From Ur to Canaan

FROM UR TO CANAAN

An Exposition of Genesis 11:31-12:9

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: September 18, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

(Chapter 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, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

(Chapter 12)

 ¹ Now 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. ² And 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. ³ I 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.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. (Genesis 11:31-12:9)

INTRODUCTION

In this message I would like us to consider four different aspects of Abram’s journey from Ur to Canaan:

• the where;
• the why;
• the when;
• and the worship.

FROM UR TO CANAAN: THE WHERE

Let’s begin with the where. Terah and his son Abram, along with Abram’s wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, set out on a long journey. They departed from “Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan”, as Genesis 11:31 says.

Ur

Where is Ur of the Chaldeans? When it comes to ancient cities, it is not always possible to identify their location with absolute certainty. Many scholars think that Ur of the Chaldeans is in southern Babylonia, which on a modern map would put you in southern Iraq. What is clear is that Ur is situated within what we know as ancient Mesopotamia, which is the land flanked by the Euphrates River to the west and the Tigris River to the east.

In terms of other passages in the First Testament, there are interesting connections between Genesis 10-11 and the Book of Daniel. The early chapters in the Book of Daniel are set in the kingdom of Babylon, which is related to Nimrod’s kingdom-building effort at Babel in Genesis 10-11. Further, the effort to build the city and tower at Babel took place “in the land of Shinar” (Genesis 11:2), and the beginning of the Book of Daniel tells us that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, brought some of the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem “to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god” (Daniel 1:2). Finally, while Abram went from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan, when the nation of Judah fell under God’s judgment many centuries later, Daniel and his friends had to travel in reverse. Once in Babylon, Daniel – that faithful statesman and prophet – was taught “the literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:4). In Daniel 2-5, the Chaldeans were among the wise men of Babylon; in Daniel 3, “certain Chaldeans” (Daniel 3:8) attempted to bring the faithful Jews Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to ruin; and in Daniel, the wicked king of Babylon is referred to as “Belshazzar the Chaldean king” (Daniel 5:30).   

Geographic locations aside, Shinar and Babel/Babylon and the Chaldeans embody that which is idolatrous, rebellious, and ungodly. To take one example, there is a well-known ancient city called Ur in southern Mesopotamia that is known to have worshiped Nanna, the moon god, for which they had a center of worship. In a theological sense, the entire world system under the sway of sin is referred to as “Babylon the great” (Revelation 17:5). The call upon those who would follow the Lord is always to separate from Babylon (Revelation 18:4) and to wait with great expectation for “the holy city, new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2), which will come down to earth at the appointed time. Abram’s journey from Ur to Canaan was a physical journey in one sense, but in a deeper sense it represents the call upon all of God’s pilgrim people to make a decisive break from the kingdoms of this world and to anchor one’s hope and future in God’s kingdom.

Haran

Now the journey of Terah and Abram from Ur to Canaan was interrupted: “but when they came to Haran, they settled there.” (Genesis 12:31) Once again, it is difficult to locate some ancient cities with certainty. That said, there is a well-known ancient city of Haran in modern-day Turkey. Haran was on the northwestern edge of Mesopotamia and on the doorsteps of Asia Minor. It is interesting to note that the ancient city of Haran was also characterized by moon worship.[1] Moreover, an encyclopedia article says, “Harran was founded… as a merchant colony by Sumerian traders from Ur.”[2] If that Ur and that Harran/Haran are the same as the ones referred to in Genesis 11, then it might suggest that Terah and Abram traveled along an established trade route from Ur to Haran, and they probably would have stayed very close to the Euphrates River their entire journey. Ur was located by the Euphrates, and – several hundred miles later to the northwest – Haran was also located close to the Euphrates. We don’t know why Terah and Abram decided to settle in Haran. What we do know is that Terah never made it to Canaan, but Abram did.

