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God%u2019s Promise.Terah became the father of Abram. After Abraham became an adult, God made a promise to Abram. %u201cThe LORD had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.%u2019%u201d (Genesis 12:1-3) God changed Abram's name to Abraham when He established His covenant with him. So, Abraham left his home and went to Canaan.Compiler%u2019s Comment: %u201cBy faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.%u201d (Hebrews 11:9-10) It should be clear that God's promise to Abraham was to all mankind rather than to one nation since it would be more than 400 years before Israel became a nation. End Comment.Later, when Isaac was older, God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering sacrifice. This was a test of Abraham's faith. Abraham reasoned that since God gave him Isaac when it was physically impossible for him and Sarah to have a son then He could bring Isaac back from the dead in order to fulfill his promise.What is so significant about this relationship between God and Abraham? First and foremost, God requires faithful obedience. Through Abraham's faith God%u2019s promise to provide a way for man to be reconciled to Him was initiated, a hint of God%u2019s mystery. It would not be realized until years later when Jesus of Nazareth, through complete obedient faithfulness, would offer himself as the atoning sacrifice for man's sins. It was through Isaac, the son of promise, not Ishmael his first born, that the covenant would be continued as Jesus was a descendant of Isaac through David.It was God%u2019s promise that through Abraham all peoples of the earth would be blessed. Therefore, there is no way mankind can earn reconciliation. It is a promise and matter of attitude, faith, and obedience to Jesus, the Christ, His Word, the Message of Reconciliation. It should not be so amazing that God blesses the faithful and obedient and disinherits the rebellious disobedient. Because of problems between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot, his nephew, Abraham allowed Lot to choose his land and Abraham would take another area. Lot chose the better area near the city of Sodom. %u201cAnd the LORD said, 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.%u2019%u201d (Genesis 18:20-21).