"All shall be blessed"

Genesis 12

Here is Genesis 12, the awesome journey to the salvation of the world begins!

And, as we have been shown in Genesis 1-11, just how badly this world needs to be saved from great wickedness (Genesis 6:5) and self-centered, proud disobedience (Genesis 11:4).

Here at the beginning of the journey, we see God's intention in building a new family of faith through Abram, who is renamed, "Abraham" (meaning 'father of a multitude') in Genesis 17:5. It is not just to bless the physical descendants of Abraham, but to also bless "all the families of the earth."

This promise of universal blessing is repeated four times in Genesis (18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). The last three expressions of this promise use the word "offspring", which in Hebrew is zera, meaning seed. This "offspring", or seed, will be the source of the blessing for all nations.

And the Apostle Paul sees this promise to bless all nations through the "offspring" of Abraham as finally fulfilled and available in Christ (Galatians 3:16).

One of the things that I admire about the Bible (and which attests to its authenticity) is it's shocking honesty about it's great heroes. Even when the truth exposes their 'feet of clay'.

In Genesis 12, having read of God's universal purpose for Abram (v1-3) and of Abram's obedience (v4-6) and worship (v7-9), we then get told of his fear, cowardice, lying and failure to protect his wife when they journey to Egypt in a time of famine. Because he fears that the Egyptians will kill him for his wife, he get her to say that she is his sister (v10-13). Sarai duly gets taken "into Pharaoh's house" and Abram gets given great riches for her (v14-16). But for the intervention of the Lord, the promise could have died in the sands of Egypt (v17-20).

The only real, flawless Hero in Scripture is "the LORD."