Canaan

Although the location of “Ur of the Chaldeans” and “Haran” cannot be pinpointed with certainty, the location of “the land of Canaan” has no such uncertainty. Canaan refers to the land that is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Sea of Galilee, Jordan River, and Dead Sea to the east. From the ancient city of Haran, Canaan lay a few hundred miles to the south-south-west. As we learn in Genesis 12:6, Abram approached Canaan from the north, for “Shechem” (Genesis 12:6) is the most northern location of the four Canaan landmarks mentioned in Genesis 12:6-9. “Bethel” and “Ai” (v. 8), also in Canaan, were south of Shechem. And “the Negeb” (v. 9) is the dry land in southern Canaan. So Genesis 12:5-9 is telling us that Abram traversed and surveyed the entire land of Canaan, from the north to the south.  

FROM UR TO CANAAN: THE WHY

Now let’s move from the where question to the why question.

When we read Genesis 11:31, it looks like Terah is taking the lead, doesn’t it? Verse 31 says, “Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son’s Abram wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans”. When we read the beginning of Genesis 12, it looks like the Lord spoke to Abram after his father died. In other words, it looks like the Lord called Abram when Abram lived in Haran.

But the Bible gives us additional information. Listen to what the Lord says to Abram in Chapter 15: “And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” (Genesis 15:7) Similarly, the Lord said to the nation of Israel after He rescued them from Egypt: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2) Redemption is always “out from” or “out of” or “from”: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). From darkness to the kingdom of light. From Egypt to Canaan. From Ur to Canaan. In the first instance, the Lord brought Abram “out from Ur” rather than out from Haran (although the Lord removed Abram from Haran after Terah died, as Acts 7:4 indicates).

When we add one more passage into our consideration, it becomes clear that Abram actually received the call of Genesis 12:1-3 while he was still in Ur. Turn with me to Acts 6-7. Stephen was a mighty man of God. We know that he was “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5). We know that he was “full of grace and power” (Acts 6:8). And we know from verse 10 that his opponents “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). This Stephen preached a remarkable message in Acts 7, starting in verse 2 and running all the way to verse 53. The first reason it is a remarkable sermon is because in 52 verses he proclaims the full sweep of God’s plan of redemption starting with Abraham, running all the way through the prophets, and culminating in the coming of the Messiah. The second reason it is a remarkable sermon is because it got him killed at the hands of his hostile audience.

Now what I want you to see is Acts 7:2-4 ­– 

“And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotomia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.” (Acts 7:2-4)

Notice that the Lord appeared to Abram and spoke to Abram when Abram still lived in Ur. This answers the why question: Abram left Ur because the Lord told him to leave.

As for Terah, we don’t know why Terah left Ur. Did Terah also receive instructions from the Lord? We don’t know. Did Terah have reasons of his own to take his journey, and did Terah’s journey just so happen to coincide with the Lord’s call upon Abram? We don’t know. Did Abram tell his father what the Lord had told him to do, and did Terah decide to join his son? We don’t know. All we know is that they journeyed together – and in that journey from Ur to Haran, Terah functioned as you would expect, as the father who takes the lead and takes others with him. But whatever other circumstances may have been involved, what we know for sure is that Abram’s departure from Ur was in response to the Lord’s call upon him.

Learn the lesson: regardless of what other people are doing and why they are doing it, we need to make sure that we are walking in obedience to God’s instruction, and that our eyes are upon Him. At the most fundamental level, it was Abram’s heavenly Father, not his earthly father, who brought him out from Ur of the Chaldeans.

FROM UR TO CANAAN: THE WHEN

Now we come to the when of Abram’s journey. By when I’m referring to the timing of certain events in relationship to each other.

