Thru the Bible

Guest (Male): Have you ever wondered if it's really possible to come back to God after failure, after fear, after feeling far away from Him? Welcome to Thru the Bible, where Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to remind us of this simple hope-filled truth: there's always a way back to the altar. The arms of the Father are still open, whether you're Abraham, the prodigal son or daughter, or anyone who longs to return to God.

It's comforting truth. No one is ever too far gone to come back to Him. We're in Genesis chapter 12 as our study continues, and we'll see this played out in the life of Abraham through conflict, through unfair circumstances, and through choices that test trust. Even though this story unfolded thousands of years ago, it still feels close to home. Family conflict, relationship conflict, and learning how to trust God when life just doesn't seem fair—it's all part of the human story, and God meets us right where we need Him.

Before we begin though, let me share a couple of letters from listeners of our Swahili program in Burundi, a small nation in Eastern Africa where God is powerfully at work through His word. One listener writes this: "Good evening. I'm so grateful for this Bible teaching, which has completely renewed the way I see my life. Before I discovered it, I felt far from God and unsure of my true purpose. As I listened, God's word began to speak directly to my heart, guiding me toward repentance and a deeper relationship with Him. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and His presence has brought peace, strength, and clarity. I thank God for using this program to transform my life."

Another listener shares this: "I am truly thankful for this program, which has touched my life in a remarkable way. I had been seriously ill and bedridden for days. As I listened to your prayer and put my faith in God, I sensed His presence surrounding me with peace and hope. Day by day, my strength returned, and the pain vanished completely. Now I'm fully healed and renewed, both physically and spiritually. I praise Jesus for His miraculous work in my life, both in my body and in my heart. He is the giver of good gifts."

Stories like these remind us that God's word is alive and active, calling people back to Himself and then restoring men and women and bringing hope in every season of life. It's a message that we never tire of sharing, and it's a message that should give us hope if we're in similar situations. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You that there is always a way back to You. Would You use Your word to draw hearts to Yourself and then to bring new life where it's needed most? We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now if you have your Bible, turn with us to the 12th chapter of the Book of Genesis. We’re putting in today at verse 13. We’re looking at Abraham, and he’ll be a subject all the way through the Bible, by the way. More is said about Abraham probably than any other in the Scripture. Now, we found that Abraham went into the land after he dilly-dallied in the land of Haran, and God appeared to him when he got into the land.

But he didn't stay there, although he went up and down the land and saw that it was a good land. It’s not like it is today, friends. I’d have you know that because a great many people can't understand how it could be called a land of milk and honey. We’ll see that when we get to Deuteronomy, what happened to the land. But it was a glorious land in that day. But a famine came, and this man Abraham goes down to Egypt.

He recognized he’d get in difficulty because of the beauty of his wife. We read here in verse 12: "Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive." Abraham said to his wife, Sarah, "Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee." By the way, that was a half a lie. A half-lie sometimes is worse than a whole lie, and this time it certainly was to deceive.

Now, they have found, as many of you know, what are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls over in Qumran, along by the Dead Sea in caves there. One set they got, they couldn't unroll it because it was so fragile and it had been wrapped so long. The leather, they were afraid it would just shatter and come to pieces. They could see one name, Lamech. So they called it part of the book of Lamech and said this was one of the apocryphal books of the Bible. Boy, were they wrong.

The nation Israel bought it, and in the museum there, they began to moisten it and soften it, and they were able to unroll it. What they found out was that it was the 12th chapter, 13th chapter, 14th chapter, 15th chapter of the book of Genesis, of all things, but not a text that we have, rather an interpretation of it. Here in chapter 12, in that part of it, it tells about the beauty of Sarah, actually describing her features and telling about how beautiful she was.

Well, I think that merely confirms what the Word of God said. Pharaoh certainly wanted her. Then when you get to chapter 13, God told Abraham, "Walk through the land in the length and the breadth thereof." This scroll gives a first-person account by Abraham of his journey. The very interesting thing is that that’s not Scripture, but it merely confirms Scripture. It also confirms the fact that that land was just like God said it was. The eyewitness, apparently back in those days, was able to discover it.

Whether Abraham ever gave a first-hand description, I don't know, but the Word of God doesn't say that. God says it, and that ought to be enough for us, and God puts it on that kind of basis. Now you remember the encounter that he had down in the land of Egypt. The thing was that Pharaoh did take Sarah. As you well know, in that day, they’d have to go through a period of preparation for a woman to become the wife of a ruler. You find that in the book of Esther.

