The Example of Abraham

Abraham, do you think you know? Who was Sarah? They're mentioned quite prominently in the Scriptures, and yet I would say that most of us know very little about them. You'll find, from what we believe, or from what the Bible indicates, that Abraham will probably rule right under Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God in the future. He is called the Father of the faithful, and as such, it seems obvious that that's a position he will have. He was called Abram before God renamed him Abraham. The word has two elements in it when you look at Abram.

It means Father and Exalted One. So he was an individual who was looked upon as being a person who was exalted. I think this helps to explain who Abraham truly was. Much of Abram's life, few people have realized about, he comes on the scene in the Bible, in the Scriptures, somewhere around 75 years old. And yet he had lived prior to that. He had a life prior to that. And he and Sarah had figured quite prominently.

So we want to take a look at their lives, especially Abraham, and see what can you find written down in history. What can you find written in the Bible that helps to coordinate that. Let's go over here to Genesis 11, Genesis 11, and beginning in verse 10. I want you to notice that the lineage of Shem is mentioned. Remember Noah had three sons, Shem being one of them. And in verse 10 it says, this is the genealogy of Shem.

Shem was 100 years old and begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood. So this describes the lineage of Shem. I could just run down through here very quickly. He begot Arphaxad. Shem lived 500 years and begot sons and daughters. Arphaxad lived 35 years and begot Selah. And after he begot Selah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and begot sons and daughters. And Selah lived 30 years and begot Eber. Okay, Eber is where we get the name Hebrew. The name of Hebrew are the descendants of Eber. And so it is through Eber that we have what people will refer to as Hebrews.

Abraham was the tenth generation from the flood and was born in 2017 BC. So you have Abraham being born in 2017 BC. Now it's interesting to note that Nimrod fled to Italy and was slain in 2167 BC. So we know when Nimrod died, he died 150 years before Abram. Just put the time flow here, give you an understanding.

Shem lived for 502 years after the flood. 427 years from the flood until Abram entered into Canaan. That was 427 years. Shem lived 75 years after Abram entered into the land of Canaan. So here we have Abraham coming into the land of Canaan. Shem is still alive. Shem, from everything that we can find, was a righteous man. He was a man who obeyed God. Did they know one another? Well, probably. That's conjecture.

We don't have any proof. But Shem carried on the traditions from Noah, the truth of God. We know that the Bible describes Noah as a preacher of righteousness. Righteousness is living by the right standards, the right laws, the commandments of God. Shem was the one who apparently perpetuated that. Through Shem, there was a direct line back to creation. I don't know if you've ever stopped to think about it. Adam overlapped Methuselah.

We're all familiar with Methuselah. He's recorded, at least recorded, the oldest man who lived in the Bible. Adam overlapped Methuselah by 243 years. Methuselah overlapped Shem by 98 years. So you have a man, Methuselah, who knew Adam, who overlapped Shem and Noah, and Shem comes through the flood. Shem overlapped Abraham by 150 years. So it is very possible that Abraham, if he came in contact with Shem, and there's no reason to suspect that he did not, would have had a direct link back through Shem to Adam.

Because Shem knew Methuselah, who knew Adam, and you have a connection there. Now let's notice in verse 24, in verse 24 here of Genesis 11, Nahor lived 29 years and begot Tyra. And if he got Tyra, Nahor, or excuse me, after he begot Tyra, Nahor lived 119 years and begot sons and daughters. Now Tyra lived 70 years and begot Abraham, Nahor, and Haran.

Now, all of the commentaries bring out, even though Abraham, or Abram is listed first, that he was probably the middle son, born when Tyra was 130 years old. And again, you put all of this together when you go back and you study all of the genealogies. In verse 27, it says, this is the genealogy of Tyra. Tyra begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begot Lut. And Haran died before his father Tyra in the native land, or in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Now, why did Haran die? The Bible doesn't say here, but it is recorded in history why he died. He was killed in a war that took place. Dr. Hay, many of you will remember Dr. Hay from years ago, wrote two books, Compendium 1 and Compendium 2 of World History.

And I intended Ambassador to College back in 1959 when Dr. Hay was working on these particular volumes. In fact, he was amazing. He would come into class, World History class. He had a little notebook, one of these little spiral notebooks you could put in your pocket, and he would open it up. And all he had written in there were names and dates.

