Promise Keeper: Abraham: God Always Keeps His Promises
Last month, we used Matthew 1 to trace the family of Jesus all the way back to Abraham, who would have been known by Jews like Matthew as the forefather or patriarch of God’s people. But Abraham wasn’t always known this way.
We first meet Abraham as Abram in Genesis 11, just after the tower of Babel. 15 chapters of Genesis detail the events of Abraham’s journey with the Lord! God appears to Abram (Acts 7:2) and tells him-
Genesis 12:1-3 | The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
God’s charge to Abram is full of big promises (to be a great nation, to be blessed, to bless others, to be protected, etc.). These promises probably should seem nearly impossible to Abram, especially since his wife Sarai was barren (Genesis 11:30). God also asks something huge from Abram - that he leave everything and everyone he knows to go to a place that God will show Him, but hasn’t shown him yet.
But Abram doesn’t ask any questions. Instead, he immediately obeys-
Genesis 12:4 | So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
God brings Abram to the land of Canaan and promises it to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 12:7) which Abram still doesn’t have. It is also a land that already belonged to others and was soon struck by a famine (Genesis 12:6,10). Abram’s journey with God isn’t perfect. Many times, he tries to take his journey into his own hands (Genesis 12:13, 16:1-3, 20:3). But even when he messes up, God leads Abraham and continues to promise him the land of canaan (Genesis 13:14-17, 17:6-8, 22:15-18) and a mighty nation (Genesis 15:1-5, 17:6-8. 22:15-19).
Hebrews 11, the faith hall of fame, defines faith as-
Hebrews 11:1 | Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
It then describes the faith of Abram, which persists year after year after year (even decade after decade) without even a glimpse of how God would fulfill His promises. This finally changes 24 years after God’s initial promise. At 99 years old, God changes Abram’s name, which means father of man, to Abraham, which means father of many nations (Genesis 17:1-5). Yet still, Abraham has no children. But God tells Abraham his responsibility is just to obey (Genesis 17:9) and it is Abraham’s obedience that demonstrates his faith (Genesis 17:23-27).
God the Son again visits Abraham (Genesis 18:1) and lets Abraham know that in a year, he will finally have the son he was promised (Genesis 18:10). Famously, Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughs, doubting her ability to bear a son at 100 years of age. The Lord replies–
Genesis 18:13-14 | Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
We learn from Abraham’s story that indeed, nothing is too hard for the Lord-
Genesis 21:1-5 | The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac. Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
We’ll see later this month that it was through this one son, Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob, that God would construct a mighty nation. And over the next few months, we’ll see that hundreds of years later, God would lead this mighty nation into the land of Canaan, just as He promised.
In fact, Joshua 21:45 tells us–
Joshua 21:45 | Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.
The life of Abraham shows us this timeless truth: God always keeps His promises.
God is perfect and never fails. This means His promises can’t fail either because of who the Promise Maker is–
1st Peter 2:4a | And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
Psalm 145:13b | The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does.
While Abraham put his faith in God and chose to follow Him, God’s promises to Abraham weren’t contingent on Abraham’s obedience or performance; in fact, Abraham failed several times. Instead, God kept His promises because God is who He is (1st Peter 2:4) and He always keeps His promises.
God’s Word, which is Timeless Truth, is full of His promises for us as His followers. (Check out many of those promises here- https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/gods-promises-verses-in-the-bible/). Like Abraham, we might have to wait days, years, decades, or even a lifetime for God to fulfill His promise, but we can be certain that God always keeps His promises. God is the Promise Keeper, and as our theme verse Psalm 145:13b reminds us, His promises aren’t earned by us because of our performance or devotion to him; they are lavished on us through God’s power and grace because of His own character. God always keeps His promises.
What is something you learned or that stood out to you about the life of Abraham?
What promises did God make to Abraham?
How and when were God’s promises fulfilled?
Do you think it was easy for Abraham to trust God’s promises?
Why or why not?
What are some things that may have caused Abraham to doubt?