Gênesis 12

Gênesis 12

Wesley: Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears; The bleeding sacrifice, in my behalf appears; Before the throne my surety stands, My name is written on His hands. Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary; They pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me: Forgive him, O, forgive, they cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die. My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear; He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear; With confidence I now draw nigh, And Abba, Father, Abba, cry. This is the confidence of saving faith, of the believer who has truly surrendered to God and come into his presence on the basis of the blood of the Lamb. Paul affirms, "He had made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor 5). That is appropriated by faith, and commemorated by the Eucharist. We worship at the alter; we go free. C. The true believer proclaims Him triumphantly. We are told that at the altar Abram "called upon the name of the LORD." I should like to rephrase this to catch what is actually going on: "And Abram made proclamation of Yahweh by name." The usage of the clause indicates that this is the meaning, especially the usage in Exodus 34:5ff., where the LORD is the subject, proclaiming "The name of the LORD": and what follows in His speech is a list of divine attributes--that is the "name" of the LORD. Luther translated this line, "And Abram preached" in the name of the LORD. He is not too far off. When Abram made the sacrifice on the altar, he would stand there and proclaim who the LORD is and what He is like--that He is alive, He spoke, He calls people to follow Him, He is gracious and beneficent, offering blessing and fame, He is faithful to His own, but He will judge those who refuse the divine blessing. And of course this message would grow the longer Abram would walk with God. Here was no simple talk, no message with weakened contents, no pagan musings. This was solid doctrinal discourse from divine revelation and personal experience. It would go with the sacrifice, so it spoke of commitment by faith. Thus, we have from the beginning the two parts of worship--the ministry of the sacrifice and the ministry of the Word. They belong together; the one explains the ritual, and the ritual gives life to the Word. Did you note one amazing thing about Abram? God had promised to make his (Abram's) name great--but Abram proclaims the name of the LORD. It is in honoring God that fame comes, on earth and in heaven. Conclusion Here then is saving faith displayed: it follows God's word obediently, it worships Him reverently, and it proclaims His name triumphantly. Thus it is with us as well as with Abram. The evidence of saving faith displayed here should bring us all great confidence in Christ: if during this lent your heart condemns you and you repent, that is evidence that you have the Spirit of God within, sealing you to redemption; If you desire to follow Him in righteousness, the Spirit is moving you and you are a child of God; if you can even call Him Father, you belong to Him; and if you worship Him sincerely, surrendering yourself to Him to His service in deep gratitude for what He has done, then you have evidence of saving faith, you have been born of God, and you are His, forever. But the reminder of what saving faith looks like should also inspire in us: greater obedience in following His Word, so that we like Abram can demonstrate our faith by our works; greater zeal in proclaiming His name to a world that doesn't have a clue as to how to get to God; and greater adoration and devotion in worship, as we lose our pride, our self-sufficiency, our self-righteousness, at His altar. (Genesis 12:1-9 The Evidence of Saving Faith) Steven Cole sums up Genesis 12:6-9 noting that "Two dominant themes emerge from verses 6-9, both of which illustrate the life of obedient faith. The first theme is “Abram the pilgrim.” We see it in Ge 12:6, “Abram passed through the land.” It is repeated in Ge 12:8, “he proceeded from there ... and pitched his tent.” A tent is not a permanent dwelling. It is again seen in Ge 12:9, “Abram journeyed on ....” Here is a man on the move with no permanent roots, a man on a pilgrimage. The second theme is “Abram the worshiper and witness.” We see it in Ge 12:7, when he builds an altar to the Lord who had appeared unto him. In Ge 12:8 the impermanent “pitched his tent” is set against the more permanent, “built an altar.” Abram the pilgrim, moving with his tent, didn’t leave anything permanent for himself; but Abram the worshiper, after he had moved on, left behind altars unto the Lord, altars which bore witness to the pagan Canaanites in the land. Abram the worshiper bore witness to the strength behind his obedient faith by calling upon the name of the Lord (Ge 12:8) Let’s apply these two themes: A. Obedient faith means living as pilgrims. A pilgrim is a person on a journey. He is not a settled resident. He’s just passing through, on his way to a better place. God did not promise to give the land to Abram, but to his descendants. As John