And I remember when he discovered the Austrian Chronicle, which I'm going to quote from here. The Austrian Chronicle was, I believe, somewhere in the third sub-basement, and it was either USC or UCLA. And he had been up all night reading it. He put all this information on the board, came back the next night, or the next day, and said, forget everything that I put up there the day before he erased it and put it back up, because he said he hadn't read everything. But he was in the process of reading, and there are a number of historical books that are available.

Let me read to you from Compendium No. 2, because the Austrian Chronicle brings out a number of things about Abraham, what he did, about his early life, and where he came from. Abraham is mentioned in the early European history. It says, for centuries, students had been taught that Europe was one of the late areas of the world to become civilized. Educational tradition would have us believe that the Egyptians were erecting mighty temples of stone, had wide astronomical knowledge, knew how to write thousands of years before Western Europe, came to the threshold of civilization.

While Egyptians and Babylonians were raiding gorgeous robes, painted with cosmetics, historians would have Europe's forests sparsely populated with naked white savages. We've all read about the Picts and the various early inhabitants of Europe. Europe's dominant place in world affairs is, we're told, a relatively new phenomenon. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the early history of Europe was suppressed. European civilization and its history is as old as Egypt's, but it's been suppressed. Not since the close of the 17th century has it been allowed to be taught publicly. It did not happen in a day. It took centuries of calculated plotting and ridiculed to wipe from the pages of history the record of early Europe.

Historians and theologians have conspired together to label Europe's early history as myth. I've read that in a number of books. You can't really know about Europe's early history. There's this myth. There's this oral tradition. They will never say that it's actually any written history. Dr. Hay goes on to say in his compendium, The theologians and historians, if they had allowed the early history of Europe to be taught in schools and universities, they would have been forced to admit the authenticity and authority of the Bible. And that they did not want to do.

Had they not expunged the early events of Europe, everyone today would be reading of the journeys of Noah, of Shem, of Heber, of Asher, and many other biblical heroes into Europe. Children would be reading in school today of the early settlement of the Assyrians and the Chaldeans in Western Europe. They would know where the ten lost tribes of the House of Israel migrated, because all of that was contained in the early records.

All of this has been purposely hidden, but has not been lost. Scattered throughout the writings of the scholars of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries are fragmentary records, which unveil what really happened in Europe. And museums and libraries and state archives are still to be found documents of Horry antiquity collaborating the biblical records. This chapter contains the account of one of those documents.

It's the history of the Danube Valley, the area of Austria-Hungary Bohemian Bavaria, and the neighboring regions. The document is the Austrian Chronicle. It has never before been rendered into modern English. A number of copies of the chronicles are scattered throughout Europe. The last entry in the chronicles is the year 1404. So, you know, this is a document that at this point is over 600 years old, as far as the last entry into it. Now, you find that Abraham is listed in the Austrian Chronicle.

The Austrian Chronicle begins its consecutive history with a man of princely birth, none other than the patriarch Abraham. But what has Abraham to do with the history of the Danube Valley in Europe? Very much. The most ancient Greek name for the Danube River was the River No, N-O-E. No is the Greek form of the Hebrew Noah. So the early name of the Danube River was the River Noah. Noah was the patriarch of the whole human family following the Flood.

His patriarchal authority passed on the Shem, who superseded his older brother, Japheth. In each succeeding generation, the hereditary rite of the firstborn was passed from father to son. Thera was the eighth in the descendants from Shem and the heir to Noah and Shem. Thera had, according to the biblical record, three sons. The oldest, Haran, was born when Thera was 70 years old. He died before his father died. And Haran died in the presence of his father, Thera, in the land of his Nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees, the Bible says.

Why Abraham died young will be made clear shortly in the Austrian chronicle. So, you will find that when you read the Austrian chronicle, and I have it in the Compendium, there is a whole list of rulers that ruled in the Danube Valley. And Abraham is number one. So, he was considered royalty. He was of a royal family.

Now, you find, notice over here in Genesis, chapter 23. Not that this is absolute proof of this, but you'll notice that when Sarah died here, in Genesis, chapter 23, verse 1, Sarah lived 127 years, and these were the years of life of Sarah, so Sarah died. And in verse 4, Abraham says, I'm a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

And the sons of Heath answered Abraham, saying to him, Hear us, my Lord, you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choices of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you the burial place that you may bury your dead. They refer to him as a mighty prince.

