3. Men of God

(Genesis, chapters 12 - 15, and 21)

1. In this lesson we shall learn about Abraham (originally named Abram), a man whom God loved, because he always tried to do God's will. He lived in a city called Ur, but the people living in Ur did not know God. So God told Abram to leave Ur, because those people
worshipped gods of wood and stone. (Gen. 12:1)

2. Abram then left with his wife, Sarai, and Lot, his nephew, and his father, Terah. Terah died before they ever reached Canaan, to which God would guide Abram. (Genesis 11:31 & 32)

3. Now the Lord told Abram that He would bless him, and in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Genesis 12:2-3)

4. Abram was 75 years old when he and his wife and his nephew, Lot, left Haran. This was where they had first stopped after leaving Ur and where Abram's father had died. They started off again to a land God would show him. (Gen.12:4-5)

5. However, there was a famine, which meant that food was hard to find, so Abram decided to go to Egypt for a while. This did not show a great deal of faith in God. He even told his wife to pretend she was his sister, for Sarai was very beautiful, and he was afraid that the ruler of Egypt would kill him and take her away. (Gen. 12:10-13)

6. This was a big mistake, for a serious illness struck Pharaoh's house, and this ruler of Egypt knew Abram's God had punished him for some reason. So in asking Abram what he had done and finding out that Sarai was Abram's wife and not his sister, he had Abram leave his country. If God wants us to do something , He will see that we do it, won't He? So obeying God is better than having some trial that forces us to obey Him. (Gen. 12:17-20)

7. Finally Abram, Sarai, and Lot arrived in Canaan, where Abram and his family lived in tents out in the open fields, where they found grass for their sheep and cattle. Lot's shepherds fought with Abram's, so Abram and Lot had to separate. Lot moved near to a wicked city called Sodom. (Genesis 13:6-18)

8. Sodom was attacked one day by some enemies, and Lot and his family were captured by them. Someone told Abram, and he sent out his trained fighting men and brought back Lot and his family. (Gen. 14:1-16)

9. The kings who were also saved by Abram's men came out to meet Abram. One was the King of Salem, Melchizedek, who was a priest of God. He blessed Abram. The King of Sodom wanted to give Abram all that he had captured from the enemies, but Abram refused, because
he wanted only God to get the credit for his riches and not man. (Gen. 14:21-24)

10. God blessed Abram by telling him he would give him a son and that his descendants would be as many as all the stars they would see. Abram believed God, even though he was very old and Sarai, his wife, was beyond the years of child-bearing. Yet we know that God did keep His promise, for that is how the Jewish nation came to be. (Gen. 15:4-5)

11. God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means "father of a multitude or of many." This was because Abraham was to be the father through which many nations of people would come to be born. (Gen. 17:5)

12. God then told Sarai her name would be changed to Sarah, which means "princess". She was to be the mother of a "prince", which means "mighty one", through which the blessing promised to Abraham would continue. A little later, when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, they did have a son called Isaac. (Gen. 17:15-16 & 21:5) 

(Genesis, chapters 25 and 27) 

1. God kept His promise, as He always does, and blessed Abraham and Sarah because of their love for Him, and because they had faith to believe God would give them a son. Since Sarah was so very old, it would not be possible for this to happen unless God had blessed her. For usually children are born only to young women. Isaac's birth was a miracle.

2. Sarah died when she was 127 years old (Genesis 23:1 & 2). Abraham buried her in a cave in the land of Canaan.

3. Many years later, when Isaac was 40 years old, he married Rebekah. They had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the older as he was born before Jacob, his twin. (Gen. 25:20 & 24-26)

4. The oldest child in Jewish families received the greatest blessing or "birthright," so it belonged to Esau.

5. Esau was a rough man, covered with red hair. Jacob was quiet and stayed near home tending his father's flock, while Esau went out frequently to hunt. (Gen. 25:25-27)

6. One day Esau came home very hungry and tired from hunting in the fields and saw Jacob cooking some stew. He asked Jacob for it but Jacob, who was a very cunning man, said he would give it to him only if Esau gave him his birthright. And Esau actually traded his birthright to Jacob for some stew! He wasn't very wise. (Gen. 25:29-34)

7. But Jacob didn't know how he was going to claim his birthright, for he had to have his father's blessing and consent. But Rebekah, his mother, told Jacob to deceive his father. This wasn't a good example to set for her son, was it? (Gen. 27:6-10)

8. So Rebekah had Jacob put skins of goat's hair on his arms, while she made some tasty food that her husband, Isaac, liked. Jacob brought it to his father who was almost blind, so he couldn't see that it was Jacob. He could only feel his hairy arms and thought it was Esau. (Gen. 27:11-16)

9. Isaac then passed the blessing on to Jacob without knowing that it was not Esau. This meant that Jacob would be the master over his brother, Esau, and be the ruler over the Israelites. They were to later be the rulers over the Edomites, Esau's people, who became very wicked and worshipped gods of wood instead of the God of Abraham. (Gen. 27:27-29)

10. Now we understand why God allowed Jacob to be blessed instead of Esau, even though his blessing was obtained through deceit. God wanted someone good to be the one through which that "seed of promise" would come. This seed was to be Jesus. (Gal. 3:16)

11. Jesus wasn't born until many years after Abraham and Isaac died, but we see how God used them because of their faith. They played a part in bringing about Jesus' birth as a Jew. Later we will learn more about Jesus, who brought blessings to the world. 

1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 

2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 

4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

7. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 

8 By 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. 

9 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. 

10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age -- and Sarah herself was barren -- was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 

12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 

14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 

15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 

16 Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 

18 even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 

19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. 

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

23 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 

25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 

26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 

28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. 

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 

33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 

34 quenched the fury  of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 

35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 

36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.

37 They were stoned {Some early manuscripts stoned; they were put to the test;}; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated 

38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 

40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (NIV) 

"Nothing is sweeter than Love, nothing more courageous, nothing higher, nothing more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven and earth: because Love is born of God, and cannot rest but in God, above all created beings. He that loveth, flieth, runneth, and rejoiceth, He is free and is not bound."

- Thomas Kempis -