Genesis 13:1-18

Who is Abram? Why is he one of the most important people in all the Bible? Does it matter if I know much about Abram? After all, Jesus is the one I am to trust in. So, should Abram’s life really be all that important to me? Well, whether you inherit eternal life may depends on how much you know about Abram and what was promised to him.

In about a dozen places in the Bible, the Lord God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (e.g., Genesis 50:24; Exodus 3:15; Acts 7:32). This name of God emphasizes the covenant that God made with Israel and the Israelites’ special place as God’s chosen people.

In Exodus 3:15,  God revealed Himself to Moses through the burning bush, he called himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Later, Jesus alluded to God’s burning-bush appearance to Moses and used God’s name to teach a lesson on the resurrection to the Sadducees: “About the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Matthew 22:31–32). 

As Jesus points out, the verb “am”  is in the present tense; God did not say, “I was the God of your fathers.” He said, “I am their God,” showing that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive (in heaven) in Moses’ day. Abram is such an important person for Christians to know about because the promises that are fulfilled in Jesus are first given through Abram. Romans 4:16 tell us that all those who share the faith of Abram are the ones that will inherit eternal life. 

“That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” So, your salvation depends on sharing the same faith with Abram; the same faith that looks to Jesus Christ.