First, we know from Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 that the call of Genesis 12:1-3 took place before Genesis 11:31 and it gives us the primary reason why Abram left Ur. You might scratch your head and wonder why information would be presented like this, but it actually makes good sense. As far as Genesis 11:27-32 goes, its primary purpose is to tell us about the life and death of Terah. Terah’s life is closed off, as it were, at the end of Chapter 11. Thus when we begin Chapter 12, the focus can be on Abram without interruption, and that’s a helpful way to narrate what happened. But the actual chronology goes like this:

• The call of Genesis 12:1-3 happens before the travels of Genesis 11:31;
• Abram’s initial obedience coincides with the travels of Genesis 11:31, where he journeys with his father, wife, and nephew to Haran;
• Terah dies in Genesis 11:32;
• after Terah dies, Abram departs from Haran, as indicated at the end of Genesis 12:4. Thus Abram journeys with his wife and nephew and an entourage of servants to the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5-9).

The second time-related matter to raise is the question of Terah’s age when Abram was born and Terah’s age when Abram left Haran. This question might not have occurred to you as you read the text, but the odds are that it will come to your attention at some point, so why not today?

To begin with, we know that “Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” (Genesis 12:4) If Abram was born when Terah was 70 years old – as Genesis 11:26 seems to suggest – then Abram would have left Haran when Terah was 145 years old, sixty years before Terah died. If the only information I had in front of me was Genesis 11:26-Genesis 12:4, that’s how I would read the text.

But do you remember what Stephen said in Acts 7? After telling us that Abram “lived in Haran” (Acts 7:4), he then said: “And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.” (Acts 7:4) Now we have some definite time markers:

• Terah died when he was 205 years old (Genesis 11:32);
• Abram left Haran after Terah died (Acts 7:4);
• and Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran (Genesis 12:4).

You can do the math: this means that Abram was born when Terah was 130 years old. Can that be squared with Genesis 11:26, which says, “When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran”? The answer is: yes, it is possible. It is entirely possible that Genesis 11:26 carries this meaning: “When Terah had lived 70 years,” he became a father – he began to have sons, and ended up having three sons, and these sons were born at different times. Abram is named first, not because he was the firstborn, but because he was the most prominent son, the seed-son, the son who will be the focus of Genesis 12:1-25:11. So, Abram being named first doesn’t mean that he was born first. Perhaps Nahor or Haran was born first, when Terah was 70 years old, and then sixty years later Terah fathered Abram, when Terah was 130 years old.

While you may not find this biographical detail the most engaging part of the sermon, it actually illustrates something very important. People who take the Bible seriously as God’s perfect and inerrant Word believe in the principle of letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We don’t just read Genesis 11:26 in isolation; we read it in conjunction with Genesis 11:32 and in conjunction with Genesis 12:4 and in conjunction with Stephen’s speech in Acts 7. We work outward from what is most clear to what is less clear, and we put it together in a way that respects all of God’s Word as trustworthy and reliable. My assumption is that the Holy-Spirit-inspired author of Genesis 11-12 was not confused; my assumption is that the Holy-Spirit-empowered preacher Stephen in Acts 7 was not confused; and most importantly I am confident that the Holy Spirit was not and is not confused. Sometimes we may not fully understand how certain Scripture passages fit together, but we do our best – and we always honor the authority, reliability, and integrity of the Scriptures.  

FROM UR TO CANAAN: THE WORSHIP

Finally, and most importantly, we now consider the worship question. God intends all of the wheres and all of the whys and all of the whens and all of the hows and all of the whats of life to lead us to this one place: the place of true worship, the place of humble admiration, when we stand in awe of the Lord God Almighty and glorify His name. God designed the universe to reverberate with the gladhearted praise of His glorious grace. We will see this most pointedly in Genesis 12:7-8. But the high point of worship in Genesis 12:7-8 follows Abram’s obedience to the Lord’s Word, so let’s start there.

