“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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The Faith of Abraham

In Genesis 15, Yahweh promised Abraham a son by his wife Sarah, and He made a covenant with him:

1 After these things the Word of Yahweh [Yahweh] came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.”

2 But Abram said, “Adonai Yahweh, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so, a servant in my household will be my heir.” 

4 Then behold, the Word of Yahweh [Yahweh] came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He [Yahweh] took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 

6 Then he [Abraham] believed in [had faith in] Yahweh; and He [Yahweh] reckoned it to him [Abraham] as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 

8 He [Abraham] said, “O Adonai Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it?” 

9 So He [Yahweh] said to him [Abraham], “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 

10 Then he [Abraham] brought all these to Him [Yahweh] and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Elohim said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

17 It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

The Word of Yahweh is Yahweh

The Word of Yahweh is a Person, not spoken words. Genesis 15: 5 says that the Word of Yahweh took Abraham outside. Spoken words did not take Abraham outside. Yahweh did.

The apostle John explained it this way in his gospel:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. 2 He [the Word] was in the beginning with Elohim. 3 All things came into being through Him [the Word], and apart from Him [the Word] nothing came into being that has come into being [the Word is the Creator]. 4 In Him [the Word] was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it….14 And the Word became flesh [took on human form], and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1; 1-5 and 14)

The Faith of Abraham is Key

Genesis 15: 6 says that Abraham “believed in Yahweh”. That does not mean that Abraham believed in Yahweh’s existence. Abraham was talking with Yahweh. Obviously, he knew that Yahweh exists.

“Believing in Yahweh” means that Abraham had faith in Yahweh and trusted (believed) that Yahweh can do and will do exactly what He says He will do.

Genesis 15: 6 also says that Yahweh “reckoned” Abraham’s faith as righteousness. That means Yahweh regarded Abraham’s faith as righteousness and that He equated Abraham’s faith with righteousness.

In The Trilogy, I explain that “the faith of Abraham” is “faith with legs”. It is faith that is willing to do what Yahweh says do and to go where Yahweh says go. In other words, it is believing that is manifested in actions that confirm beliefs:

• “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to Elohim must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11: 6)
• “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by works [action], is dead [useless].” (James 2: 17)

The Faith of Abraham → Righteousness

Yahweh is Our Savior and Our Redeemer

In His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition, I explain Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham in detail. This is a summary.

The covenant that Yahweh made with Abraham is the same covenant that all of us depend on for our salvation. Yahweh extended the promises He made to Abraham to us by way of Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel.

Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham, not a contract. People who enter into contracts are making promises. If one party fails to deliver on his promises, the other party is not required to fulfill his promises, either.

Covenants are very different. People who enter into covenants are making promises that they must fulfill regardless of what the other party does.

Covenants are different from contracts in this way, too. Death is the penalty for people who fail to fulfill their promises in a covenant. That’s why Yahweh would not allow Abraham to ratify the covenant. He knew that Abraham could not keep the terms of the covenant. All Abraham was required to do was have faith in Yahweh, i.e., faith with legs.

Genesis 15: 12 says that when it was time to ratify the covenant, Yahweh caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham. Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel are the beneficiaries of the covenant, but Yahweh assumed total responsibility for fulfilling the covenant’s terms for Himself and for Abraham and his descendants.

That is central to Yahweh’s plan of salvation. Yahweh is our Savior and our Redeemer. He took the penalty for our sins on Himself, because none of us are capable of fulfilling the covenant’s terms:

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet, we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of Elohim, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10 But Yahweh was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring; He will prolong His days; and the good pleasure of Yahweh will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied. By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53: 4-11)

The faith of Abraham is the only thing that Yahweh requires from us. It’s faith with legs.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

John 17: 22-24

See “His Name is Yahweh”.