Roller coaster rides in theme parks are an exhilarating experience but the highs and lows of the spiritual journey can be perplexing when our focus is not on Jesus to guide us through. How can we explain God’s purposes when we have had a mountain top experience and then perhaps soon after, we lose our way and find ourselves in the valley of anxious discontent? How can the gospel of Jesus Christ stabilize our life and bring steady peace to our hearts? Abram, with his wife Sarai, received a ticket to such a faith ride, exposing his heart of unbelief and fear, but also to God’s incredible grace that cascades down without ceasing on all believers.
“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… 10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.” Genesis 12:1-5; 10-20
There has surely never been such a treasure box of far reaching promises given to any single human being as was bequeathed to Abram. These promises lie at the Cavalry heart of the New Covenant of grace (Genesis 12:1-3):
“Long ago, Scripture knew that God would make the Gentiles right with himself. He would do this by their faith in him. He announced the good news ahead of time to Abraham. God said, “All nations will be blessed because of you.” (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18)” Galatians 3:8 NIRV
Abram, a man of 75 years, experienced a comfortable life with his wife, Sarai, and nephew, Lot, and his wider family. He was unprepared to be told by God to walk away from this stability and go in faith to an unseen place of astounding proportions and bounty, the promised land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1; Exodus 3:8).
Abram was assured he would be greatly respected and a blessing to many (Genesis 12:2) through God’s intervention to bless those who blessed him and curse those who dishonored him (Genesis 12:3). The entire nation of Israel would even be birthed through his offspring (Genesis 12:2).
Salvation for people’s souls would come to those who believed in the work of only one of these offspring, Jesus Christ, over 18 centuries later. Jesus, in contrast to Abram, was not blessed but dishonored and cursed at the cross for our unrighteousness so that our sins and lawless deeds would be remembered no more by God (Hebrews 8:12).
“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16
One might imagine that Abram would have experienced the natural fleshly responses of utter amazement of “What me?”, through to “Why me?” and then fearfulness of the unknown, “Please, not me!” Nonetheless, Abram went forward in faithful obedience to God, possibly praying the words “Yes Lord, use me”, leaving his past behind him.
Hearing further encouragement and promises from God on his way drew from him spiritual responses of gratefulness and humility as he built an altar to the Lord at an oak tree in Moreh (Genesis 12:7).
From this point of spiritual loftiness, Abram is then tested by circumstances in the form of a severe famine that were, on the face of it, anything but the blessing he expected. So often in our lives, events take a U turn in this same way and we may be left floundering: “How could things have been …that good, and now look at my situation…that bad! Where are you now Lord?” These times are allowed by God to expose the fears in our hearts and the degree of our trust in His good promises, especially in the promises of the cross which give proof to us of our unchangeable identity in Christ and God’s unstoppable love.
There is no evidence in scripture that this man of faith prayed for guidance and wisdom from God at this important fork in the road in his life. Abram’s promised land of restoration was Canaan but fearing that God would not provide for him in the famine, he decided to go “down to Egypt” (Genesis 12:10) for rescue and an alternative food source instead. Have you been faced with a need and a fork in the road that led up to Canaan in faith or down to unbelieving Egypt in your life? What drove your decision and what were the consequences of taking either route? Abram’s situation became steadily more complex:
“When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.” Genesis 12:11-12
For Abram, fear of being left wanting motivated him to bypass God’s perfect plan and go to the store houses of Egypt. Fear of man also brought him a snare (Proverbs 29:25a), dreading the Egyptians harming him in order to take his beautiful wife Sarai to Pharaoh’s harem. He persuaded Sarai to deceive the authorities that she was his sister and to sacrifice herself for his good.
“Please tell them that you are my sister so that things will go well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you” Genesis 12:14 AMP
Sarai was indeed his half-sister, born of the same father but of different mothers. However, no doubt in Abram’s mind, he thought that half a lie was really truth enough, scheming sinfully to save his own skin. He may have reasoned that it was a lie of necessity but it was not done to protect others but only himself.
“You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).” Exodus 20:16
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.” (Proverbs 12:22)
God showed His faithfulness to His promise to the undeserving Abram to curse those who harmed him by sending plagues upon Egypt. Pharaoh, angry at Abram’s deceit in not saying who Sarai really was, set her free (Genesis 12:18-20). This same wife-sister ploy was repeated by Abram (Genesis 20:1-15) and by Isaac (Genesis 26:1-3) with the King Abimelech. In every case the patriarchs received ill-gotten gains of much wealth and possessions from those in authority to make restitution. Undeserved grace and blessing was showered over them because of the sacrifice of the wife/sister. Do you see a shadow of the gospel in this story?
Jesus has always been who He has claimed to be:
“Again the high priest [Caiaphas] asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61-62 [word added]
Jesus bent down to our level in human form to make restitution for us when we were at our most lying, dirty and hateful state of slavery to Satan, the father of all lies (John 8:44).
“but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.” John 8:40
Jesus who embodied grace and truth (John 1:14), was convicted and sent to a criminal’s cross on the basis of fabricated testimony, by dishonest witnesses, and in front of unjust judges to give us Himself in unreserved love through the sorrows of the cross:
"See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?" (Isaac Watts 1707)
He exchanged His life for our sin, blessed us with a new heart inclined to truth, a slate wiped clean of sin, and an eternal new family.