Abraham, when he came into the land of Canaan, gave up his hereditary privileges and willingly forsook his rights.

If he had stayed in the Danube Valley, he was considered royalty, he was a ruler, and yet he was willing to turn his back on that, on position, on power, and to obey God.

Notice what's going on here in the Austrian chronicle, and what Dr. Hay has written. It says, replacing Haran as heir was Terah's second son, Abraham. His name was later changed to Abraham.

In the year 1941, God called Abraham to forsake his kindred, his country, everything. Notice in chapter 12, back up here to Genesis, chapter 12, we're all familiar with the story.

Remember, B.C., the dates get smaller, and until you come down to, supposedly, the year zero.

Genesis, chapter 12, the Lord had said to Abraham, Get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. Notice what God required him to give up. Not only did he give up a position of royalty and rulership, not only did he give up power, money, prestige, but God said, Get away from your family, from your father's house, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, curse him who curses you, and you, all the families of the earth, shall be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him. Now, notice the simple words. He just departed. God said, Do it. He did it. And what went with him, and Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

So what you find is that Abraham was willing to give up his hereditary privileges, though he was a mighty prince. Now, Dr. Hay goes on to say, Now, consider the Austrian Chronicle. It begins with the birth of Abram. He is called Abraham throughout the Chronicle. Under the Assyrian Count Satin, S-A-T-T-A-N, there was a Count Satin there. Several of the earlier geographical names mentioned in the Austrian Chronicle, he mentions, we don't know who they were.

Abraham took the wife Susanna from the land of Sammamoram, the daughter of Teramont, and his wife Sanyet.

Of this union, we read in the Scriptures, and you'll turn back here to chapter 25. This seems to refer to this, verses 5 and 6, that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. And Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had. While he was still living, he sent them eastward away from Isaac, his son, to the country of the east. From the Austrian Chronicle, we learn that Abraham and Susanna had a son named Achim. A-C-H-A-I-M. Achim.

Then Abraham, quoting from the Austrian Chronicle, then Abraham of Timonari and Count Satin had war with each other, till Abraham was driven from the land in poverty. So Abraham was stripped of his wealth in this war, was reduced to poverty.

It was in this war that Abraham's older brother was slain. Abraham was driven out of court. Satin's realm fled to the Danube River Valley in 1944. According to the Chronicle, where he built a home, settled under the death of Count Satin.

It was now 1941, three years after Abraham fled, and Abraham, according to the Chronicle, took Achim and Susanna and went to the land of Judah, Septa, Judasapta, or the Jews' land, as it's recorded, Palestine, according to the Bible.

It says the later scribes who copied the Austrian Chronicle assumed it was the Danube Valley, because Jews later settled there. From Palestine, Abraham sent away eastward to Assyria, Susanna and Achim, when Isaac was two years of age. From there, they journeyed to the Danube settlement Abraham made years before.

The previous chapter revealed that the Danube Valley was then under the control of Assyria. So you find all of that in the Austrian Chronicle. Now, I would dare say that the majority of you here have never studied that in history, never even heard of it in history.

Yet, 600-700 years ago, during what we would call the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, it was something that was known. Yet, during that period of time, there was a tremendous amount of knowledge. That's one reason it's called the Dark Ages. A tremendous amount of knowledge and information that was buried and that was hidden.

Brethren, what have you and I given up to come into God's Church? We know what Abraham gave up because I've been reading it here. He had to turn his back on position, power, influence, wealth. He had to turn his back on family, leave, and go to a country that he didn't know anything about. What have we had to give up to come into God's Church? Luke 14. Let's go over to Luke 14, 26. Luke 14, verse 26 is a section of the Bible we read every time we counsel somebody for baptism because it describes what God requires of us. Many times people tell us what they want God to do for them. Here God tells us what he wants us to do for him, what he requires of us. If anyone comes to me and does not hate, word there means to love less in comparison. If you don't love less your father and your mother, your wife and your children, your brothers and your sisters, yes, your own life also, he cannot be my disciple. So you and I have to love God more. Our relationship with God has to triumph. Everything has to be above any relationship we have with any human being. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now you can say, well, what do you mean by a cross? We see people today, churches have crosses on them, people have crosses hanging on chains. It doesn't mean too much today, but in a society back at that time, if you saw somebody carrying a cross, it meant he was about to die because he would have to carry his cross out to where they were going to crucify.

