteem. So, Abraham is the friend of God. 2 Chron. 20:7 says, “Are
You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people
Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?" Isaiah
41:8, “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the
descendants of Abraham My friend.” James 2:23, “And the Scripture was fulfilled
which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God.”
So,
why am I labouring the fact that Abraham is the friend of God? Well, it’s so that you will now be able to see the way the LORD treated His
friend Abraham. There was a mutual liking and esteem between the LORD and
Abraham His friend. In verse 17 it says, “And the LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am doing…?” Friends don’t keep big secrets from each other; they
share what they’re doing.
David
says in Psalm 25:14, “The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He
will show them His covenant.” Abraham and
all the males in his whole household, hundreds of them, have just had the sign and
seal of God’s covenant etched into the most intimate part of their bodies. As
you or I might carve our name into the bark of a tree with a knife, so the LORD
has carved His name into Abraham’s generative organ. Not only does this mark,
this sign and seal of the covenant, this circumcision, speak of generation,
but it speaks of re-generation. That’s why the LORD is saying in verses
17 and 18, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham
shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him?”
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I ask you, what kind of blessing would Abraham be to
all the nations of the earth if all the nations of the earth are going to Hell
in a hand basket? How then are all the nations of the earth going to
be blessed in Abraham the friend of God? This blessing of Abraham must mean
that the nations are going to be reconciled to God. What else can blessing mean
but reconciliation with God? To be sure, it also of necessity must mean
regeneration, for reconciliation and regeneration go hand in hand. Like love and
marriage, you can’t have one without the other!
So, when the LORD says to Abraham, “in you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b), He is saying that all the nations
will be reconciled to God. It’s hard to miss the idea of the reconciliation
between God and all the nations if you look at Jesus Christ. The LORD is sharing
this secret with His friend Abraham. Abraham is being told the secret of
the everlasting gospel, that through Abraham’s greater Son, i.e., Jesus Christ,
all the nations (in time) will be blessed through the gospel “ministry of reconciliation
(2 Cor. 5:18). The promised Christ, who will have all authority in heaven and
on earth (Matt, 28:18), will ensure this. Pauls speaks of the fulfilment of this
gospel promise in Romans 16 where he says,
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel
and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and
by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—to God,
alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Romans
16:25-27).
Therefore, the secret that God shared with Abraham
was the gospel, that God was going to reconcile the nations to Himself through
Abraham’s descendant, that they would believe in Him, (i.e., Jesus Christ), and
become obedient. The shorthand way of saying all this is that in Abraham “all the families of the earth
shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3b).
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The Abrahamic blessing begins to blossom and bear
fruit in Jesus Christ. If you own fruit trees, you’ll know that all
the fruit on your trees began as blossoms. The dead and leafless winter tree
begins to bud and leaf in spring. Then comes the blossoms, then comes the fruit
of blessing. That’s the way it is for with the blessing of Abraham. Before the
coming of the Messiah promised to Abraham the earth was dead and leafless. Like
a tree in winter. Then came Christ, and the earth began to blossom and produce
fruit. First, at Jerusalem, then among the Samaritans, and now continuing among
the nations.
All Christians know that we are blessed in Abraham’s
Promised Seed who is the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16). We know that it is
through His life, death, and death-conquering resurrection that all nations are
to be blessed. The Gospel is the message of reconciliation. It’s the message that God and sinners have been reconciled in Jesus
Christ.
