Abraham

Some four centuries later the Lord was ready for another kind of move among men. This time it was not destruction, but the forming of a nation through whom He planned to make known to the world His love and power. These centuries had seen a tremendous increase in the population,—only eight had survived the Flood,—yet their knowledge of God had not kept pace. Few were left whose worship had not become corrupted with idolatry. Of the few, one stood out as a prospect to become the father of a great nation that would eventually fill the whole earth. Abram was called out from Ur of the Chaldees, out of a family that had lapsed into idol worship. He was made a prophet and the founder of a nation to do God’s bidding. Genesis 20:7. His work was different from that of Noah, but it was nonetheless the work of a prophet. Through Abram came the promises of the everlasting covenant that pledged to God’s faithful ones the whole earth for their inheritance. He also received the promise of the coming of One through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. His own son, the child of promise, whose seed were to be as numerous as the sand of the sea, typified this One who would bring blessing to all. As the friend of God (James 2:23), and as the father of those who accept the grace of God through faith (Romans 4:16), Abram became the progenitor not only of the literal nation of Israel, but also of spiritual Israel, to whom the promise of the inheritance of the world would ultimately be fulfilled (Romans 4:13; Galatians 3:29). One to whom the Lord could give the prophetic gift was chosen to accomplish the work and give the demonstrations necessary to launch a literal and a spiritual kingdom.APAY 150.2