Lesson 9 – Blessed through Abraham

Genesis 18:18-19 (NIV)
" Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

Our Lord is a covenant making God, and this is just one of several passages where he commits himself to Abraham and his descendants. While the promise God gives this family of becoming a great and powerful nation remains relevant to today's Mideast claims over lands in and near Israel, the part of this covenant which still resides on the church today is the promise of a blessing which comes to all nations. Through Abraham, all nations would be blessed.

While I won't point to an extensive Bible study on this topic, the New Testament clearly teaches that it is through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that this blessing would be fulfilled through the Lord. Jesus is the only promise to this covenant. Through Jesus, all peoples may come to a right relationship with God. This is the blessing which comes to us through Abraham.

In a perversion of this promise, some claim that this blessing would come about through another prophet. While those who follow this line of thinking rightly claim Abraham as the father of faith, they ignore God's promise to bless the world through Isaac and Jacob. To get around this difficulty, they've gone as far as to rewrite Old Testament events (though thousands of years later), declaring their writings surpass the Bible, freeing themselves to deny Christ and to stake their claim on the land of Israel.

While this is a very sensitive issue, it is clear that God's blessing of our salvation comes only through Christ as a direct fulfillment of this covenant with Abraham. And while God did promise a large nation through Abraham's other children, he also told Abraham they would not be the lineage through which the promise would be given. The blessing for all nations comes only through Christ, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Satan's way seems to be to try to confuse God's truth. He's a spin doctor to the max, taking the truth and twisting it for evil. While it is difficult to question one's birth and religious heritage, as we lovingly remain faithful to Christ, the world will take notice and receive a blessing, and it will come about God's way alone.