PROMISES TO ABRAHAM: THE BACKGROUND

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Promises To Abraham

a) The promises to Abraham spans the generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The period starts with God's call to Abram, and ends with the settlement of Jacob's family in Goshen, a part of Egypt.

b) The period is covered by Genesis chapters 12-47. An outline of the period is also provided in Acts 7:1-15, part of the speech made by Stephen.

2. The Background

a) About 2000 years before Christ, God called Abram out of Ur where he lived near the Persian Gulf. Abram settled in Haran, at the other end of the Euphrates river. However, God led him down to Canaan, east of the Mediterranean Sea where the river Jordan flows.

b) God promised that Abram's descendants would possess that land. God also promised that one of Abram's descendants would bless all nations. Abraham (as his name became) was old. His wife Sarah was also old, and what is more she had always been barren. Sarah and Abraham contrived to produce a son and heir through Sarah's servant Hagar, so Ishmael was born. However God insisted that Sarah would bear a son to Abraham, and his name would be Isaac.

c) Through the promise and power of God, Isaac was indeed born to them. In time, Isaac begot Jacob who became known by the name Israel. He fathered 12 sons from whom the twelve tribes of Israel were descended.

3. The Main Point

a) Behind this story are "two immutable things"...

i) The Promise and

ii) The Oath which confirmed it.

The End ...