CHAPTER SIX

GOD’S HISTORY IN TIME 
(FROM THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE 
TO THE FINAL JUDGMENT 
AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE— 
GENESIS 1:1—REVELATION 20:15)

(5)

WORKING ON HIS ELECT 
FROM ABRAHAM TO JOSEPH

(1)

WORKING ON ABRAHAM 
AND 
JUDGING SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Scripture Reading: Gen. 11:31; 12:1-4; Acts 7:2-4; Gen. 22:16-18

OUTLINE

1. Working on Abraham:
   1. Calling him:
      1. The first time—Gen. 11:31; Acts 7:2-4a:
         1. By appearing to him as the God of glory.
         2. Through his father Terah.
         3. With his nephew Lot and his wife Sarai.
         4. Out of Ur of the Chaldeans and from his relatives.
         5. Into Canaan.
         6. Stopped at Haran.
      2. The second time—Gen. 12:1, 4:
         1. After the death of his father Terah.
         2. Out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father’s house.
         3. Unto the land that Jehovah would show him.
         4. Going with his nephew Lot at seventy-five years of age.
   2. Promising him—vv. 2-3:
      1. To make of him a great nation.
      2. To make his name great.
      3. To bless him and make him a blessing to others.
      4. All the families of the earth to be blessed in him; announcing the gospel beforehand to Abraham (Gal. 3:8).
   3. Appearing to him the third time and promising him that He would give the land of Canaan to his seed—Gen. 12:7.
   4. Saving him from Pharaoh’s insulting of his wife—vv. 10-20.
   5. Promising to give to him and his seed all the land that he saw, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, and to make his seed as the dust of the earth—13:14-17.
   6. The priest of God, as God the Most High, blessing Abraham, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God the Most High / Possessor of heaven and earth”—14:19.
   7. Speaking in a vision to Abraham that He is his shield and his exceedingly great reward; only he who will come from his own body shall be his heir; his heirs will be as many as the stars in heaven; he believed in Him, and He accounted it to him for righteousness; and his seed will be sojourners in Egypt, serve the Egyptians, be afflicted by them for four hundred years, and in their fourth generation return to Canaan; in that day He made a covenant with him to give to his seed the land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates—ch. 15.
   8. Not speaking to Abraham for thirteen years because he took Hagar as his concubine, who brought forth for him a son, Ishmael, when he was eighty-six years old—ch. 16.
   9. Appearing the seventh time to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old and making with him the covenant of circumcision so that he would be the father of a multitude of nations, and changing his name from Abram to Abraham and his wife’s name from Sarai to Sarah, of whom Abraham would have a son, Isaac—ch. 17.
   10. Appearing the eighth time to him by the oaks of Mamre, fellowshipping with him as with His friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23)—Gen. 18.
   11. Saving his wife from Abimelech, king of Gerar—ch. 20.
   12. Giving him Isaac, a son of Sarah, and casting out Ishmael, his son of Hagar—21:1-14.
   13. Speaking to him the tenth time to prove him by asking him to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering to Him and he passing His proving; speaking to him the eleventh time to stop him from offering his son Isaac and he replacing Isaac with a ram (typifying Christ—John 1:29) for a burnt offering; and speaking to him the twelfth time to promise him that He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand on the seashore, and in his seed (Christ—Gal. 3:16; Matt. 1:1b) all the nations of the earth would be blessed—Gen. 22:1-19.
   14. Blessing him and leading his old servant to secure Rebekah as wife to his son Isaac—ch. 24.
2. Judging Sodom and Gomorrah:
   1. To burn Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain with brimstone and fire—19:24-25.
   2. Because of their grievous sin—18:20.
   3. Because of Abraham God sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow—19:29, 12-22.
   4. Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt by looking back—v. 26.