Genesis 11

Genesis 11:1-9

Chapter 15 Babel – The Religion of the Cursed “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”Genesis 11:1-9 In this age of superstition and spiritual ignorance, it is fairly easy to convince educated fools that when we die we float around in the air looking for a new body to inhabit and come back in some animal form, or as another person. It is not difficult to persuade well read, well educated people that there are highly intelligent little green men from Mars or Pluto flying in and out of the earth’s atmosphere in UFOs looking for friendly faces with whom to communicate. Yet, it is next to impossible to persuade men of the most self-evident, undeniable facts revealed in Scripture. Among the many things which men choose not to believe because they wish not to believe is the fact that Satan is real, that his influence is real, and that his most cunning, powerful, deceptive influence has always been religious deception. This is a fact men and women ignore to the peril of their souls and to the peril of the souls under their influence. Our Adversary Satan is today what he has been throughout the history of this world, our adversary. He is the avowed enemy of God, the enemy of Christ, the enemy of the gospel, and the enemy of our souls. In his pride, the fiend of hell longs for the place of God. He longs to sit upon the throne of total sovereignty. Because God has from eternity given that place to his Son and to chosen sinners in his Son (Hebrews 2:6-9), Apollyon has been bent upon the destruction of Christ and his people from the beginning. The red dragon of hell is determined to destroy Christ and the woman of his choice, his bride, the church (Genesis 3:15). No other explanation can be given for the serpent’s attack upon Adam and Eve in the garden, except the serpent’s hatred of God and his people. Satan’s rage was displayed in Cain’s murder of his brother, Abel. Cain murdered his brother for only one reason. Abel confessed that the only way a sinner could approach God is by the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel was the first disciple of Christ persecuted and murdered for righteousness’ (the righteousness of Christ) sake (Matthew 5:11-12). It was Satan’s hellish influence that swelled Ham’s heart with pride and hypocrisy, causing him to despise his father Noah and gleefully expose his father’s sin. Satan’s master plan by which he seeks to dominate the world, by which he strives to destroy the souls of men, by which he toils night and day to do what he knows he cannot do (topple the throne of the Almighty and destroy the people of his love), is deception, hellish religious deception. Satan is the master of deception. The prince of darkness is the great imitator. It is not now and never has been his aim to destroy the souls of men by drugs, alcohol, pornography, adultery, fornication, abortion and murder. By these things men and women destroy their lives and the lives of others. However, as horrible as such vices are, Satan’s devices are far more crafty. He seeks to destroy the souls of men by religion and righteousness. He cannot destroy the Christ of God. So he raises up false christs, antichrists. He cannot keep sinners from Christ by making them ever so wicked. So he transforms himself into an angel of light and sends preachers from hell to teach sinners how to make themselves righteous (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). He cannot destroy the church and kingdom of God, the woman of Christ’s choice, his virgin bride (made holy, unblameable, and unreproveable by his grace and righteousness). So the destroyer has, from the beginning, raised up and maintained a religion to rival the worship of God, a woman to rival and seek to destroy the church of God. Babylon, the Great HarlotThis rival religion, this rival woman, by whom the prince of darkness rules over the minds of men and women throughout the world is referred to throughout the Scriptures as Babylon, the great whore, the mother of all harlot religion (Proverbs 7:1-27; Revelation 16-18). The wine of this old, old whore’s fornication, by which she keeps the heads and hearts of men in the spin of a drunken stupor is self-righteous, freewill, works religion. We are warned and commanded of God to come out of and have nothing to do with the blasphemous, soul-damning charms of Arminian, freewill, works religion (Proverbs 6:23-26; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 57:11; Jeremiah 50:8; Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:45; 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1; Revelation 18:4). The religion of Babylon, Arminian, freewill, works religion, is the religion of the damned. The religion of this world began as an organized religious system way back in Genesis 10, 11, during the days of Nimrod and the building of the tower of Babel. Nimrod, the Mighty Rebel The story of Nimrod and the great tower of Babel was very prominent in medieval folklore. Regretfully, most of what people think about Nimrod, Babel, and the great tower of Babel arise, not from the account given by divine inspiration, but from medieval folklore. The myths and legends of dark ages still linger. We are told by many, based only on these myths and legends, that the walls of Babel were nine miles high. Men and women commonly pass over the account given in Scripture with little notice and learn nothing from it, simply because they mistakenly picture a huge tower reaching upward toward heaven, so high that men hoped to walk into heaven by climbing a brick tower. How easily Satan blinds us to the warnings and teachings of Holy Scripture. The city of Babel (Babylon) was built by cursed Ham’s grandson, Nimrod, in rebellion against God, as a fortress to protect unbelieving rebels from the wrath and judgment of God. The religion of Babel is the religion of the cursed, the damned, the reprobate. The man who built this city was Nimrod, a mighty rebel against God (Genesis 10:8-10). The name “Nimrod” means rebel, and a rebel this man was. He was the cursed son of a cursed son. Nimrod knew the curse of God upon Ham and Canaan. He knew the reason for the curse. He knew what Ham had done to Noah.

