During the time preceding Abraham—a period of approximately two thousand years—the church consisted of an indiscriminate variety of nationalities, there being no connection with any particular nation or locality. Beginning with Abraham, however, God made a distinction among the nations. He established the church among the descendants of Abraham, and in a given locality, determining this to be Canaan. Thereby one could acquire knowledge about the Christ who was to come with that much more certainty. By way of ancestry, Christ descended from Adam and was thus the promised seed of the woman. Subsequently, this seed was restricted to Abraham, thereafter to Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and finally to David, after whom there was no further restriction.
The distinction between the church before and after Abraham does not relate to the practice of religion (this being one and the same), but rather to her being restricted to one nation. Subsequent to the church having been restricted to Abraham’s seed, several transformations occurred. They can be reduced to six: 1) from Abraham to Moses, 2) from Moses to the judges, 3) from the judges to the kings, 4) from the kings to the captivity in Babylon, 5) from the beginning of the captivity to the return to Canaan, and 6) from this return to Christ, all of which comprehends a period of approximately two thousand years.
The Church from Abraham to Moses
Abraham, the son of Terah, Nahor, Reu, Peleg, Eber, Selah, Arphaxad, Shem, and Noah, lived in Mesopotamia (which in our language means “the land between two rivers”), in a city named Ur, thereafter inhabited by the Chaldeans. Soon after the flood, true religion had been corrupted—even in the generation of Shem, among whose descendants the church existed until Christ. Abraham’s ancestors had become very degenerate, and, like Abraham, were worshipers of idols (cf. Josh 24:14-15). Thus, there was not the least probability for true religion to be restored in their generational line—much less for the church to exist strictly among their descendants. But God, who in all things manifests His sovereign grace, called Abraham in an extraordinary manner and revealed to him that the Messiah would come forth from him—commanding him to leave his country and kindred. He was to go to a different land, the location of which God did not reveal to him at that time. God only told him that He would show it to him. Abraham obeyed God, left Ur, and resided for a period of time in Haran, also located in Mesopotamia. After his father’s death, however, Abraham departed from Haran as well, and crossed the river Euphrates, taking with him his wife Sarah, his brother’s son, Lot, and all that belonged to him—his possessions as well as those servants and maids who were his property. After much roaming about, he entered Canaan near Sichem and settled there, not knowing that this was the land that God would show to him. There God appeared to him and promised that his seed would inherit this land. In response, Abraham built an altar to sacrifice unto the Lord to show his gratitude—as Noah did after he left the ark. A famine in Canaan caused Abraham to leave that land and to travel to Egypt. From there he returned to Canaan—to the place where he had previously built the altar. He dwelt there as a stranger, however, not having one square foot as his own property.
As a result of the multiplication of their cattle, Abraham and Lot could no longer dwell together. Abraham gave Lot the choice as to where he wished to settle, and Lot chose the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. After having lived there for a period of time, the region was conquered by Chedorlaomer, who led away captive both man and beast. Lot was among the captives. Having been notified thereof, Abraham gathered an army of three hundred eighteen men, born in his house, and defeated Chedorlaomer, and rescued his nephew Lot. Lot remained in this region until the time that those cities and the surrounding region were overthrown, at which time the Lord rescued him by means of angels. After he had left the city together with his wife and two daughters, his wife, contrary to God’s command, looked back at Sodom. Immediately God punished her by changing her into a pillar of salt—a pillar as hard and impossible to melt as a stone. The daughters of Lot afterward committed their shameful deed that resulted in the emergence of two evil nations which became the mortal enemies of the children of Israel.
Upon Abraham’s return from his victorious battle, he met Melchizedek, king of Salem, who supplied refreshments for him. The identity of this Melchizedek, and whom he typified, has been dealt with in volume one, chapter 20. Thereafter the Lord again appeared to Abraham, renewed the previous promise of the Messiah to come and the multiplication of his seed, and in an extraordinary manner confirmed the covenant of grace with him. At that time God revealed to him that his descendants would be oppressed in a strange land for four hundred years, after which they would return to Canaan to possess it as their inheritance.