By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:08, NKJV).
Verse 8 of Hebrews 11 begins the faith saga of Abraham, the Friend of God and the Father of the Faithful. Like Genesis, which covered the history of the world from Creation through the Flood in 11 chapters, and then spent the next 12 chapters on the life and family of one man, Abraham, so chapter 11 covers the chronology from Creation to the Flood in 7 verses, and then spends the next 10 on this same one man.
Abraham is important. He is the top of the human funnel that, from the entire population of the planet, filters down to the divinely decreed lineage of Messiah. He is also the very first illustration of the way of salvation in a Fallen world, for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness (Ro 4:3; Ga 3:6; Jas 2:23). Do you see the significance of that?
Human redemption is exemplified in the simple, thrice-repeated proclamation that Abraham was saved by faith, and in being the first, he became our father in the faith. We who believe are all spiritual descendants of this one man who was the founder of many nations, Jew and Gentile, and through his Descendant (singular), all the nations of the world shall be blessed.
From the perspective of Hebrews, this man is characterized by obedience. The fact that the call to go out to his actual going out after his own father died spanned many years does not even enter into the picture. Yes, it took him awhile in this instance, but Hebrews 11 is a "bottom line" exposition.
In the end, he obeyed, much like Jesus' parable of the two sons, the fawning hypocritical liar, and the rebellious one who refused his father's command, but then complied.
To be sure, later on in Abraham's walk of faith, his obedience became immediate, but this starting point was slow to come to fruition, and for all his descendants by faith who struggle with instant obedience to God, his example should be both illustrative and encouraging.
Far from perfect, especially at the start, and even after walking for years with his Lord he stumbled, but in the end, he became the shining example, the foundation, of justification by faith.
Why? Because his heart was wholly toward God and he refused to fall away. When he stumbled, he regained his footing and returned to his Lord.
Know that this is God's perspective with all His children. It is the "bottom line" that matters in the end, and this is both good and horrible news. Good because no matter how badly we stumble or backslide, if our hearts are truly with God, we will return and He will restore.
It is horrible because no matter how holy the outside of our lives appear, it is the inside that matters, and it is only from the inside that we endure to the end.
And while any disobedience, however transitional, costs us blessing and peace that otherwise would have been God's delight to bequeath, it is only those who have been made new by faith alone who are truly coheirs with Christ.
Spiritual adornment, holiness and faithful living should not be outward only, nor is it a grit-your-teeth-and-get it-done kind of effort. It is, instead, the result of a humble acquiescence of a human soul and will to Christ's transformative purposes, no matter what it takes on His part to make us like Him.
For Abraham, it took blessing and testing, riches and loss, joy and mourning, and a nomadic life fraught with peril. For each one of us, absolutely unique Creations of an all-powerful Deity, it may take more of less of these same things.
But the essential prerequisite, however imperfectly implemented, is a willing and obedient heart.
Without that, all the outward holiness and lip-service in the Universe will not provide escape from Hell.
With it, no matter how tattered, erratic, or clumsy our walk may be, in the end, He makes us His forever.
Again, to be sure, the goal is to live in obedience as exemplified by the man Abraham in his later years, but our inevitable failures in no way justify giving up the attempt...
…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).