During that period, God appeared to Pharaoh and said, "Don't you take that woman; that’s another man's wife." In verse 18 of the 12th chapter, Pharaoh called Abraham and said, "What's this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? So I might have taken her to be my wife. Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way." Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him. They sent him away and his wife and all that he had.

So God is over-ruling, but God does not appear to him in the land of Egypt. Now in chapter 13, we see the return of Abraham from the land down there. What we have here is Abraham and Lot leave Egypt and return to the land of promise. Lot here separates from Abraham and goes to Sodom. What happens? Well, God appears to Abraham for the third time. As long as he's in the land of Egypt and as long as he's still holding on to Lot, God does not appear to him.

The minute that he comes back to the land and there is the separation from Lot, God appears to him. Now I begin reading in chapter 13: "And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south." Now don't miss this next verse, verse 2 of Genesis 13: "And Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." Again I repeat, he was the John D. Rockefeller of that day, and he was a very wealthy man at this time.

He went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel. Now that means he went way north of Jerusalem, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. Now you see he had come to the south, around Hebron. Now he goes north of Jerusalem to Bethel, and it’s unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first. There Abraham called on the name of the Lord. This man is a man, you see, that though he may stumble and fall, he comes back to God. How wonderful it is to have a God we can come back to.

"And Lot also, which went with Abraham, had flocks, and herds, and tents." Lot did pretty well also down in the land of Egypt. "And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land."

May I say, the Word of God's a marvelous Word if you just only let it speak to you. Will you notice this: Abraham actually got two things in the land of Egypt that caused him untold grief. One was riches. The second was a little Egyptian maid by the name of Hagar. We’ll see that later. But here he got riches, and it causes him and Lot now to have to separate. There’s strife between them.

Then did you notice this statement: "The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land." The very interesting thing is, Abraham's herdmen and Lot's herdmen are fighting. Here come Abraham and Lot, and they disagree. Then the Canaanite whispers over to the Perizzite and says, "Look at them. Fighting again. They came into this land, built an altar to the living and true God. My, how we looked up to Abraham. We thought when he first came here he was such a wonderful man. We knew he was honest. We knew he was truthful. But look at him now. Look at the strife they’re having."

I don't think the Perizzite and the Canaanite were very well impressed by Abraham and Lot at this time. Let me say this to you—I may step on somebody's toes. I don't know your town; I don't know where you live. But in your town, if you’re like other towns and the town I came from, the Methodists and the Baptists and the Presbyterians just didn't get along. They were fighting. Sometimes in the church today, there are these internal fights. The unsaved man on the outside knows about it.

May I say to you, he says, "If that’s Christianity, I don't want any of it. I can get a fight outside. I don't need to join the church to get a fight." The Lord Jesus says to the church today, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples." Oh, no. He said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another." The Perizzite and the Canaanite, those old rascals, they know when you’re fighting on the inside, friends.

That’s the reason I had an uncle that never came to the Lord. My aunt used to weep and say, "Oh, he won't listen." Well, you know why? With her lived a sister, another aunt. I used to go there sometimes Sunday for dinner. You know what we had for dinner? Roast preacher. One of my aunts went to the Methodist church, the other went to the Presbyterian church, and oh boy, did they try to outdo each other, talking about the preacher and the fights that were going on. I used to watch my uncle; he’d just sit there and eat. When he’d get up, he’d leave and go down to his club on Sunday afternoon. He’d come home that evening; he wasn't drunk, but he sure had several drinks.

May I say to you, they never won him. A lot of people are not being won today because of the strife that’s inside the church. This is an interesting thing right here: "The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land." They’re still dwelling in the land. They’re right near your church, by the way. Now will you notice: "And Abraham said unto Lot, Let there be no strife." It’s Abraham, by the way, that makes the division. Abraham's a great man. Listen to him.

"I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." It took a big man to tell him that. In other words, Lot could choose what he wanted and Abraham would take what was left.

"Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom." That's interesting. All his days in that land, when he was with Abraham, at night he’d just push back the flap of his tent and look out and say, "Miss Lot, isn't that a beautiful spot down there?" In the morning, he’d get up and he said, "My, it looks so attractive down there." The grass is always greener in another pasture. When the day came when he could make a decision and go, you know the direction he went.

No man falls suddenly. It always takes place over a period of time. You begin to lift the flap of your tent, and you pitch your tent towards Sodom. That’s the beginning. Lot lifted up his eyes. He saw the plain and he heads in that direction. That’s the biggest mistake he ever made in his life. Now he didn't know this, verse 13: "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." We’ll see later what happened to Lot and Mrs. Lot and the family down in Sodom.

