Thus far in our study of Genesis, much of what has been said would be agreeable to Bible-believing Christians of all stripes—creation, marriage, the fall, and God’s judgment of the Flood. But at Genesis 12 the ground divides. The dispensational reading says God has two peoples and two purposes, one earthly and one heavenly, Israel and the church. The Reformed reading, which is ours, says there is one people of God and one purpose of God, and that the covenant of grace runs unbroken from Genesis 3:15 to the last page of Scripture. God has no plan B. How you understand that issue determines how you read every promise from Genesis 12 forward—including whether those promises belong to you.
With that settled, we entered the sixth toledot, “the generations of Terah,” which will carry us all the way to Genesis 25. Moses sets the stage with a craftsman’s hand: Haran dies before his father’s face; Lot is quietly introduced and will matter greatly later; Sarai’s parentage is conspicuously withheld; and then, without comment, the line that will haunt the whole narrative—“Now Sarai was barren. She had no child.” This is a family in Ur of the Chaldeans, a wealthy metropolis dominated by a great ziggurat dedicated to a moon god. Into that comfortable, pagan, established life the Lord speaks, and the first word of the gospel to Abram is a demand: leave. Leave your country, your kindred, your father’s house—and God does not even say where he is going. That is still the demand of the gospel. Not that we all leave our homes, but that we be willing to; that we forsake everything for Christ rather than trying to fit him into a life we intend to keep.
Then come the promises—four times “I will,” with no conditions attached, and seven blessings in all. Listen to the echoes of Babel: a great nation, a great name—precisely what the builders at Shinar grasped for and could not seize. God will give both, in his way and in his time, as a gift of grace. And Paul tells us plainly in Galatians 3:16 that the offspring promised to Abram is singular: Christ. The seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:15 is now running through the Abrahamic covenant toward Calvary, and everyone united to Christ by faith is Abraham’s offspring and an heir according to the promise. Abram’s response is twofold—faithful obedience and faithful worship. He goes at seventy-five, well settled and with much to lose. He arrives to find the land already occupied by the cursed line of Canaan, with no army and no leverage to take it. And so he builds an altar at Shechem, beside a pagan oak, and another in the hill country, and calls upon the name of the Lord. He claims the land not by conquest but by consecration. That is our calling too: to worship in the midst of Canaanites until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
The Sermon at a Glance
- Setting the Stage for the Gospel (11:27–32) — The sixth toledot opens with Terah’s family in Ur: Haran’s death, Lot’s quiet introduction, Sarai’s barrenness, and a long stop in Haran. Moses is planting seeds that will bear fruit for fourteen chapters.
- The Demand of the Gospel (12:1) — “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house.” Leave everything, and be told the destination later. The gospel cannot be added to a life; it lays claim to the whole of it.
- The Promises of the Gospel (12:2–3) — Seven promises secured by four unconditional “I wills”—the great nation and great name Babel wanted, given by grace and fulfilled in Christ, the one offspring of Galatians 3:16.
- The Response to the Gospel (12:4–9) — Faithful obedience and faithful worship. Abram goes at seventy-five, finds the land full of Canaanites, and builds altars anyway—claiming it not by conquest but by consecration.
Key line to remember: “The gospel does not demand perfect surrender, but it does demand complete surrender.”
Reflection and Preparation
Day 1 — One People, One Purpose
Read: Genesis 11:27–32; Galatians 3:26–29
Adults
- Genesis 12 is a watershed: either God has two peoples and two purposes, or one. Why does Galatians 3:29 settle the question—and what changes about your reading of the Old Testament if you are Abraham’s offspring?
- Moses introduces Terah’s family with a death, a barren womb, and a journey that stalls halfway. Why might God begin the line of promise with so much apparent loss and delay?
- The seed of the woman is preserved not by human pedigree but by grace. Where are you tempted to trace your standing before God through heritage, upbringing, or track record instead of through Christ?
Children
- Whose family does the Bible start following in today’s reading?
- If you belong to Jesus, whose family are you part of—even if none of your grandparents knew him?
Day 2 — The Demand of the Gospel
Read: Genesis 12:1; Matthew 10:34–39
Adults
- God tells Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house—and does not say where he is going. Why do you think God calls us before he shows us the whole plan?
