Genesis 12:1-5
The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
We named our youngest son “Canaan.” It’s a rather unusual name and is sometimes mispronounced as “Cannon” or “Ca-NON”; but we chose it because of its meaning.
“Canaan” is actually a Hebrew name, first given in the Bible to Noah’s grandson, and it carries the meaning of “Humble” or “lowly”.
We also see that the region that eventually came to be called the “Land of Canaan” meant the “Lowlands”.
But then God gives the land of Canaan a new meaning. In Genesis 17:8 we read:
The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give you as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.
And later in 1 Chronicles 16:18 King David recalls God’s promise when he writes,
“To you I will give the land of Canaan as your special possession.”
So we chose our son’s name because it means “God’s gift” or “God’s special possession”, which, of course, describes not only our son but every child born to every family!
So the “Land of Canaan” was the gift of God promised to Abram and his descendants. It came to be called “The Promised Land,” a place God would provide for his people to dwell in peace and abundance.
But there is plenty of Biblical indication that the “Land of Canaan” was never intended to be the final dwelling place of God’s people.
The book of Hebrews tells us:
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
What is the “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God”?
The New Living Translation actually translates the phrase “city with foundations” as “heavenly homeland.”
That tells us that the “Promised Land”, or “The Land of Canaan”, is actually a pre-cursor to the final and eternal fulfillment of the promise of God; which, of course, is heaven itself.
In Revelation 21 we read:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
This is the part of the story that Abram could not see clearly when he first heard God’s call to “leave and go.” He only knew that God wanted to bless the world through him, so he went.
But the story of Abram is the story of the gospel!
It’s the story of God making his salvation known to his people; and through his people to the world.
From our perspective, having the rest of the story of the gospel, we can see what Abram could not. We can see that God used Abram’s obedience to establish a people set apart for his purpose of bringing the blessing of salvation to the world. We can see that this blessing would eventually bring the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can see that the “Promised Land”, “The Land of Canaan,” was not only God’s special gift to his people, but was also symbolic of God’s ultimate promise of the New Jerusalem, or, heaven itself!
The question is, do we see our own stories as part of the great gospel story?
Do we understand that just as God called Abram to leave his comfort zone and go to an unknown land in order to share God’s blessing with the world, that he also calls each one of us to be willing to “leave and go” for the same purpose?
Are you willing?
Pastor Brian Coffey
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