I love that statement:
God calls into being the things that were not.
Of course I know that is true. God created the world and the entire universe by his word. He spoke and that which in one instant was not… became. And was real.
On Friday, I met with an Iranian friend of mine who had decided to follow Christ. He fixed me a wonderful lunch of Iranian food and we sat outside and continued in our reading and discussion of the story of Abraham together. As he has become a follower of Christ, he is now looking for the purpose for his life, trying to decide what God wants him to do with the life that he was given. I explained that the best thing to do is to know the story of God so that we can then decide where our story fits into God’s story. He agreed and so we have been working through that together.
You see, in his life, God called into being something that was not. He gave my friend a desire to leave his old life, one shallowly connected to Islam as a result of the hypocrisy that he saw all around him, led him to leave any spiritual practice even while still knowing that God existed, to ultimately finding satisfaction in Christ. He came to faith in Jesus shortly before I knew him, but now he is beginning to grow.
My friend was dead in his faith, but our God called into being a new life within him. He called into being something that was not.
Our discussion in this last Friday was important because we were discussing Abraham and the fact that God had promised him that his descendents would be like the stars in the sky, but there was a big problem. Abraham had no children.
How would it be possible that Abraham could have descendents like the stars in the sky when he has no children?
That was the main question in the beginning of God’s relationship with Abraham. God had promised Abraham these descedents. He had promised him the land of Canaan, but for 25 years, nothing had changed. The only thing that had happened was that Sarah and Abraham had decided to have Abraham sleep with Hagar so as to have Ishmael and try to fulfill God’s plan themselves.
But that was not God’s plan. No, despite Sarah now being 90 years old and Abraham having just turned 100, God intended to do a miracle once again: He called into being that which was not. God gave Abraham and Sarah their son Isaac. And God told Abraham that while he would bless Ishmael, he would keep his covenant – that God would be his God and they would be his people – only with Isaac, not with Ishmael.
God started with one man, Abraham, and from him, he made a people. He called into being things that were not.
But even that is not the end of the story. God promised Abraham that he would bless all nations through the blessing that he had given to Abraham. Through the covenant that God made with Abraham, through Isaac, and through Jacob, would ultimately come Jesus. God made a covenant that he would be their God and they would be their people, but now Jesus would make a new covenant. There would be a new people, made up not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, of all people.
God would truly call into being the things that were not. God would do that which was unthinkable to the Jews. The Gentiles? Those other people who do not have the law? Who are not circumcised? They will be part of your plan? They will be your people?
Through Jesus, God gives a clear answer: Yes, they are part of my plan. Through Jesus, they are all my people.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Romans 4:16-17
That same covenant that God had originally made with Abraham would now be passed down to all who have faith. God extends his grace to everyone who is willing to to place their faith in him. Just as he did for me. Just as he did for Abraham. Just has he did for my Iranian friend. God made Abraham the father of many nations, but it isn’t just by blood line. It is by faith. Through faith in Christ, God calls into being the things that were not. And now, they are.