Abraham’s Faith

Genesis 15

“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” .

Before Abraham received this promise, God had promised to be his shield and his great reward. All this meant nothing to Abraham as long as he had no children. We can say it like this: Abraham gave up everything to have a son, just as we also must do in order to become a disciple of Jesus and experience the promises of the gospel.

God had given Abraham the promise of a son; this is the promise he believed, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. He is the God “who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” .

“And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” .

All doubt that God’s promises can be fulfilled in us comes from not giving God all the glory. If Abraham had become weak in faith because both his and Sarah’s bodies were already spent, he would not only have believed in God but also in his own and Sarah’s strength. Then God would not have received all the glory, and Abraham would not have experienced the fulfillment of the promise.

The reason so many people do not come to victory over sin is that they do not count on the grace in Jesus alone, but also on their own strength and ability. It was a long time before Abraham experienced the promise, and thereby he received a tried faith, which is so precious. .

“Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” .

If Jesus had not risen again after He died for our offenses, it would have been the same as with the animal sacrifices in the old covenant, which could not take away sins. . However, Jesus was raised for our justification. This is the gospel the prophets had prophesied about. .

We read further: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” .

Millions of religious people believe they are justified through the forgiveness of sins without believing the promise in the gospel. . “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” and .

Jesus rose again to be Lord. . “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” . The great majority want Jesus only as a sin offering; they do not want Him as Lord, and they do not want to give up their own will and become disciples of Jesus. . They do not want Jesus as High Priest. . Then they will not partake of this either: “. . . much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

After we have been justified by faith, have gained access to grace, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God—the glory of being freed from sin—we glory much more “. . . in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.” Then we also receive proven character—a tried faith like Abraham’s. .

We can see that Abraham was broken down, with the result that he no longer had any confidence in himself. Then God could fulfill the promise. Many people have believed in victory when they were converted, but when it did not succeed after a while, they gave up. This proves that they only believed that God would help them. When they only believe that God will help them, God does not get all the glory. During the time when God has to break them down, most people give up on gaining victory. Then they say, “We will just have to be satisfied with grace.” Then they think only of the forgiveness of sins. They do not believe in grace to overcome, so that God gets all the glory. It is necessary for the “I” to die so that grace can give us the strength not to sin. . This is the glory of God we have come to believe in—we who have Abraham’s faith.

Sigurd Bratlie