The news we hear today will soon be forgotten. We move on quickly to new things — sports, politics, or entertainment. We saw in our previous article that this was true in the ancient time of Abraham.
People 4,000 years ago also focused on big events of their time, but those are now forgotten.
However, one small promise made to one man long ago still continues today. It was not a loud or public moment, but God gave this man — Abraham — a special promise. That promise has come true. This shows that maybe God is real and still active in our world.
Abraham’s Complaint
Years passed after God first made His Promise recorded in Genesis 12. Abraham obeyed God and moved to the land of Canaan (the Promise Land, now called Israel). But Abraham still had no son, and he became worried.
Then the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said,
“O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? … You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:1–3
God’s Promise
Abraham was camping and waiting for God to begin building the “Great Nation” He had promised. But now Abraham was about 85 years old, and still had no child. He complained to God that the promise had not come true.
Then the word of the LORD came to him:
“This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said,
“Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 15:4–5
So God made the promise even bigger — not only would Abraham have a son, but his family would become as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Bowles, John, PD-US-expired, via Wikimedia Commons
Abraham’s Response: Everlasting Effect
What did Abraham do when he heard God’s promise again? The Bible gives us a very important sentence:
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as Righteousness.
Genesis 15:6
To make it clearer, we can replace the pronouns:
Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD credited it to Abram as Righteousness.
This short sentence is very powerful. Why?
Because Abraham received Righteousness. That means he was now right with God — something we all need. This is what brings peace between us and God.
Reviewing Our Problem: Corruption
God created us in His image, but something went wrong. We became corrupted — that means we turned away from God. The Bible says:
The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one.
Psalm 14:2–3
This corruption causes us to do wrong to do wrong, to feel empty, and leads to death. Just look at the daily news — we see people hurting each other all the time.
Because of this, we are separated from a Righteous God. We don’t have the kind of Righteousness that allows us to be close to Him. Our corruption repels God in the same way that we would keep away from the body of a dead rat. We would not want to go near it. So the words of the prophet Isaiah in the Bible come true.
This is why Isaiah wrote:
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6
Abraham and Righteousness
But in Abraham’s story, we see something amazing. God said Abraham had Righteousness — the kind that God accepts.
Abraham was not perfect. He had sins like us. But he received Righteousness. How? The Bible says:
Abraham believed.
That’s all!
We often try to be right with God by doing many good things, but **Abraham was made right by simply believing.
So what does it really mean to “believe”? And what does this mean for you and me?
We’ll explore that in the next part.