They would stick it in the ground and they would crucify the person. Remember, Christ was carrying the cross of the cross of being when he was to be crucified. So when you pick up your cross, it means that you are willing to die. The old man is willing to die. The old man is willing to be buried. And you are willing to follow God. And as verse 33 says, So likewise, whoever of you who does not forsake all that he has, cannot be my disciple. For Abraham had to turn his back on all that he had and go and follow God. Notice Matthew 19, another scripture that certainly ties in with this. Matthew 19, verse 27. Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left all, we have given up everything, and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have? Chapter 19, verse 28. So Jesus said to them, Assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve tribes, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. They were told ahead of time what their reward, what their position, what their responsibility, duties, service will be in the kingdom of God. In verse 29, And every one who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, think Mark's account says in this life. And inherit eternal life. So God promises to make up the difference. And he will bless us, and he will give us eternal life. So what did Abraham give up? Well, he had to give up his family. Turn his back. Let's go back here to chapter 11 in the book of Genesis again. Genesis chapter 11. And you'll find here again that Abraham left Er the Chaldees, and he came to Haran. And from Haran, then, he migrated on after his father died, migrated into Palestine. So he was willing to give up everything. Now Sarah, or Sarai, as she's mentioned here, means a female noble, or princess, or to rule. She likewise was of royal blood, or royalty. And when her husband said we're moving, she had to be willing to go. And she went with him. She was a Hebrew. Likewise, a descendant of Eber. Notice in chapter 20, verse 12 of the book of Genesis, Genesis 20, verse 12. It says, but indeed, and she is truly my sister. Remember when Abraham went down into Egypt, he told Sarah to tell Pharaoh, his servants, that, well, I'm just his sister, not his wife. He said, well, she truly is my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. So she was born into a stepmother, and she became my wife. She was his sister, but not a full-blood sister, as we would know today. So she was a Hebrew, just as Abraham was a Hebrew. Now back up to Genesis 11 again. Genesis chapter 11, it says, "'Tira took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarah, his son Abraham's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldean to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran, and dwelt there in the days of Tyra were two hundred and five years, and Tyra died in Haran." And you'll read then in chapter 12, in verse 1, "'Now the Lord had said," this was something that he had told him in the past, "'Get out of your country,' and so he was willing to do that." Now you'll find that Abraham, in Ur of the Chaldees, and his father, Tyra, worshipped idols. They were involved in idolatry. This was the environment that Abraham came up in. Let's notice in Joshua, the book of Joshua, chapter 24, beginning in verse 2.

Joshua, chapter 24, verse 2, Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers, including Tyra, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river in old times, or as the margin says, the Euphrates, they dwelt on the other side of the Euphrates, and they served other gods.

And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, from the other side of the Euphrates, led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob an Esau." And then he goes on giving the lineage here. idolatry was rampant in the area of the world where Abraham lived, and his father, Tyra, worshiped false gods. Now the book of Acts, in Acts, chapter 7, likewise brings us out. Let's go over to the book of Acts, Acts 7. Remember, this is where Stephen is martyred.

He gives his address here before the high priest and the Jews. Verse 1 says, Then the high priest said, Are these things so? And he said, Brethren and fathers, Listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia. So while he was still in Ur, the Chaldees, before he dwelt in Haran. So God appeared to him. So God personally dealt with Abraham, and said to him, Get out of your country, and from your relatives, come to a land that I will show you.

And he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give him a possession into his descendants after him. So the true God revealed himself to Abraham. Now the question is, why? Why Abraham? Why choose him? What was it about Abraham that God could see that Abraham would be a man who would follow him, who would obey him?

Well, we'll find that as we go along. The one thing we do know, if you come back again to the book of Genesis, in Genesis 12, we've already read this, so we won't go back and just reread it again, is that when God said, Go! Abraham went. What about us? When God says, You fill in the blank. Do we go? Do we do? When God says, Keep the Sabbath. Do we keep the Sabbath? When God says, TIE. Do we tithe? When God says, Go to the feast. Do we obey? Do we do what God tells us to do?

