Previous article:The Gospel and Abraham

Posted on May 20, 2023 by Mike LeDuke Next article:The Promises Fulfilled

The gospel has been around from the very beginning.

The first book of Scripture, Genesis, contains the good news. As noted in the last post, the apostle Paul identified this good news as all of the nations of the earth being blessed through Abraham. Nevertheless, in looking back at Genesis, this good news was part of a series of promises––it wasn’t simply that God stated he would bless the world through Abraham. He promised a number of other things too. In Genesis 12, God promised that Abraham would become a great nation, that he would become a blessing, that those who blessed him would be blessed and those who cursed him would be cursed, and finally, crowning that list, that the families of the earth would be blessed in him (v. 1-3). 

But, the promises didn’t end there. They were orignially prefaced on Abraham’s obedience––God promised to give thewse things to him if he was willing to leave his homeland and go to a new land that God would show to him. After he did that, God continued to give more promises.

• In Genesis 13, God promised the land of Canaan (now Israel and some of its surroundings) to Abraham and his descendant (v. 14-17).
• In Genesis 15, God promised to make his offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven (v. 5). In Genesis 17, God reiterated some of the previous promises and added more details: Abraham would be incredbily fruitful, would father kings and nations, and his descendant would inherit the land as an everlasting possession (v. 6-8).
• Finally, in Genesis 22, after almost sacrificing his son Isaac, Abraham received a final set of promises: he would be blessed, his descendant would be numerous, would possess the gates of his enemies, and would bless all nations of the earth (v. 16-18). In this way, the gospel, the promise that all nations would be blessed in Abraham and his descendant, serves as bookends to an entire set of promises that encompass the blessing and the land. 

Yet, the story of the promises ends in a strange way. Isaac is denoted as the promised child, yet neither he nor Abraham ever possess the land of Canaan (Acts 7:5). Even more, Isaac never possessed the gates of any cities (as was promised in Genesis 22), and neeither Abraham nor Isaac ever really interacted with all of the nations of the world in order to bless them. The Genesis record seemd to make the identification of the inheritor of the pormise fairly clear––it specifically said that Abraham’s descendant (singular) would inherit the promises and would bring them to pass. So what happened? Did the promises simply not materialize?

In some ways, these promises were fulfilled when Israel came into the land (Deuteronomy 1:8). Finally, the land that Abraham was given was taken by his descendants. But, what about the descendant? Why were the promises made about a specific descendant if Abraham’s descendants (plural) were going to fulfill the promises?

Perhaps that’s why the New Testament begins with these words: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

The Lord Jesus is the descendant. Indeed, the apostle Paul makes this identification clear: 

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ (Galatians 3:16). 

In other words, these promises find their ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus––and that’s how the gospel was originally preached to Abraham. The gospel taught that somehow, Abraham’s descendant would bless the world and would inherit the land. 

But when? And how? And what about Abraham? He too was promised these things––when will he get them? Or will he?