How is Abraham's faith relevant to Christians today?

Answer 1

God made a promise to Abraham at Genesis 22:18 that through his "seed" all the nations would be blessed. That same promise was repeated to his son Isaac, (Genesis 26:24) and Isaac's son, Jacob . (Genesis 28:13) Centuries later, King David, (a descendant of Abraham) received a promise that the "seed" would come through his line. (2 Samuel 7:12-16) This is the same "seed" that was first prophesied about in Genesis 3:15, where God spoke of a "seed" that would crush the head of the serpent, Satan the Devil. The promised seed that would come through the family line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, proved to be none other than Jesus Christ. Both Joseph and Mary were of the Abrahamic family line. The blessing part comes through lives transformed from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom and from ignorance to understanding. Christians are blessed through knowing Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham.

Answer 2

Answer:

God's promises (covenant) to Abraham are pivotal in understanding the global animosity toward the Jews today... even though most of the world has long forgotten why.

God promised Abraham THE WORLD: "...for the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." (Rom.4:13)

While the ultimate fulfillment of this promise is the coming Kingdom of God... for the time being, men see it only as the material promise of prosperity, wealth and all the Natural Resources the earth has to give toward living the abundant life free of wants or needs.

But, in the course of history, the passing on of this promise from generation to generation has not gone "according to Hoyle."

In The Bible there is a custom or tradition called the "birthright," that is essentially the passing on to a man's "firstborn son" the bulk of his possessions, if not everything. The "birthright" is the firstborn son's "inheritance" of all that is his father's upon his father's death.

In the case of Abraham's descendants... the greatest possession Abraham had to pass to his children was GOD'S PROMISES! The world is unaware today the God actually made TWO promises to Abraham... a material and a spiritual one, each. The material promise is explained above... but the spiritual promise, the world generally recognizes as the coming "Messiah."

But, therein lies the seed for all the future animosity the Jews have experienced since.

Like the world, for the most part even Abraham's descendants gave little thought to the spiritual promise, since... like most humans... they were primarily interested in the good life the material part promised - the joyous wealth, prosperity, the beer, the wine and the full bellies.

The resentment and hatred began immediately between Abraham's firstborn son, Ishmael, borne to him by his wife's handmaid, Hagar... and Isaac, his wife's firstborn son born after Ishmael.

It was God's decision that Isaac, borne of his wife, should inherit the Promises and not Ishmael. Jealousy formed between Sarah and Hagar... and Hagar and Ishmael were sent packing... and the seed was planted for the future hatred between the Arabs and the Jews. Ishmael was the father of the Arab nations. And the firstborn son, the Arabs, didn't receive the promises of God.

To Isaac was born two sons, Esau and Jacob. The world is more aware of the conflict that resulted when Jacob, bearing a steaming hot bowl of soup one day, offered it to a famish Esau for the mere price of: "...Sell me this day thy birthright." (Gen.25:31)

Another seed of hatred for the Jews was planted in Esau... the father of the Turks. And another firstborn son didn't receive the promises of God.

To Jacob (whose name was changed to "Israel") were born twelve sons of four different women - his two sister-wives who were competing with each other to give him more children than the other by offering him the use of their handmaids.

Reuben was the firstborn of the elder sister, Leah. But Joseph (born later) was the firstborn of Rachel, the sister Israel loved first. Israel liked Joseph best.

In a complicated story of betrayal and intrigue, Joseph wound up with the birthright promise... and not only was animosity planted in Reuben (France, today)... but to one degree or other, jealousy formed between Joseph and his other ten half-brothers, each of which became their own future nations. And another firstborn son didn't receive the promise of God.

It's at this juncture, however, that the TWO promises of God to Abraham became SEPARATED. While Joseph (his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh) received the material promise... Israel passed on the spiritual promise of the Messiah on to the Jews (Judah).

And it is here where the REAL irony is unleashed upon the Jews.

Eventually, all the tribes split into two kingdoms or nations: Israel and Judah. The majority of the tribes hung out with Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) hoping to enjoy the residuals of the good life once they became prosperous and wealthy... and the tribe of Benjamin, the Levites (priests) and remnants of Simeon and others hung with Judah, and became known to the world as THE JEWS.

Israel sinned greatly in the course of time and God caused them to be removed from His sight and from the land, and they became lost in history, known as "the lost ten tribes of the house of Israel."

And so it was that as the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, thinking themselves to be Gentiles, would inherit the material "good life" of that material phase of God's promise, which spawned all the hatred and resentment in the world - IT WAS THE JEWS, who were now the only visible descendants of Abraham for the resentful nations to see, and who had only inherited the "Messiah" phase of God's promises... WHO WOULD CATCH THE BRUNT OF THE WORLD'S HATRED FOR ISAAC'S CHILDREN!

And that's how God's covenant with Abraham affected the Jews, today.

Answer 3

Abraham is mentioned in the book of Hebrews, along with other men and women of the Old Testament,as an example of someone who had faith in God.

Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Hebrews 11:9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;

Hebrews 11:10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Because of his faith in God, Abraham was obedient to God.

The Christian is told to be encouraged by these people of faith, their confidence in God was not misplaced - Hebrews 12:1ff. A man may fail, but God never fails.

They had no more natural goodness than Christians today; but they overcame obstacles in life, and it was in the strength of the Lord they did so.

They bear witness to the faithfulness of God to His promises.