Now verse 14: "And the Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated from him." Here is the third appearance of God to this man. "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward." This is the land. God’s going to give it him. Now as God continues to appear to him and later on to the other patriarchs, God puts sideboards around that land. In other words, He put a border to it and told them exactly the land. He was very specific about it.

By the way, that ought to get rid of that song "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." If there ever was a song that need not be sung at a funeral, that’s the one. "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." Can you imagine Abraham now looking northward, eastward, southward, and westward and singing "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" when he was standing right in the middle of it? May I say to you, friends, heaven is a real place, not a beautiful isle of somewhere. A very definite place. The Word of God is quite specific.

Now God says, "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." Now you notice what God does for this man. He now labels the land, tells him he's in it. He also confirms again the fact that he's going to have a tremendous offspring, which he has had. Now He says in verse 17: "Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee."

The very interesting thing is that this Dead Sea Scroll—they called it the Book of Lamech and it wasn't that at all—actually it describes this particular section of Genesis. Here it says Abraham was to walk through the land in the length and in the breadth thereof, and this scroll gives a first-person account by Abraham of the land, just what it was. It was a wonderful land in that day.

"Then Abraham removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." Here he goes again. He's quite an altar builder. You could always tell where Abraham had been; he left a testimony. They’ve left a footprint on the moon. They’ve left a flag up there and a little motto: "We have come in peace." But they didn't leave the Bible, the Word of God. Well, it wouldn't have done any good anyway, but it reveals the difference in the age and the thinking of the period in which we live today.

The important thing to Abraham was an altar to the Lord, and that's exactly what he built. Mamre means richness, and Hebron means communion. That’s a marvelous place to dwell. I think that you can locate that tree where Abraham was, by the way, and the well that’s there. I’ve been there; it’s quite an interesting spot between Hebron and Mamre. That is where Abraham dwelt. It’s a good place to be, in the place of richness and then a place of communion with God. This seems to have been his home. That’s where he’s buried today.

Now that brings us to chapter 14 of Genesis. Here in chapter 14, we find the first war and Abraham delivers Lot. We find the first priest, Abraham blessed by Melchizedek. These are the two great truths that are here. In one sense, this is one of the most remarkable chapters. It doesn't seem to fit in with the story at all. You feel like it could be left out, that there’s a continuity without it. But may I say again, it’s one of the most important chapters that we have in the book of Genesis. We have in this chapter a very remarkable account of two things: the first war and then this first priest, Melchizedek.

Now let’s come to the first here because this is extremely important. "It came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar." That's a very good exercise in pronunciation. But this is a very important chapter.

Now we find here that, first of all, this is a historical document. The kings of the East defeat the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s what we have here in the first 11 verses. For quite a few years, the critical radical scholars rejected this. They said that these men do not appear in history at all, that they’re not in secular history, and that this was a rather ridiculous story. Did you know today that these men have been found on monuments and they’ve been found on tablets, and that they did exist? In fact, Amraphel is the Hammurabi of secular history.

Note this because it's very important to get this before us here. This is tremendously significant. Now we find that there was war, and this is the first war that’s mentioned. So you see, mankind began early in making war. Now we find that these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the 13th year they rebelled. That was what brought the kings of the East, and they came against Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now this is nothing in the world but a historical record, and I am not intending to read this verse by verse here. You probably noticed that we’ve pretty much read the first part of Genesis verse by verse and have dealt with it. That is something I wish we could do for the entire Bible, but there are times when we’ll pass over sections, and we’re doing that right here. Now the kings of the East, they come and they overcome the kings that have joined together around the Dead Sea, the lower part of it.

They’re on their way to take back these as captives. Now if you have a map, you’ll find out they almost went by Abraham's tent in order to leave the Dead Sea, go back up through the fertile crescent, and then go back to the land that they came from in the East. Now we’re going to follow that next time because we’re going to see Abraham doing a very remarkable thing, as he with a surprise attack rescues Lot. Until next time, may God richly bless you.

Guest (Male): The moment Abraham turned back to God, God was ready to receive him. And that's exactly how He responds to us as well. So if you know the Lord but maybe you find yourself metaphorically speaking living in the land of Egypt instead of the land of promise, now's the time to turn around and seek Him again. When you do, you'll find Him waiting with open arms, ready to pour His mercy into your life. That truth about God is woven throughout the Scriptures, and we see it clearly in our study today.

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This information is so helpful as we continue to make wise decisions on where God is directing this ministry to go and then how we'll share His word with the people there. Now Abraham's story continues next time when his nephew Lot is kidnapped. How will Abraham respond? Well, hop on the Bible bus when it comes your way again, and we'll find out together.