Yet, being the proud rebel he was, Nimrod dared sit himself up as the judge of God’s judgment. He was a hunter, but not just a hunter of game. This man was a bloodthirsty man. He wanted all men to be put in subjection to him; and he was determined to make it happen, no matter who he had to kill or how many. God said, “The sons of Ham will serve Japheth and Shem.” Nimrod said, “We’ll see about that.” He “began to be a mighty one in the earth,” and took possession of the land of Shinar and all the peoples of the East. When we read in Genesis 11:9 that “he was a mighty hunter before the Lord,” the word “before” would be better translated “against.” The beginning of this God hating rebel’s empire was Babel. It had been at least 300 years since the flood. The terror of God’s judgment was forgotten. The people were of one language, doing great, impressive things. Nimrod made himself powerful. The words and counsel of Eber were ignored. The gospel he learned from his grandfather Noah through his godly father Shem, was held in contempt. The worship of God was trampled under foot. The sheer power of Nimrod’s wealth, influence, following, and terror caused the whole world, except for God’s chosen remnant to follow him and unite with him, in the name of God, fighting against God and his people. The Tower of BabelThe city of Babel, which Nimrod built, was more than a place of government. Babel was a religious refuge. Today, we associate the word “Babel” with confusion. That is what the name has come to mean because God turned the place into confusion. However, the word “Babel” originally meant something far different. Nimrod named the city Babel because Babel meant “the gate of God.” Nimrod was, in the name of worshipping God, like Cain of old, determined to worship God only on his own terms (Genesis 11:1-4).

In other words, he was in reality worshipping himself and calling it the worship of God. This is what the Holy Spirit calls “will worship” in Colossians 2:23. Babel was a refuge of lies, but a refuge in which men tried to secure themselves from the wrath of God and convinced themselves that they had done so.

