One song that is etched in my childhood vacation Bible school memory is the song “Father Abraham.” Do you remember it? “Father Abraham had many sons; many sons had father Abraham; I am one of them and so are you; so let’s just praise the Lord.” Accompanying the repetition of these lyrics was the progressive flailing of limbs and other body parts, until our “whole self” got into the act (I get tired just thinking about it!).

Silly song lyrics aside, it is true that Father Abraham does have many children. How do we know this? Not because the children’s song says so but because Jesus says so. Jesus says in John 8:37-39 that all those who receive God’s Word and believe his promise, as Abraham did in Genesis 15:6, are made righteous like Abraham. In fact, they are not only children of Abraham, but children of God.

We are first introduced to Abraham’s story in Genesis 11:27 as he and his father’s household move from Ur of the Chaldeans to a region just north of Canaan called Haran. Then in Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB) we read: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’” 

GOD CALLS...
Did you ever wonder why God called Abraham? It might not have crossed your mind that God had others he could have called in place of Abraham. One look at the genealogy in Genesis 14 shows that there were a number of Noah’s immediate relatives alive during this time. Even Shem, the eldest of Noah’s sons, could have been a candidate! Would not the eldest son of the righteous man, Noah, have made a better choice than an unknown, untested idol worshipper from some foreign land?

Yet we see here one of the many instances where the Lord pursued someone whom we’d least expect to be of interest to him. Abraham—an idolatrous man from a pagan family who had no knowledge of God or intention to seek him—yet was loved by God. It should come as no surprise then that Jesus shared this same mission: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10; note also the reference to Abraham in Luke 19:9). Martin Luther wrote that “even the greatest saints were human beings who could fall into sins and often fell horribly; but when they were saved and later on were endowed with various gifts, this is entirely the result of God’s mercy, who calls us by His Word and does not cast us aside” (LW, vol. 2, 249).

Just as God called Abraham, he also sees fit to call you and me—sinners saved by his grace. 

GOD BLESSES...
God’s promise to bless is central to all of the promises and intentions expressed in Genesis 12:2-3. At the heart of all that God does and intends for his creation stands his desire to bless us (note it is repeated five times in vv. 2-3)!

This fact finds expression in the first two questions of the Introduction to Luther’s Small Catechism. They read, “What are God’s thoughts about you? God’s thoughts about me are thoughts of love and blessing (John 3:16; Psalm 139:17). What is God’s will for you? God’s will is that I be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (John 10:10; 1 Timothy 2:3,4).”

The ultimate blessing of God is not material. In fact, although it comes to us in this world, it is ultimately not something that this world can contain. The true blessing of God is the gift of being in fellowship with him by grace through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ! By the mercy of God we are named by him as his people and brought into the Church through the gift of his Son. This is God’s good intention for his creation!

GOD MAKES US A BLESSING...
And his creation includes “all the families of the earth.” The pattern of God’s activity throughout the Scripture is not just to bless one person, or one family, or one nation as an end in itself. Rather his pattern is to call one person, one family and one nation and then through them to carry out his plan to reach many others.

A closer look at the grammar of Genesis 12:1-3 reveals this same intention. God called and blessed Abraham so that (i.e., with the exclusive purpose that) others might be blessed through him. God’s purpose in calling and blessing Abraham is fulfilled as that blessing extends to people the world over. We stand as recipients of that blessing. What’s more, we are also part of bringing that blessing to even more people today.

The Apostle Paul states that through Adam all the families of the earth were cursed (1 Corinthians 15:22). Yet he also proclaims that through Jesus Christ this curse of death is reversed. Those who are dead in their sins can now find life through faith in Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Peter said: “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself” (Acts 2:39).

God surely has his eye on “all the families of the earth.” He would think of nothing less! For no one is outside the loving gaze of our Heavenly Father!

And so this Easter it is our glorious privilege once again to stand up and declare to all the world God’s gracious intention for them in Jesus Christ.

May God bless you. May he bless his Church. And may he make us a blessing to all the families of the earth!

Rev. Brad Pribbenow is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program for Biblical Studies at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO.