wonder, he is the father of the faithful. He certainly was not without his
problems including having a child by his wife’s servant, but even God recognized
him as a special father. In Genesis 18:19 God says of Abraham, "For I know him,
that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall
keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring
upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Where Eli, Samuel, even David
and Solomon failed; Abraham succeeded. His descendants for over four generations
believed in and worshiped God.
When you take a look around your local congregation, how many of the people
there can trace their Christian heritage back 4 generations. I know I don’t see
many if any of those around the church. There were not many in the first century
church either, because within a couple hundred years almost all of the churches
had fallen to apostasy. If there is one thing that makes the difference in a
good father and a great father it is his ability to bring his children into
their own mature faithful relationship with God and give them the tools to do
the same for the next generation.
Next week we will look at the single biggest event in the father-son
relationship of Abraham and Isaac that did that very thing.