What we see in the Word of God before this remarkable account of the call of Abram (Gen. 12-13) is humbling, as we see what God has told us of man’s sin and ruin, as bringing on the flood, and what followed it. What was to be done now? God had hung out a sign in the very heavens that He would no longer visit the iniquity of the race as He had done in the deluge. There had been a secret principle of grace with God that He always acted on, but now this principle was to be brought out manifestly. What had made the difference in the case of Abel, Enoch, or even Noah? It was grace that had flowed to them and wrought in them whatever was good and holy and true. But there is a new thing that comes out in the history now before us.
A Ground of Action
Promise was to be thenceforth a public ground of action on the part of God. God was no longer content that He should act after a secret sort. He would now make the call distinct and plain, drawing to it the attention of friends and enemies. It was the call of God, no more secret but evident to all.
So we are told in this place: “Now Jehovah had said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” (Gen. 12:11Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: (Genesis 12:1)). Abram was called by God to a place of separation, and this so as to be manifest as the great principle that God would have us now to weigh with all seriousness, as we read His Word.
The children of Israel at Sinai took the ground of law. The consequence was that, however divine the principle was, it fell through in the case of the chosen nation. So again, God has now applied the same principle to the call of the church. It is not merely mercy towards the soul, for this has always been true, but God has a body publicly called in this world, composed of such as are meant to be witnesses of His grace in Christ on high.
But the Lord in His dealings begins first of all with an individual, and there was great wisdom in this. To what end was this? Not only that he himself should be blessed, but to be a blessing, and this not only to his own seed, but to others far and wide. “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:33And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)).
In the earth and with men, such is the sole possible way of blessing. If there is to be blessing at all in a world that is ruined, it must be on the ground of one who comes out in obedience to the call of God, not staying where he is, nor attempting to reform the evil in the midst of which he may be. God made it particularly manifest at this time, for the world was no more as it had been before the flood; it was separated into its distinct nationalities. Government also had now been instituted.
Idolatry
But now that idolatry had entered (Josh. 24:22And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. (Joshua 24:2)), separation to God comes in as the recognized place. Instead of having souls to walk individually with Him, God, from that day to this, takes up what was then a wholly new thing for man, that if He were to be pleased or magnified, it must be as separate to Himself. God looks for more now; He calls out. Hence the force of the word here, “Get thee out.”
It is not simply “believe”; this was not at all the question put. It is not a question here of the gospel being sent out, nor of Christ being presented personally. It is God who separates to Himself at His own word — a man who was in the midst of all that is evil, with his own family worshipping false gods like the rest. The solemn fact was that the family of Shem had gone into idolatry no less than others. In spite of the predicted purpose of God, Shem’s sons had proved faithless. What next could be done? Was there no way of securing God’s honor? This was the way: The call of God goes out in sovereign grace, separating to Himself a man no better than his fellows but avowedly involved in the idolatries of his fathers. “Get thee out of thy country ... unto a land that I will show thee.”
Now the first thing I would press is that faith is shown in believing what God brings home to one’s own soul and for one’s own path. God has a will about each successive stage in all the varying phases of life, as evil itself grows and works in the world. Satan does not limit himself to the same snares of falsehood and sin, but becomes more and more subtle and determined in his plans. God looks for faith in His Word accordingly. So in this case the very family (Shem) that had whatever there was to hope for were fatally involved in his networks just like other men. But God has a way of vindicating Himself, and this is a way which gives all the glory to Himself. Faith recognizes this as being what it ought to be.
The Call Was of Grace
The call comes without the slightest ground for it in Abram himself. This we see to be perfectly consistent with the dealings of God. He meant the blessing to be in that line, but Abram was evidently a child of the unfaithful, and no doubt an unfaithful child himself. The calling was, accordingly, of grace: God Himself called, and God, at the same time, was fitting this man for the place of blessing. God had, before Abram was fitted for it, pronounced what it was in His heart to give him, so that it might be, not of Abram who deserved it, but of God that called him. It was grace. “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great” (Gen. 12:22And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: (Genesis 12:2)).
The whole principle of the blessing as flowing out of the call of God had been manifested in a man distinctly separated to Him and called out without disturbing the arrangements of the world. There was no setting him up with a mightier sword in his hand to put down the workers of iniquity. The world was left, arranged under the providence of God in separate families, nations and tongues, but not till government was by man sanctioned by God. But there, God’s honor being completely set aside and false gods worshipped, He separates under His promise of blessing the man who comes out at His call to the land He would show him.
The Call and the Promise
This then is God’s own blessed way — one most effectual, as it is also peculiar to Himself, and on it, in fact, God has acted in our own call, whether to Himself or into the church. It was much for God to say, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” But there was another word, and this was especially dear to the heart of one so blessed himself. “Thou shalt be a blessing.” This was to make him not only the object of grace, but the instrument of it. It was to give him communion with God Himself in the activity of His own goodness. “Thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee [of course, on the earthly side]: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
W. Kelly (adapted)