- Jesus says whoever loves father or mother more than him is not worthy of him. What does that sound like in ordinary Tuesday-afternoon terms, not just in dramatic ones?
- Complete surrender is not the same as perfect surrender. Is there something you are still holding back and quietly labeling “mine”?
Children
- God told Abram to leave his home. Did God tell him exactly where he was going?
- What is something hard God might ask you to give up in order to follow him?
Day 3 — The Promises of the Gospel
Read: Genesis 12:2–3; Galatians 3:7–9, 16
Adults
- The builders at Babel wanted a great name and a great nation and got neither. God freely gives both to Abram. What does that contrast teach us about grace versus self-salvation?
- Four times God says “I will” with no conditions attached. How does an unconditional promise change the motive for obedience?
- Paul says Genesis 12 is the gospel preached beforehand to Abram, and that the promised offspring is Christ. Trace the line from Genesis 3:15 to Genesis 12:3 to Galatians 3:16—how is it all one promise?
Children
- How many times does God say “I will” to Abram? Did Abram have to earn any of it?
- God promised Abram that one of his family would bless the whole world. Who was that person?
Day 4 — Faithful Obedience and Faithful Worship
Read: Genesis 12:4–9; Hebrews 11:8–10
Adults
- Abram arrives in the promised land and finds it already occupied—by the cursed line of Canaan, no less. How do you respond when obeying God leads you straight into a situation you cannot fix?
- With no army and no leverage, Abram builds an altar. What does it mean to claim ground “not by conquest but by consecration,” and where might that apply in your own home, workplace, or town?
- Hebrews says Abraham was looking ahead to a city with foundations. Romans 4:13 says the promise was that he would be heir of the world. How does that enlarge your sense of what God has promised you?
Children
- When Abram got to the new land, was it empty? Who was already living there?
- What did Abram build there, and what was it for?
Day 5 — Two Families, Two Seeds (Preparing for the Lord’s Day)
Read: Genesis 4:1–12; 1 John 3:1–24
Adults
- John says it is evident who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are—and then he reaches all the way back to Cain as his example. How is 1 John 3 an inspired commentary on Genesis 3:15?
- The test John gives is love for the brothers, shown “in deed and in truth” rather than in word and talk. What would an honest application of that test look like in your life this week?
- John also writes that the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. How does that promise steady you when you examine yourself and find your love falling short?
Children
- Cain was very angry with his brother Abel. What does the Bible say was really wrong in Cain’s heart?
- John says we can tell who belongs to God by how they treat other people. What is one way you can show love to someone this week?
Next Lord’s Day Preview
The Litmus Test — 1 John 3:1–24 (Pastor Scott)
Next Lord’s Day we will step out of Genesis for a week and sit under the preaching of Pastor Scott—but we will not be stepping away from the thread we have been following since Genesis 3:15. First John 3 is where the apostle takes up the two seeds by name. He writes that whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, that the Son of God appeared to destroy the devil’s works, and then draws the line plainly: by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. And for his one illustration he reaches back into Genesis, to Cain, “who was of the evil one and murdered his brother.”
The antithesis that opened in Eden and ran through Cain, through Babel, and now through Abram is the very thing John puts in front of us as a test we can apply to ourselves. Come with your Bible open and your heart ready to be examined.
- Come ready to consider how 1 John 3 reads the promise of Genesis 3:15—and why John chooses Cain, of all men, as his example of the serpent’s seed.
- Come ready to consider what John means when he says love shown “in deed and in truth” is the evidence that we have passed from death to life.
- Come ready to consider what assurance is meant to rest on when John says God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Hymns for Next Lord’s Day
- 495 Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
- 371 It Is Well With My Soul
- 472 O For A Closer Walk With God
- May the Grace of Christ, Our Savior
May the Grace of Christ Our Savior — John Newton
May the grace of Christ our Savior
And the Father’s boundless love,
With the holy Spirit’s favor,
Rest upon us from above!
May we walk with Christ our Savior
Worthy of our calling sure
Trusting in His boundless favor
For He has declared us pure.
Thus may we abide in union
With each other, and the Lord;
And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys which earth cannot afford.
Blessings,
Pastor Mike