A New Step in God’s Plan of Salvation⤒🔗

Genesis 12 opens a new chapter in the great history of redemption. In the calling of Abram, God takes a fresh step toward the deliverance of the world through Jesus Christ.

We must see this clearly: here too we have the gospel of Christ—Christ who was still to come. For what shines in this chapter is nothing less than the revelation of God’s counsel of redemption. Genesis 12 belongs to the unfolding of the mother-promise; here God shows more of the way of the woman’s seed—the way of the church—and above all the way of the great Seed of the woman, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Redemption History up to Abram←⤒🔗

Let us sketch, in broad strokes, how God’s redeeming work had unfolded up to this point:

• Genesis 3: Immediately after the fall, God announced his grace. He spoke only one promise: that redemption will come from the seed of the woman, and it will come in the way of enmity between her seed and the seed of the serpent.
• Genesis 4: Eve hoped for redemption through Cain, but Cain showed himself to be of the serpent’s seed. In the conflict between Cain and Abel the enmity became visible. Abel was slain, and it seemed as though the seed of the woman had perished, while Cain’s descendants grew mighty in the culture of sin. But God provided a substitute: Seth, who bore the promise forward.
• Genesis 5: The line of the woman’s seed nearly perished under the curse upon the earth. But with Noah, the comforter was born, and in his days God both eased the sorrow of his church and revealed his judgment upon the ungodly.
• Genesis 6–7: The enmity sharpened into separation. The mighty seed of the serpent was swept from the earth in the flood, but the weak seed of the woman was preserved by grace.
• Genesis 8–9: Noah’s family inherited the earth and received the promise anew, together with the calling to serve the Lord. Yet sin rose up again, especially in Ham, and the old antithesis revived. Shem was marked as the bearer of the promise.
• Genesis 10–11: But even Shem’s descendants did not keep the promise. Instead of standing in the antithesis, they joined the others in building a city of unbelief, resisting God’s calling. The Lord frustrated their plans, scattered the nations, and out of the line of Shem brought forth Abram.

So it is not true that separation only began with Abram. Already Abel, Seth, Noah, and Shem were set apart. From the beginning, God made a division. But with Abram, the separation enters a new stage. A new chapter begins in the old gospel of enmity.

God’s Counsel Cannot Be Stopped←⤒🔗

So at the beginning of Genesis 12 we may say this: both the enmity of the world and the sin of the church continually oppose the fulfilment of the promise, yet God carries out his counsel. With that in view he scatters all the nations and even breaks apart the line of Shem, so that the purpose of his grace might still be accomplished.

Now the question arises: Who will bear the promise? Up till now it was passed from father to son along the whole line. But after Shem’s descendants fall apart, who will inherit it?

Suddenly, with Abram, God makes his choice. The Christ is not yet born, but God continues his gracious work and gives a new revelation of his plan. The promise once given to Shem is now worked out, explained, defined in Abram.

“Go Out”←⤒🔗

That definition of the promise appears immediately in God’s command: “Go out from your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”

Never before had God bound his promise to the breaking of all natural bonds. Why now? Why could Seth, Noah, and Shem carry the promise while still remaining in their land and family, but Abram must leave everything behind?

Not Merely Idolatry—But Babel←⤒🔗

Some say that Abram had to be removed from Ur to escape idolatry. It is true that idolatry was rampant there, and even Abram’s family was involved (Joshua 24:2). The archaeological findings confirm this.

But Canaan was no better; the idolatry there was just as dark, and Israel would be tempted by it for centuries.

The deeper reason lies in the story of Babel. What did they say in Babel? Stay together. Stay in your land, among your kindred, in your father’s house. Hold tightly to soil, to race, to blood—and redemption will be secure.

That is Babel’s gospel: redemption through land, race, and blood; redemption through what is humanly possible.

And it is precisely that illusion that God shatters in Abram. God deliberately breaks every natural bond, so that it may be clear that redemption is not guaranteed by soil or blood or kinship. Redemption is not of the flesh. Redemption is from God alone.

Abram, Alone with God←⤒🔗

Abram must stand without land, without kindred, without family. He is utterly isolated. Humanly speaking, he is finished. The seed of the woman seems to have no future.

But God declares that this solitary Abram, this man without any natural support—this Abram shall be blessed, and he shall be a blessing. Through him, redemption will come into the world.

He has no land, but redemption comes from above. He has no kindred, but God will bless him. He has no family ties, but God’s Spirit will be with him.

For Our Sake←⤒🔗

And here is the wonder: that we today may remain in our circles; we may keep our land, our families, our kinship. Abram alone had to bear this breaking. He was, for our sake, cut off, so that his children, in their own land and kindred, would still confess: “Our redemption is not in land or family or blood. Our redemption is in God alone.”

That is why we must see the sin of those who once again make idols of race and blood and soil.¹ That is Babel reborn. But we will not join Babel. We will be true children of Abram, the father of all believers.

Hope in God’s Faithfulness←⤒🔗

And if Babel today rises strong and oppresses the children of Abram, let us not despair. For the Lord who redeemed Abraham says, “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him” (Isaiah 51:2).

Yes, the Lord will surely redeem his people.