Baroda Bible Club

God deals with us individually as we respond to His call. God calls us by our name and changes us totally even our names to make us a new creation. [2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Gal 6:15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.]

Earlier Abram used to live in company of many people as a group [joint family] as in Gen 11:31, “Terah took his son Abram, [Later called <Abraham,> Gen 17:5] his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, [Later called <Sarah,> Gen 17:15] the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran , they settled there. Gen 11:32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran .

Gen 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram,

" Leave your country , where he has settled now the Haran .
Leave Your people and [<Separation:> vv. 1 - 5; Gen 13:9. (Gen 12:1; 2 Cor 6:17, “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. 2 Cor 6:18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."]
Leave your father's household and
Go to the land I will show you. [Num 33:51 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan , Num 33:52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Num 33:53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. Num 33:55 "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.]

Josh 23:12 & 13, "But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them, Josh 23:13 then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.

Judg. 2:2 & 3, “and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Judg 2:3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you."

Psa 106:34 -37, “They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, Psa 106:35 but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. Psa 106:36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. Psa 106:37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

Exo 23:33 Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."

Ezek 28:24 "'No longer will the people of Israel have malicious neighbors who are painful briers and sharp thorns. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.

Gen 12:2 " I will make you [the individual call of God must be understood] into a great nation and [< Israel > (origin): vv. 1 - 3; Gen 13:15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. (Gen 12:2; Rom 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion ; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.]

• Gen 12:2 " I will make you

I will bless you ;
I will make your name great, and
You will be a blessing .
Gen 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you , and
Whoever curses you I will curse; and
All peoples on earth will be blessed through you ."

Gen 12:4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and

Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran .

Abram's name later changed by God and He called him < Abraham ,> as in Gen 17:5, “No longer will you be called Abram ;

Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
Gen 17:6 I will make you very fruitful;
I will make nations of you, and
Kings will come from you.
Gen 17:7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and
You and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and
The God of your descendants after you.

Gen 17:8 The whole land of Canaan , where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."

Gen 17:9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.

Gen 17:10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Gen 17:11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

Sarai's name also later called and changed by God as < Sarah ,> Gen 17:15, “God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.

Gen 17:16 I will bless her and
Will surely give you a son by her.
I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;
Kings of peoples will come from her."

Why lot has to leave us?

He is an opportunist God called Abram but out of curiosity Lot went with him. Gen 13:1 & 2, “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Gen 13:2, “Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. Gen 13:5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram , also had flocks and herds and tents.

We cannot live to gather in one place because the land itself cannot support us as in Gen 13:6, “But the land could not support them while they stayed together , for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.”

God's people has to avoid all type of quarreling as in Gen 13:7 And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot . The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

Abram being a God's child takes the first step as in Gen 13:8 So Abram said to Lot , "Let's not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.

Abram was willing to pay a price by allowing to select first as in Gen 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left."

Lot will always make use of the chance he is grappling the opportunity as in Gen 13:10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt , toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah .)

He will never thing about Abram as in Gen 13:11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

Gen 17:16 “I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

Gen 13:12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan , [the promise land] while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom . [There will be lot of entertainments in the cities than in the villages.]

Lot did not care about the characters of the people among whom he chose to live as in Gen 13:13, “Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.”

Abram is a fighter who wont fear as in Gen 14:11 The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. Gen 14:12 They also carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions , since he was living in Sodom .

Abram is a deliverer [what the kings cannot do he could do on his own by the grace of God] as in Gen 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. Gen 14:15 During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus . Gen 14:16 He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people. Still Lot liked to stay in a sinful place where there is no protection because of all the comforts and entertainments of the city Sodom .

Sodom is a sinful place Gen 18:20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous Gen 18:21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Abram is good intercessor as in Gen 18:23 – 32, “Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Gen 18:24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Gen 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen 18:26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom , I will spare the whole place for their sake." Gen 18:27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, Gen 18:28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?" "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." Gen 18:29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it." Gen 18:30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." Gen 18:31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?" He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it." Gen 18:32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

The character of the children got spoiled as he lived in the sinful place.

He could not save his own wife from the love of the world . [1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.] Gen 19:26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Lot could not protect the children's character also as in Gen 19:31-38, “One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. Gen 19:32 Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father." Gen 19:33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. Gen 19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I lay with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." Gen 19:35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. Gen 19:36 So both of Lot 's daughters became pregnant by their father. Gen 19:37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab ; he is the father of the Moabites of today. Gen 19:38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi ; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Family is very important unit to be cared as in 1 Tim 3:4 & 5, ‘He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 1 Tim 3:5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)

The blessings of God will come after the separation.

How to inherit the Land for the glory of the Lord?

Gen 13:14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him ,
" Lift up your eyes from where you are and
Look north and south, east and west. [All directions.]
Gen 13:15, All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.
Gen 13:16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth , so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
Gen 13:17 Go , walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
Gen 13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron ,
where he built an altar to the LORD.

<The Fourth Dispensation: Promise.> This dispensation extended from the call of Abram to the giving of the law at Sinai (Exo 19:3ff.). Its stewardship was based upon God's covenant with Abram, first cited here, Gen 12:1 - 3, and confirmed and enlarged in Gen 13:14 - 17; 15:1 - 7; 17:1 - 8,15 - 19; 22:16 - 18; 26:2 - 5,24; 28:13 - 15; 31:13; 35:9 - 12.

Observe (1) the specific provisions affecting Abram himself (Gen 15:15) and his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob (Gen 26:1 - 5; 28:10 - 16), under which individual blessing depended upon individual obedience (Gen 12:1; cp. 22:18; 26:5).

(2) God made an unconditional promise of blessings through Abram's seed (a) to the nation Israel to inherit a specific territory forever (Gen 12:2; 15:18 - 21; 17:7 - 8); (b) to the Church as in Christ (Gal 3:16,28 - 29); and (c) to the Gentile nations (Gen 12:3).

(3) There was a promise of blessing upon those individuals and nations who bless Abram's descendants, and a curse laid upon those who persecute the Jews (Gen 12:3; Mat 25:31 - 46). Consequently this dispensation had varied emphases. To the Gentiles of that period, there was little direct application other than the test implied by Gen 12:3 and illustrated by God's blessing or judgment upon individuals (Pharaoh, Gen 12:17; Abimelech, Gen 20:3,17, etc.), or nations (e.g. Egypt, Gen 47 - 50; Exo 1 - 15) who treated Abram or his descendants well or ill.

In the continuance through the centuries of this stewardship of truth, believers of the Church age are called upon to trust God as Abram did (Rom 4:11,16,23 - 25; Gal 3:6 - 9), and thus enter into the blessings of the covenant which inaugurated the dispensation of Promise.

God's promises to Abram and his seed certainly did not terminate at Sinai with the giving of the law (Gal 3:17). Both O.T. and N.T. are full of post-Sinaitic promises concerning Israel and the land which is to be Israel's everlasting possession (e.g. Exo 32:13; 33:1 - 3; Lev 23:10; 25:2; 26:6; Deu 6:1 - 23; 8:1 - 18; Josh 1:2,11; 24:13; Acts 7:17; Rom 9:4). But as a specific test of Israel 's stewardship of divine truth, the dispensation of Promise was superseded, though not annulled, by the law that was given at Sinai (Exo 19:3ff.).

Other dispensational notes: Innocence (Gen 1:28); Conscience or Moral Responsibility (Gen 3:7); Human Government (Gen 8:15); Law (Exo 19:1); Church (Acts 2:1); Kingdom (Rev 20:4).

Yours in the kingdom of God’s service,
Rev. Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam.