FATHER ABRAHAM

 

I could write pages about Abraham. He is my favourite patriarch. And so he should be to everyone who receives the Gospel as by virtue of the Abrahamic covenant we are counted as his children (Abraham 2:10). He is the father of the faithful who obey the mandate to ‘do the works of Abraham’ (D&C 138:41; 132:32). In this respect it should be our quest to know him.

Right at the beginning of his record in the Pearl of Great Price, Abraham tells us who he is. A man is as good as his desires for desire is the catalyst of all good and bad works. These are the desires that Abraham had from the very beginning of his life:

To have the blessings of the priesthood; to possess great knowledge; to be a greater follower of righteousness; to be a father of many nations; to be a prince of peace; to receive instructions from on high; to keep the commandments of God. (Abraham 1:2)

The fact that he harboured these righteous desires in an apostate family that turned away from God through idolatry blows my mind. And here is one hint how these desires could have been born….Abraham was reading scriptures. Whilst still in the land of Ur he had somehow obtained the Book of Remembrance wherein wrote the earlier patriarchs and all inspired people called of God such as the people of Enoch (Moses 6:5; 46; Abraham 1:31). A good proof that we become what we invest ourselves in.

Another important factor in his quest for righteousness is the fact that he rubbed shoulders with the right crowd. Through modern revelation we learn that Abraham received his priesthood from Melchizedek. Most students of scripture assume that this ordination happened when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek in Palestine (Genesis 14:19-20).

Abraham however clarifies this by saying that he became a High Priest in the land of Chaldeans, at the residence of his father (Abraham 1:1-2). Nowhere else in scripture do we find details of that ordination but considering the apostate condition of the land of Chaldeans, it is easy to assume that Abraham had contact with Melchizedek during his early manhood and that Melchizedek had strong influence upon Abraham. One clue is the fact that one of his desires was to become a ‘prince of peace’, as we know Melchizedek was known to be (Alma 13:18).

All of Abraham’s righteous desires were granted by God. These desires took him to a life of such righteousness that he has already been granted his exaltation (D&C 132:28-37). And this is where we want to be. Whereas I appreciate the generations of my family that went before me, I give thanks for one exemplary progenitor, the true father of my heart, Father Abraham.

 

When in heaven we meet

Knit together under the covenant

Of your name

Will you consider us your children

Will we in your heart forever remain?

 

Will you gather us in your arms

And kiss us each as

Your long-awaited son?

Will your heart then rest

When at last we are one?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)

INDOMITABLE ABRAHAM

 

Imagine being raised in a family where your parents had become entrenched in idolatry and believed in human sacrifice yet in your heart deeply burnt your testimony of the one true and living God. This was the childhood of a young man called Abraham from the land of Ur in the Chaldees (Abraham 1:1), what is now modern-day Iraq.

From the very beginning of his life, Abraham had an acute spiritual sensitivity to the reality of the one true and living God.  Consider these insights from his early life:

"At just three years of age, as one source has it, the boy already 'began to understand the nature of God', so that the next year he resisted when his grandfather tried to teach him to worship idols.  Nor could Abraham's father, despite long and persistent effort, persuade his son to revere the statues." (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming A Zion People, p. 40)

"An ancient and widespread legend tells of bold action taken by the young Abraham.  The story is not found in the Bible, but it is the most oft-repeated Abrahamic narrative in the Qur'an, is found in numerous ancient Jewish sources, and was repeated by Brigham Young, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff.  

“As recounted by Jewish sources, it began when the young Abraham found himself alone in a room full of idols….. The event was a major religious festival called by King Nimrod himself and was centred at Nimrod's pagan temple.  Abraham had been urged to attend by his father but declined to go and was instructed to stay behind to guard the idols.

When Abraham was all alone, he acted boldly and decisively.  Some sources report that 'the Spirit of God came upon him'.  As recounted by the Maaseh Avraham Avinu, 'He took an axe in his hand, and as he saw the idols of the king sitting, he said, 'The Eternal, He is God', and he 'pushed them off their thrones to the ground, and he smote them mightily…..' until 'all of them were broken'.  Then, placing 'the axe in the hand of the largest idol', Abraham left.

When his father and the king returned and discovered the wreckage, they were wroth.  'The king commanded that Abraham be brought before him.  And they brought him.  The king and his ministers said to him, 'Why did you shatter our gods?'  He said to them, 'I didn't break them, no.  Rather, the large one of them smashed them.  Don't you see that the axe is in his hand? And if you won't believe it, ask him and he will tell'.  And as the king heard his words, he became angry to the point of killing him."  (E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, Becoming A Zion People, p. 47)

And so the God of Abraham would not allow Abraham to forget Him and He would not allow him to forget who HE was. He would be with him always through this reminder: “When I organised all the intelligences, I saw there were noble and great ones, and I stood in the midst of them and chose my rulers and Abraham you were one of them. I will whisper it to you every minute of your mortal life so you will never forget me and you will never forget who YOU are.” (see Abraham 2:22,23)

We are likewise noble and great ones possessing the indomitable spirit of our father Abraham, ‘the father of the faithful’. God is whispering and we must never forget…..”The Eternal, He is God”.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Clouds of Glory by Greg Sargent)

 

ABRAHAM AND THE GOD OF MERCY

 

I have loved The Old Testament for decades because it has opened my eyes to see the merciful Jehovah. Consider the life of Abraham and triangle of trial that involved obedience, love and anguish. It is the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.

