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Abrahamic Covenant. God's Initial Call to Abra

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Abrahamic Covenant. God's Initial Call to Abra Babel Abrahamic Covenant. God’s initial call to Abra- Fifth, and finally, God promised Abraham that ham to leave his family and his country in order “all peoples on earth will be blessed through to follow wherever the Lord would lead him and you” (Gen. 12:3). This promise moves the focus the promises God made to Abraham constitute of God’s plan from an individual to the entire the core of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1– world. God’s heart was for the world, but he 3). Throughout the story of Abraham these began with choosing one person. promises are reiterated or expanded (Gen. 12:7; THOMAS J. FINLEY 13:14–17; 15:1–21; 17:1–27; 22:15–18), and Abra- ham demonstrates his commitment by his obedi- Bibliography. B. W. Anderson, Interpretation 42 (1988): 353–66; F. Blauw, The Missionary Nature of the ence, culminating in his willingness to sacrifice Church; W. J. Dumbrell, Reformed Theological Review Isaac (Gen. 22:1–18). The same promises are re- 41 (1982): 42–50; R. De Ridder, Discipling the Nations; peated, in whole or in part, to Abraham’s descen- A. Glasser, Kingdom and Mission; C. L. Rogers, BibSac dants (Gen. 21:12, 13, 18; 25:1–6; 28:3–4, 12–15), 127 (1970): 241–56; J. H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as and the covenant then becomes a central part of Narrative; J. M. L. Young, CT 13 (1968): 162–63, 165. the rest of the Bible. God’s call of Abraham parallels his creation of Babel. Genesis 11:1–9 is a sharp polemic against humankind in his own image (Gen. 1:26–28). the pretensions of the collective human self- The first two chapters of Genesis depict a har- sufficiency in rebellion against God. Its mission- mony between God and humanity, between man ary and missiological relevance can be seen from and woman, and between humanity and the rest noting its place in the history of God’s redemp- of creation. That harmony was severed when the tive work and revelation. original pair chose the path of autonomy from This is a representative episode of opposition God (Gen. 3:1–19), but God invited Abraham to to the purpose of the Lord following the judg- surrender to a new path that he would mark out ment of the flood. The nations descended from for him (Gen. 12:1). Noah (Gen. 10) were implicitly required to The Abrahamic covenant has a key role within disperse over the earth to fulfill the creation God’s plan to get the gospel to all the world. mandate (Gen. 1:28), reiterated in the covenant First, God’s dealings with Abraham have the seed of preservation (Gen. 8:15–9:17). This was with a of the gospel within it. As with his promise of view to the redemptive purpose encapsulated in salvation to all who receive the Son by faith the prophecy of Noah (Gen. 9:25–27), to be ful- (John 1:12), the promise to Abraham was uncon- filled by the coming of Christ. But the line of ditional. Abraham opened himself to God’s grace, reorienting his life to God’s new work on Nimrod (“Let us rebel”), the descendant of Ham, his behalf. In that act he became both an exam- founds Babel (Babylon[ia]) (Gen. 10:8–10), which ple for all future generations of believers and the meant “Gate of God” in its Babylonian form (but, channel through which God mediated his prom- mockingly, “confusion” in Hebrew). ise of reconciliation to all the world (cf. Gen. The self-aggrandizing aim and motive of “mak- 12:3 with Rom. 4 and Gal. 3). ing a name” for themselves and resisting disper- Second, the land that God promised to Abra- sion was not only disobedience; it also implied a ham and his descendants became the central spurning of the promise given to Noah that the point from which the gospel would spread to the true intent of Eden would be restored. Artificial rest of the world (Acts 1:8). God created the sacred mountains (ziggurats) in the Babel area, physical world and its people with their physical according to the later versions of Babylonian bodies, and he began his plan of reconciliation myths, aimed at idolizing humanity were the with a real place. very antithesis of the goal of the city of God. Third, when God promised to give Abraham Babel therefore epitomized the universal resis- countless descendants, he established him as the tance of fallen humanity to God. If unthwarted it human source of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all threatened to produce the demonic counterpart humanity (Matt. 1:1). Also Israel, the nation that of the kingdom