But how does the blessing of Abraham that we hear about in the Gospel
come upon the nations or the Gentiles? Well, the nations are to be blessed by
the out-pouring out of His Spirit upon all nations. Paul the Apostle, says in
Galatians 3:14 that Christ died “that the blessing of Abraham might come upon
the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.” That
word “Gentiles” speaks of all nations. Therefore, the blessings of God’s
covenant with father Abraham are to be poured upon all the Gentiles, i.e., all
the nations. O Palmer Robertson clears up some of the misunderstandings
regarding the use of the English word Gentiles as used in most Bibles:
"Substituting “nations” or “all nations” or “peoples
from all nations” for “Gentiles” provides a much more illuminating reading
appropriate to the expansive perspective of the Christian gospel. Indeed, some
passages would present a translation challenge. But the consistent substitution
of “nations” for “Gentiles” throughout the New Testament could have a
significant impact on the communication of the universalistic character of the
new covenant gospel and could provide a powerful impetus for evangelism and missionary
endeavours. The book of Revelation climaxes in the biblical concept of
“nations” and “peoples.” Seven times over, Revelation joins together references
to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation as those who share the blessings of
the redeemed by Christ (Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15). How out
of place it would sound to substitute “Gentile” for “nation” in these climactic
contexts. “Every tribe, tongue, people, and Gentile” shall praise Him?"[1]
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These covenanted
blessings, as every reader of the New Testament knows, were poured out like
rain from heaven by the ascended Jesus Christ. In Acts 1:4-5 Jesus commanded
His disciples “Not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the
Father…” What is the “Promise of the Father”? Acts 1:5, “for John truly
baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many
days from now.” So, the blessing of Abraham comes through the outpouring of the
‘Promise of the Father’ a.k.a. the Holy Spirit. As the LORD’s Prophet Isaiah
says, “So He shall sprinkle many nations…” Isa. 53:15. Sprinkle many nations
with what? With the Promise of the Father, i.e., with the Holy Spirit. Acts
2:16&17, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘It shall
come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour My Spirit on all
flesh…’”
Who are
the “all flesh” to be baptized by the outpouring of the Promised Blessing? “All
flesh” is both Jew and Gentile, i.e., all nations! Therefore, don’t miss the
magnitude of what the LORD is saying to Abraham in Genesis 18:18. Do you see
it? “Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations
of the earth shall be blessed in him.” The LORD is saying, “How can I hide what
I’m doing on the earth from Abraham. “How can I keep it from him since I’ve
already told him that he would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth?” In
other words, “Abraham, I’m doing what I’m doing on the earth for the sake of My
promise to you, for the sake of My covenant with you.”
So, with
this in mind, the words of verse 19 begin to make even more sense. Why has the
LORD made Abraham His friend? Well, it’s so that Abraham may command his
children and his household after him. Command his household and children after
to do what? So that he will command them to keep the way of the LORD. And what
is the way of the LORD? The way of the LORD is to do righteousness and justice.
The way of the LORD is to do what is right in the LORD’s eyes and to deal
justly with others. And why should Abraham’s children and his household do
righteousness and justice? Well, it’s so that the LORD may bring to Abraham
what He has spoken to him. And what has the LORD spoken to Abraham? He has
promised that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and that
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him!
In a
word: The LORD is saying to Abraham that righteousness and justice will prevail
upon the earth. So, we ask the question: How can righteousness and justice prevail
on the earth if there is no regeneration?
Regeneration
Righteousness
and justice will prevail upon the earth because Abraham and his children and
his household after him will keep the way of the LORD. The household of
Abraham, i.e., the true Church on earth, has been reconciled to God. The true
Church is the bride of Christ, is she not? For the Church to be reconciliated
she must also be regenerated. That’s what faith is all about, isn’t it?
Faith
without works is dead, i.e., unregenerated. A people without works of
righteousness and justice is a dead people. But the household of Abraham is not
dead because God by His grace has regenerated her. Psalm 1:6 sums it all up,
“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly will
perish.” The LORD intimately knows the way of the righteous. He is the friend
of the way of the righteous. “Abraham believed in the LORD, and He accounted it
to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).
Abraham is walking in the way of
the LORD because God brought Him back to life. And so will his children and
household, even the Church after him, walk in the way of the LORD. They’ll walk
in the way of the LORD because the LORD has made the promise to Abraham that He
will regenerate them. For that’s what the LORD is saying when He says “Abraham
shall surely become a great and mighty nation.” For how can Abraham be a great
a mighty nation if his people remain dead in their trespasses and sins? So
wherever and whenever the Church on earth keeps the way of the LORD, whenever
she deals in righteousness and justice, the nation she is in is blessed!
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov
14:34). So, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).
But what
shall become of those who do not hunger and thirst for righteousness? But what
about those who dwell in the reproach and disgrace of sin? “Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am doing?” (Gen. 18:17). “The way of the ungodly will perish”
(Psa. 1:6b).
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“And the
LORD said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because
their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done
altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not,
I will know” (Gen. 18:20-21). Where it says their sin is very grievous it says
literally their sin is very “heavy.” So, the LORD is informing Abraham that He
is going to weigh Sodom in the balances. Sodom and Gomorrah are tipping the
scales, their sin is weighing them down. They are sinking further into the pit.
Hades, the grave, the ground is about to swallow them up!
