Abraham’s 24 year-long jurney to be born again

In many ways, Abraham is a unique figure in the Bible. Paul presents him as an example for us to follow, that we might walk in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith (Romans 4:12). To follow in his footsteps means to walk on the same path that Abraham walked. Even now, in the time of the New Covenant, this is still the path appointed for us.

If we look at Abraham’s life, we can see the development of his faith. When God called him at the age of 75 (Genesis 12), He told him to leave his father’s household and go to the land that He would show him, promising also to make him into a great nation and to bless him. Abraham had an initial faith when God first spoke to him — he obeyed the call and set out. But even later we see that Abraham did not fully understand what it meant that God would make him into a great nation. His wife was barren, they had no child, and both were already old.

Ten years later, at the age of 85, Abraham came to believe that what God had promised He would surely fulfill — that he would have his own child and that his descendants would inherit the land God had led him into. It was then that God made a covenant with Abraham for the first time, and it is here that Moses writes, “Abram believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

This idea of righteousness — of being made righteous by faith — is familiar to us from the New Testament. Both Paul and James quote this verse, but neither of them connects Abraham’s justification to this specific moment! Paul ties it to an event 14 years later, the second covenant (Romans 4:17–22), while James refers to an even later event — when Abraham offered up his son Isaac (James 2:19–24).

So when was Abraham justified? We can see clearly that his justification was a process — a growth and progression of faith, from partial, initial belief to faith in the impossible, and finally to a faith that had been tested and proven.

Let us go back to the first covenant. Abraham finally believed that he would have his own child. Then came his wife’s “brilliant” idea: since the Lord had closed her womb, Abraham should take her maidservant, Hagar, as his wife, and perhaps have a child through her. From a human perspective, it was a logical solution — and it did not even contradict what God had promised, since the Lord had not explicitly said that the child must come from Sarah.

The Lord allowed them to follow their own reasoning, and so Ishmael was born of the maidservant. But that was not God’s plan. God wanted Abraham to come to a faith that believes in the impossible — that he would have a child through Sarah.

After this, there followed a “silence” of about 14 years, until the Lord appeared to Abraham again when he was 99 years old (Genesis 17). At that time, God made a new covenant with him. This was the turning point — Abraham’s life changed completely. There he received a new name from God; from Abram he became Abraham. A new name from God signifies a new man. This was Abraham’s rebirth.

At this point, Abraham also received the covenant of circumcision, and he came to believe that he would indeed have a child through Sarah. About a year later, their son Isaac was born.

Now let me show something very striking that the Lord said to Abraham during that second covenant:

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.” (Genesis 17:7)

Why would God say this now — had He not already been Abraham’s God for the past 24 years? In the Hebrew text, the word used here for “God” is Elohim, meaning “Creator God”. This second covenant, then, was Abraham’s re-creation — his rebirth.

To follow in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith — yes, this is precisely the path we too must walk!

Table of contents