God’s Sure Promise

KEY VERSE: “Behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” —Genesis 17:4

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Genesis 17:1-8, 15-19

NATIONS in Abraham’s day were frequently just families, with one of the family serving as tribal head, or king. Naturally, they grew larger through centuries; but in the early days, nations were very small. The promise that Abraham was to have a seed that would become a great nation, Israel, and dominate other nations, would therefore imply that his offspring would become more powerful than the others, or, as Paul states it, a city—a city which would have foundations, sure foundations, because its builder and maker was God.

But God had a much grander and more far-reaching plan in mind than that visualized by Abraham. This is revealed to us by the many references to the seed of Abraham which we find in the New Testament. In Galatians 3:8,16, Paul mentions the promise concerning the seed, and explains it in such a way as to indicate that even Isaac, the miracle child, was not the real seed of promise. In verse 16, Paul explains that when God promised Abraham a seed, the one he had in mind was, in reality, Christ.

In Galatians 3:27-29, Paul further explains that the true followers of Christ during the present age, those who have “put on Christ,” are also “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Those who compose this larger faith seed of Abraham include Gentiles as well as the natural descendants of Abraham, the Jewish nation.

In Galatians 4:21-31, Paul explaining this matter further in the form of an allegory, says: “Jerusalem which is above [represented by Sarah] is free, which is the mother of us all,” Paul writes, adding, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.” In this lesson, Paul quotes from the prophecy of Isaiah (54:1), “Rejoice; thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.” (vs. 27) This ties in with the fact that Sarah was barren for so long, illustrating that many centuries would pass after the promise of the seed was first made, before Christ, the real seed, would appear, and before the development of the remainder of the faith seed would begin, Isaac being a type of both Jesus and those who would make up his body.

Abraham looked for a city, a government, but he did not understand the grand scale on which the promises of God pertaining to it would be fulfilled. Paul says that Abraham looked for a heavenly city, but this simply means that he believed the God of heaven would work through his seed to bless mankind here on the earth. Abraham did not expect a heavenly reward. God promised him the land—promised it to him and to his seed—not the faith seed of this Gospel Age—Christ and his church—but to his natural seed.

In making promises to Abraham, God said his seed would be as the sand. Indeed Abraham will have a vast earthly seed. God’s promise was that through the spiritual seed of Abraham, all the families of the earth were to be blessed. Later, when his son, Isaac, was married to Rebekah, a further prophecy was made of the extent to which the fatherhood of Abraham would extend.

In this story of how Rebekah became Isaac’s bride there are a number of interesting similarities to the manner in which Christ secures his bride, his wife. The Bible presents many illustrations of the oneness of Christ and his church, and the bridegroom and bride picture is one of them. “The marriage of the Lamb is come,” the Revelator says, “and his wife hath made herself ready.” (Rev. 19:7) It will be after this ‘marriage’ that the “Spirit and the bride” will say to the sin-cursed and dying world, “Come, … and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”—Rev. 22:17

How fittingly this eventual bringing of all the nations as children into the covenant favor of Abraham’s family was expressed in the blessing upon Rebekah: “Be thou the mother of thousands of millions!” (Gen. 24:60) We see in this an implication that the church of Christ, the antitypical bride class, in the regeneration will mother the millions of Adam’s race—the glorified Redeemer being the “Everlasting Father,” the Son of God.—Isa. 9:6

| Home Page | Table of Contents |