Babel, like all false religion, was built by a confederacy of rebels. – “They said one to another…” Honest, faithful, believing men do not try to gain the approval or amass the strength of others in worshipping God. They just worship God, obeying his will and his word. Rebels need the reinforcement of other rebels. They never dare to stand alone with God and for the glory of God against the flood of human opinion. Babel, like all false religion, was a religious refuge built according to man’s wisdom. The followers of Nimrod discovered a new way of doing things. They made bricks and mixed mortar (the bricks of their self-righteous works, held together by the serpent-slime of their free will) to build a church house and a city with man-made material, for the honor of man, and called it the gate of God. It was the most splendid city and the most gorgeous temple the world had ever seen; but God held it in utter contempt; and so did those men and women who worshipped him. Like all false religion, the city and tower of Babel were built by men, for men, to protect them from the judgment of God. That is the meaning of Gen 11:4. “Go to, LET US BUILD US A CITY AND A TOWER, whose TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN – LEST WE BE ABROAD upon the face of the whole earth.” Obviously, the sons of Ham understood that the curse God placed upon them meant the dispersion of their race through all the earth, the destruction of their family. They said, “No sir. We will stay right here and protect ourselves from God’s judgment, by building a house and religion which God himself will have to approve of, by which the whole world will know our names forever.” When the Scriptures speak of this tower reaching to heaven no more is implied than a very high, massive wall (Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1), a fortress. It matters not what a person’s refuge is, if it is not Christ and him crucified, it is a refuge of lies and will be swept away in the day of God’s wrath (Isaiah 28:14-21). The religion of Babel was exactly the same as the religion of this perverse generation, the religion of the curse. False religion has always been God’s curse upon men and women who refuse to worship him. All false religion is man centered, flesh pleasing, freewill, works religion, religion by which man attempts to make himself acceptable to God (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). This was the mark of Cain. This is the mark of the beast. This is the religion of our age. In ancient Babylon, in the days of Nimrod, in defiance to the God of Noah, men said, “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name.” That is the creed of all false religion. The religion of Babylon is any religion which centers in man, depends upon man, and gives man a name of honor. It matters not what name the religion wears, any religion that makes salvation dependent upon something man does, rather than what Christ has done, is the religion of Babylon. Any religion that makes salvation to be determined by the will of man, rather than the will of God, is the religion of Babylon. Let me be unmistakably clear. ElectionNo one can deny that the Bible teaches the doctrine of election; but most say that election is determined by God responding to what he “foresaw” man would do. Others say, “God chose to save whosoever will, and if a man wills to be saved he makes himself one of the elect.” In either case, election is dependent on the will of man. That is Babylonian doctrine. The Word of God declares that election is by God’s sovereign will alone (Ephesians 1:3-6; 2 Timothy 1:9). Redemption All religions, which claim to be Christian, profess to believe in redemption by the blood of Christ. Most declare that the blood of Christ was shed to redeem those who perish as well as those who are saved. Such doctrine means that Christ shed his blood in vain for those who perish in hell. Such doctrine declares that it is man who makes the blood of Christ effectual for redemption by the power of his free-will. That is Babylonian heresy. The Word of God declares that Christ has effectually accomplished the redemption of his people (Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:12). RegenerationRegeneration, the new birth , is declared to be the result of man’s choice only by those whose religion is Babylonian. The Word of God plainly declares that man’s will has nothing to do with the accomplishment of the new birth. It is the work of God’s will and power alone (John 1:12-13; Romans 9:16). The Cause of JudgmentThe cause of divine judgment was then as it is now and ever shall be, – the willful rejection of divine revelation (Gen. 115-9) The words at the end of Gen 11:6, (“now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do”), are not a suggestion that God was fearful these men might actually get to heaven by their inventions. These words are a declaration of the basis of divine judgment. Nimrod and the sons of Ham would not, by any means, be turned away from their delusion. Look what happened when the Lord God came down to Babel, to visit them with his wrath and vex them with his sore displeasure. He confounded their language so that they could not understand one another. He sealed them up in confusion and reprobation. God fixed it so that those who would not believe could not believe (Proverbs 1:23-33). The sons of Ham could no longer understand the speech of Shem’s sons. The sons of God speak a language the world cannot understand. The Lord God scattered the rebels. He scattered them from place to place over the earth. He scattered them in enmity against one another. He scattered them through all the earth, so that they might serve his purpose of grace toward his elect in all places. The Purpose of GodNothing and no one shall ever overturn God’s purpose, destroy his church, or even slightly hinder his purpose. As Satan and the demons of hell are God’s unwilling and unwitting vassals, so too, the sons of Ham can do nothing but serve God’s elect, exactly according to God’s purpose (Genesis 9:25). The confusion of divine judgment is forever ended in Christ, only in Christ. The Lord God sent confusion in his wrath, to foil the schemes of hell. But when God pours upon us the Spirit of grace and supplication and turns our hearts to Christ, as he did on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the confusion is over (Colossians 3:10-11). All who would know, worship, and be saved by God, must come out of Babel, the religion of the cursed, and flee to Christ (2 Corinthians 6:12 to 2 Corinthians 7:1; Revelation 18:1-4).

Genesis 11:27-13

Chapter 17 The God of Glory Appeared to Abraham “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 11:27 to Genesis 13:4 Of all the men mentioned in Bible history, other than our Lord himself, none is set before us as a more prominent example of faith than Abraham. Abraham is uniquely described as the friend of God, the father of them that believe, and that man through whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. These things make Abraham a man whose life and experiences in the grace of God are worthy of careful study. In fact, the Book of Genesis, from chapter 11 and Genesis 11:27 through the rest of the Book, is taken up almost exclusively with Abraham and his seed. However, when we study the lives and experiences of men like Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, men of exemplary faith and faithfulness, we must not look upon them as extraordinary men, but as men who were saved by the grace of the extraordinary God of glory. Abraham’s greatness must be traced back to and attributed to the greatness of God and his grace. Abraham would say, concerning himself what Paul said concerning himself. – “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Indeed, that is the delightful confession of all who know God. Every believer delights to turn attention away from himself to the Lord God alone. It is the joy of every believing heart to sing, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake.” We recognize that the life we live in this body of flesh, we live by the grace of God.

