Abraham

Abraham (Hebrew: אַבְרָהָם), originally named Abram, was a descendant of Noah’s son Shem. He is the common ancestor of the ancient Hebrew (Israelite) and Arab peoples. When Abram was 99 years old, God changed his name to Abraham, which means “father of many nations.” His wife, Sarai, was also renamed Sarah by God, which means “mother of nations.”

Abram and his family originally lived in Ur of the Chaldees, located in what is now southern Iraq. After his brother’s death, Abram’s father, Terah, moved the family to Haran, where he eventually died. At the age of 75, God called Abram to leave Haran. Abram took his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all their possessions and people, and set out for the land of Canaan. God promised that he would become a great nation and be a blessing to others. Abraham believed that God’s promise would be fulfilled, even though he was 75 years old and Sarah was 65, and they had no children. The hope of becoming a great nation seemed dim, but he followed God’s instructions and journeyed to Canaan. There, God appeared to him and said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). After God twice declared to Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son and confirmed His covenant with him, the promised child, Isaac, was born. This birth was the beginning of the “nations and kings” God had promised and the assurance that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Later, Abraham’s grandson Jacob took his family down to Egypt, where their descendants stayed for more than 400 years and were enslaved by Pharaoh. God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and Joshua to lead them across the Jordan River to conquer the Promised Land of Canaan, thus fulfilling His promise to Abraham.

Throughout Abraham’s life, his interactions with God reveal that God is the source of all faith. Human faith is built upon God’s faithfulness. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to make his descendants a great nation and a blessing to all. God’s word never returns void; what He promises, He will fulfill. By examining the several crises Abraham experienced throughout his life, we not only understand what faith is, but also the source and power of that faith. This enables us, as believers, to emulate Abraham and walk our own paths in this world by faith. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:18-22).

Abraham’s life was a series of ups and downs; it was not a smooth journey. His faith was initially inconsistent, waxing and waning. Several times, he seemed to lose all hope. He had successes and failures, but he was a real person, as real as you and me, stumbling along the path of trusting and following God, even losing faith once or several times and going his own way. In several crises, Abraham was rescued by God. It was by experiencing God in these real-life situations that he was finally able to build his faith upon God’s faithfulness, earning him the title “Father of Faith.”