Get Out of Your Country!

Genesis 12:1 - Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."

Through the geneological records of Noah's sons we stumble upon Abram (later known as Abraham). They lived in Chaldea at the time God told him to leave. (Chaldea is now Iraq.) He was to leave even his family. If I recall correctly, Jesus asked many to leave all they had and follow Him in the same way. Abram knew nothing about where he was being led, he just went in faith because God had requested he leave. Like his ancestors he'd been taught about the Almighty God who was all they would ever need.

Why did God call Abram and his family out of Chaldea? I believe part of it was a test, to see if he would be willing to just up and leave all he had known to follow God. God's plan was to take Abram to a land which God would give him. That land today is Israel. God promised to bless him in this land and to make him the father of many nations. 

Jus as God was asking Abram to separate himself, we are to separate ourselves. Like God for Abram, Jesus is for us. Only through this separation can we be blessed. God had a plan for Abram far beyond what Abram could even imagine...to make him the father of many nations, which has happened. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we too are to get out of our country! We are to follow Him and allow His plan for our lives take shape. Are we to leave our family or friends like Abram did? Sometimes the answer is yes. But when we do and we surround ourselves with others who have "left their country" we see a commonality and they become our new family.

We saw the results of making a name in human strength and arrogance with Abram's ancestors, Noah's family, and the Tower of Babel. They were scattered. God does not want us scattered even today. He wants us to be joined together in one spirit, the Spirit of God, not the spirit of man. God caused Adam and Eve to be separated from the Garden and Himself, but it is His desire even today to bring us back under one roof, one unity, in Christ Jesus as the Mediator between God and ourselves. Separation on one hand and unity in another...getting out of our country to a spiritual land that God desires to show us. A land that is filled with blessings.

And speaking of scattering...what we read in the Old Testament is not just for us. It speaks to the nation and the people of Israel. They have been scattered across the world numerous times. And there will be one last gathering of these people before Jesus returns. It will be one of the last signs of the last days--they will be gathered back to their own land, the land which God gave them, the land which Abram was told to go to. Over the years we have seen some return despite the turbulence in that country. There should be one last exodus from the world to their own land and a revival of sorts will take place. They will begin to realize what has been veiled for so many years and prophesied in even their own Torah--that the Messiah they have been waiting for for 2,000 years is Jesus whom they have long rejected. It will be a glorious spiritual awakening and we will experience spiritual unity at last with them, in Christ. 

Abram left his family, separated himself, saw the land God had promised his people; he had faith in God and it was counted to him as righteous and God's plan came about through the faithfulness, obedience and righteousness of this one man. Are we willing to do the same?

2Timothy 2:21 - Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.