From the descendents of Noah, God raises up a man called Abram (Genesis 11:10). Because Abram was blameless and righteous, God was very pleased with him. In fact, God was so pleased with Abram, He selected him to bring forth His beloved children of Israel.

In Genesis 17:1, when Abram is 99 years old, God appears to him. God tells Abram that if he lives blamelessly and serves Him, He will give him countless decedents. God continues to tell Abram He will give him nations and He changes his name to Abraham. This is referred to as the covenant God made with Abraham and the mark of this covenant is the circumcision (Genesis 17:11).

In this lesson, I want to study the character of Abraham and show you why God chose Abraham to bring forth the nations of the world. I want to help you see all of the truly good things about Abraham's heart, so you can have a deeper understanding of God.

The Bible shows how obedient Abraham was several times, but I want to focus on two acts of obedience for this lesson: the mark of the covenant and the sacrifice of Isaac.

When God made this promise to Abraham in Genesis 17 about nations being born through him, He gave him instructions on how He wanted to mark this covenant, which was the circumcision. After God gave Abraham these instructions on how to become circumcised, Abraham immediately performed this act on himself and all the men in his household. There was no hesitation. There was no argument. We don't give this much thought, because it is something that is done at birth for us, but Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. And back then, there were no pain killers. This was a very impressive act of obedience!

The second truly amazing act of obedience Abraham shows us is in Genesis 22:2, is when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Again, without question or argument, Abraham starts out toward the mountain with Isaac. As they get close to the place he is to sacrifice his son to God, Abraham tells his servants to wait – and “we will be back”. He did not tell them – I will be back, because he knew that God could not bring nations up through Isaac, if he were dead. Abraham trusted God. Abraham had faith that God would do what he had promised.

When they arrived at the spot where God had instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham prepared an alter and placed the wood on it. He then tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Just as Abraham picked up the knife to prepare to kill his son, an angel called out to him and stopped him.

Genesis 22:12 – “Don't lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

Then Abraham saw a ram caught in the thicket, which Abraham used as the burnt offering to God. God provided for Abraham and Isaac.

This story is a parable of Christ's crucifixion - the mountain represents Calvary, where Jesus was crucified and died for our sins; Isaac represents us, Abraham represents God, who is sacrificing his one and only son; the ram represents Jesus. Isaac was supposed to die, just as we were supposed to die for our sins, but God intervened and saved Isaac just like He intervened and saved us. God sent a ram to take the place of Isaac, but He sent Jesus to take our place.

The other very notable characteristic about Abraham, which God wanted us to understand, is shown in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:16-33. Here, God tells Abraham that he is about to destroy these cities and Abraham begs God not to do it. Abraham is showing his love for the innocent people who may be among the wicked and he is desperately trying to convince God to think of them and spare the cities for their sake. In this conversation with God, Abraham is literally risking his life arguing with God to spare the few who may be innocent. God loves this characteristic in Abraham, which is another reason why He chose him to bring forth the nations.

Another thing we should take away from this story is a lesson in how to pray. In the initial conversation with God, Abraham asks for God to spare the city for fifty righteous and God says, yes. Then Abraham asks for forty-five and God says, yes. Abraham continues to ask and ask until he gets God to agree to sparing the two cities for only ten righteous. This is how we should pray. When you know your heart is in the right place, be unrelenting with your prayers to God. Keep asking until He says yes, but always finish with Your will be done, not mine. If you do this, you will be very pleasing to God.

This story is also a parable of Jesus, who not only risked His life to save the wicked, but actually died to save them. You see, in Sodom and Gomorrah, there was not even one innocent or righteous person who was deserving of God's grace, so the cities took on God's mighty wrath. At the Cross, it was the same, but it was Jesus who took on God's wrath instead of the wicked who deserved it. At the Cross, it was Jesus who begged God to forgive the wicked who were killing Him.

Luke 23:34 – Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.”

Why do you think God chose such an old man and barren old woman to bring forth the nations of the world? Because, God loves to select unlikely candidates so He can demonstrate His power through those who have faith in Him. This point is made clear in this story of Abraham and Sarah. God could not have picked a more unlikely couple to bring forth the nations of the world. But, the one amazing thing they had going for them was their faith and trust in God, which is God's only requirement.

Abraham is certainly a roll model for us! His story should help us understand that God is good and always keeps His promises. We must always put our trust in God, as Abraham did. Study God's Word daily and pray for wisdom. You will be surprised how He will bless you!