God’s unconditional promises to Abraham
(Genesis 12:2)
Joshua 21:45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.
Joshua 23:14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
To understand God’s plan in the nations, we have to understand the promises made to Abraham in Genesis 12. God gave Abraham three specific promises:
1. I will make thee a great nation.
Gen 12:2 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:
2. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee.
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
3. I will give thee unto thy seed, this land.
Gen 12:7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
God fulfilled His promise to Abraham of a son by Sarah, his name was Isaac and from Isaac, Jacob who is called Israel. God, speaking to Abraham after the birth of Ishmael.
Gen 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Gen 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
First, God promised descendants, (Seed).
Second, God promised blessings, that all families of the earth be blessed.
Thirdly, God promised a land.
God promised him a seed (descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens), a blessing (blessing for Abraham and his descendants, and through his seed, blessing for the world) and a land (Canaan).
Just a couple of chapters later, in Genesis 15:12-17, God spoke of a 400-year-bondage in a foreign land, after which He would bring His people into the Promised Land of Canaan:
Genesis 15:12-17 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep. Then great terror overwhelmed him.
13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.
14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts.
Gen 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Notice here: Only God passed through the animal parts, Abraham was asleep.
This was not a contract between two but a covenant from God.
(An unconditional covenant).
Jesus reiterated these promises.
Matthew 24:14, Jesus predicts the gospel has to impact every tribe and tongue, in another words, be a blessing to all the nations.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Matthew 23, Jesus says that He’s actually not going to return until the Jewish people are safe to welcome Him.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Acts 1, Jesus obviously teaches the apostles that he is going to restore, bring the fullness of the kingdom, to Israel. At the same time, He wants good news proclaimed to all the peoples of the earth.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
We see in Galatians, that Jesus is the ultimate one who’s going to execute, or bring to pass, the promises given to Abraham.
Paul tells us in Galatians that even a human covenant cannot be broken, how much more a covenant made by God.
Galatians 3: 15 Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be cancelled or amended.
16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
The next verse is very important.
17 What I mean is this: The Law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to cancel the promise.…
The Mosaic covenant was a conditional covenant.
Because God made a covenant with Moses when the law was given, this covenant does not override the Abrahamic covenant.
We do not become the seed of Abraham through works of the law but by faith in Christ.
It is in Christ that these promises will be fulfilled.
In Hebrews we are told of those people of faith, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, David, Samuel, and the prophets.
Neither they, nor Abraham have received the promises yet, because God didn’t want them to receive those promises apart from us.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Notice that these promises were made to Abraham without conditions.
God did not say “If you will do this or that, I will keep my promises”.
They were freely given by God.
Abraham’s descendants: This promise was made whilst Abraham and Sarah were in their old age.
Yet God fulfilled His promise through Isaac.
We see God continuing His promise through Jacob and his 12 sons.
Down through the ages, Satan has tried to mar the plan of God by raising up persecutors of Israel, even to this day but God has preserved His people and maintained His promise.
We have seen an unequal controversy over the salvation of the Jewish people. On one side, more Jews have come to faith in Jesus than in any other time in history. On the other hand, we’ve seen the holocaust in an attempted
extermination of the Jewish people. And at the spiritual root of that conflict, was an attempt to cut them off from coming into their promises.
The Blessing:
The truth was given to Israel to be a light to the whole world, the Jews were to be a blessing to all the nations. Despite their obstinacy, God sent His Son to be born of a virgin to bring light to the Jew and Gentile alike and we are living in the era of God’s promise being fulfilled.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
When we think about the promise that there would be blessing in all the nations of the earth, we realise that we are the first generation in history in which the fulfilment of that promise is within reach. We can actually deliver the gospel to every tribe and tongue. But on the other hand, we’ve seen more believers murdered, suffering, dying for their faith in the last hundred years than in every previous century combined.
The Land:
It’s critical that we understand this, because in the last generation we’ve seen the greatest controversy in the nations, in history, over the fulfilment of these three promises. We think of the promise of the land, and right now all the nations of the earth are in a controversy over who owns the land that ultimately, God said He was going to promise to Abraham.
The Jews will be in the land that was promised to Abraham before the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Zechariah 14:1 & part of v.2
1 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;...
Zechariah 14:3-5 Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces
Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.
