Throughout history, God has been making "very great and precious promises" (2Pe 1:4). We begin this series of lessons with the promises that the Lord God made long ago to the patriarch Abraham. God told Abram to leave his homeland and go forth to a land that God had yet to show him. God promised that Abraham's descendants would possess that land, and become a great nation. The Lord also said, "In you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Gen 12:1-3)

The Faith of Abraham

Abraham believed God, and obeyed. He pointed out to God, however, that he had no child through whom the promise could be fulfilled. God promised in reply that Abraham would certainly have an heir, and have descendants as numerous as the stars (Gen 15:1-5, Gen 17:1-8). By this time Abraham was nearly 100 years old, and his wife Sarah was elderly and barren. Yet Abraham and Sarah came to believe completely in God's promises (Heb 11:8-16).

It came to pass that Abraham and Sarah had a son, whose name was Isaac. When Isaac had grown into a lad, God tested Abraham's faith by telling him to take Isaac to a mountain and kill him as a sacrifice. Abraham believed that God would provide a substitute sacrifice, or if not that he would raise Isaac from the dead, so Abraham obeyed God. At the last moment God prevented Isaac's death, satisfied that Abraham had passed this severe test of faith (Heb 11:17-19, Gen 22).

Birth of a Nation

Abraham and Sara's son Isaac in turn had a son called Jacob (who was later called Israel and he in turn had twelve sons who fathered the twelve tribes who later comprised the nation of Israel. In the cradle of Egypt the children of Jacob's sons multiplied. One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, was ruler of Egypt. Later on the descendants were made slaves in Egypt, yet they continued to multiply. In time, Moses led them out of Egypt and to the promised land.

Generations later David became king over the nation, followed by his son Solomon who reigned at the peak of the kingdom's glory, and observed that God had done "according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed." (1Kg 8:56). Solomon had reference to the land promise that Abraham's descendants would become a great nation in the promised land. In hindsight, the seed promise is far more magnificent, and it still had to be fulfilled.

The Seed Promise

The Lord had promised Abraham, "In your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 22:18). God had said to David (Solomon's father), "When you are dead, I will raise up your descendant after you... and I will establish his kingdom" (2Sm 7:12).

If people thought that this referred to Solomon, they were wrong. Although he reigned gloriously, and even built a temple house for God as the promise went on to state, yet one thing was not true. God had said to David, "I will establish the throne of his kingdom --your throne-- for ever" (2Sm 7:13, 16-17). Solomon was not the promised "seed" because he died in disgrace. His kingdom divided, and was eventually destroyed, reduced to a remnant.

During the dark years of the kingdom's demise, the prophet Isaiah was saying, "A child will be born to us, a Son will be given us, and the government will rest upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it with justice and righteousness, from then on for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this" (Isa 9:1-7).

This seed and this Son was of course our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16). Have you acknowledged Jesus as the promised seed of Abraham and the Son of God?

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