This was the attitude that he had. He was willing to give up all. He was reduced to poverty in a war with Count Satan. There was political conflict going on. There was also religious conflict with the Chaldean priesthood at that time. The one thing that you may not know about Abraham was that Abraham was a great mathematician. He was also an astronomer. He had proven the existence of God by the laws of science.

He was able to look into the heavens. He was able to see the earth rotating around the sun, the moon around the earth. He had proved God's existence. Many of you are familiar with Josephus, the Jewish historian. Josephus, in Book 1, Chapter 7, gives a lot of interesting facts about Abraham. I'd like to quote from the Antiquity of the Jews here. This is why Josephus writes, Abraham, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother, Haran's son, and his wife, Sarai's brother.

He left the land of Chaldean when he was 75 years old at the command of God, went into Canaan, and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his prostrarity. He was a person of great sagacity. That means understanding wisdom, both for understanding all things and persuading his hearers, not mistaken in his opinions. So, you don't have to worry about what did Abraham believe. He was not mistaken in his opinions. He was dogmatic. For which reason he began to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinion of all men concerning God.

For he was the first, notice, the first that ventured to publish the notion that there was but one God the Creator. So, what does this tell us about Abraham? Well, one, he had proven that all of these ideas about all of these various gods that they worshiped in Chaldea, Mesopotamia, and Babylon, and all of this area, that that was false. There was only one God. But notice, he published. So that indicates he wrote a book, or he wrote an article. He had the ability to write. He was not a dodo. He could write. He knew language. He could publish. And he lived in an area of the world that was at the apex of civilization at this particular time.

And he goes on to talk about this. And he, I won't read all of what's written here, says, Because he published and he wrote about just one God, for which doctrine, when the Chaldeans and other people of Mesopotamia raised the tumult against him, he thought it fit to leave the country.

So part of the reason he was at war, he left the country, plus he ran into religious opposition from what he had published. Now, Berosus mentions our father Abraham without naming him when he says, Berosus in his history, And the tenth generation after the flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial sciences.

But Heclaetius, Heclaetius was a Greek writer, does more than barely mention him, for he composed and left behind a book concerning him. There were a number of books that were written early on about some of these individuals, and they were lost. Many of you will remember the great fire at Alexandria in Egypt, and they had over a million volumes there, and those were lost. And no telling what kind of history was recorded in some of these libraries.

And Nicholas of Damascus in the fourth book of his history says, As to which posterity of his we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abram is even still famous in the country of Damascus, and there is shown a village named after him called the habitation of Abram. So at the time when he wrote, it was well known that Abraham had come into that area.

So how many people today know that Abraham was illiterate? That he was an astronomer? He was an excellent mathematician? That he published books? And that he was of royal background? And he had grown up wealthy? So Abraham was used to living in a great city. God asked him to become a nomad. Now when you live in one of the greatest cities on earth, and you grew up there, and you're royalty, and you're looked up to, you have power, you have position, you have money, and God says, I want you to go out here and live in a tent.

Even though it's a nice tent, nothing against tents, but it's still not the same as living in a palace. God asked him to become a nomad. Now many of you have Halley's Bible Handbook. On page 90 of the version that I have, Halley's Bible Handbook under the article Ur. This is page 90. It has this to say, that Ur was once a seaport on the Persian Gulf at the mouth of the Euphrates River, 12 miles from Irruda, traditional site of Garden of Eden, a pre-flood city, in other words, Irr was a pre-flood city, destroyed by the flood and rebuilt.

Just preceding the time of Abraham, it was the most magnificent city in the world. It was not a little place with a few mud huts. At that point, it was the most magnificent city in the world. A center of manufacturing, farming, shipping, in a land of fabulous fertility and wealth, with caravans coming through going in every direction.

About the time of Abraham, it was eclipsed by the Babylonians, and the Euphrates River changed its course, so that eventually, it was about 10 miles from the Euphrates. When that happened, its importance declined. They have dug up the ruins of Irr, and it mentions in this article the various excavation projects that have taken place. They've uncovered a mound surrounded by a wall, remnants of a surrounding wall 70 feet thick and 80 feet high, surrounded the city, have been traced for 2.5 miles.