The life of faith is not a life of amazing will power, fortitude, and self-control. Far from it. The life of faith is a life of amazing grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Gift and Operation of GodFaith in Christ is the gift and operation of God in us. Faith begins with God, not with man. Faith is not the result of man’s will, decision, or choice. Left to ourselves, none of us would or could believe God. If we believe, it is because it is “God who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” We believe “according to the working of his mighty power.” We believe by “the operation of God,” because God has given us faith to believe. This is exemplified in the experience of Abraham. Genesis 12:1 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.” Notice that Moses says, “the Lord had said unto Abraham.” We are not told exactly when the Lord first spoke to the man Abram (Abraham) until we hear Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7. There we read “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran” (Acts 7:2). Those words, “the God of Glory,” are used only twice in the entire Bible, in Acts 7:2 and Psalms 29:3. They refer, of course, to our Lord Jesus Christ, “the King of Glory.” It was Christ himself who came to and made himself known to Abram. What does this teach us? First, God gives faith to whom he will. Abram was in Ur, dwelling among the Chaldeans, living in the midst of an idolatrous people, when God almighty stepped into his life. Why did the God of Glory appear to this particular man? The only answer that can be given is this: “It pleased the Lord.” God loved Abram. God chose Abram. God was pleased to be gracious to Abram. Abram was one of that great multitude whose names were written in the Lamb’s book of life before the world began, one of those for whom the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. Every sinner to whom God gives faith is, like Abram, a monument to the sovereign will, purpose, and grace of God (Romans 9:16). Second, faith is wrought in the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners by the revelation of Christ (Galatians 1:15). No one can or will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ until Christ is revealed to him and in him. That which is essential to faith is the knowledge of God in Christ (John 17:3). You cannot believe until Christ, the God of Glory appears to you (2 Corinthians 4:6). Four hundred years had passed since the flood. The world was steeped in idolatry, much as it is today. Yet, even in that wicked, perverse, idolatrous generation, God sent someone to Abram who told him the story of grace, redemption, and salvation. When the word was preached, “the God of Glory appeared to Abraham,” and Abraham believed God. That is always how faith comes to chosen sinners (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 10:13-17). Third, faith in Christ is the result of the effectual call of God the Holy Spirit in irresistible grace. God “called Abraham alone, and blessed him and increased him” (Isaiah 51:2). That fact is revealed by God as an encouragement and reason to “look unto the rock whence we are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence whence we are digged.” Abraham’s call is relevant to us because the grace of God given to him, the call by which he was brought to life and faith in Christ, is the same grace and call by which God saves his elect in all ages. Genesis 12:2-3 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” There are many things about God’s call of Abram which must not be overlooked. It was a gracious, personal, distinguishing call. God called Abram simply because he was pleased to do so. There was nothing in him which made him the object of God’s grace. By this call, the Lord God distinguished Abram from all those dwelling in Ur of the Chaldees, who were left to themselves. The Lord God called Abram personally, and called Abram alone. As it is written, “The good Shepherd calleth his own sheep by name.” It was a separating call. The Lord God called Abram to forsake his family and friends and their gods. If we would follow Christ, we must, like him, turn from all the idolatrous gods of darkness and death to the one true and living God (2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1; Revelation 18:4). All who are called of God are called to abandon self, to yield up the rule of their lives to Christ the Lord, denying father, mother, brother, sister, and their own lives, for the gospel’s sake (Luke 14:25-33). It was a call to blessedness. The Lord God made promises of true blessedness to Abram. These are not promises conditioned upon Abram’s obedience, but sure and certain promises. Abram must obey God’s call; but his obedience as well as the blessings following it were secured by God’s purpose of grace. The Lord promised to make of him a great nation, which he did both in the physical nation of Israel and in that “holy nation” which is “the Israel of God”. In blessing him, God promised to make Abram’s name great. Blessed indeed is that one whose name is great before God, whose name is written in heaven! God promised to make Abram a blessing. Wonderful grace! God takes sinners who are corrupt and corrupting, and makes them a blessing. Those who by nature defile everything and everyone they touch, when called of God and born of his Spirit, become a blessing everywhere they go, to all around them. Indeed, God deals with men and nations, (providentially, in mercy or in judgment), as they deal with his people. He says, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” Then, the Lord God promised Abram that he would be that man through whom Christ, the promised Seed of woman (Genesis 3:15) would come, by whom redemption, salvation and grace would come to God’s elect in all nations (Galatians 3:13-14). The word of promise was, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” The call of God is an irresistible, effectual call. – “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran” (Genesis 11:4; Psalms 65:4; Psalms 110:3). When God the Holy Spirit comes calling, chosen, redeemed sinners obey his voice. Obedient FaithGen_12:4-5 – “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.” Faith in Christ is obedient. Faith obeys God. It is not perfectly obedient; but it is obedient. God has ordained that those who are saved by his grace walk before him in obedience (Ephesians 2:10). And what God has ordained God always accomplishes. It appears that Abram’s obedience was reluctant. The Lord had plainly told him to leave his kindred and his father’s house and go into the land of Canaan; but Abraham and Terah left Ur together and they dwelt in the land of Haran, until Terah died (Genesis 11:31-32). After God took his father Terah, we read, “So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him.” Disobedience is always costly. If we are his, the Lord God will see that we obey him. If necessary, he will take away anything and anyone hindering us, as he took Terah from Abram. Once Terah was dead, Abram went on to Canaan, as the Lord commanded him. God has his ways of making his children willingly obedient to him; and where he gives faith he also gives obedience by the sweet discipline of his grace (Exodus 4:24-27). Worshipping FaithGen_12:6-9 “And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.” Faith, true faith, worships God. If we believe God, we will worship him as he is, as he makes himself known to us in his Son, in his Word, and in his works. If we believe God, we will worship him at the altar he requires and in the way he prescribes. Christ is our altar of worship (Hebrews 13:10). The altar at which Abraham worshipped God typified him. God requires that we worship him on either an altar of earth, or and altar of unhewn stones, without steps (Exodus 20:24-26).