or rule of God. As by the eating came from Abraham, became the first of the na- of the tree of knowledge people became, in an tions that God purposed to reach with the gospel ironic sense, like God (Gen. 3:22), so now, with (Matt. 28:19–20; Rom. 1:16). equal irony, humans are potentially omnipotent, Fourth, God’s promise to make Abraham’s and (implicitly) evilly so (v. 6). Therefore the name great becomes an evidence of the restored Lord comes in judgment, but also in grace, to relationship between God and humanity. When confuse and disperse: he prevents any preempt- we try to gain a name for ourselves it results in ing triumph of self-sufficient, self-determining alienation from God (Gen. 11:1–9), but when human society, and so averts the necessity of de- God establishes our identity for us, it results in a stroying humankind. new life that is much better than any we could This common-grace restraint of sin and its ef- have imagined for ourselves (Matt. 19:39; Rev. fects preserves humankind for the redemption to 2:17). come (v. 9). 1 Bible The immediately following focus on Shem acts. Paul, before Athenian officials, says that (Gen. 11:10), associated with blessing (9:26–27), God made all nations from a single ancestor; and then on Terah, the father of Abraham and gives life, breath, and all things; allots the time his kin (11:27), is not accidental: through Abra- and boundaries of human habitation “so that ham all peoples will be blessed (12:3). they should seek God; . he is not far from The reversal of both the confusion-scattering each one of us” (Acts 17:27). Indeed, observa- of Babel and its sinful human assertion is Pente- tion of humanity itself, people created in the cost. There the special redemptive grace, apply- IMAGE OF GOD, should be a persuasive argument ing the work of the risen Christ, is symbolically for the existence and power of God. Hebrews and representatively poured out on all the na- 11:6 affirms that to please God one must accept tions, through the Jews and proselytes present. his existence and knowability; this, by implica- They are gathered, not scattered now, and all tion, is available through general revelation. hear what God has done in Christ in the lan- Those who fail to acknowledge this message guage of their own region; they repent and are are, says Paul, without excuse (Rom. 1:26). baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. This Special Revelation consists first of all in God’s prefigures the “purifying the lips of the peoples” work through the nation Israel, her history and and the “gathering” home of God’s people (Zeph. prophets. Micah calls to remembrance events of 3:9, 20), of which the missionary task is the in- the nation’s past “that you may know the saving strument. acts of the LORD” (6:5). It should, however, be JOHN A. MCINTOSH noted that God’s special revelation to and work through Israel had a missionary purpose. It is Bibliography. J. Blauw, The Missionary Nature of the Church; H. Blocher, In the Beginning; J. Davies, JTS, through her that “all the nations of the world new series 5 (1952): 228–31; M. Kline, Kingdom Pro- shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3); as a “priestly king- logue; R. DeRidder, Discipling the Nations; D. Senior dom” (Exod. 19:6) she is to mediate between and C. Stuhlmueller, The Biblical Foundation for Mis- God and others. In Exodus 34:10 God says, “I sion; G. Wenham, Genesis 1–15. will do marvels, . and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD.” Bible. The ultimate task of all forms of Chris- Isaiah affirms that God’s servant will be “a light tian missions is to tell of the Judeo-Christian to the nations” (49:6; cf. Acts 13:46–47). The su- God (Yahweh-Jehovah) and to report the salva- preme act of God’s special revelation came in tion made available by his grace through the life Jesus Christ through whom the Word “became and mission of Jesus Christ. This includes the flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; proclamation of the call to repentance, faith for we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son the forgiveness of sin, and life in fellowship with from the Father” (John 1:14). In Jesus we be- him. Christ’s representatives also provide guid- come aware of the person, nature, and character ance for believers who seek to live worthy of and of God, see him at work, learn that God loved the pleasing to him. All this information comes, not world so much that he gave his Son that believ- through human search or invention, but from ers might have life (John 3:16).
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