Obedience to God’s Word is Worship

The Lord’s call to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 is loaded up with great promises. The Lord promised to show Abram the land (Genesis 12:1), to make of Abram a great nation (Genesis 12:2), to bless Abram and make his name great (Genesis 12:2), and to make Abram a source of blessing to the entire world (Genesis 12:2-3). But in order to live in the reality of the Lord’s generous blessing, Abram had to go. Abram had to trust the Lord’s promise and bank his future on the worth and trustworthiness of what the Lord had promised him. The lavish promises that the Lord set before Abram were introduced by a command to go: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) Leave the familiar and go forth to discover the fullness of a God-built future that is better than you can possibly imagine. As our Lord Jesus said to His disciples:

“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”” (Mark 10:29-30)

Our initial obedience to the Lord’s command should be understood as an act of worship, an act of homage to the King and an act of submission to the King’s Word. It is taking God seriously, it is discovering that God’s compelling and promising Word is so much better than the empty words of our bankrupt world, it is realizing that God’s steadfast love is better than life (Psalm 63:3), and it is letting God’s Word govern your life. You really don’t know where that first step of obedience will lead, but how can you walk with God unless you obey His words? So you set out, putting one step in front of the other; you keep your ear to the heavens and your feet to the path, and you “walk with the Lord in the light of His Word”[3], and you go to wherever He has promised to lead you. This is an indispensable aspect of true worship: bowing down to listen to the Lord’s Word, and then rising up to do what He has said.

This is what Abram did: he received the call, and he walked in obedience from Ur to Haran to Canaan. “Abram went, as the LORD had told him” (Genesis 12:4). Through obedience Abram came to the land that God promised to show him – and once Abram arrived there, God showed him the land and made the promise that is found in verse 7: “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”” Don’t miss the obvious: Abram’s obedience to Genesis 12:1 (“Go… to the land that I will show you”) put him in a position to receive the promise of Genesis 12:7 (“To your offspring I will give this land”). Many people never make it to the next blessing from the Lord because they don’t live obediently in response to the prior blessing. But obeying the Lord always leads to greater depth in our relationship with the Lord.

Ongoing Obedience Should be Punctuated by Specific Acts of Worship

Further, our obedience to the Lord should culminate in specific acts of praise and thanksgiving; our growing relationship with the Lord should be punctuated by specific acts of sacrifice and worship. Notice the progression from Genesis 12:1 to Genesis 12:7: the Lord calls Abram (v. 1), Abram obeyed the Lord (v. 4-6), the Lord promises to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring (the first half of v. 7), and then Abram builds “an altar to the LORD” (the second half of v. 7, and again in v. 8). Without the obedience, our acts of worship are a sham: this is why in Isaiah 1 the Lord tells the worshipers to go home, because their disobedient lives made them unfit for worship. Noah obeyed the Lord (Genesis 6:22, 7:5, 8:18), and afterward he “built an altar to the LORD… and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Genesis 8:20). Abram obeyed the Lord (Genesis 12:4-6) and afterward “built… an altar to the LORD” (Genesis 12:7). That’s the pattern.

What some people think of as great worship experiences – because the music is great and the energy is high and the aesthetics are pleasing to the senses and the charisma of the people up front keeps everyone on the edge of their seats – are most assuredly not true worship experiences if their everyday lives are characterized by disobedience, worldliness, and compromise. But when God’s people discover the way of faith, the way of repentance, the way of transformation and obedience and spiritual growth, then they will be compelled by God’s Word and by their common faith to gather together before the Lord and bring their sacrifices to Him. Abel (Genesis 4:4) and Noah (Genesis 8:20) brought animal sacrifices to the Lord – and Abram probably did likewise (in Genesis 12:7, 8). We don’t bring animal sacrifices, because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf. But we still bring sacrifices: we bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 116:17), the sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15), the sacrifice of sharing what we have with others (Hebrews 13:16, Philippians 4:18), the sacrifice of ourselves “as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1),  and – when we have sinned – the sacrifice of “a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). With these specific and concrete acts of worship, we celebrate the Lord and His goodness toward us.

Worship is the Right Response to Hearing God’s Promise

Now notice an important detail about Abram’s worship: Abram’s worship in Genesis 12:7 immediately follows the Lord’s promise, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Abram responded to this promise by “[building] there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” What this shows us is that worshiping God is the right and fitting response to hearing His promises. This is a vitally important principle that we need to get ahold of. It would be easy for us fickle and immature people to reason to ourselves that we will worship God after He fulfills His promises. Of course, we certainly should worship God whenever He fulfills one of His promises. But what stands out in Genesis 12:7-8 is that Abram worshiped God immediately after hearing the promise and long before the promise would be fulfilled.

