Romans 4 - Abraham's Faith | Women's Rightly Divided Bible Study
Father God, thank you so much for teaching us in today's Bible study about justification and how Abraham simply believed you and his faith was counted unto him for righteousness. We are so thankful. In Jesus's name we pray amen.
Abraham's Faith
To help us understand Abraham's faith that will be mentioned in Romans chapter 4, let's read about it specifically in Genesis.
Genesis 15:1-6 in the KJB says,
1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Interestingly in these verses, Abraham is specifically shown the stars in heaven and told that he would have as many descendants as their are stars in the sky! Astronomers (and super computers) have estimated that there are at least 200 billion trillion stars in the universe (assuming they are right)! Abram was already an old man and his wife was well past childbearing age and unable to have any children, so it would take great faith to believe what God was telling him! And Abram DID believe God, and therefore God counted it to him for righteousness. So, Abram, later named Abraham, was now a saved person. Abraham was also around well before the law was given so he was not under the law covenant. Abraham is also called the father of many nations. I personally believe that he will have a place in both the heavenly places with the Church the Body of Christ, as well as among the Jewish believers on the earth in the ages to come. It's interesting that in a future verse when God tested Abraham to see if Abraham would obey Him, he says,
Genesis 22,
15 And the angel of the Lord [this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ] called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Again Abraham, who had been justified by faith, also later on obeyed the word of God. This pleased God and God reminds him that Abraham's seed will be "as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore;". First of all, when God blesses someone, He really goes above and beyond! Whenever you read in scripture about our spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, just keep this in mind. Also, how many grains of sand are there on one beach? It's estimated that there could be as much as 10 Quadrillion grains of sand on one beach! That's an incredible amount! And God is telling Abraham that he will have THAT many descendants.
So, Abraham simply believed God no matter how incredible God's promise was, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And then when he later also obeyed God and His word, that pleased God as well (just like when a believer today obeys God by allowing Christ to live in and through them which leads to rewards in heaven).
For us today, in order to be saved we are to believe how that Christ Jesus died for our sins, and that He was buried and that He rose again for our justification. For some people in the world, this glorious gospel is "too incredible" for them to believe, and that along with them simply not acknowledging their sin nature and desperate need for a savior, they will perish for lack of faith if they never choose to believe!
Homework: Read over Romans chapter 4. Identify the main topic of this chapter and find a key verse.
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