The Call of Abram

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4 KJV)

Abraham is our father in faith. Although he was commended for his faith, he did not receive what was promised. He waited and waited and finally got to own a piece of the promised land which he had to buy it from the Hittites for use as a permanent burial place.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8 BSB)

Anti-Zionist Theology

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say "and to seeds," as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16 CSB)

Below is taken from the website, "Why I'm Not a Christian Zionist | The Banner", which kind of summarized the anti-Zionist position:

QUOTE
God's Promises to Abraham
Christian Zionism takes the land promises of God in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 and applies them to the modern state of Israel. To Christian Zionists, this promise of land inheritance is permanent and unconditional. Therefore, despite Israel's own declared intention of being a secular state (and despite Israelis' low religious participation), modern Israel still benefits from a 4,000-year-old promise. For Zionists, the Abrahamic covenant is still active regardless of whether Israelis believe in God or not. In the Christian Zionist view - and this is key - the covenant of Christ does not replace or supplant the Jewish covenants.

Reformed theologians believe something decisive happened in Christ. His covenant affected not simply the covenant of Moses, making a new and timeless form of salvation, but also every other Jewish covenant, including Abraham's covenant. Christ fulfills the expectations of Jewish covenant life and renews the people of God rooted in the Old Testament and Judaism. Thus, Jesus is the new temple, the new Israel.

In Galatians 3:16, the apostle Paul writes, "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say 'And to offsprings,' as of many; but it says, 'And to your offspring,' that is, to one person, who is Christ" (NRSV). Paul argues from the singular noun in Genesis to show that the promises to Abraham point to Christ. Christ is the locus of the promise of land! The promises to Abraham have been realized in Christ. He holds everything Judaism desired, and knowing him gains access to such promises.

Jesus' homily in John 15 says the same. The Old Testament image of Israel is that of a vineyard filled with vines rooted in the soil of the Holy Land. You can see this outlined beautifully in Isaiah 5. But Jesus upends this. We see a vineyard again, but now we learn that there is one vine - Christ - and the only concern is not on gaining access to the land but being attached to him.

To think Christianly about land and promise is to think differently than Judaism. The New Testament changes the spiritual geography of God's people. The kingdom of God is tied to neither an ethnicity nor a place. Because the early Christians understood this, they carried their missionary efforts to the entire world. God loves Ephesus just as much as he loves Jerusalem. Indeed, God loves the entire world and all its people equally.

Reformed theologians are not convinced the promises to Abraham can be used politically today. The work of Christ is definitive. There is one covenant, and it is with Christ. In the zeal to promote and protect modern Israel, has Jesus been demoted?

Still, some might ask if emphasizing the centrality of Christ's covenant leads to the dismissal of Judaism and its covenants. Would this lead to anti-Judaism in the church?

No. Christ and his church are deeply rooted in Judaism. As Gentiles, we are grafted into the Jewish tree of Abraham (Rom. 11:13-24). Jesus was Jewish, and it is through the Hebrew covenants that we understand our own covenant.

Christ does not replace these covenants; rather, he fulfills them and enables the birth of God's kingdom, which includes both Jews and Gentiles. Reformed theology does not split Israel and the church; it finds rich continuity between them. Paul did not "become" a Christian; he realized the deepest meaning of his Jewishness when he chose to follow Jesus. This new, category-changing event at the heart of Christ's work cannot be diminished. It is central to New Testament faith. Some have misused this teaching and promoted a dreadful anti-Semitism. But this misuse does not mean we dismiss what the Scriptures teach. Judaism deserves our respect, and anti-Semitism should be rejected outright as an utter corruption of the gospel.

Israel, Prophecy, and Nationhood
In Christian Zionism, 1948 is not simply a political marker in history. It is a theological marker. Israel has been restored to the land in fulfillment of prophecy, Zionists say. Therefore, the establishment of modern Israel is a theologically ordained event deserving of profound Christian respect and awe.

Reformed theologians also affirm Israel's right to exist, but they are skeptical about Israel's theological claim to own the Holy Land. They point to countless times when Christians used ancient prophetic texts to interpret contemporary times with bad results. They also note that any biblical claim to nationhood must also incorporate biblical expectations of nation-building - expectations that aren't now being met.

