Genesis 11:31. Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan.
We come now to the end of the primeval history of mankind. Eleven chapters of man inviting disorder into God’s ordered creation. A pattern of sin, judgment, preservation, but also hope.
In the garden God’s grace covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve with robes made from animal skins. And there was hope.
After Cain murdered Abel, God marked him with promise of protection. Cain was sent out of Eden. Civilization was born out of Cain. And there was hope.
In the flood story, God’s judgment came upon the Earth because of man’s all-consuming wickedness. But the Noah family was preserved in the ark. God’s covenant of grace was sealed with the rainbow. And there was hope.
At Babel, God both judged and preserved humanity through the confusion of the languages. People spread out over the Earth as God intended.
But where is the hope?
Babel leaves us asking, what next? There is no promise. No covenant. No new sign or seal. No seeming act of divine mercy. And from a Christological viewpoint, nothing appears to point to Jesus. That’s because the promise comes in the form of a genealogy that most of us just skip over in our “read through the Bible” plan. Immediately following Babel God says:
Genesis 11:10. These are the generations of Shem…
And, whether we realize it or not, with these words the reversal of Babel has begun. God will introduce us to a new family that will bring about the reunification of the world. A family, through whom, all the nations of the Earth will be blessed. The Abraham family:
Genesis 11:26. When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
From here on out the Bible will zoom into a much narrower focus on this single family: from the human family to the Hebrew family. Has God given up on the rest of us? Not at all. Rather, it is through this one family that God will rescue and restore the entire human race. Through his covenant with Abraham, God will bring salvation to the entire world – every tongue, tribe, and nation.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis have shown us that apart from God’s gracious intervention and blessing, there is no hope for us. And it is through Abraham that God will start again. The next Adam, the new Noah, the descendant of Shem who will be blessed by God for no merit of his own.
Five times in Genesis 12:1-3 God will use the word bless or blessing.
Genesis 12:1-3. 1Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God’s promises to Abraham are not only gracious bestowals, they are merciful reversals too. God cursed the land when Adam sinned, but now Abraham will be given a land that will flow with milk and honey. God cursed Cain and made him a wanderer, but now Abraham the wanderer will be given a forever home. God dispersed the builders of Babel who sought a name for themselves, but now God will settle Abraham and make his name great. Is there hope for a species that has abandoned God and each other? Yes, there is hope. Hope in the blessing of God.
The blessings God bestows on Abraham are not only for him in this time and place. They are for you and for me. Every blessing points to Christ and to our union with him.
Jesus is the land of promise in which we are rooted, watered, and growing in his love.
Jesus is the name above every name that we wear identifying us as his own. “Salvation” emblazoned across our foreheads. Child of God. Brother or sister of Christ. His prized possession for eternity.
Jesus is the blessing of God. He doesn’t merely point to the blessing; he IS the blessing. There is no greater reward than to be united to the life and love of Jesus. He is the Tree of Life. The ark of safety. The city of God. The tower to the presence of God in us.
Union with Christ is the sign that the judgment of Babel is over. No longer are we divided as the human family, unless we by our rejection of Christ choose to be. But in Christ there is an invitation to rejoin the human family that is destined to live in the shalom of God with him at the center. And each time we choose to gather together in the worship of Jesus and the reception of his grace, we demonstrate that we are once again blessed. Restored. Re-united. A new creation gathered around the throne of grace crying out…
Revelation 4:11. “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Questions: How does the church preview the restoration and re-unification of all mankind? Are you part of a church that is centered around Christ? How does your union with Christ give you hope for your future and peace in your present?
To Live is Christ 