The word “Hebrew” in the Hebrew language means “one who has passed over,” meaning one who has crossed over the boundary of one’s homeland and entered another geographical location with no intention of returning.  The ancient prophet and father of the Hebrews was called “Abraham the Hebrew” because he did something most people of his day did not do–they left their homeland.  During my childhood (1940’s) there were people in my rural community who were born, lived their entire lives and died in the same county, often in the same house.  There were instances in which several generations were born, lived and died in the same house.  Even today, when I return to Southeast Missouri I visit with life-long friends who have remained in Dunklin County where we were all born.  As one friend said, “You have to live somewhere, so I live here.”

Abram was a pantheist from Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon) where gods abounded and people worshiped and served them.  Abram was one such pantheist.  But God saw that if he believed something, even if it was spiritually wrong, he believed it totally.  He believed in his gods and did what the social customs prescribed for him to do in order to please them.  Babylonian mystery religion is the source of many of the beliefs and customs of the Institutional Church.  This indicates what Abram believed and how he lived prior to meeting God, Who changed his name to Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude.”  The celebration of the Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, New years are some of heathenism’s holidays that have been embraced by Catholicism/Protestantism.  Other church “truths” borrowed from Babylon are the belief in a trinity, entrance into heaven or hell at death and the rapture.  Read Simon of Samaria: the Legacy.  Key word–Legacy.

Abraham was a religious purist–what he believed he practiced without fail.  This was a quality the Lord looks for in a person.  He found it in this heathen whom He would use to raise up a holy people to serve as His light to the rest of the world.  The Lord said of Abraham that he would obey His Words and would practice justice and judgment (Gen. 18:19).  Because of these qualities God would bring upon Abraham that which He had promised him.

In Genesis 17:1,2 the Lord lays the groundwork for the material promises He would make to Abraham as listed in the remainder of the chapter.  Six Words would distinguish Abraham from everyone else and would forever separate those who claim to be God’s people from those who are indeed His people.  He commanded Abraham to “Walk (live) before Me and be perfect.”  THEN He would make a covenant with Abraham and would multiply him exceedingly.  Note that even the patriarchal father of God’s Chosen People had to obey the Almighty God in order to received blessings from God and fulfill His commission.  The One speaking to Abraham was the Word (Jn. 1:1-4,14) Who would later come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth.  Abraham would have to do what God commanded him to do–obey–in order to fulfill His commission and for his descendants to receive the blessings that had been promised.  The Word would come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth.  He would live and die according to the command of His Father–the other deity in the Godhead.  As a man like Abraham, He would be under the command of One greater than Himself.  As I show in the above-mentioned series, the Word divested Himself of all of His godly powers and came to earth as a man like every other man.  He would become a Hebrew by crossing over from earth to heaven–“glory land.”

The most telling passage of Scripture relative to Abraham’s obedience is found in Genesis 12:1-4.  Here we find God telling him to leave his country of birth, which was a traumatic act in his day.  God did not tell him where he would send him go, only that He would let him know when he arrived.  Three words described Abraham’s reaction to God’s commands: “AND ABRAHAM DEPARTED.”  No questions; no arguments; no reasoning; no suggestions ….  He simply gathered up everything he had, his wife, servants, etc. and departed, thereby becoming “Abraham the Hebrew.”

We in religious circles are fond of calling ourselves the “children of Abraham.”  But are we really?  To be his spiritual offspring we must also be spiritual Hebrews.  We must leave where we are spiritually, separate ourselves spiritually from our family, friends and former churchmates and “cross over” into a world that is totally different from the world that surrounds us.  The Greek word for church (assembly/congregation) is ekklesia, meaning “called out ones.”  The true church of God has answered His call to come out of the world and be separate from it while living in the midst of it.  God’s true saints are so different from those around them, including their family, that they are considered “peculiar” (Exo. 19:5/ 1 Pet. 2:9) by those who know them.  Church people use some different words to describe God’s Very Elect.  God calls them His “treasure,” His “holy people,” His “holy remnant,” His “little flock” who are spiritually segregated from the rest of mankind by their faith, their thoughts, words and deeds.  Because of their peculiar lifestyles they are hated, despised and rejected by all others, especially Catholics and Protestants.  Read Persecution.  Jesus warns about such hatred in Matthew 10:5-22, 34-42.  In 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 the Apostle Paul commands God’s saints to have nothing to do with those in the false church which he calls “that unclean thing.”  These are they whose eyes Satan has blinded and whose hearts (minds) he has captured.  He has deafened them to the point that they are unable to hear God’s Truth (Amos 7:10; 8:11).  Read Truth: The Solution to Man’s Problems or the Source of Them?  Key word–Solution.  These are they who have access to God’s Word but refuse to obey it, who refuse to “cross over” from Satan’s world into God’s world.  They refuse to become Hebrews who “walk in the steps of faith of our father Abraham” (Rom. 4:12)–the original Hebrew.  Like Lot’s wife, the church masses do not want to leave Satan-life of sin and darkness and cross over into the God-life of holiness and light.  Let us love God enough to cross over to where He is and walk in His glorious light.  Jesus warns us to: “Remember Lot’s Wife” (Lk. 17:32) who looked back with fondness at the life she had lived.  She is not alone.  Matthew 10 tells us why only a few choose to take that fateful step (Mat. 7:13,14) and why many are called to take it but few answer the call (Mat. 20:16).  It is so much easier to embrace Satan’s words which tell us that we can sin and “… not surely die.”  “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way ends in destruction” (Prov. 14:12).  Let us follow the example of father Abraham.  If he had not left the comfort and peace of his homeland and family and crossed over into God’s world, no one would know his name.  L.J.