Freedom is Good News Part 165
/In the book of Genesis we meet a man by the name of Abram (which literally means – father of height). We know this man as Abraham (God changed his name in chapter 17 to mean father of nations). In Genesis 12, God chooses Abram to be the father of His chosen people and God promises to bless him greatly if, in his obedience, he leaves the home of his family and comes to the land God will show him; and not only show him but also give to his descendants. God states the blessing in Genesis 12:2&3, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
In chapter 15 God tells Abram that He has a great reward coming, but Abram reminds God that he has no heirs to leave it to, only a faithful servant. God tells him, “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’. And he believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” This is where we were a couple of weeks ago, when we talked of Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 4:3. “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” God promised him many, many offspring!
Who is this son that God says will be Abram’s heir. Well, if we keep reading in Genesis we come to find out that his heir is named Isaac. Isaac has a son named Jacob; whose name is later changed to Israel and he has 12 sons who become the nation of Israel. But wait! There is a curious scripture in Galatians 3:7 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’”
Paul says that God preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham and what is the gospel? That Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham would die for the sins of mankind and that through His resurrection would bring life to all who believed!! What might we deduce from these statements? We should see that all nations have now been blessed through Abraham because his offspring, through time, became the Savior of all mankind, i.e. all nations.
Remember, we have been talking these past few weeks, about receiving the reward that our Savior will have with Him when He returns to earth, Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to his works.” This reward consists of both blessing and cursing depending on our works. Jesus tells us in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the works that Abraham did.” I believe in that previous article, we were attempting to see what works Abraham accomplished. And now after laying this ground work, we shall. Sooooo …. Let’s stay tuned because father Abraham has much to teach us.