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Brad Stine
by Ryan Richardson

Health & Fitness
by Jeff Consiglio

The Addiction
part iii
by David Chipp-Smith

God's Promises
Part IV
by Colin Michael



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God's Promises, Part 4

by Colin Michael

God had a complete plan for all of time before He spoke His first words of creation. The plan that He put into effect is the single most effective plan that could have ever been because of who He is. At times and to certain people of His choosing, God has revealed a portion of that plan. In a few very special instances, God has revealed His plan by way of a promise. These promises are called covenants and God has chosen to be bound by every promise He has made. Some of the covenants have been laid out in the form of a contract with conditions that men must fulfill before the promise would be in effect. Most have been without condition, promises given completely by His grace, dependent on nothing else. In this series of articles we will consider God's covenants along with their recipients, conditions, fulfillments, and lasting effects.

The Abrahamic Covenant

The covenant that God made with Abram was different in many ways from any that had come before. The biggest difference is found in Genesis 12:1: God called one man out of the world. Being called out is an important concept and one that God will continue to use. No longer does God act directly to change all of humanity on earth at once. Mankind is seen as being more and more distant from God on the whole while one group, called out through one man, is drawn close into fellowship with their Lord Jehovah, the One that keeps His promises, the Jehovah-Jireh, the One who provides.

In Gen. 12:1-3 we see the first mention of God's promises to Abram. God goes to him and shows him a new vision of the future. God starts the process of promises. Abram will have many and powerful offspring; he would be blessed personally; his name would be associated with greatness; his life would be the conduit for blessing others. The Lord goes on to say that He will care for Abram by blessing those who bless him and cursing those that curse him (v.3). What a significant sentence spoken succinctly by God to a man from an idol-worshipping family. It concludes with the words, "and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

After Abram had been in the land God had shown him, the covenant was restated in a moment when Abram needed comfort. Abram's nephew Lot had just separated from him under less than happy circumstances and he was now very much alone. In that hour God showed Abram the land and told him how his family would inherit all of it someday. God told him that his family would populate the whole of the land in his name. There is nothing listed as a stipulation, just an unconditional promise directly from the person of God.

The uniquely personal nature of the Abrahamic covenant is seen over and over. In chapter 15, verses 4-16, God once again reassures Abram that His promises are certain. Abram looks at the stars in the sky and believes God completely when He says that Abrams seed will be likewise innumerable. At this point, before God seals the covenant with a human ritual of covenant making, it is said of Abram that he believed in the Lord and had righteousness placed on his account.

The stating of the covenant in chapter 15 includes a bit of new information and is confirmed with a ceremony that includes a blood sacrifice. The new information is that the family of Abraham would spend time in Egypt; they'd be in bondage, but the Lord would deliver them out of Egypt with great substance, meaning that they would be extremely wealthy. The final bit of new information was that Abraham would live to be quite old.

When God next mentions his covenant with Abraham we find that He is ready to name the next individual that He will call out to Himself. The child would be the son that Sarah would give to Abraham. Again there is a token of God's covenant. Henry Morris has this to say about circumcision:

"As the rainbow encircling the whole earth was a token of God's covenant with all men (Gen. 9:17), so circumcision, encircling the channel by which the human seed is preserved and transmitted, especially the promised seed in the line of Abraham, is the token of God's covenant with His chosen nation."

So circumcision is not a condition of the covenant, but a token for the individual in the chosen line. As the thoughts and intents of their heart were between each man and his God, so this token is a reminder that the God who knows and sees in secret will reward openly with a great blessing of descendents.

The covenant that God made with Abraham, confirmed with Isaac (Gen. 22:17-18), and again confirmed with Jacob (Gen. 28:13-15), has a fulfillment that has yet to be seen. The seed through Isaac and the Seed, which is Christ, have never received all of the Promised Land or the recognition of the nations. There is yet to be a little while before it is completed in the reign of Christ on earth. Though it may seem that this covenant does not directly affect non-Jews today, it certainly does. Since this covenant continues today, even if in abeyance until the return of Christ, all nations and peoples and individuals must remember the blessings and cursings of Gen. 12:3.


Next Month: Conclusion and Application

Did you miss Part III of this series?