One of the pivotal events of Scripture is the life of Abraham. He is mentioned over 60 times in the New Testament, and his name is found in 11 of the books of the New Testament. The covenant between God and Abraham is one of the cornerstones of the Gospel. This promise, made as a result of Abraham's great faith, established the Nation of Israel as God's chosen nation. It also made graphically clear the promise of an inheritance of the Earth as the reward of the righteous.

Abraham is mentioned many times in the Old and the New Testaments. His example of faith is held up as a pattern for all others to follow. (See Heb. 11 and Rom. 4). At the time of Abraham's calling, he lived in a city named Ur, in the land currently called Kuwait, then called Chaldees. It was a very civilized place for that time. It would have been much safer and easier to ignore God's commandment, and stay in Ur. The land of Canaan was comparatively a wilderness.

It is not clear how rich and powerful Abraham's family was, but there must have been some financial sacrifice made in the process of uprooting the family and moving many miles away. Obviously, there was tremendous sacrifice of comfort, kin and stability. The scriptures remark:

Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Another important aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant is the promise of the Christ. Jesus is emphatically announced as a descendant of Abraham in the New Testament. This is infinitely easier to understand with a Biblical view of Jesus: as a man of the nation of Israel, who came into being by God miraculously causing Mary to be with child and yet remain a virgin. This same Jesus was eventually elevated to a position of Deity as a result of His perfect obedience. But, due to his lineage through Mary, was a direct descendant of David and, naturally, of Abraham also.

Heb 11:8-9
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. (KJV)


Gen 17:5-8
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
(KJV)


Heb 11:11-12
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
(KJV)