Genesis 12:7 begins, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”” Abram didn’t respond with a sarcastic ‘Yeah, right.’ Abram didn’t respond with a skeptical ‘No way’ or “We’ll see about that’. Abram didn’t respond with a cautious, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’. If he had responded with sarcasm or skepticism or disbelief, then he wouldn’t have been able to worship God. In fact, however, Abram believed God. Abram believed God’s promise. Abram had already experienced God’s trustworthiness: God had brought Abram from Ur to the land that He promised to show him, and now God was showing Abram the land. So Abram had tasted God’s faithfulness already, and now when the Lord promised to give this land to Abram’s descendants, Abram believed the Lord. And when the promise of God is mixed with true faith in a man’s heart, the man responds with praise and thanksgiving long before the promise is actually fulfilled. After all, if God has promised it, it’s as good as done – for He who created the heavens and the earth by His powerful Word will not fail to carry out the words that He has promised to perform in the future. God is faithful. He will do it!

God’s promise, and Abram’s confidence in God’s promise, is accentuated by the fact that “the Canaanites were in the land” (Genesis 12:6). Abram saw the land and would have seen that the land was occupied by other people. Specifically, the land of Canaan was occupied by the descendants of Canaan, who was under a curse (Genesis 9:25). God’s plan was to uproot the descendants of the cursed one out of the land, and instead give the land to the descendants of Abram, the blessed one (Genesis 12:1-3). God’s plan was to turn Canaan from an accursed land into a blessed land, from which would go forth blessing to the whole world. What I want you to appreciate is that Abram saw the land and saw that it was occupied by the Canaanites, and yet he believed what his ears heard, not what his eyes saw. When the ten unbelieving Israelite spies scoped out the land of Canaan four centuries later, they didn’t believe God’s promise but were instead overwhelmed by the mighty Canaanites that their eyes saw. But Abram reasoned on the basis of God’s Word, not on the basis of sensory data. Abram heard God’s Word, and that settled the matter for Abram. Thus he was free to offer up praise and thanksgiving to the Holy One.

Like Abram, we also must learn to meet God’s promises with faith. We need to lean into those specific promises of God that haven’t been fulfilled yet. As we look at the sensory data that surrounds us – as we look at the breaking apart of our culture, the moral confusion, the bitter politics, the economic unknowns, the assault on marriage and family, and the general chaos of our society, it is possible to become a wee bit discouraged, if not altogether anxious or overwhelmed. But God wants us to hear His promises, and to let His promises settle the matter for us. In the moment of God’s promise to Abram, Abram was not to be preoccupied with when or how the Canaanites would be uprooted from the land, and Abram was not to be preoccupied with when or how his descendants would be brought into the land. And remember, Abram is 75 years old and he doesn’t even have any offspring yet, and his wife Sarai is barren (Genesis 11:30). But he believes God’s Word and worships the God who holds all things in His hand. We also are not to be preoccupied with all the logistics of when or how God’s promises concerning the future will come to pass. Instead, we are to let God’s promises concerning the future lead us to worship God and call upon His name today!

Consider God’s Promises to Us, and then Worship God!

The Lord promised Abram, “To your offspring I will give this land.” What has the Lord promised us? Consider these:

• “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) In Genesis 12, the Lord promised to give Abram’s descendants the land of Canaan. Now, the Lord has promised to give His followers the entire earth.

• Our Lord Jesus Christ is “the heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2) and we are “fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). We suffer with Christ now, but God’s promise is that we will be glorified with Christ in the future, and when we are glorified, the entire earth that we will inherit “will be set free from its bondage to corruption and [will] obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21)

• When the Lord brings His promises to completion, the entire renewed creation will be populated by God’s redeemed people, the faithful and true worshipers who became so by the blood of the Lamb. Every unbelieving and immoral and idolatrous person will be uprooted from the world and cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 21-22)

• On that glorious day, the Lord “will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4). We will enjoy unhindered fellowship with our God and with one another forever.