The sacred area occupied by temples and palaces was surrounded by an inner wall 400 yards long and 200 yards wide. You'll give you an idea of the size and the protection. The ziggurat, or temple tower, was patterned after the Tower of Babel, is now the tallest mound in Abraham's day, was the most conspicuous building of the city. It was last rebuilt by Naboneser, the tower in Abraham's day, as he saw it, was square. It was terraced.

It was built of solid brick. The successive terraces planted with trees and shrubbery, and at the top, a sanctuary to the moon god. So it would be laid out and set in squares. The base of it could have been 100 yards square. The next level, 90 yards square. The next 80 and so on, it would have gone up. In each level, it had trees, shrubs, flowers, that type of thing.

So you get up to the top, and the idea is that you get to the top, you're closer to heaven, and you're closer to God. So you find here that this city was a major city.

The two main temples were those of the moon goddess Nanar, or the moon god Nanar, and the moon goddess Nengal, in their glory in Abraham's day. There was a vast complex of shrines and small rooms and living quarters for the priests, the priestess, the attendants, the deities that Abraham's family worshipped. One of the most amazing discoveries was a discovery of the rich treasurers of a tomb of a queen, Shubad. In this tomb, they discovered a profusion of necklaces and beads, ornaments of gold and silver, semi-precious stones, cups, plates, saucers, toilet boxes, paint cups, golden harps, the bones of forty court servants who had been sacrificed at the burial. So as part of their religion in this part of the world, they had human sacrifice. So this was the type of religion that they had at that time.

That Abraham was exposed to, that he came to denounce and came to prove that there was only one God, and God then revealed Himself to Abraham. And when He did, Abraham obeyed Him. Idolatry was quite pronounced. Let me just read a little bit on page 97 of Halley's handbook about the idolatry there. Er was a Babylonian, and Babylonians had many gods and goddesses. They worshipped the fire, the sun, the moon, the stars, and various forces of nature. Nimrod, who had exalted himself against God at the building of the Tower of Babel, was ever afterwards recognized as the chief Babylonian deity. Marmaduke was the common form of his name. Later, it became identified with Baal. Shemesh was the deity, the name of the sun god. Sin, the moon god, and the principal deity of Ur, Abraham's city. Sin's wife was called Nengal, the moon goddess of Ur. She was also called Ishtar, and we know her as Semiramis. She was the deification of sex passion, and her worship required licentious and sacred prostitution in connection with the sanctuaries. She was a universal custom among the women in Babylon. In connection with her temple were charming retreats or chambers, where her priestess entertained male worshipers in disgraceful ceremonies. In addition to these prostitute priestess, every maid, wife, or widow had to officiate at least once in her lifetime in these rites. So they all went to the temple and serviced the men who came there to worship. Instead of worshiping, they came there and prostituted themselves. So this is the type of religion. Human sacrifice, temple prostitution, pagan gods, and out of this, Abraham came. He believed God, and he obeyed God. He was well educated. He came from a big city. He turned his back on all of this. And as we read here in Genesis 12, he came from Ur to Haran from Haran into Canaan. Haran is about 600 miles northwest. Haran was about 400 miles northeast from Canaan. He had to travel when he left Ur, the Chaldees. He had to travel by some of the greatest cities of his day to reach Haran. So as he traveled, he realized what he was giving up. Canaan was a different country, different people. Let's hold your place here, but back here in Hebrews 11 and verse 8 in the book of Hebrews 11 and verse 8, it summarizes what Abraham did. It says, by faith. I want you to notice what motivated Abraham. Why was he willing to give up everything he had been exposed to all of his life? By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place, which he would receive as an inheritance, and went out not knowing where he was going. He didn't know where he was going. God said, I'm going to send you over here to Canaan. He didn't know about that. By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. So you'll find that Abraham obeyed God and did as God told him. Now let's back up to Genesis 12 again. Genesis 12, and notice in verse 5. Abraham took Sarah his wife and lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, so even though he had been reduced to poverty when they moved to the Danube Valley and then had gone to Haran, he had prospered again. God had blessed him. And the people with whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go into the land of Canaan, so they came to the land of Canaan. And Abraham passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terra-bith tree of Mora. And the Canaanites were then in the land, so the Canaanites had moved in at that time. Abraham was looked upon as an intruder. Now you have to realize that this wasn't that many years after the Flood, and even though the earth's population had multiplied, there were not millions of people, as there are today, on earth.

