Family and corporate authority blended

Abraham the prophet and territorial leader

What is the evidence that Abraham was a prophet? Besides the discourse that is stated above between God and Abimelech is there any other evidence of his prophetic call? 

 

It is interesting that it was Terah that initially took Abraham and Sarah along with Lot out of Ur of the Chaldeans with the intention to enter the land of Canaan. (Gen 11:31) Terah settled the family in Haran and died there. After Terah’s death, God calls Abraham to not go back to Ur nor stay in Haran but continue on to a land that He will show him. It is then that we see Abraham’s first prophetic movement. God makes promises to him, GEN 12:2” And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; v3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." He receives a prophetic utterance for himself, his family and the whole earth. This is only the beginning of prophetic movements in Abraham’s life. Not long after arriving in Canaan, Abraham receives another prophetic promise. GEN 12:7 And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land....” It was after these two events in Abraham’s life that he ventured into Egypt because of the famine. While in Egypt he is confronted by Pharaoh because of Sarah. Abraham at this point had ventured a short distance into God’s divine call upon his life. This is the reason God places plagues upon Pharaoh and his family. Because of Abraham’s obedience to the voice of God, God makes him a spiritual authority.

 

After coming back into the land of Canaan, Abraham and Lot decide to separate because they have become so wealthy with livestock that they cannot stay together without causing strife between each other. Lot goes down to the Jordan River valley where Sodom and Gomorrah are and Abraham remained in the land of Canaan. Up to this point in Abraham’s life, he is given some promises concerning himself, his family and the whole world but they are vague and not very specific. Once Lot moves to the Jordan valley God revisits Abraham and gives him more specific promises. GEN 13:14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; v15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. v16 "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. v17 "Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you." While the words are witness to Abraham’s prophetic ability it is in this word that Abraham is promoted to a territorial leader. Not only would Abraham’s descendants become heir to the physical land of Canaan but Abraham himself is now the spiritual owner of this land. God’s only requirement was for Abraham to walk through it (its length and breadth.) We must understand that from a human viewpoint Abraham did not change. He possessed no more of the physical land then he did before this declaration. Abraham now had spiritual authority over this land and as a spiritual authority (territorial leader) he had responsibility over it.

 

GEN 15:7 And He said to him, "I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it." v8 And he said, "O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it?" God reinforces the fact that He called Abraham out of Ur for the express purpose to give him this land but at that time it wasn’t Abraham but Terah that initiated the move. We see Abraham asking the question, “how will I know that I shall possess it?” Abraham wants to know in what way will he possess the land. So God explains to him that only his descendants will have actual physical possession of this land and not until 400 years of bondage have passed. (Gen 15:13) God did not just say he was giving the land to Abraham’s descendants but also to Abraham, (GEN 13:15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever) yet God qualifies the fact with an explanation that his descendants will not possess it for quite some time. So how was Abraham to possess the land that God clearly states He is giving to him? 

 

God tells him that this land is not just given to his descendants but also to him. The words “I will give it to you” implies a future occurrence. When did Abraham take possession of the land? As Abraham walked about the land in obedience to God’s word (which is corresponding action to his faith) he began to possess all that God promised him. He may not have possessed the physical land but he possessed it spiritually and believed that the physical possession of it was just a matter of time. This possession of the land made Abraham the territorial leader (spiritually) of the land. Spiritual authority is just that, spiritual. Many times it is not readily recognizable until it is challenged or in use.

 

Genesis chapter fourteen tells us about a war that erupted against Sodom and Gomorrah which resulted in Lot and his family being taken captive. When Abraham hears that his nephew has been taken captive he gathers together the three hundred eighteen trained men within his family. We should recognize that these warriors were not tools that could be used with little concern for any loss. These men were Abraham’s family. Abraham risked family for family. We should never think of the army of God any less significant to God. We are God’s family and when we are called out to war, any loss is not just a tool but an intimate member of the family of God. These three hundred and eighteen men went to war at Abraham’s command and defeated the captors and returned not only Lot and his whole family with all their belongings but also everything taken from Sodom and Gomorrah.  We are not told whether any of Abraham’s men were killed, only that they were victorious. Immediately after this victory we see Melchizedek coming to Abraham to bless him. Melchizedek makes the statement, GEN 14:20 “And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand....”  This victory that Abraham secured was not by chance but God went before him and defeated the enemy on Abraham’s behalf with just three hundred eighteen men. This is evidence of Abraham’s authority over the land. If Abraham was only after his nephew and family then there would have been no need to get back everything that was taken. Further evidence of Abraham’s authority is seen with the vision he had after this incident, GEN 15:1 “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." God reinforces the fact that Abraham is divinely protected and that his future reward is secure.