The promise of land always comes with covenant expectations for religious life and for justice, themes echoed regularly by the prophets. Modern Israel began as a secular state. It does not reflect ancient Israel's religious or moral national aspirations as described in Scripture, and it has made choices regarding the Palestinians living within its borders that would inspire harsh criticism from Old Testament prophets such as Amos or Isaiah.

For all these reasons, Reformed theologians do not see commitment to Israel as a spiritual imperative. They are moved more by ethics than eschatology when considering any country, because no one country now enjoys a preferential place in God's economy.

History Is Coming to Its Close
Christian Zionists think Israel's national birth is the key prophetic fulfillment in counting down the end of history. They believe Israel's return fits with what else is happening in the world: moral values are in decline, an ecological crisis is looming with our oil-based economy in peril, and most importantly, there is war in the Middle East, all leading to widespread agreement among Zionists that history is reaching its end. All of this, they claim, was prophesied in Scripture.

Reformed theologians are not so catastrophic, not so sure these pronouncements are true, and they have always called for sober judgment. They worry Christian Zionists have let their zeal for prophecy and history's end drown out other, more primary Christian values.

Our chief complaint is how a desire for the end times has shaped the ethics of Christian Zionists. Building the kingdom of God has become secondary to building the kingdom of Israel. Passion for seeing Christ's second coming now comes before a passion for justice and fairness. When presented with the remarkable suffering of 4 million Palestinians living under harsh military occupation, Zionists typically stand unmoved. Negotiations that might return land to Palestinian owners are deemed to be against God's will. Some Zionist pastors have even written that natural disasters hitting the United States and killing thousands are God's punishment for political pressure put on Israel. It is this sort of theological confusion that stuns Reformed theologians.

Fidelity to Israel
For Christian Zionists, the first obligation of Christians is to study end-times prophecies and to monitor each nation's political decisions. One conviction is always held aloft: God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel. Nations will stand or fall based on this one creed.

Reformed theologians hear this and wonder if the message of the gospel has been lost. My first call is fidelity to Christ and his kingdom. And yet this commitment should inspire in me a deep love for Israel and a desire for its people to become what their Scriptures call them to become: a nation of priests, a light to the nations, a people in whom there is such goodness that the nations will see the glory of God and rejoice.

Jesus' Second Coming
This is the crown jewel of Christian Zionism. The birth of Israel has set the stage for the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Zionists claim, any national agenda that would impede God's plan, any peace plan that weakens Israel's hold on the land, or any decision that stands in the way of this dramatic stage-setting is not a plan blessed by God.

Reformed theologians believe in the second coming too. But the chief difference is that Reformed theologians make profound investments in the world. We are not sectarian. We devote ourselves to promoting Christ's commitments here and now. We do not despair about the course of the world, and we refuse to abandon it. We still build schools and hospitals and speak to injustice and poverty.

Dwight Moody, the founder of the dispensational Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, once asked why you'd want to polish the brass on a sinking ship. Reformed theologians are not convinced the ship is sinking, and we continue to polish the brass, navigate a course, and make passengers comfortable until we are surprised by Christ's return - just as the Bible tells us we should be.

This is my ultimate concern: Christian Zionists believe in Jesus, but I wonder if they have lost the gospel. They have uncritically wed our faith to the politics of one nation, and this, as the church has learned so many times, is a prescription for disaster.
UNQUOTE

The Beginning of the Times of Gentiles

Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. (Daniel 9:24 BSB)

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:24 BSB)

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25 BSB)

Many philosophies and religions (Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Confucianism, Taoism, Platonism) come to birth around the year 500 BC. Socrates, Buddha and Confucius all lived at around that time. Has anyone wondered why is the period around 600 BC to 500 BC the age for sprouting philosophies and religions?

On 14th August 586 B.C. king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon razed and burned the Temple of God in Jerusalem. The Glory of God had departed from the Temple some time before that happened (Ezekiel 10). Historians will not tell you this, but from that day onward, Jerusalem was trampled under the feet of the Gentiles and the times of Gentiles began.

According to some historians, this is the beginning of the second wave civilisations which lasted from 600/500 BC to 500/600 AD. The Islamic calendar began in 622 AD.

There were four civilisations at the beginning of this period, the Greek, Persian, Indian and Chinese civilisations. These four civilisations will persist in various forms until about seven years before the end of the times of the Gentiles. Then the ten toes kingdom from the Roman empire will conquer the other three civilisation to start a world government under the anti-Christ.

