Abram, who in this context was still called by that name, obeyed God's call and went to Canaan. He stopped in Haran, where some time later his father died (Genesis 11:31,32). He then set out for Canaan and arrived at Shechem, near the oak of Moreh (Genesis 12:5,6). There, the Most High appeared to him: Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.  (Genesis 12:7). It was the beginning of the occupation of that land, which would take more than 400 years.

This time, Abram understood that this territory would be given to his descendants. He was considered a foreigner there; in the future, however, the owners of that place would be his descendants. God's plan for the world included you long before your birth. He sent His Son to die on the cross so that humanity would be saved from eternal perdition. This is the divine plan! Believe and live!

Abram left Shechem and settled between Bethel, to the west, and Ai, to the east. For the first time in that part of the world, an altar was built to the Almighty, where His Name was invoked (Genesis 12:8). We are speaking of another event that took place four thousand years ago! Today, the patriarch's example must be followed, for by building this altar, he was worshiping God and making a covenant with Him. Abram was in the midst of the Perizzites, and nothing bad happened to him.

This was the first of the four altars that Abram would build to God. Building the altar gave him the right to invoke the divine covenant with him. The patriarch did not know what his seed would have to go through until it also made a covenant with the Most High. Abram was the legal representative of those who were yet to come. The Lord is faithful!

In the Scriptures, there is an account of the patriarch's movement through the land that was already his. To take possession of the promise, it was necessary to remove many peoples who lived in Canaan—they would move to other regions. God would prepare the future of Abram's offspring: And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. (Genesis 12:8,9).

Then Abram went to Hebron: Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord (Genesis 13:18). This was the third altar built by him, as he followed all the Lord's instructions. We must also obey God's instructions, the Bible being the means He uses to speak to us and instruct us in everything.

Finally, God tested His servant, asking him to offer his only son to Him: Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.  (Genesis 22:9). By this time, he was already called Abraham, he obeyed, and at the last moment, Isaac was spared (vv. 11-13). Centuries later, God would give His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for us.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares