These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been
mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they
desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is
not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for
them a city. (Hebrews 11:13–16)

The twelfth chapter of Genesis is one of the pivotal passages
in Scripture. Here God announces three promises to Abram:
(1) that He would make of him a great nation (v 2), (2) that He
would give the land of the Canaanites to his seed for a
possession (v 7), and (3) that all families of the earth would be
blessed in him (v 3). The first two of these promises are
understood easily enough, but what of the third? What could
this have meant to the patriarch who knew so little of God’s
eternal plan for redeeming man? In this promise God begins
unfolding the beautiful mystery of redemption as He preaches
the gospel to Abram (Gal. 3:8) in seed form.

As the writer of Hebrews affirms, Abraham never received
any of these promises (materially speaking) in his lifetime, but
his faith provided such strong evidence for that which he
could but see afar off (cf. Heb. 11:1) that he did not doubt God’s
ability or willingness to perform them. It is for this reason
that Abraham was so willing to offer Isaac, knowing that God
could still keep His promise to him and that He would do so (vv
17–19). Abraham had “found” something extraordinary (Rom.
4:1). He found that, although he could not be found righteous
before God by virtue of sinlessness, God was willing to count
faithfulness for righteousness (Rom. 4:3–8). The Scriptures
do not reveal how or when Abraham came to this realization,
but it is logical to infer that he learned it sometime between
the conception of Ishmael (when he took matters into his own
hands) and the journey with his son Isaac to Moriah (when he
entrusted all to the LORD).

Abraham was looking for a better country than the one he had
left behind and would not even suffer his son to return there
to seek a wife (Gen. 24:1–6). We seek a better country as well,
and we confess that we are but strangers on this earth. If we
are to find that country for which we seek, we must seek it by
faith as did Abraham our father. It is “by faith” that we
become the children of God when we are “baptized into
Christ,” and it is only then that we become “Abraham’s seed,
and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26–29, cf. Col.
2:11–13).

After reading the text listed below, see if you can answer
the following questions.

Non-trivial Questions (Genesis 12:1–20)
1. Who went with Abram when he left Haran?
2. How old was Abram when he left Haran?
3. In which Canaanite city did Abram first erect an
altar to God?
4. Why did Abram go to Egypt?
5. What did Abram ask Sarai to do for him in Egypt?
6. What happened to Pharaoh when he took Sarai into
his house?