Question
What are the promises of Abraham?
Answer
The main passage we need to look at is found in Gen. 12:1-4. It reads as follows.
GEN 12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; GEN 12:2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; GEN 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ” GEN 12:4 So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Involved in what God said to Abraham are three interrelated promises.
First, He promised to make of him a great nation, however in order to do that, he must have offspring. So, God promised him a son and this was fulfilled in Gen. 21 when Abraham was 100 years old.
Secondly, God promised to make of Abraham (his descendants) a great nation (Israel). He did this by giving them a law through Moses and a land, the land of Canaan. This was fulfilled in Joshua 21:43-45.
Then, thirdly the most important part of the promises, in fact the reason for all the preceding, He promised to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham. This was fulfilled in Jesus who came and provided His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Read carefully and joyfully Galatians 3.
By Gary Hunt
