30 June 2019
ABRAHAM’S LEGACY OF FAITH
Abraham lived a long and satisfying life and died at the age of 175. Abraham’s wife Sarah gave birth to Isaac at the advanced age of 90 and Abraham was 100. Before Isaac was born, Abraham had Ishmael with Sarah’s servant girl Hagar. After Sarah died, he married Ketura with whom he had six sons. From his sons came many nations, as God had promised to multiply Abraham’s seed – “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Gen 12:2).
Before Abraham died, he set his house in order. He gave his heir Isaac everything he owned. Abraham gave his other sons gifts and sent them away from Isaac, for he did not want any contention among them in inheriting the land of Canaan. Only Isaac, the covenanted heir, would inherit the promised land. Thus, with prudence and justice, Abraham settled his earthly affairs. He was gathered to his people and his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, where Sarah was buried.
When Abraham was 75 years old, God made a covenant with him. God promised to give Abraham land and make him into a great nation. He also promised Abraham blessings and through him, all peoples on earth will be blessed. By faith, Abraham left his country, his people and his father’s household, not knowing where God was leading him to and lived like a stranger in a foreign land for a one hundred years. God had told him that his posterity will possess the promised land after four hundred years. Abraham would not live to see it but he did not lose sight of God’s promise. He saw the promise and welcomed it from a distance – his inheritance is of a heavenly Canaan.
We who are in Jesus Christ are spiritual children of Abraham and are blessed along with Abraham. Our inheritance is a heavenly one. It can never perish, spoil or fade. Like Abraham, we are to live out our time here as foreigners in reverent fear. Abraham’s faith was tested many times and he is honoured and remembered as the man of faith. “By faith he (Abraham) 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. 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” (Heb 11:9, 12). On earth, we can expect to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, so that the genuineness of our faith can be proven. Like Abraham, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23).
