<p>7:3 <i>And said to him, <em>Leave your land and your kindred</em></i>- Pointedly omitting mention of &quot;your father's house&quot;. Gen. 12:1 records that the Lord had told Abram to leave his country, kindred <em>and</em> his father's house, but goes on to say that &quot;So Abram departed&quot; from <em>Haran</em> &quot;as the Lord had spoken unto him&quot; (Gen. 12:4). The implication is that the command which he was given in Ur, was repeated to him in Haran, with the additional information that he must now also leave &quot;your father's house&quot;. Stephen is making the point that Abraham's 'obedience' was counted to him by grace; righteousness was imputed to him, when he had a shaky start in his faithfulness. For he left because his father's family also left... not because he actually was obedient to the Divine call.</p><p><em>And go into</em>- Gk. 'come here into'; as if God was already there in Canaan.</p><p><em>The land which I shall show you</em>- According to Heb. 11:8, Abraham embarked on the journey not knowing or Gk. 'understanding' where he was going. Accurate knowledge of the literal details of the Kingdom whither we are headed is not therefore the issue here; rather is it simple faith in response to God's calling. This is what is required at the start of the journey; for Abraham is held up as the pattern for us all. Only later was Abraham 'shown' the land. The same word is used of how the devil of the Lord's own thoughts / temptations 'showed' Him the future Kingdom of God on earth (Mt. 4:8). Revelation of Divine truth is therefore progressive; after some time leading the disciples, the Lord then 'shewed' them the details of His sufferings (Mt. 16:21 s.w.), and after His resurrection 'shewed' Peter more details (Acts 10:28 s.w.) and 'shewed' latter day events to His followers (Rev. 1:1; 4:1 s.w.). Indeed there are seven references in the visions of Revelation to believers being 'shewn' things. Even the Father's 'shewing' of things to His Son was progressive (Jn. 5:20). We are not, therefore, to require of those just beginning their journey a comprehensive grasp of the things which have been 'shewn' to us who have been on the road of faith for some time already.</p>