Why Does God Say These Promises to Jacob Again at This Particular Time?
When God began working with Abram (his proper noun was later inverse to Abraham), God gave him a command and an amazing promise. The control was, "Become out of your land, from your family and from your father's firm, to a land that I will show yous" (Genesis 12:1).
Explaining the promise He would give Abraham in exchange for his obedience, God continued: "I volition make you a great nation; I volition bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I volition bless those who anoint you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the globe shall be blessed" (verses 2-3).
This hope had multiple components, including the hope of multiple descendants, fame, divine protection and that Abraham through his descendants would be a blessing to all people. Abraham's son Isaac and grandson Jacob were "heirs with him of the same promise" (Hebrews 11:9, emphasis added throughout).
Because of the multiple components that were function of this promise, it is likewise adequate to refer to these components as promises to Abraham. Indeed, this is how many translations of the Bible, including the New King James Version, translate Paul's statement to the Galatians: "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made" (Galatians 3:16).
Our article "Promises to Abraham" explains that these promises were both concrete and spiritual in nature. Physically, Abraham'due south descendants would become a peachy nation. The spiritual approval to all people was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, a descendant of Abraham, through whom people of all nationalities may receive salvation (Acts 4:10-12; Galatians 3:xvi).
In this article, we volition examine some of the components of God'due south promises to Abraham. As we will see, there are several additional passages in the book of Genesis that further explicate what God was offering to Abraham and his descendants. In improver to Genesis 12:two-iii, which we've already noted, here are a few more passages in this first book of the Bible that further expound upon the great blessing God was offering Abraham.
Promises to Abraham's descendants (Genesis 12:seven)
"And then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I volition requite this country.' And at that place he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him."
When Abraham left his country for the country God promised to testify him, "he went out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). Afterward Abraham arrived in the country God wanted him to encounter, God appear that He would give this land to his descendants. As Abraham obeyed and grew in organized religion, God continued to reveal to him the blessings he and his descendants would receive.
Expanding the promises (Genesis xiii:two, 14-17)
"Abram was very rich in livestock, in silvery, and in golden. …
"And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—north, southward, eastward, and west; for all the land which you lot run across I give to you lot and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; and then that if a man could number the grit of the earth, and then your descendants too could exist numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to yous.'"
God had promised to bless Abraham, and this soon became apparent due to Abraham'due south personal wealth. Adding to what He had previously spoken, God now told this patriarch that his descendants would exist numerous and that He was giving this country to Abraham and his descendants forever. God then encouraged Abraham to walk through the state—to bank check out the gift that he was beingness given.
Promise of endless descendants (Genesis xv:4-6, 18)
"And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, proverb, 'This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own trunk shall exist your heir.' Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if yous are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'Then shall your descendants exist.' And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. … On the aforementioned twenty-four hour period the LORD made a covenant with Abram, proverb: 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.'"
In response to Abraham's statement that he was childless and that a servant was his heir, God told Abraham that his own kid would exist his heir and that through this kid and subsequent generations, his descendants would become numerous, like the stars in the sky.
A meaning item hither is that Abraham believed that what God had promised would indeed come about. Once more, God repeats His promise of state for Abraham's descendants—this fourth dimension formalizing this part of the hope with a covenant that included specific geographical boundaries.
God'southward promises to Abraham and Sarah, begetter and mother of many nations (Genesis 17:1-8, 15-16)
"When Abram was ninety-9 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and exist blameless. And I will brand My covenant betwixt Me and you, and volition multiply you lot exceedingly.' So Abram roughshod on his confront, and God talked with him, saying: 'Every bit for Me, behold, My covenant is with yous, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your proper name be chosen Abram, but your proper name shall be Abraham; for I have made yous a father of many nations.
"I will brand you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you lot, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and y'all and your descendants subsequently you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after y'all.
"Besides I give to you and your descendants later on y'all the land in which you are a stranger, all the country of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.' …
"Then God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, yous shall not call her proper noun Sarai, but Sarah shall exist her proper name. And I will bless her and also give yous a son past her; then I will anoint her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.'"
Many years had now gone by since God had first promised Abraham that his descendants would become so numerous that they could be compared to the dust of the earth and the stars of the sky. Just so far, Abraham and his married woman had not had whatsoever children. They were both getting older, and it was looking like they would not have any children. God took this occasion to remind Abraham that He would multiply him "exceedingly."
At this time God also changed Abram's name to Abraham, saying he would become a "begetter of many nations," and the proper name of his wife from Sarai to Sarah, proverb she would be a "mother of nations" (Genesis 17:five, 16). Even though it didn't look similar Abraham and Sarah would ever take a child, God continued to repeat and add details to the original promise He had made to Abraham.
God decides to share His plans with Abraham (Genesis 18:17-18)
"And the LORD said, 'Shall I hibernate from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blest in him?'"