5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the Lord my God will come, And all the saints with You.
Traditions which take the Bible end-times events literally tend to take prophecies regarding the Jews literally, including their return to Israel.
Isaiah 11:11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the
islands of the sea.
Zechariah 8:4-5 tells us that they will once again inhabit Jerusalem.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. ‘And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’
These verses are being fulfilled in our day and these verses are also still in the future. All nations shall be gathered against Jerusalem. Jesus in that day shall stand on the Mount of Olives, and the Mount shall be split in two.
Some of these prophecies have never been fulfilled, they are still future.
Zephaniah 1:14-18 provides one of the most colourful descriptions of 'the great day of the LORD'. Zephaniah 2:1-2 says that there will be a worldwide regathering of Israel before the Day of the Lord:
'Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, before the decree takes effect—the day passes like the chaff—before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's anger comes upon you.'"
Zep 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Zep 1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Zep 1:16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Zep 1:17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Zep 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
The three promises to Abraham go together. The seed, The blessing and The land.
In spite of all the controversy today concerning the land of Israel, God will fulfil His promises and none of them will be fulfilled independently of the others.
In other words, He’s not going to save the Jewish people, He is not going to give the Jewish people a land, but leave the nations without blessing, without salvation. At the same time, He’s not going to release salvation in all the nations but forget to bring salvation to the Jewish people, and ultimately fulfill the land promise. God has promised to fulfill these three things but has also, in His wisdom, woven them tightly together.
The children of Abraham are the children of faith.
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
In Galatians we are told that it is Jesus who brings Abraham’s promises to pass. All Gentiles and all Jews that put their faith in Jesus Christ are the seed of Abraham and will be saved.
This is the reason the apostle Paul says the Jewish people will ultimately be saved, like Abraham was promised, but that they actually won’t be saved until the Gentiles are saved in such numbers that they can provoke the Jews to salvation.
But where do the Gentiles get their promise of salvation?
It was from salvation coming from the Jewish people. So God’s committed to the three promises, but He’s also interwoven them, so that none of them are fulfilled independently of the other one.
What are we to do whilst waiting for the fulfilment of these Abrahamic promises.
What part do we play in the fulfilment of these three promises.
We labour in the Gospel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. We preach the Gospel to all men, making disciples of all nations.
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Romans11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
God has a chosen people, of both the Jews and the Gentiles and God will bring to salvation those that are amongst the elect.
God chose the Jews to be a light unto the Gentiles. Salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus Christ came as a Jew, the disciples of Jesus were Jews.
The Apostle Paul was a Jew.
This we must remember.
The poet, William Norman Ewer wrote:
How odd, of God, to choose the Jews.
Then Cecil Browne added a second verse:
But not so odd, As those who choose, A Jewish God, But spurn the Jews.
The church has not replaced the Israel, we have just been grafted into the same tree.
It’s actually very simple. Jesus Christ, has made it possible, for the gentiles to be partakers, and full inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. We have become Abraham’s seed, through adoption. We have not replaced Israel. When we say Israel, we speak of Gods children, not a piece of land.
Paul was clear: we provoke them.
Romans 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
If our gospel witness is not provoking the Jew to salvation, then something is lacking, we are failing in our commission, given to us by Christ Himself.
At the same time, by fulfilling the commission we bring blessing to the nations?
Again, we do what Jesus asked us to do in Acts chapter one: we go forward, and we proclaim in all the regions of the earth the glory and the beauty of God’s Son that He’s chosen to rule to nations.
We must realise that not all Jews will be saved, in the same way, that not all Gentiles will be saved.
God’s sovereign choice as to whom He will save and whom He will not can also be seen in the New Testament, as carried through from the Old Testament: “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
Isaiah 10:22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
The Apostle Paul reiterates this in:
Romans 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
Of course, there is also the remnant of the true Church, the body of Christ, chosen out of the millions who have lived and died over the centuries. Jesus made it clear that this remnant would be small when compared to the number of people on the earth throughout history. “Many” will find the way to eternal destruction, but “few” will find the way to eternal life.
Matt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
God is calling His people both Jew and Gentile, men and women, slave and free, through the preaching of the Word.
God is keeping His promises to Abraham. He is delivering the seed of Abraham, He is blessing the nations because of him and He will bring them into the land.
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