 

We must come to the realization that when we are placed as spiritual authorities that God’s divine protection is part of the package. When God sends us to accomplish His purposes we are sent with full support from heaven and all divine power that is available is at our disposal. A good illustration of this would be if we decided to represent the United States of America on our own and went to Africa and began to help those in need. After finding the greatest needs we sent a message to the President about what we have found. The report would no doubt receive a canned response to the effect, “so what” or “we are aware of the issue.” We have no right or authority to expect the nation or President to supply any help. We are there on our own authority and in no way represent the United States. There may be limited protection from the U.S. based on the fact we are U.S. citizens but we are not protected as if we have been commissioned to the job by the President. Conversely, if commissioned to accomplish a specific task by country and President then we will not only have the right and authority of that nation but we also have the right to expect protection from that country. In Abraham’s case he was fully commissioned by God and God is backing him up.   

 

So we see Abraham positioned and discharged as the spiritual owner of this land called Canaan.  God does not leave it up to Abraham’s wanderings around the area to define the extent of what was given to him. Instead God tells Abraham the boundaries of the land. GEN 15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” This section of property that God has given Abraham and his descendants not only includes what Israel possesses today but Jordan, Lebanon, part of Egypt, a good part of Iraq and Syria and could possibly include the whole Arabian peninsula. If we truly understand the spiritual ramifications of Abraham’s descendants having the spiritual title deed to this whole area we should not be surprised that there is such hatred of Israel. Isaac was not the only descendant of Abraham but also Ishmael.  Ishmael, as well, is blessed by God to be a great nation and part heir of this territory.

 

So what have we seen so far? Abraham’s prophetic ability is recognized in the communications that he has with God. Receiving God’s word is actually the evidence of our prophetic call and not the speaking of prophetic words. Speaking the prophetic words may be seen as our obedience to God’s prophetic words that we have received. We have also seen that God promised Abraham to give him the land not just his descendants. We know that Abraham never in his life time took physical possession of the land and therefore we can only conclude that God was talking about a different type of possession when referring to Abraham. This possession I believe is a spiritual one. Is there any other evidence of this spiritual possession by Abraham? Yes. 

 

When Abraham was ninety nine years old God gave to him a promise that he would have a son through Sarah. By this time Abraham had wandered the land for approximately twenty four years. Fourteen years earlier Ishmael was born to Sarah’s servant Hagar. God tells Abraham that Ishmael will not be the heir of the promises but it will be Sarah’s son. God also made the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and his sons, as well as a name change for him and Sarah. While sitting by his tent in the heat of the day Abraham has three visitors.

 

Abraham noticed three men outside his tent and one of them was Yahweh. Abraham invites them to stay and treats them neighborly. During this visit the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him that next year about this same time Sarah would bear a son yet God had already told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a son (Gen 17:15-19) within a year. While this may seem to be the reason for God’s visit, it is not. This is a very strange discourse and decision that Yahweh makes before the real issue of His visit is revealed. 

GEN 18:16 Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. v17 And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, v18 since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? v19 "For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." v20 And the Lord said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. v21 "I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know." v22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

 

The three men and Abraham get up and the men move toward and look in the direction of Sodom. Now I wonder, if the Lord did not say anything, would Abraham have discerned what was about to take place? Abraham is a prophet and the prophet usually moves in spiritual discernment. Yet Yahweh begins to say, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” Who was the Lord speaking with? Was this just the Lord stating the obvious? It would seem that Abraham at this point had no clue that these men were heading to Sodom in order to destroy it. Up to this point God had hidden it from Abraham. The Lord goes into further discourse (with whom I do not know) and states the promises that God spoke to Abraham from the very beginning of his call. The Lord declares that Abraham will become a great and mighty nation and the fact that the earth and all nations will be blessed through him. The Lord further declares that, “I have chosen him.” God is openly declaring Abraham as being handpicked for His purposes in the world. God further knows that Abraham will teach his house and children to follow the Lord so that all the promises made to him will be accomplished through his descendants. For whose benefit were these words spoken? Was the Lord speaking to himself, His companions or to Abraham? Seeing that there is no response to the question we could conclude that the statement was not spoken with a response intended but being rhetorical. God is not intending to hide this from Abraham because this is in his spiritual territory and under his authority.

 

God could be telling Abraham about this for any one of three reasons. 1) This affects his nephew and family. 2) He stands as a prophet and as such God is revealing the coming destruction so he could intercede for them. 3) This destruction is happening within the appointed boundary of his promised land.

  

Abraham was willing to go to war, risking his family to return his nephew from capture. There is no doubt that once Abraham heard about this that he would be concerned for his nephew. Abraham never brings up his nephew by name but includes him and his family in the city’s population. Abraham does in fact intercede on behalf of the region but his concern is not entirely for the people. While we may be tempted to believe that Abraham’s greatest concern was for the multitude that would perish because of a few wicked people, but Abraham’s greatest concern was for his friend. God had been a friend for years to Abraham and he had great love and dedication to God and could not bear the idea that God would do what in his mind is unjust. GEN 18:23 And Abraham came near and said, "Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? v24 "Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? v25 "Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" Abraham could not bear the thought of God being so cruel and indifferent to the righteous that lived in the cities. Abraham knew the character of the God he served and it is not one that would destroyed the righteous as if they were wicked.

