Picture yourself sitting in your living room one day. God comes to you and speaks to you audibly and says, “Brian, pack up a few things and leave the Fox Cities. I’m sending you to a country you know nothing about. Its culture, language, food, and people will all be foreign to you. I want you to go because through you, I will bless them and every ethnic group on the planet.”
This was God’s call on Abraham’s life:
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
Why?
“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.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3).
Literally, God says, “Leave behind everything that is familiar to you. Leave behind everything that is comfortable to you. Leave behind everything that gives you security. Because through you, Abraham, I will bless all the peoples of the earth.”
One of Abraham’s descendants is Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave behind the familiarities and comforts of heaven in order to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth. Think about how intense Jesus’ love for his people must be that he would leave Paradise behind to pursue and save sinners! Amazing!
The Bible is not a collection of isolated stories, but a single, unified story ultimately about Jesus Christ.