So, we
see a contrast going on in this passage of Scripture. We see that there are
blessings promised for obedience to God. And we see that there are curses
threatened for disobedience. The household of Abraham is obedient and therefore
are exalted by the LORD. Whereas the cities of the Plain, even Sodom and
Gomorrah, are disobedient. And since sin is a reproach for any people, they are
therefore ready to be torn down like any den of iniquity, like an old and
dilapidated tenement building. But don’t miss the point of the LORD’s telling
Abraham what He is setting out to do.
We’ll
look into it in more depth up ahead, but Abraham intercedes on behalf of any of
the righteous persons who might be in Sodom and Gomorrah. This alerts us to the
fact that the LORD will stay the hand of destruction for the sake of the
righteous. So, what we’re seeing here today then is the fact that righteousness
is a preservative. Righteousness is a preservative in the sense it prevents the
death and decay of any society.
Abraham’s
household, by the grace of God keeps the way of the LORD. His household does
righteousness and justice. What does Sodom and Gomorrah do? Well, the LORD is
going to see whether they have done according to the outcry against it (18:21).
So, let’s
put all the pieces together. We have seen that Abraham is the friend of God. We
have seen that God has made Abraham His friend so that Abraham will teach his children
and his household after him to observe the things the LORD has commanded. We
considered the fact that we need the Holy Spirit before we are able to truly
observe all the things the LORD has commanded us. But what happens when
Abraham’s household observes everything they have been taught to observe? Well,
it means that the LORD will bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.
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So, with these
things in mind let’s try to see how we fit into the grand scheme. Here are a
couple of verses from the New Testament so that we won’t misunderstand who and
what we are. “Therefore know that only those who are faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith,
preached the gospel beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be
blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham”
(Gal. 3:7-9).
We are
blessed with believing Abraham through faith. Abraham believed in God and what
He had promised. This faith was accounted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:3;
Gal. 3:6). Therefore, the righteousness that preserves from destruction and
judgment is received by faith. The Gospel reveals this righteousness. “For in
the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…” (Rom. 1:17a).
So we see
then that Abraham was to teach his children, his whole household after him, to
keep the faith (Gen. 18:19). This is guaranteed now that the Lord has come. For
Jesus Christ says: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you…”
So, the
nations are to be discipled. The nations are to be baptized in the name of the
triune God. And the nations are to be taught to observe the way of the LORD. Who
is to do this discipling, baptizing, and teaching of the nations? Well, it’s Abraham’s
children and his household after Him. And who is going to stop Abraham’s
household when not even the gates of Hades will prevail against it? (Matt.
16:18).
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The
Promise is that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all
the nations should be blessed in him. The Apostle Peter calls Abraham’s
household, the Church “a holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9). Therefore,
Abraham’s household becomes greater and mightier the more the church expands
throughout all the earth. The more the Church
expands through the proclamation of the blessings of Abraham, even the Good
News, the more people do righteousness and justice. The more the nations do
righteousness and justice the more exalted the nations become. The more exalted
the nations become the more they are blessed along with father Abraham. To
observe the way of the LORD is to hunger and thirst after righteousness. “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt.
5:6). To be filled is to receive the Holy Spirit in abundance. To reject the
way of the LORD is to quench the Spirit and set yourself up for destruction
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
We have
seen that Abraham is the friend of God. To be a friend of God is to have been
reconciled to God. To be reconciled to God is to be regenerated by the Spirit
of God. The Gospel is the Good News of the reconciliation between God and men. Those
who do righteousness and justice, which is to say that those who keep the way
of the LORD, show that they have been reconciled and regenerated.
The fruit
of the Gospel can be seen in men striving to keep God’s Law out of gratitude. A
person filled with gratitude to the LORD is a happy person, a blessed person. A
nation filled with gratitude to the LORD is a happy nation, a blessed nation. Therefore,
may all the nations become filled to overflowing with gratitude to the LORD! For
it is through this national gratitude to the LORD that Abraham receives what
God has promised him.
Conclusion
God confided in Abraham; He treated Abraham as His
friend. Jesus says to His disciples, i.e., those who are being taught by Him, “You
are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants,
for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you
friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John
15:14-15).
So, make no mistake, God made known to Abraham what
He was doing on the earth. He promised Abraham that all the nations will
be blessed in him. When or how the LORD will be pleased to bring this fully to
pass is His business. But we should remember that Friends of God
obey the Lord and teach others to obey Him too. Also that faithful obedience to God is what
brings the blessing, yes, even the blessing Abraham!
