The Covenant with Abraham Gen. 12:1-17-22 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In our study of the covenants, we are rightly dividing the word of truth. That is, we are finding the right divisions by studying the various covenants that God made with men. We have studied three covenants, thus far: the covenant in Eden and the covenants with Adam and Noah. Today we are studying the covenant with Abraham.
The covenant with Abraham was established in Gen 12:1-3 and continues through to Gen 17:22. It is an everlasting covenant. The token of this covenant is circumcision.
Under this covenant, Abraham was promised a blessing (Gen 12:1-3), a seed (Gen 7:7), a nation (Gen 12:2), and a land grant (Gen 12:7; 15:18-21). Furthermore, this covenant protected Abraham and his seed from those that would curse them (Gen 12:3). The covenant that God made with Abraham was also established with Isaac, Jacob, and the 12 tribes of Israel (Gen 27:29; Num 24:2,9; Ps 105:8-12). So, it is a covenant that survives Abraham’s life and continues with Israel for eternity.
The world’s view of this covenant is that Israel is not God’s chosen people. Instead, the church replaces Israel concerning the promises of God. You can often see this false assumption in the page titles of Bibles over passages like Is 49, 54, 60 and 66. Those titles refer to the church and the church is nowhere to be found in those passages.
Nations have repeatedly tried to destroy the Jews (Ps 83). In the end, the world’s jealousy over God’s promise to Israel will lead to Armageddon. Israel will win and becoming the ruling nation of the world under Jesus Christ (Zeph. 3:8; Zech. 8:20-23).
While Abraham’s faith is used by Paul to illustrate our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary (Rom 4:3-13), salvation was not accomplished the same way then as it is now. They could not put their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Abraham and his seed had faith with imputed righteousness for believing God.
There are men and women who think that they can get to heaven or paradise by killing Jews. Hitler thought this. They believe that they, not the Jews, are God’s chosen people. They are mistaken, because God will judge all nations based on how well they treated the Jews (Matt 25:31-46). Everyone must come to God through a Jew (Jesus Christ) or they will not get to Him (Jn 4:22).
The idea that there can be a two-state solution to settle the Palestinian and Israeli dispute over the land granted to Abraham and his seed through Isaac, Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel comes from a failure to believe the Bible. The result is that there will be no peace in the Middle East until Jesus comes and Israel is the only “state” occupying that land.