 

To recap: The ancient custom dictated that if a married woman could not produce children for her husband after ten years of marriage, she was to give him another wife. This Sarah did out of obedience. She gave her young maid, Hagar, to Abraham for a second wife. Hagar was not just a maid though, Legends of the Jews claim that Hagar was one of Pharoah’s daughters whom Pharoah gifted to Sarah when she and Abraham left Egypt (Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, 1:223). If this was really so, you can imagine how a young girl who was raised in royal courts felt when she became a maid and a wife to Abraham, when he was 86 years old and that any children she had by him would by custom legally belong to Sarah? The story of Hagar tugs at my heart. When her life became unbearable, Hagar fled but she met the God of Israel in her flight, who told her through an angel that He had ‘heard her affliction’ (Genesis 16:11). This touched the depth of Hagar’s heart to such an extent that she called the name of the Lord ‘THOU GOD SEEST ME’ (v13). The merciful Jehovah not only told Hagar that He sees her but that He will make it up to her for the hard life she was called upon to live. He promised her that her son will become a great nation (Genesis 17:20) and that his posterity ‘shall not be numbered for multitude’ (Gensis 16:10). What consolation that must have been to Hagar who had to watch her son be overlooked as Abraham’s heir! 

 

When Jehovah reaffirmed His covenant to Abraham and promised him an heir once again, Abraham beseeched Him to accept Ishmael as his heir because Abraham loved Ishmael but God refused and named a future baby by the name of Isaac as the heir of the covenant (Genesis 17:19). Not only the promise but reassurance, “I have heard thee” (v20). In other words, I SEE YOU TOO and I will make it up to you. Jehovah promised Abraham that his posterity would be as innumerable as the stars of heaven (Genesis 15:5); that he would become the ‘father of the faithful’ and the founder of the covenant race through whose posterity all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 17; 22:15-18). And then the mercy…..He also told him that Ishmael would be included in the fulfillment of that promise because he would be blessed with 12 sons and God would make of him ‘a great nation’ (Genesis 17:20). Does this not make you want to weep?

 

Sarah, who languished until her old age, in obedience, waiting for her promises to be fulfilled, became a mother of nations, and ‘kings of people came of her’ (Genesis 17:16). But that is not all, she paved the way of belief that if God can cause an old, barren woman to conceive, He can also make a young, virgin girl to do so and bear a Son of God. How honourable her merciful  blessings that God gave her! This makes ME want to weep…..

 

The God of heaven sees all and He makes up for it all, to those who seek Him and would have Him be their God.  May you, who are in the waiting room, receive an increase of faith in the God of Abraham.....the God who fulfils His promises through grace and mercy, now and forever.   

Who is a God like Thee

Jehovah, our King?

Who sees our frailties

Who heeds our pleas;

Who answers in mercy

And runs to our relief.

Who is a God like Thee?

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Encircled in the Arms of His Love by Eva Koleva Timothy)

ABRAHAM, THE FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL

 

What shall we remember Abraham for the most? His obedience, his faith, his trust, his goodness or his righteousness? Abraham is known by more than one name, the most known being ‘the friend of God’ (James 2:23). I personally love ‘the gatherer of souls’ because he preached the gospel wherever he lived and collected converted souls (Genesis 12:5) but my favourite is ‘the father of the faithful’ (D&C 138:41). This title  connects us to this amazing patriarch because we are ‘the faithful’, and if we’re not, we should be. Whether we have been born in the covenant or adopted into it, he is the father of us all, therefore when God said to him: “Thou shalt walk uprightly before me, and be perfect” (JST Gen 17:1), He issued that statement to all of us that belong to the family of Abraham.

 

Abraham was exceptional even before the beginning of his mortal life. When he was shown the great spirits that resided in pre-existence, he was told that he was one of them and that he was ‘chosen before he was born’ (Abraham 3:23). There is something interesting about that. When the Lord appeared to Abraham, He introduced him as Jehovah and showed him all His creations and explained who exactly He is: “I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all….my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen….my name is Jehovah and I know the end from the beginning….I am thy God” (Abraham 3:19,21; 2:7,8; 1:19). We read the interaction between Enoch and God along the same lines. After showing him all the workmanship of His hands, He declares Himself to Enoch in the most powerful manner: “I am Messiah the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven…” (Moses 7:53).

 

My point is this. The Saviour of this world was the firstborn of the Father. He was the perfect Son and therefore the perfect Brother. The Exampler who paved the way to obedience, who lifted us to heights we could not reach on our own even back then. He was the Shepherd long before we became mortal sheep, the Shepherd we followed and believed and chose to be our God.  We, alongside the greats like Abraham, became great in our pre-existent state because of the perfect example we followed. This is evident in Section 138 of Doctrine and Covenants.  The influence He has over us now would have been double-fold back then when we were in His presence. I testify of this because I was told once during a prayer: “My Atonement is my gift to you because you were so valiant in your testimony of Me long before you were born.”

 

How can I contain the magnitude of You

In the meagre chamber of my heart?

How can I absorb the brightness

Of Your light that outshines the rays

Of the brightest sun?

How can I explain the lightness of my being

When You lift me up on wings of faith

Making real the wonder of You?

My love knows no limits

My honour of You, no bounds;

My needy reach to heaven’s door,

To concede, in spirit I am forever poor.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Uplift the World by Eva Koleva Timothy)