 

Abraham ultimately interceded for the cities and not just the righteous living in the cities.  Abraham asked God to spare the cities based on the amount of righteous people living within them. The fact that Abraham interceded for cities within his spiritual land and God agrees to his conditions established him as the spiritual authority over those cities. God did not tell Abraham that He was destroying just the wicked among the people, nor just the people but the whole city. God spoke to Abraham’s authority. What do I mean by this? God did not say to Abraham, “Lot and his family are in trouble.” This would establish Abraham’s authority within the family and over his nephew Lot. Nor did God say, “the wicked people of Sodom will be destroyed.” This statement would have given Abraham an ability to intercede or not, for the wicked. This would have established his authority over the wicked people of Sodom, but not Gomorrah or any other city. What God said was, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. v21 "I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know."  God points out to Abraham two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham’s authority was not to just one of these cities but to the whole region where these cities were located. God did not just intend to destroy the wicked but the actual cities with the region around these cities. This fact speaks to Abraham’s authority over the territory. 

 

God told Abraham that He was giving this land not only to his descendants but also to him. If this is true then how did God give the land to Abraham while he was still alive? God can not lie and Abraham possessed this land. He did not possess it physically but it was as good as his.

 

Further evidence of Abraham’s authority over the territory is seen that Abraham is the one who defined the conditions by which the city would be saved. While Abraham started at fifty righteous he quickly reduced it to just ten righteous. God at Abraham’s bidding would overlook the wickedness and spare the city if there were just ten people that are righteous. This kind of intercession is beyond the prophetic call. One of the main jobs of the prophet is to intercede for those they have received revelation concerning. The prophet’s job is not to dictate the terms or the degree of wickedness that is allowed to rule before the place is destroyed. This is beyond the prophetic call.

 

GEN 19:29 “Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.” Even though Abraham’s boldness did not save the cities from destruction, God honored Abraham by delivering his nephew Lot and Lot’s daughters. Thank God for the godly in our families. We may not know until we stand before God all that God has done for us because of a godly relative. If you are that godly relative that seems to be the outcast and oddball in the family, rejoice and stand strong. Your family may not appreciate you now but you have far more value than what they attribute to you.

 

It was after this that Abraham had the run in with Abimelech. We can clearly see that Abraham’s authority had increased significantly, which accounts for why God would have killed Abimelech and his family. Abraham was again afraid of the fact that a world leader could kill him and take his wife without any explanation or concern. (Gen 20:11) Abraham put people at risk because he did not understand spiritual authority but only worldly authority. Though Abraham had increased authority there was not any physical evidence proving that he had authority. God expected others to discern the spiritual position that Abraham stood in. Abraham should have anticipated what God would do on his behalf because of the similar situation with Pharaoh.

 

Unlike Pharaoh, Abimelech after being rebuked by God gave Abraham the option to settle in his land. GEN 20:15 And Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please." Abimelech had no further fear of Abraham nor of the God. After some years have passed Abimelech comes to Abraham because he had noticed that God was with Abraham and blessed him. Abimelech was beginning to recognize the spiritual authority that Abraham was standing in and wanted to secure his and his sons future. I think Abimelech knew that if Abraham wanted he could dethrone him and maybe even rule in his place. So Abimelech tries to protect himself by having Abraham swear to show the same kindness to him and his sons as he showed to Abraham. Scripture states that Abraham swore to it Gen 21:23-24.

 

Abraham after swearing to not deal falsely with Abimelech begins to complain about a well of water. Abimelech did not know anything about this well nor did he know that it was embroiled in conflict between Abraham and some of his servants. Abraham ultimately wants this well of water to be recognized as his because he dug the well. Abraham never asks that the well be given to him. Abraham wants recognition as the one who dug the well so that he cannot be denied access to it. As evidence of that fact Abimelech receives seven ewe lambs from the hand of Abraham thus ending any conflict or question to his right of use. Some may think that Abraham actually purchased the well but I do not. Abraham did not possess any land in Canaan, even though it was promised to him by God. It wasn’t until Sarah died and he purchased land for Sarah’s grave that he owned any physical property within the land God promised to give him. (Gen 23:3-16) The promises of God to Abraham were unfulfilled in his lifetime. When we receive prophetic words it may not always be clear if God intends us to fulfill them or our offspring. Faith in the promises of God is far more important than any physical manifestation that we may be seeing. Abraham had great promises but he saw very little of the physical reality. Abraham’s wealth existed in the fact that God promised him and his descendants a future and a hope that would extend into eternity.