The setting for this passage is just prior to God's devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah due to the wickedness of these cities' inhabitants. Here, in a remarkable verse, we see God's thoughts on whether to share with Abraham what He is about to do. What apparently led God to share His plan with Abraham was the fact that Abraham would become a mighty nation and that all nations would be blessed through this man.
What this verse tells usa is that this hope to Abraham was extremely important to God. God frequently brought up this promise in discussions with the patriarch; and here, it was apparently an important cistron in God deciding to share with Abraham what He was planning to exercise to these cities.
The nascency of Isaac (Genesis 21:ane-iii)
"And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his quondam age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham chosen the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac."
Even though Sarah was "by the historic period" for having children, God miraculously allowed her to conceive and behave a son.
This passage shows that God was truthful to His word. Even though Sarah was "past the age" for having children, God miraculously allowed her to conceive and bear a son (Hebrews xi:11). "Therefore from one human being, and him as good equally dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore" (poetry 12).
Hope of "the gate of their enemies" (Genesis 22:16-eighteen)
"By Myself I accept sworn, says the LORD, considering you take done this thing, and accept non withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants every bit the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blest, because y'all have obeyed My vox."
Afterwards Abraham showed that he was willing to sacrifice his only son—the one through whom Abraham expected God to fulfill His promise of many descendants, God repeated once more the slap-up approving He said that He would give to Abraham. In add-on to his descendants having numerous progeny, God told Abraham, "Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies."
While various interpretations of this phrase "gate of their enemies" range from having power and authority over others (legal transactions took place at the gate of a city) to controlling strategic land and ocean gates, both of these concepts may have been intended. Seeing the many times God repeats the approving, both are logical in lite of God'due south statement to Abraham: "I will make you a not bad nation" (Genesis 12:2). Great nations wield authority and control strategic land and body of water gates.
God's promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 26:3-v; 27:26-29; 28:13-14; 35:11-12)
Afterward Abraham'due south death, God repeated and reinforced the promises to his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. Allow's look at some of these prophecies.
God told Isaac, "Dwell in this land, and I will exist with you and bless yous; for to yous and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will brand your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall exist blessed; because Abraham obeyed My vox and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:3-5).
Abraham's faithful obedience led to these unconditional promises for his descendants.
Isaac passed on these promises through a blessing to Jacob in Genesis 27:26-29. God as well repeated the promises to Jacob in a dream in Genesis 28:13-14:
"I am the LORD God of Abraham your male parent and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I volition give to yous and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be equally the grit of the world; you lot shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the southward; and in you and in your seed all the families of the world shall be blessed."
God also gave added details to Jacob, whose name God later changed to Israel:
"I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall go along from you lot, and kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I requite to you; and to your descendants afterward y'all I give this land" (Genesis 35:11-12).
Read more about the promise of a nation and grouping of nations in the promises passed down to Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 48:19, which is explained in our article "Blessings of Abraham: How They Came to the United States."
Practise the promises to Abraham even so apply?
Today it is unremarkably understood that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of God'south hope to bless all families of the earth through Abraham. Information technology is also acknowledged that Abraham's descendants multiplied and eventually became the aboriginal nations of State of israel and Judah. But does God's hope to Abraham have any significance today?
While many people readily acknowledge that the approving of Jesus Christ to all peoples continues today, they don't know whether the physical promises to Abraham'south descendants are still applicable. Some think that the blessings were fulfilled and, hence, at that place is no continuance of the concrete promises.
What the Bible teaches is that the concrete blessings to these people will continue until and after Christ's render. For example, Genesis 49:ane presupposes that the 12 sons of Jacob would abound into prominent nations and that they would exist "in the terminal days."
During His New Testament ministry building, Jesus told His disciples that in the future Kingdom of God, they would sit on thrones "judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew xix:28; Luke 22:30). New Jerusalem will have 12 gates, each named after one of "the twelve tribes of the children of Israel" (Revelation 21:12).
The answer is that both the spiritual and concrete components of Abraham'south promise withal utilise. The opportunity to receive salvation comes through the spiritual part of God's promise to Abraham—the coming of Jesus Christ. Making sense of end-fourth dimension prophecies is enhanced by understanding who the nations are today that are largely comprised of Abraham's descendants. Exist sure to read the manufactures in this section that provide keys to these nations' identities.
Nigh the Author
David Treybig
David Treybig is a husband, father and grandpa. He and his wife, Teddi, have two grown children and seven grandchildren. He currently pastors the Austin, Texas, congregation of the Church building of God, a Worldwide Clan. He has served in the pastoral ministry for over forty years, pastoring congregations across vi states.
Read More
Source: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/12-tribes-of-israel/god-s-promise-to-abraham/
0 Response to "Why Does God Say These Promises to Jacob Again at This Particular Time?"
Post a Comment