Who are Abraham's Descendants? What are the Covenants of Scripture?

Genesis 12:1-3

Genesis 15:1-21

Abram obeyed God, he left his father's house and his father's land when he was 75.  In Genesis 12 God is voicing a covenant with Abram;  an agreement, a promise between two parties.  There are certain things that Abram has to do, and in light of this there are certain promises that God makes to Abram.  I will give you the land, I will make of you a great nation, I will make you a blessing to all nations, in you shall all families of the earth be blessed.  People have called this covenant that God made with Abram the Covenant of Promise.  In Genesis 15 we see the covenant ratified or made legal in a powerful way.

An explanation of the covenants of scripture.  God always deals with people by way of covenant in the bible.  The Adamic covenant made with Adam: The covenant of works, certain duties imposed by God and then a warning..  "do not eat of the fruit....."  there were consequences for breaking covenants.  This was a contract of relationship between two parties, God and man.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God and broke the covenant and now man is under the sentence of death.  Humans cannot approach God by our works.  It was finished at the fall.

Then the Noahic covenant, the covenant of preservation.  The rainbow is the sign of that covenant.  God promised to do certain things, not to flood the world with water again.  Then there is the Mosaic covenant, the covenant of law and sacrifices.  The law was never meant to save.  If the law was meant to save why did they have a sacrificial system? The law was to show sin, failure to keep the law.  All these covenants can be summed up under three broad sections:




Covenant of Redemption  made between God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit before creation, before any humans were made.  In eternity past God (triune). God the father was to elect, God the son was to redeem, and God the Holy Spirit was to save them and bring them to glory.  God covenanted to save his chosen ones.

Covenant of Works in the garden of Eden.  Only in Eden in perfection could a man be saved by his works, but man disobeyed and fell.

Covenant of Grace..  the over-arching covenant of which the covenants with Noah, the Mosaic, Davidic and even the new covenant are all a part of the covenant of grace.  All are a part of the grace of God towards sinners.  The Noahic covenant, did man deserve that promise?  no, God knew that within generations man would corrupt the world again, but God chose to show grace until the second advent when this world will be destroyed by fire. The Mosaic covenant, the covenant of law is a part of the covenant of grace.  Some people say that the law is a part of covenant of works..  how wrong they are.  The law cannot be a part of works because the purpose of the law was not to save people by their works, God gave his law and the sacrificial system for when they broke the law.  Romans 5:20 "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound".   The purpose was not salvation but to show sin and how sin must be paid for.  The purpose was to show the need of grace.  Romans 3:19-20 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."  The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.  It is the very idea that our obedience to law can't save us.  The purpose of the law is to give a broken spirit and to show the need of grace and forgiveness.

An explanation of the biblical word Covenant:  A contract between two parties of people and the verb to make a covenant means to cut a covenant - a bond in blood sovereignly administered.  Something that binds people together, a relationship.  But its not just a bond, its a bond in blood, a bond of life and death because God never ever entered into a casual or informal relationship with man.  When God enters into a covenant, it is a binding covenant, life and death.    There is no bartering about conditions..  God determines the conditions.

In Genesis 15  the verbalized promises are ratified by the shedding of blood.  The covenant of promise to Abram is inaugurated.   God brought Abram out of the tent to the night sky and told him that his descendants will be like the stars without number and God promised to give Abram the land.

God kept his promise but that is not all that he meant.  The promise that God made to Abraham was not fulfilled in Jews according to the flesh.  That is not what God meant.  Jesus says in John 8:39-47 "They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.  Ye do the deeds of your father.  Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father it if.  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth why do ye not belive me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God."  The unbelieving Jews are not Abraham's descendants.

Who are Abraham's descendants that can't be numbered?  Romans 4:16 "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all.  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead ....... "  Galatians 3:5-9 "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,  In thee shall all nations be blessed.  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." 3:28-29 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."  
 
Those that are of faith are Abraham's descendants.  That is why they are uncountable, that is why they cannot be numbered.  Rev 7:9  "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands..."
 
Are you one of them?  if you don't have the faith of Abraham you won't be there.

This post is based on notes made by myself from a sermon by Rev Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) at Sermon Audio.



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