Chosen to Bless Others

MEMORY VERSE: “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.” —Genesis 12:2

GENESIS 12:1-3, 7; 17:1-8

THE promise that God made to Abraham is the basis of the hope that motivates every true Christian. This hope is centered in the seed of Abraham and the great privilege they will have in blessing all the families of the earth. It was because of the faithfulness of Abraham that God chose him and rewarded him so richly. God made his oathbound covenant to him after the greatest test of faith in Abraham’s life. It is in this covenant, recorded in Genesis 22:16-18, that God expresses the means by which Abraham will be a blessing:

“By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

The natural seed of Abraham have believed down through the ages that they were the seed that God would use as an instrument to bless all the families of the earth. But the Apostle Paul, in Galatians 3:16, states, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” So the real seed of Abraham, as it relates to the promise, is not the Jewish nation, but Christ Jesus.

“Christ” is from the Greek word “Christos,” which means anointed. This expression had a peculiar significance to the Jews, because the anointing of their kings and priests with oil pictured their installation into office with the power and authority of God. The great mystery, with respect to the anointed of God, that was kept hidden in ages past, but “is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Eph. 3:5), is that “as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.”—I Cor. 12:12

Here the apostle is comparing the church, or “the Christ,” to the human body, which has a head and many members. This thought is emphasized by the apostle in Galatians 3:26-29: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

To be counted as heirs of Abraham individuals must have faith in and be baptized into Christ. These, as members of The Christ, will have the privilege of living and reigning during Christ’s thousand-year kingdom. (Rev. 20:4,6; Rom. 8:17) As kings and priests they will be the administrators and the instruments of blessing.

It is during this millennial reign of Christ and his church (the seed of Abraham) that the blessings which God promised would come through Abraham will have their fruition. Jesus, when speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”

The mental vision that Abraham had of the glorious day of Christ is expressed so beautifully by the prophets: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” (Isa. 35:5,6) “In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”—Micah 4:1-3

The universal nature of the blessings to be extended to the world because of God’s promise to Abraham is recorded in Revelation 21:3,4, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

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