AT the next epoch, the call of Abraham, we come to a distinctly new departure from all that had gone before. God, in His counsels of wisdom and goodness, had purposed to have a race or nation of people for His own peculiar possession, who were to be separated from all other nations, and known as the "people of God," as He said by His prophet, " You only have I known of all the families of the earth " (Amos 3:22You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. (Amos 3:2)); though for a time they have forfeited this privileged position by their backslidings. They were also to be under His special guidance and protection, and to them He would communicate His desires, purposes, and ways, so that they should be living witnesses to declare His glory among the Gentiles. "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall skew forth My praise" (Isa. 43:2121This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise. (Isaiah 43:21)).
This election of grace was, moreover, to be a preparation for the advent in the latter days of the great Redeemer of the world, who was to be born of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, and was to come as the Messiah King still later on.
So Abraham (whose lineage in the line of Shem we have in Gen. 11) was called to leave his home and his kindred in Ur of the Chaldees, to go whithersoever the Lord should lead him; and God made that memorable covenant with him that he should be the father of a great nation, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed, and that his descendants should possess all the land of Canaan, " from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
The special feature of this divine covenant was the promise of earthly possessions and blessings to Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites, who were to be God's peculiarly privileged people on the earth, under His special care and guidance; while all their enjoyments, prospects, and hopes, were bounded by an earthly sphere.
In all these provisions we see at once the fundamental difference between the Jewish and the Christian dispensations, the latter being wholly heavenly in its character, its aspirations, aims, and hopes, and thus connected and associated with Christ now in the heavens, as Paul beautifully describes it in Eph. 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6), God " hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." And it is most important ever to remember this distinction, that we may be preserved from the confusion into which many have fallen through not clearly seeing this difference between the earthly and the heavenly position.
The red line in the chart begins with the call of Abraham and with the covenant then made with him, and marks the important fact that God's special dealings with Abraham and his descendants—afterward known as the Israelites—commenced with that call and covenant, and it is seen running through two dispensations, down to the Captivity, when for a time it was broken off.
This dispensation (C) embraces the interesting and instructive histories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons, and the early history of Moses and Aaron, which are recorded in Gen. 12-50, and Ex. 1-12:51.
The history of Abraham, the founder of the Israelitish nation, is particularly full of the most interesting details; hence in Heb. 11, which recounts the doings of Old Testament heroes, special notice is taken of his wonderful faith and obedience. The three principal occasions on which his faith was displayed are there mentioned, " By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went;" " By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country," &c.; and " By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac"; &c. (Heb. 11:8, 9, 178By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: (Hebrews 11:8‑9)
17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, (Hebrews 11:17)).
The leading events of this period are:—
1. Abraham's history, some of the chief incidents of which are his journeys to Egypt and through the land of Canaan; his separation from Lot; his interview with three angels, one of whom was the Lord; his pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah before the destruction of those cities; his offering up of his son Isaac; and his sending his servant to procure a wife for Isaac, &c.
3. The separate history of Jacob; his sojourn in Padanaram and his marriage there; his wrestling with the Angel—the Lord—with many particulars concerning his twelve sons, the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel (Heb. 11:2121By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. (Hebrews 11:21)).
All the foregoing patriarchs wandered for many years, as strangers and pilgrims, in the land of Canaan that was ultimately to be theirs, resting in simple faith on the promises of God which they had received, but without ever coming into possession of the land (Heb. 11:1313These 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. (Hebrews 11:13)).
4. The wonderful history of Joseph; his being sold into Egypt by his brethren; his imprisonment, deliverance, and elevation to be ruler of the land, through the special providence of God; his sending for his father and all his relatives to dwell in the land of Egypt; his command regarding his bones, and his death (Heb. 11:2222By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. (Hebrews 11:22)).
5. The oppression of the children of Israel by the Egyptians after the death of Joseph.
7. The ten miraculous plagues of Egypt; in some respects types of the judgments yet to, come at the time of the end.
8. The institution of the Passover. This Passover, the most important feast ever given to God's people, was appointed by God Himself in all its wonderful details, to be observed on that memorable night (and ever afterward), the last night of their sojourn in the land of their bondage.
The observance of this significant institution by the Israelites, on that awful night when the destroying angel passed through the land to slay all the first-born of the Egyptians, must have been extremely solemn, telling of the terrible judgment of God on the one hand, and of merciful deliverance on the other; while the sprinkling of the blood on the door-posts, and the roasted lamb eaten with bitter herbs, and in haste, may have suggested some deeper and more extended meaning underneath it all, though it could be seen hut dimly in that day. But this feast of the Passover is of surpassing interest to us, and to the whole world, as well as to the Jews, inasmuch as the slain lamb without blemish was doubtless intended to serve as a type of Christ, "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" while the sprinkled blood on the door-posts (affording perfect protection to the inmates within), taken with the words, " When I see the blood, I will pass over," ever serves as a figure of the perfect efficacy of Christ's atonement for sin by the offering of Himself; so that all who believe and rest in the work which He accomplished by giving His life as a sacrifice for sin, will be saved and delivered from death and judgment, as the Israelites were delivered from the destroying angel on that eventful night. "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish " (1 Peter 1:18,1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). " For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:77Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: (1 Corinthians 5:7)).
This testimony of faith and obedience (marked at times by sad failure, as all the testimonies of man on this earth have ever been), continued from the call of Abraham to the Exodus for four hundred and thirty years; that is, the sojourning of Abraham and his descendants, including the residence of the Israelites in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years altogether (Ex. 12:4040Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. (Exodus 12:40); Gal. 3:1717And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (Galatians 3:17)).
The chief distinguishing feature of this dispensation, as a whole, is that it may be generally described as a period of "Promise and Testimony."