Abraham and His Seed

Abraham and His Seed A. God made a covenant with Abraham and one of his seed: the Lord Jesus Christ. Gen. 12:1-3; Acts 3:25; Gal. 3:16. 1. The LORD told Abraham “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. Gen. 12:3b. 2. With slight variation, this was repeated two more times in relation to Abraham (Gen. 18:18; 22:18), once to Isaac (Gen. 26:4), and once to Jacob (Gen. 28:14), for a total of five times in Genesis. a. God was speaking to or of Abraham in the first two passages above. Gen. 12:3; 18:18. b. The next two times in speaking to Abraham, then Isaac: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”. Gen. 22:18; 26:4. c. The final time Jacob is spoken to: “and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. Gen. 28:14. 3. God made this covenant with Abraham and “thy seed”. The families or nations of the earth would be blessed “in thee” (Abraham) and in “thy seed”, which is Jesus Christ Gal. 3:16. 4. It is important to note that Abraham's seed with whom this covenant was made was not the natural fleshly nation of Israel, the Jews. His seed is the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. Also very important is that the blessing which would come upon the nations through Abraham and his seed, Jesus Christ, is justification by God (Gal. 3:8). The blessing does not involve some future earthly situation of natural Israel. Nor does it involve God showering blessings and favor upon the gentiles (the United States in particular) if they give billions of dollars in aid packages to the unbelieving antichrist illegal Israeli state and never speak ill of it by exposing its crimes and wickedness. B. This covenant involved a people, a nation, and a land. Gen. 12:1-7; 13:14-17; 18:18. C. There is a natural/conditional/temporal aspect and there is a spiritual/unconditional/eternal aspect to this covenant. The natural comes first and then the spiritual. 1Cor. 15:46. D. The natural/temporal/conditional aspect of Abraham's Covenant is fulfilled under the Old Testament. Jesus Christ at his first coming fulfilled the Old Testament and instituted the New Testament. The Old was fulfilled and done away, also taking with it the natural/temporal/conditional aspects of Abraham's Covenant. Matt. 5:17-18; 26:26-28; Heb. 8:13. 1. One of the main purposes of the natural aspect of Abraham's covenant was to bring forth the human nature of Jesus Christ via the nation of Israel. 2. Thus, this was one of the primary reasons the old testament nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, was chosen of God: to bring forth the human nature of the Messiah. Rom. 9:4-5. a. Jesus Christ in his human nature descended from Abraham (Gal. 3:16), via the nation of Israel and specifically the tribe of Judah, by the royal and legal line of descent through David's son Solomon Matt. 1:1-7, 16. b. Likewise, his human nature descends from Abraham via the tribe of Judah by the physical/biological line of descent through David's son Nathan Lk 3:23, 31-34; Rom. 1:3. 3. In this manner is salvation of the Jews, because the Jewish nation brought forth the ultimate Jew; the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jo. 4:22; Lk. 2:26-30; 1Tim. 1:1. a. They also had the written scriptures, which present Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation. Ps. 147:19-20; Rom. 3:1-2; Lk. 24:27, 44; Jo. 5:39. b. Likewise, they had the old testament law church which was reformed into the new testament gospel church. Acts 7:38; Heb. 9:10.  1) One enters into the gospel church by repentance, faith, and baptism. Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 2:38, 41-42, 47. 2) In the gospel church, there is salvation from ignorance, deception and sinful living. Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 2:38, 40-42, 47; 2Tim. 2:10. 3) When the Old Testament Israelites took advantage of the great blessing they had by virtue of being in God's church and having his holy scriptures, they likewise experienced salvation from heathen ignorance, deception, and sinful living. E. The spiritual/unconditional/eternal aspect of Abraham's Covenant is fulfilled under the New Testament and was always the ultimately intended reality, but was brought to center stage when Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament and did away with it, and instituted the New Testament. Matt. 5:17-18; Heb. 8:6, 13 and 9:15; Gal. 3:8, 16, 29. 1. Just as Abraham had a physical posterity, the natural nation of Israel; so he has a spiritual posterity: spiritual Israel. a. Spiritual Israel is composed of some physical Jews and some physical Gentiles from out of every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Rom. 9:23-29; Rev. 5:9; 7:9-10. b. These are the elect, who were chosen by God the Father and given to Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3-4; Jo. 6:37-39; 10:27-29), and they are his possession. And all who are such are Abraham's seed and heirs of promise. Gal. 3:29. c. They are the children of promise and born after the Spirit. Which is to say they are born again. Gal. 4:28-29; Jo. 3:3, 5-8. d. The children of the promise are the children of God and are counted for the seed of Abraham. Here we have Abraham's spiritual children. Rom. 9:8. e. From out of all nations, they who have the same faith as Abraham, are the children of Abraham. Gal. 3:7-9. f. Abraham's faith was accounted for righteousness; and he is the father of all them who exercise the same faith, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. Their faith is also counted for righteousness. And so, in this way he is the [spiritual] father of many nations. Rom. 4:11- 12; 16-18; 20-24. g. These compose the true Israel; the spiritual nation of Israel. Rom. 9:6-8. h. They are the Israel of God; new creatures created in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:8-10; 2Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15-16. i. These are the chosen people who make up the holy nation of spiritual Israel. 1Pet. 2:9. 2. Furthermore, the elect who compose spiritual Israel are spiritual Jews. The true Jew in God's eyes is his elect, both Jews and Gentiles; who are Jews inwardly, circumcised in the heart and spirit. Rom. 2:28-29; Phil. 3:3. a. This spiritual circumcision is also called the quickening; made by God in the heart. Col. 2:11-13; Eph. 2:4-6. b. This is the new covenant; God writes his laws in the heart and mind of the individual. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16-17. c. The true Jew is spiritually circumcised in the heart (the law written in their hearts [new covenant]), and keeps the righteousness of the law, thus giving evidence they are born of God. Rom. 2:14-15 c/w 2:26-29; 1Jo. 2:29; 3:7.