We must worship the Lord God on the Altar of his making, without any contribution from us, without any ascending steps. Christ alone is that Altar. We must come to God trusting Christ alone, contributing nothing. If we make any contribution, we pollute the altar (Galatians 5:2; Galatians 5:4). Wee cannot come to God by ascending degrees of works based sanctification, but by faith in Christ alone. If we worship God, we will worship him in his house. “Bethel” means the house of God. There Abraham worshipped, and there God’s people still worship. God reveals himself in Bethel, in his house. Bethel is all the more precious, the house of God is all the more precious, because as long as we are in this world the Canaanites surround us. Imperfect FaithIn Genesis 11:10-20, the Holy Spirit shows us that faith in Christ, even the most exemplary faith, is never perfect faith. Faith must be tried. By the trial of our faith, God proves both the reality of it and the weakness of it. So the Lord sent a famine in the land of Canaan. Abram’s faith, like ours, was weak. God plainly told him to go to Canaan and promised to bless him there. But when famine came, Abraham went down to Egypt. In his unbelief and disobedience, he feared for his life and told Sarah to tell the Egyptians that she was his sister instead of his wife. In weakness, fear, and disobedience, Abraham temporarily forsook God for Egypt. But God abides faithful. He would not forsake the object of his grace (2 Timothy 2:13; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:5). How gracious God is! When we would bring ourselves to shame and misery, when we would, if left to our own devices, destroy ourselves and all around us, the Lord our God graciously protects his own. He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail. It is written, “The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.” Abraham was foolish; but God is wise. Abraham was unbelieving; but God abides faithful. When Abraham chose a path of destruction, God plagued the house of Pharaoh, kept the pagan king of Egypt from the lusts of his own heart, and caused that pagan king to become the protector of his erring child (Genesis 12:20). Persevering FaithGen_13:1-4 “And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” With all our faults, failures, failings, trials, falls, and sins, faith will never die. True faith will persevere. Faith does not persevere because we are faithful, but because God is faithful. Faith does not persevere because we are strong, but because our God is strong. Faith does not persevere because of our hold on the Lord, but because of the Lord’s hold upon us. This is what we see in these four verses. God brought Abraham out of Egypt (Genesis 11:1). Not only did he force Abraham to leave Egypt (Genesis 12:19), but he graciously enriched him, using even his unbelief, weakness, and disobedience to do so (Genesis 11:2). Abraham came out of Egypt a better man. The word “rich” means much more than wealthy. It means “honorable.” Abraham was made a better man by his failure, because God works all things together for the good of his elect, even our failures (Psalms 76:10; Romans 8:28). Abraham pitched his tent between Bethel (the house of God) and Hai (a heap of ruins), and worshipped God “at the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” I can almost hear the old patriarch, say, as he kneels to worship by the heap of ruins at Bethel, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord…What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord…. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people….O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.” Let us, like Abraham, return to the place of the altar, to Christ our Savior, and abide there, as sinners saved by the grace of God alone, through the merits of his blood and righteousness. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6).