Is Father Abraham an ancient relative of yours?

You remember the song about Father Abraham…

 ♫  Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you…   ♪♪

My family tree includes Swedes, Germans, and a few sprigs of Irish and English. Is Abraham a part of my genealogical chart? It’s highly unlikely.

So why do we sing that I am a son (figuratively) of Father Abraham?

Interestingly enough I had a child ask me on Sunday if anyone in our church was related to Abraham. The perfect lead in!

Abram (whom we later know as Abraham) started off with an empty nest. God made Abram a promise: You will have a tree full of descendants. And sure enough, eventually Abraham became the father of lots and lots of people; a whole nation full of God’s people! Lots of leaves on his tree!

Oh wait, Not leaves! That wasn’t the metaphor God used to explain his promise! God compared the number of Abram’s eventual offspring to grains of sand on a beach and stars in the sky. Imagine trying to count sand particles! Lots!

So, about that song: where do we fit into Abraham’s family tree?

We are Abraham’s spiritual descendants.

It goes like this: God called Abraham and Sarah and all their descendents into a special relationship with him through a special type of promise we call a covenant. He said,

I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. Genesis 17:7

The apostle Paul said it another way:

For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.
You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you Galatians 3:26, 29.

God’s promise belongs to us! Remind your child(ren) (and yourself) of this daily! Sing a couple of bars of Father Abraham.