Skip to main content

The Blessing of Abraham

All Families of the Earth

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 will be blessed.
(Genesis 12:3)


Genesis 3:15 contains the first proclamation of the gospel. Starting in Genesis 12 we have the second. Both are from God himself. If you are a Gentile - that is, if you are of non-Jewish lineage - then your ability to participate in the New Covenant blessing is built off Jesus' fulfillment of this promise from God to Abraham.

The Apostle Paul builds his theology of the church and the New Covenant blessing upon Abraham. You are encouraged to read Galatians 3 and Romans 4 in particular. The Apostle Peter likewise builds from Genesis 12:3 in his second sermon of the church age recorded in Acts 3.

To get the full context you should read the account of Abraham's life in Genesis 11:26-25:11. The most important texts for our purposes are found in chapters 12 and 15. The outline Christ presented to his earliest followers to testify to included that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in the name of the Christ to all nations.

Testifying that repentance should be proclaimed in the name of Jesus to all nations is in fulfillment of these scriptural promises to Abraham starting in Genesis 12. It defines the blessing of the New Covenant.

Genesis 12:1-3

After the fall of humanity in Genesis 3, we see corruption of God's creation, judgment through the flood, and the establishment of many nations through the descendants of Noah and his sons. Out of all these people groups God chooses Abram. God promises to make of Abram a great nation.

The purpose of God's choice is not simply to bless Abram and the nation that will result. God explicitly says that his purpose is so that all the families of the earth will be blessed through him.

Bible
The Apostle Peter makes it clear that this blessing is particularly related to the repentance of all nations in his sermon recorded in Acts 3.

"It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.' For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." (Acts 3:25-26)

Peter makes four things clear in his full proclamation (Acts 3:12-26).
  1. The Scriptures have uniformly testified that the Christ would come to fulfill the promise of God to redeem a people to himself from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people (Acts 3:18-24);
  2. This New Covenant blessing flows from the original covenant promise God made to Abraham (Acts 3:25);
  3. This blessing is first to the Jew, then to the Gentile (Acts 3:26); and
  4. The blessing is to offer them salvation in Christ if they will repent of their wicked ways and trust in the Messiah.

Conclusion

    It is important to understand that the New Covenant is built on promises that predate the Mosaic covenant. The New Covenant is not "new" in the sense that it is recent. It is "new" in the sense that it is the fullness and substance of God's plan of redemption from the very beginning. It is the fulfillment, not the abolishment, of the Old.

    Freedom In Christ
    God chose Abram to build a nation for himself, the nation of Israel. God never intended to stop at a nation of his own. Instead, it was through this nation that God would bring the Messiah. It would be in the Messiah that all nations would find salvation. The Messiah would bring them freedom from the curse and offer reconciliation to God.

    God has demonstrated in history that Jesus of Nazareth is the appointed Christ. The process of this blessing spreading to all nations is the current mission and ministry of the church. It is carried out in the name and authority of the One who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18-20).

    The Great Commission is carried out in obedience to Christ. It is also carried out in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham about 2000 years before the birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus.

    Related Video

    Comments

    Popular Posts

    Prayer vs. Petition

    Q: What's the difference between prayer and petition? Phil 4:6 for example. A: An excellent word study question! When attempting to study words from the text it is necessary to analyze the word being studied in the original language (in this case Greek) as attempting to look up the words in English will often produce erroneous results. For example, in English the word petition has within its range of meanings things that are certainly not within the scope of meanings for the Greek word (i.e. “a sheet that is signed to demonstrate agreement with some principle or desire for some social action to be taken” is part of the range of “petition” but not of the Greek deesis from which “petition” is translated). The word most commonly translated as “prayer” in our English Bibles is proseuche , which appears 36 times in the New Testament (NT) in one form or another (for the purposes of this study, we are only examining the usage of these words as nouns – the verbal forms will not be

    Smoking Hookah

    Q: This week a young Christian talked with me about the practice of smoking Hookah. They attend a church [which] is reaching out to the many Indian and Muslims in the surrounding areas. Their church also have several ministries that support missions in India and Arab countries. As they spoke with me they said that many of their Christian friends are smoking the Hookah. They said that they have been told that certain types of Hookah smoking involve no tobacco but are simply flavored water, other types of Hookah smoking do include tobacco but in a ‘more pure’ form than that of cigarettes that have additives. The Christians that they know of who partake in smoking Hookah do not feel that there is anything sinful in this practice and believe that it is just a part of certain cultures as a way to relax and socialize. Apparently during certain celebrations some of these culture groups get together as a family and include smoking the Hookah together as part of the festivities. These Chris

    The Church Isn't A Business

    I used to be a salesman. I sold a lot of different stuff. I worked retail. I did door-to-door. In all my various jobs my function was essentially the same. I was the link between company and customer. Successful companies know their customer demographics. Many sales meetings revolve around numbers. Persons are treated as statistics. The customer becomes a set of numbers, preferences, and habits. Really successful companies cater their goods and services to a target demographic. It's all about the consumer experience. I remember when I began in pastoral ministry. People assured me that my experience as a salesman would be beneficial. They said there was a lot of overlap between pastors and salespeople. That may be true in our experience. But is it true of what we read in Scripture? When I open my Bible and read about Christ's church I see a beautiful design that is very different from a business. Night and day different. When Jesus walked the earth He rebuked those who

    The "Jesus Loves You" Problem

    Q: I've encountered a lot of teaching and Christians who believe that saying, "Jesus loves you!" is a valid form of evangelism. Do you disagree with this? If so, why? It seems like a loving way to reach out and to encourage those who are not believers. A: What a great question! There are certainly a lot of materials and teachings that encourage Christians to use the phrase, "Jesus loves you" as an outreach and evangelistic tool. Much of this teaching that I've encountered emphasizes following the lead of the Holy Spirit. It claims that the Holy Spirit will often lead Christians to say this to non-believers to encourage them and try and lead them to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Fourth Year Ministries does not teach or endorse this as a valid evangelism strategy. That's not because we don't want it to be valid! Truth be told, we would love for this to be a good practice for Christians. It would certainly open some more doors for us. I

    10 Things An Evangelist Is Not

    You've probably heard the term Evangelist before. Most people have. The term most likely brings something to mind. Sometimes positive. Often negative. Does your idea match what other people think of when they hear the term evangelist? More importantly, do any of these ideas match what the Bible tells us an evangelist is ? The truth is that most of the popular ideas about what an evangelist is and does are based on the culture, not the Bible. This is a problem. The cultural idea of an evangelist is so popular that it is beginning to be used by companies. If you go to popular job sites and put the term evangelist into the search bar you will find many non-church jobs looking for evangelists. Many of these positions include the duties of spreading knowledge about a particular company, product, service, or idea. The Bible tells us that Jesus gave some Evangelists for His church. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as