Abram was to look at the miniature world of Canaan and think: one day, the Lord is going to uproot the Canaanites out of the land, and He is going to turn the land of many idols into the beautiful land characterized by true worship, and He is going to bring His chosen ones into the land and prosper them there. If any Canaanites repent and turn to the Lord, we will welcome them, but otherwise they will be uprooted. And in the midst of that pagan land, what did Abram do? He put down stakes – specifically, he built altars to the Lord. In the midst of pagan Canaan, Abram worshiped God, knowing that pagan Canaan would one day be set free from its Canaanite corruptions and would be liberated to bear good fruit and enjoy Sabbath rest under the care of the sons of Abram.  

Brothers and sisters, we must do likewise. We must look at the entire world, including our own country and our own region, and think: one day, the Lord is going to uproot all unbelievers out of the land, and He is going to turn this idolatrous world into a beautiful world characterized by true worship (“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” –Habakkuk 2:14), and He is going to give the entire world to His faithful and meek people, who will reign with Christ forevermore. If any unbeliever repents and turns to the Lord, we will welcome him, but every sinner who remains in his unbelief will perish. In light of all this, we should believe and declare to all the world that the future of the world is the glory of the Lord shining forth in the joy of His redeemed peoplebefore whom “the mountains and the hills… shall break forth into singing” (Isaiah 55:12). Communism has no lasting future; Marxism has no lasting future; Big Government Tyranny has no lasting future; Islam has no lasting future; selfish ambition has no lasting future; lawlessness and unrighteousness have no lasting future; sexual perversion has no lasting future; lies have no lasting future; higher godless education has no lasting future; clever social commentary that talks as if God is not there, has no lasting future; idols and godless ideologies have no lasting future; this sinful world system has no lasting future. Every idol will be toppled, every offensive thing will be removed, every enemy of Christ will be subdued. And everyone who is caught up in the world’s rebellion will perish along with all of their idols, but God has promised us a lasting future that never ends: “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)

When you have heard and understood and believe these promises, the first and most important thing to do – and to keep on doing – is to humbly bow down and worship the Lord. We don’t know when or how He is going to accomplish all that He has promised to accomplish. But we know that He will accomplish it, and that is reason enough to inspire and sustain our worship in the midst of this chaotic world.

So, let’s do what Abram did: let’s greet the unspeakably good promises of God with faith, and let’s put down stakes of true worship in this idolatrous land, because God has promised to give this land along with the entire world to His faithful people. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) An indescribably bright future has been promised to us and secured for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore let’s praise our God with steadfast hearts. Let’s sing: “All praise to Him who reigns above / In majesty supreme”[4], as indeed we will sing in just a few minutes. And let’s pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done – where? right here! – on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10). We call upon His name, knowing that He who promised is faithful, and He will surely do it!

ENDNOTES

[1] See the Wikipedia entry on “Harran”. Available online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harran. Accessed September 2022.

[2] From the Wikipedia entry on “Harran”. Available online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harran. Accessed September 2022.

[2] From the hymn “Trust and Obey” by John H. Sammis.

[3] From the hymn “Bless the Lord” by William H. Clark.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brisco, Thomas. Holman Bible Atlas. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998.

Currid, John D. and David P. Barrett. ESV Bible Atlas. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Henry, Matthew. A Commentary on the Whole Bible: Volume 1: Genesis to Deuteronomy. Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Morris, Henry M. The Genesis Record. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976.

Safarti, Jonathan D. The Genesis Account: A theological, historical, and scientific commentary on Genesis 1-11. Second Edition. Powder Springs: Creation Book Publishers, 2015.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.

NOTE: I also consulted a number of general knowledge resources, mostly encyclopedia entries on Wikipedia.