As for the Gentile powers ruling Jerusalem while the Jews are living there are represented by the statue in king Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:31-45) and also the four beasts (Daniel 7:1-28) in Daniel's dream. These would be Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. The Gentile powers that ruled Jerusalem when the Jew were not staying there were not listed in the dreams. They are the Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottoman and finally the British. Here is the full list of Gentile invaders from the beginning - Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greek, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottoman, British.

God Use Israel to Prove His Existence

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. (Ezekiel 36:22-24 ESV)

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 38:23 ESV)

So I will make my holy name known among my people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel. (Ezekiel 39:7 CSB)

It is not possible to prove that God exist. So God use the existence of Israel to prove His existence.

God Does As He Pleases

Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases. (Psalm 115:3 CSB)

The LORD does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths. (Psalm 135:6 CSB)

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.' (Isaiah 46:10 NIV)

All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35 CSB)

Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:27 KJV)

But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26 ESV)

I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2 CSB)

Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:13 NIV)

Some people think that God has limitations, for example, He cannot lie. But we noticed that what the scriptures are saying is God does whatever that pleases Him. If you are a vegetarian and have the power to do as you please, would you organize a barbecue or force everyone to eat grass? Lying does not please God. Thus God will not lie.

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19 ESV)

So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. (Hebrews 6:18 NLT)

Sikhism

Sikhism is an Indian monotheistic religion. This is the Mool Mantar, the fundamental creed of Sikhism:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ

ੴ	Ik onkar	There is only one God
ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ	Sat Nam	Eternal truth is his name
ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ	Kurtah Purakh	He is the creator
ਨਿਰਭਉ	Nir Bhau	Without fear
ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ	Nir Vair	Without hate
ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ	Akaal Moorat	Timeless without form
ਅਜੂਨੀ	Ajooni	Beyond birth and death
ਸੈਭੰ	Saibhang	Self-existent
ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ	Gurprasaad	By the Guru's grace

Since there is only one God, how can there be so many monotheistic religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism? Is the God in these religions the same God?

Let us look at how God introduced Himself to Moses personally while Moses was at mount Sinai:

The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, "the LORD." The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The LORD - the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. (Exodus 34:5-7 CSB)

The Kingdom Of God in Four Stages

The Kingdom Of God goes through four stages.

Stage 1: Israel
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:15 NIV)
This stage began from the first prophecy by God to the serpent through His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It officially started with establishment of Israel through Moses.
The end of this stage came when Judah was destroyed by Babylon. At that moment, it seems that the God of Abraham had lost. Marduk (i.e. Baal), the chief god of Babylon had won.

Stage 2: Unobserved Growth (now)
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you." (Luke 17:20-21 ESV)
The kingdom of God in the current age is spiritual, existing within the hearts of believers (Luke 17:21). It began when Jesus preached the Kingdom and will end when He returns as the King.

Stage 3: Restoration of Israel
Stage 3 will start when Jesus will come again as King to rule the world after the Great Tribulation. The end of this stage will come when the current heaven and earth is destroyed and the new heaven and earth is created.

Stage 4: Eternal existence on the new earth
Actually stage 3 and 4 is considered as the eternal kingdom from Isaiah's point of view (Isaiah 65:17-25). Stage 4 will begin will the new heaven and new earth and will not end.

The God of Abraham - Theodicy

On 14th August (9th Av) 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple of God was burnt to ground. The God of Abraham had lost. Marduk (i.e. Baal), the chief god of Babylon had won. If you were an Jew at that time, you would be wondering why God had failed to defend His land and His city. Yet it was during this dark age that the God of Abraham announced through Daniel the prophet the blue print for the times of the Gentiles.

Likewise today people ask, if God is perfectly good, almighty and all-knowing, why does He permit evil to exist? The answer is actually found in the Bible.

1. The Bible tells us that God's original creation was good;
2. Evil came from the fall of man when he refused to believe in God's word;
3. But God provided redemption by sending Jesus to die for the sin of the world;
4. In due time, God will effect the restoration of His creation to sinless perfection by destroying the current creation and replace it with a new one.

God had His plan laid out before the foundation of the earth. Just as the Jews can stop worrying about being wiped out, we can stop worrying about the end of the world. The prophetic blueprint laid out in the Bible will come to pass. The next coming events will be rapture, the tribulation, the second coming of Christ and the millennium. After that, the old heaven and old earth will be destroyed and a new heaven and new earth will be created. This will be eternal. So we do not have to worry about the end of the world.

