I’m sitting on the brink of a new year, a new decade . . . and while you wonder about the future at such times . . . you also can’t help but think about the past. And what brings the past to mind this morning is the mention of Abraham in 3 of my 4 readings.

Not surprising that he’s in Genesis . . . he’s kind of a major player there. I never tire of reading the Lord’s wonderful promise to Abram, the one called of God to leave it all and go to a land that God would show him, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing . . . And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed . . . and I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered” (Gen. 12:2-3, 13:16).

And then, in my reading in Acts, Peter “drops” Abraham’s name as he preaches to those in the temple . . . quoting from Genesis . . . identifying the “how” of God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham. That blessing would come through his seed . . . the promise would be fulfilled through a descendant of Abraham. Peter identifies the Seed clearly . . . God’s Servant Jesus (Acts 3:13,26) . . . the Author of Life (3:15) . . . a Prophet like Moses (3:22) . . . the One they had killed, choosing over Him a murderer to be released (3:14-15) . . . the One God raised from the dead (3:15, 26) . . . the One who had come to turn people away from their iniquities (3:26) . . . and, through His blood, blot out their sins (3:19). This Seed of Abraham was the “how” behind the promise.

Then, in Matthew also, Abraham’s name comes up. This time it’s John the baptizer calling out game-playing Pharisees, ” . . . and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” (Matthew 3:9). Abraham’s promised descendants, those who would number more than the dust of the earth, were not just those who would claim a genetic or national ancestry, but those who God would raise up . . . turning them from their sin . . . blotting out the debt owed . . . giving them new life . . . re-wiring their spiritual DNA . . . making them children of Abraham.

And, John said, God could do that out of stones, if He chose. And I say, “Uh, yeah . . . that would be me.”

I read that phrase this morning, “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from stones”, and am overwhelmed with a sense of fresh gratitude.

I’m reminded that the God of Abraham . . . the God of the promise . . . raised up a stone-hearted sinner like me to be a child of Abraham. By His grace He made me part of the fulfillment of that ancient promise. Patiently, He introduced me to the Author of Life . . . and, through the feeble exercising of the faith He graced me with, gave me new life in Him. I am one of those stones He made into a child of Abraham.

And with that reminder, with that “set up”, I was primed to enter into my final reading this morning in Psalm 5 . . . “But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.” (Ps. 5:7).

The stones cry out the praises of God . . . the children of Abraham . . . the redeemed of the Lord. To Him be all praise and glory . . . amen!