Abraham, Part 3 – The Father of all who Believe, whether Jew or Gentile

God blessed Abraham greatly and he is referred to by name 74 times in the New Testament (NT). (Jesus is named most frequently, Paul 2^nd, Peter 3^rd, Moses 4^th and Abraham 5^th; five in Scripture being the number for grace.) This doesn’t mean Abraham was any better than anyone else because the Bible teaches that everyone has sinned and come short of God’s Glory, Romans 3:23; there is none righteous, no not one, Romans 3:10. He was a pagan idol worshiper named Abram, Joshua 24:2; Genesis 12:1; Acts 7:2 when God called him and changed his name to Abraham, Genesis 17:5. We don’t know why God chose him out of the morass of sinful humanity and anointed him as the Father of the Jews in the flesh and of all believers in the Spirit, but by Grace He did.

A review of what Hebrews 11 says about Abraham is in order. That chapter names those who bore witness to the efficacy of faith. The first 3 persons mentioned point to the Godhead or Holy Trinity, either directly or by type, three being the number for Divine perfection in Scripture. First mentioned is The Word of God who arranged or put in place the ages by His Word so that things that are seen were not made of things that appear, Hebrews 11:3. The second witness to faith is Abel who offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain and by it he obtained righteousness, Hebrews 11:4. Abel was a type, pointing to the 2^nd person of the Trinity, the Son of God in incarnation and salvation, offering Himself in Obedience to God’s Will, thus obtaining righteousness for all who believe on Him, Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42; Romans 3:25 – 26. Third mentioned is Enoch who walked with and pleased God and was translated to heaven without dying, Hebrews 11:5; Genesis 5:24. He was a type of the Holy Spirit, the 3^rd person of the Trinity, realizing in us and to us Divine things. Noah is fourth, four being the number for God’s creative works, the earth on which we live. Noah was used to save mankind in God’s creation, Hebrews 11:7. *

Abraham is mentioned twice; the 5^th and the 7^th mentioned. As mentioned above, 5 in Scripture is the number for grace, for God called Abram out of the pagan world by His Grace. Abram obeyed, not knowing where he was going and lived in temporary quarters (movable tents) while waiting for the permanent city God promised him, Hebrews 11:8 – 10; Hebrews 11:15 – 16. He died a long time ago and still has not realized the fulfillment of God’s promise, but he will someday because he believed God, i.e., he had faith. Abraham’s wife Sarah is the sixth person mentioned, six being the number for man in Scripture. Abraham’s promised seed Isaac came by means of Sarah and it was through Isaac that the promised man Jesus Christ was ultimately born. Abraham is named again as the 7^th person in Hebrews 11; seven being the number for Spiritual perfection. God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice and Abraham proceeded to obey (and almost did), believing God would raise Isaac up from the dead, Hebrews 11:17 – 19; Genesis 22:1 – 10. He didn’t have to kill Isaac because an Angel appeared when he was about to do so and told him to stop, pointing to a ram caught in a thicket nearby to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place, Geneses 22:11 – 13, just as Jesus Christ took the place of all who believe in Him.

God imputed righteousness to Abraham because he was strong in faith and gave glory to God being fully persuaded that God would perform what He promised, Romans 4:18 – 22. And the Scripture imputing righteousness to Abraham was not written for his sake alone, but for us also who believe God Who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead, Who was delivered to die for our sins and raised from the dead for our justification, Romans 4:22 – 25. Abraham is the father of the Jews in the flesh, i.e., by genealogy, Romans 4:1; the father of many nations, Romans 4:18; Genesis 17:5 and of all who believe, both Jews and Gentiles, Romans 4:11 – 12; Romans 4:16. He fathered Ishmael with Hagar and from Ishmael came the Arabs/ Muslims. Then, he fathered sons with Keturah, Genesis 25:1 – 4 from whom many other nations issued. He was the father of the Jews through Isaac in a physical sense as well as believing Jews and Gentiles today in a Spiritual sense, Genesis 17:19; for in Isaac Abraham’s seed would be called, Genesis 21:12 & Hebrews 11:18. Unlike Abraham’s sons of the flesh, Isaac was born of the Spirit for it was only after Abraham cut off the works of his flesh, as indicated by the sign of physical circumcision and when both his and Sarah’s reproductive organs were as good as dead, Genesis 17:17; Genesis 21:1 – 5, Hebrews 11:11, God miraculously empowered them to procreate Isaac. “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” Romans 4:17.

Abraham is the father of believers today because we are in the Lord Jesus Christ: “For verily he (Jesus Christ) took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” Hebrews 2:16. When Adam and Eve sinned, God looked down the corridor of time when He told Satan that Eve’s seed would bruise his (Satan’s) head while he (Satan) would bruise the heal of her seed, Genesis 3:14 – 15. God knew then who would begat who all the way until Abram and He knew who would begat who from Abraham on down to Jesus, born of Mary. So it was the Second Person of the Trinity, Jehovah God Who spoke to Satan in Genesis 3:14 – 15 who subsequently spoke to Abram, Genesis 12:1 and the rest of the prophets and who ultimately came as the Man Jesus Christ, John 1:1 -2 & John 1:14. This explains how Jesus is the Author and Finisher of Faith, Hebrews 12:2. Thousands of years before events occurred, He “… calleth those things which be not as though they were,” Romans 4:17b, because “ … faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their progeny had righteousness imputed to them because of their faith. However, they were unaware during their lifetimes that Jehovah God Who promised to bless them would someday Himself fulfill His promise by being virgin born free from the sin that Adam had passed on, live a sinless life and die for their sins to make them righteous. And whereas they looked forward by faith to the salvation to come, believers today look back by faith to Christ’s finished work of salvation.

As Abraham was an idol worshiper lost in sin before he was called and expressed faith, so believers today were lost in sin before coming to believe: “Wherein in time past ye (believers) walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:2 – 3. And as God chose Abraham out of the sea of sinful humanity, “ … he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” Ephesians 1:4. And just as Abraham lived in a strange land in temporary tents awaiting God’s promise, believers today live in these sinful bodies of flesh awaiting God’s promise: “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Romans 8:21 – 23.

But whereas Abraham looked for the promised land here on earth, believers today look to heaven: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Philippians 3:20 – 21. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:” 2 Corinthians 5:1 – 2. “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” Ephesians 1:10.

It seems that the Apostle Paul summarizes all the above in his epistle to the Colossians: “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (made alive) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” Colossians 1:10 – 14.

*The references to the significance of numbers are taken from Bullinger’s book “Number in Scripture.”