How To Identify The God of Israel

Moses received the message directly from God.
The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." (Exodus 24:12 ESV)

Any prophet that followed after Moses cannot change the message.
See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32 NIV)

Any prophet that come after Moses must cannot lead the Israelites to worship any other gods.
"Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, 'Come, let us worship other gods' - gods you have not known before - do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the Lord your God, who redeemed you from slavery and brought you out of the land of Egypt. Since they try to lead you astray from the way the Lord your God commanded you to live, you must put them to death. In this way you will purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)

How do we identify the God of Israel since there are monotheistic religions that claim to be from the One God? They cannot be all true. The following are the five points found in the Bible:
1. He is the God who created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NIV)
2. He is the uncreated, self-existent God.
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14 KJV)
3. He is the God who gave the land of Canaan to Abraham.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." (Genesis 15:18-21 NIV)
4. He is the God who redeemed the Israelites from Egypt.
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2 KJV)
5. He will be known as the God who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where He had banished them. And He is doing it now. Today this scripture is fulfilled before our very eyes.
"However, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors. (Jeremiah 16:14-15 NIV)
"So then, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:7-8 NIV)

Slow To Anger

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6-7 ESV)

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Psalm 86:15 ESV)

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. (Psalm 103:8 KJV)

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 145:8 ESV)

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3 ESV)

Many people said that God in the Old Testament is an angry God. Richard Dawkins, in his book "The God Delusion", wrote of God as follows:
QUOTE
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character of all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
UNQUOTE

But God, in His proclamation to Moses, declared Himself to be merciful and gracious. Many other verses in the Old Testament also attest to God as one who is slow to anger.

But God will by no means clear the guilty. That makes Him appeared angry to the guilty, because the wrath of God remains upon them.

But I know my God is slow to anger, otherwise I would have perished long ago.

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? (Psalm 130:3 KJV)

Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. (Psalm 143:2 ESV)

God's Promise To Abraham, Isaac And Jacob

God's promise to Abraham:
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." (Genesis 13:14-17 ESV)

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites." (Genesis 15:18-21 ESV)

God's promise to Isaac:
And the Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:2-5 ESV)

God's promise to Israel:
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." (Genesis 28:13-15 ESV)

The Call of Abraham

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

The first thing to note is that Abraham was called.
The second thing to note is he was told to leave.
The third thing to note is he was not told where to go.
The fourth thing to note is he was childless.

If  he obeyed, this was promised to him,

1. He will be given land;
2. He will be a great nation;
3. He will be blessed;
4. He shall be a blessing.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8 NASB)

And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. (Hebrews 11:11 NIV)

Perception of God Determined by Perception of Sin

And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7 KJV)

God, in His proclamation to Moses, declared Himself to be merciful and gracious. However, many atheists and unbelievers have a very different opinion of Him.

Richard Dawkins, in his book "The God Delusion", wrote of God as follows:
QUOTE
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character of all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.
UNQUOTE

An article in the huffingtonpost.com, "The Embarrassment of Noah" by Ronald A. Lindsay, described God as a moral monster.
QUOTE
Let's not mince words: if the story of the Flood is to be believed, God is a moral monster. To say his response to the alleged wickedness of humans is disproportionate is a gross understatement. Moreover, God engages in conduct that we would expect from the worst dictators, namely collective punishment that sweeps in the innocent along with the guilty. Children, presumably, were among those drowned (unless we assume that wicked adults had no offspring) as were most all of the animals, who bore no responsibility whatsoever for the misdeeds of humans. Intentionally drowning a kitten is conduct we'd expect of some psychopathic juvenile, not a loving deity.
UNQUOTE

Jim Holt gave his view on God in this tweet:
"I think God is 100% benevolent but only 80% effective," - Jim Holt
(Tweets by Barnyardstories@BrianJBarnes442 11:11 AM - 2 Sep 2014)

Why such big discrepancy in God's own view of Himself and the views of atheists and unbelievers of Him? The main reason is the perception of sin. God views Himself as extremely merciful despite the hatefulness of sin committed by men. The atheists and unbelievers have very low view of sin, believing that most sins are okay and can be ignored.