And so when Abraham and his army, his servants, moved into that area, you moved to three, four, five hundred people, and you don't go on notice. They may have thought he was invading the army at that time. But, verse 7, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, "'To your descendants, I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

And Abraham journeyed, going still towards the south. Now, I want you to notice one thing about Abraham. Abraham did not have the Bible. He didn't have anything written down. God appears to him occasionally. He gives him orders. He charges him. He tells him what to do. He also reveals to him how he wants him to live. And so Abraham does it. He wasn't like you and me. You and I can get the Bible out every day. We can study it.

We can read it. We can go over. We know what God wants us to do. If we forget, we can go back and remind ourselves. Here was Abraham. God comes to him personally and tells him. And God wasn't appearing to him every night. Just occasionally, God would appear and tell him what to do. The chief city of the southern part of Canaan at that time was Beersheba. Beersheba, though, was the cultural center of Palestine. Notice in chapter 22.

But chapter 22, verse 19, the book of Genesis. Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. This was an area where he stayed at. At Beersheba, there are remains of the earliest domesticated horses that have been found by archaeologists. Abraham's descendants ever since had been famous horse breeders. And even among the Arabs, among Esau, Ishmael, although they were followers, as well as the Israelites, Abraham became, in one sense, a rancher. He had herds, he had camels, he had sheep. He also became a rich man because he likewise continued to trade. Apparently, he was a merchant, and he made part of his wealth through trading. In chapter 12 again, in verse 10, we read, Now there was a famine in the land, and Abraham went down to Egypt, and dwelt there, for the famine was severe in the land.

He could have had upwards to 2,000 people traveling with him. That's a lot of people to move around. You don't just move a couple thousand people without disrupting those around you. He came down, if you remember, into Egypt, pretended that Sarah was not his wife, that she was just his sister.

You remember the story here. Pharaoh took her to become one of his wives to be put in his harem. God calls the distemper on Pharaoh. You'll find, though, a very interesting thing here. He comes in contact with Pharaoh. In verse 17, the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Apparently, according to some of the records and legends, Abraham, while he was in Egypt, taught the Egyptians math and taught them astronomy. They had very little knowledge of this before. Greeks learned math and science from the Egyptians. But the question is, who introduced the Egyptians to science and math? It was Abraham. And so, you'll find that the Egyptian culture that developed later on in the math and all that they learned can be traced right back to Abraham.

God used Abraham's lack of faith to bring him down into Egypt into contact with the political and religious leaders of Egypt. This led to Egypt's growth as a great nation and prepared the Egyptians for the coming of the children of Israel later. In chapter 13, here in the book of Genesis, you find that God blessed Abraham with wealth. He says, then Abraham went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot went with him.

Abraham was very rich in livestock and in silver and in gold. Now, both he and Lot had become so rich that you find in verse 5, Lot also, who went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents. Now, the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, and their possessions were so great that they couldn't dwell together.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abrahams, livestock and the herdsmen of Lot. And so, you find that Abraham finally said, okay, Lot, not enough room here. You choose where you want to go. So, guess what? Lot lifted up his eyes in verse 10. He saw all the plains of Jordan.

It was well watered, like the garden of the Lord. And so, he decided to go there. And Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan, verse 12. And Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful before the Lord. And so, Lot chose to dwell in the Jordan plains and valley near Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, sometimes your choices in life can lead you into trouble. And they certainly did lots. God had brought them out of idolatry, out of a wicked city, and Lot moves right back into it.

He moves back into the area, and we find later on that he's living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, there's a very interesting story in chapter 14. You'll remember the story here, the battle that took place. We read over this without giving it much thought as to what happened or the possible geopolitical implications of chapter 14.

