By Kim Barker
College Hill Church of Christ 

God's promise to Abraham

 

January 21, 2022



Abraham was revered by the Israelite nation from the time of Moses leading the twelve tribes out of Egypt through the time of Christ. Abraham was the grandfather of Jacob who was the father of the 12 tribes.

In Genesis 12 Abraham is given a promise from God. “I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise is about Jesus Christ and includes all the families of the earth, not just the Israelites.

The Israelites were God’s chosen people. “I will be your God and you will be My people.” They were chosen to be the nation that would eventually produce the Messiah. At the time of John the Baptist, they were holding onto this physical genealogy of being descendants of Abraham. During Christ ministry, they rejected the spiritual blessings in Christ and held onto the physical connection to Abraham.

Imagine! Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, and Abraham’s descendants reject Christ and the promise. Later there is trouble in the early church because the Jewish Christians think the gentile Christians should become Jews before becoming Christians. Being a descendant of Abraham carried a lot of baggage.

For us today, since we have the whole story, we don’t get hung up on the baggage. We can read about God talking with Abraham, and we can read about the challenges Jesus and the apostles faced in clarifying what that promise meant and that it was for all people, for all time.

Genesis says there is a Creator, there is evil, and there is promise of blessing through Abraham. The New Testament shows that Christ is the fulfillment of the promise.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Arc
Newsgram

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024