The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Sometimes my mind gets a little sidetracked in church. I can't help it. The pastor will say something or I'll read a verse, and my mind just takes off in a bunch of different directions. It happened recently. We were studying Exodus 3 and 6, and the phrase "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" occurs 3 times in chapter 3 and 2 times in chapter 6. Well, of course, this made me think of Genesis!

There's a reason why God reiterated this phrase to Moses and to His people.

When Moses wrote the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), he was traveling with the people of Israel to the Promised Land. They were in the wilderness with Egypt behind them and Canaan before them. This was the time and the circumstances in which Moses was writing, and God used him to pen the history of the universe and of His people in such a way as to prepare them for their journey, entry, and life in the Promised Land while at the same time teach us about Himself, His plan, and His people.

When God spoke to Moses via the burning bush, He identified Himself as the God of the patriarchs. God qualifies and explains His holy name, YHWH, by giving Moses and His people a point of reference to understand Who He is. From oral tradition, the Israelites knew the stories of their forefathers. From these stories, they knew God's promises. They knew God's provision. They knew God's providence.

Yet before leading them into the Promised Land, the Israelites needed to transition from knowing about God to knowing Him personally.

"During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel - and God knew." (Exodus 2:23-25)

First of all, God never forgot His covenant with the patriarchs. Nothing slips off His radar. All of this had been planned before the creation of the universe, and He was just waiting for the opportune moment. God had actually foretold of this sojourning of His people in Egypt in Genesis 15 when He made His covenant with Abraham. Israel was to spend 400 years of affliction as slaves before God would bring them out (Genesis 15:12-16).

Why didn't God just go ahead and give the Promised Land to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob? Why would He make such promises to them if they were to never live long enough to see their fulfillment? Why would God design for His people to spend 400 painful years as slaves to the Egyptians instead of just letting them head home and have the land? Because God was orchestrating the events of all people for His glory.

Picture an orchestra - there's the strings section, the woodwind section, the percussion section, and the brass section. And within those sections, there are many different instruments. The maestro is responsible for conducting all of these sections and all of the instruments in these sections in order to produce the intended melody. God's people are only one section of the orchestra in the massive symphony He is producing.

In Genesis 15:16, God explained to Abraham, "And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." God is just and righteous in His timing, and God used Israel's conquest of Canaan to deliver His judgment on the Amorites. This is one reason for why the section of God's people had to wait before He would lead them out of Egypt.

Faith is the second reason. As I studied Genesis 25:19-28 this week, I pondered why God waited 20 years before allowing Rebekah to conceive. He had promised to create a nation through Abraham, and Isaac was the son of promise. With all the couple had going for them, Rebekah should have become pregnant without a hitch. But, no. Instead of popping out babies like a machine, this couple experienced 20 years of barrenness. God was obviously going to give them children. So why did He wait 20 years to keep this promise?

God was reinforcing that it is He, not man, who is in control. Man is dependent on Him. Man needs God. Isaac and Rebekah could not trust in themselves to make this happen. They had to trust in God. "God wasn't about to let such an important promise seem naturally fulfilled. Had Isaac and Rebekah conceived in the first year, they would have been tremendously less attentive to spiritual purpose and divine participation. In other words, they might have missed God's gift." (Beth Moore, The Patriarchs).

The knowledge we acquire about God and ourselves, the depth we experience in our relationship with Him, the effect we have on others because of what God has done in us - all of this is a gift. A gift we would not have if there were no seasons in our lives in which our faith in God was tested. God gives in such a way in order to help us not miss Him as the Giver.