Let's take a look at chapter 14. In verse 1, it came to pass in the days of Amraphael, king of Shinar, and Eriach, king of Elazar, and Chetor, Leomir, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations. That these made war with Birah, king of Sodom, with Bersha, king of Gomorrah, and Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemiber, king of Zeboam, and the king of Beelah, which is Zohar. All of these joined together in the veil of Zidam, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chetor, Leomir, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

So in the fourteenth year came Chetor, Leomir, and the kings that were with him, and Smoth, the Rephidims, and you see all of that. They came up and they fought against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. You will remember the story that Lot was among them, and they were taken captive.

Who were these kings? Who were these particular kings? Amrafel, who is mentioned here, was the son of Horus, and he ruled over Shinar.

Aroch succeeded Horus and ruled in the city of Elazar. Chetor, Leomir, was king of Elan, and Tidal ruled over Asia Minor. These were actually four leaders of the Assyrian Empire.

When they went to war, Abraham killed these four leaders. It brought about the decline of the Assyrian power during that age.

It allowed the Babylonians to ascend in power.

In Syria, the lost power of the Babylonians came on the scene. I want you to notice here that Abraham intervened on behalf of the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. His nephew Lot is there, and he is there to help them.

As verse 17 talks about the slaughter of these kings that were with him, they were killed.

Abraham then comes along, and the only thing he takes of the spoil, he gives a tithe to Melchizedek. God blesses him as a result of them.

These were four Assyrian overlords. The decline of the Assyrian power in that age also allowed Egypt to grow and to be free from conquest. So the way was paid for Egypt to develop as a great nation.

What motivated Abraham? Why did Abraham obey God? Number one, he had proved God. God had appeared to him. But I want you to notice what Abraham did in chapter 26 of the book of Genesis. Chapter 26, beginning here in verse 5, God reiterates to Isaac the blessings that he promised to Abraham. Pass on to Isaac, then pass on to Jacob. Pass on to Jacob's sons. Why did God do this? He said, because Abraham obeyed my voice. He kept my charge. God said, Get out. He got out. He kept my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So we find that Abraham was a man who was willing to obey God. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 7, tells us this about Abraham. Jehoshaphat, speaking, says, Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of the land before your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham, your friend forever? Abraham was known as the friend of God. Abraham obeyed God. He did what God said. He had a relationship with God. In James 2, verse 21, we read further clarification of this. James 2, verse 21, says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered to Isaac on the altar? Do you not see that faith, working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? He showed he had faith in God by being obedient. How do we show God that we believe him, except we obey him? The Scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God. It was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. If you and I want to be considered the friend of God, we have to obey God. We have to step out in faith. Back up to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, we find in verse 8 that Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out. He went to a country that he did not know. And verse 9, by faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country. Why did he do this? For he waited for the city, which had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. How did Abraham know about the New Jerusalem? God had to reveal it to him. God had to tell Abraham about the future. And so Abraham was motivated by that.

And verse 13 says, So Abraham realized that as long as he was in the flesh, that he was just a stranger in a pilgrim. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And verse 16, now they desire a better, now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country or a heavenly realm. Therefore God is not afraid to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

So, brethren, God has prepared the New Jerusalem. Abraham saw beyond his day. God promised that his seed would become great, that through one of his seed that he would be multiplied and all people would be blessed. He saw the millennium, and he saw beyond the millennium, because a great white throne judgment comes after the millennium. And then the new heavens and the new earth. What he gave up in power, prestige, influence, God promised to give him back. Can we see, likewise, that anything that God would require of us today to give up, even our own lives, and God does require us to give our lives up as a sacrifice, but even if we became a martyr, or we had to give up family, we had to give up friends, or we had to give up our country, that God Almighty is going to bless us, and that we, likewise, know about the future. And we see that there's nothing that we give up that can compare with what God said he wants to give us. Last week in the sermon, I read to you Philippians 3.8, that Paul said that he was willing to give everything up, and in comparison, it was like dumb, like a manure pile. It didn't mean a thing. And that is the attitude that you and I must have. It might be good this afternoon to go back and read Revelation 21 and 22, because Revelation 21 and 22 talk about the new heavens and the new earth, talk about the new Jerusalem coming down, the home of the bride. Abraham was willing to give all up because he could see the future. He could see what God offered. Rather than God has revealed that to us, and it's revealed here in his word in greater detail. That's what motivated Abraham, and it's the same thing that motivates us. So let's realize that there is nothing that we give up that can compare to what God will give us in the future.