God Is Like Nothing On Earth

Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am.” And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'" (Exodus 3:13-14 ESV)

To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:25 ESV)

When Moses asked God how to describe Himself so that he can report back to his people, God can only answer, "I am who I am." There is nothing in creation that God can be compared to. That is why idolatry is such a great sin.

To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. (Isaiah 46:5-7 ESV)

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (John 14:9 ESV)

For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, (Colossians 2:9 HCSB)

So whosoever wants to see God, or know how God is like, he can look to Christ.

God Is One

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. (Deuteronomy 4:39 KJV)

Now look into it: into days long past, before your time — all the way back to the day God first created human beings on earth, from one end of heaven to the other. Has anything this amazing ever happened? Has anything like it ever been heard of before? Has any people ever listened to a god’s voice speaking out of fire, as each of you have, and survived? Or has any god ever tried to take one nation out of another nation using tests, miracles, wonders, war, a strong hand and outstretched arm, or awesome power like all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt while you watched? You were shown these things so that you would know this: The Lord is the only God. There’s no other god except him. From heaven he made you hear his voice in order to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire. You heard his words from that very fire. And because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, God brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his own great power, in order to remove larger and stronger nations from before you and bring you into their land, giving it to you as an inheritance. That’s where things stand right now. Know then today and keep in mind that the Lord is the only God in heaven above or on earth below. There is no other. Keep the Lord’s regulations and his commandments. I’m commanding them to you today for your well-being and for the well-being of your children after you, so that you may extend your time on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you forever. (Deuteronomy 4:32-40 CEB)

Chosen by God, therefore we must know, believe and understand Him.
"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior. I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and I am God. Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?" (Isaiah 43:10-13 ESV)

For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right. (Isaiah 45:18-19 ESV)

How God Introduced Himself To Israel

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2 KJV)

So the time is coming, declares the Lord, when no one will say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the Israelites from the land of Egypt." Instead, they will say, "As the Lord lives who brought up the descendants of the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he has banished them so that they can live in their own land." (Jeremiah 23:7-8 Common English Bible)

Proof Of The True God

Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes. (Deuteronomy 4:34 NLT)

How do we know our God is true? How do we know the Bible is true? We know, because the Bible cannot be written by humans. Humans write books and claimed that they are from god, gods, buddhas or supermen. But they cannot proof that their books are divine, because any man can write a book. But our Bible is true because our God not only write a book, He also created a nation. This is something that men cannot do. Any man can write a book, but no man can create a nation.

God not only created the nation, He also wrote its history in advance.

When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. (Deuteronomy 4:25-31 ESV)

Which so-called sacred books are like the Bible?

The Prophets

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, 'Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!' Then the Lord said to me, 'They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to My words that he speaks in My name. But the prophet who dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.' You may say to yourself, 'How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the Lord's name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:15-22 HCSB)

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans - in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. (Daniel 9:1-2 ESV)

How the rest of the Old Testament, the Prophets and the Writings were canonized were obscure. Daniel the Prophet referred to a collection of books (Daniel 9:1-2). According to Jewish tradition, the entire Old Testament was canonized by the Great Synagogue, led by Ezra the Scribe.

The Law Was Given Publicly

God revealed His Law to Israel publicly. First He established Moses's credentials as His prophet publicly by the ten plagues that hit Egypt (Exodus 8,9,10,11). Thus there were two groups of witnesses to God and Moses, the Israelites and the Egyptians. The most important plague is the last plague. It is the Gospel in its embryo.

Next, God led the Israelite visibly using the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). He led them across the Red Sea to escape the pursuing Egyptians. All these are public miracles, witnessed by both the Israelites and the Egyptians (Exodus 14:21-22).

God also reveal Himself at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24).

Thus the first book (Torah) was given to the First Prophet in a public manner which can satisfy the queries of lawyers and auditors. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was also given in its embryonic form. Thus God's message is always consistent, beginning at Moses.

How Would God Introduce Himself?

Who is the God of the Bible? How would God introduce Himself to us? Dr Mark Lehman, in one of his sermons in audio sermon, suggested that Genesis 1:1 would be the best introduction.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 KJV).

God is our Creator. And what does He want to do to us?

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3 KJV)

God wanted to bless us. Abraham was the great example that God gave to us. Not only that He saved us and died for our sins.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)