TO MAKE THE CALLED “A GREAT NATION” - In 12:2 God said to Abraham, “I will make of thee a great nation.” This word was a contrast to Abraham’s background. At Babel, there were many nations formed with families. Abraham lived in such an atmosphere. When God came to Abraham, telling him to get out of his country, Abraham might have said within himself, “What about the matter of being a nation?” Then God promised that He would make of him a great nation. God also said, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” This also was in contrast with Babel. When the people built a tower at Babel, they were trying to make a name for themselves. But God, in His promise, seemed to be telling Abraham, “You don’t need to make a name for yourself. I will make your name great. You don’t need to form a nation. I will make a nation out of you.”

God promised Abraham that He would make of him “a great nation.” This “great nation” is the kingdom of God, composed of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, the church in the New Testament, the millennial kingdom in the coming age, and the new heaven and the new earth in eternity. (In the millennial kingdom there will be two parts-the heavenly part and the earthly part. The heavenly part will be the kingdom of heaven. The overcomers of the past and present ages will be in the heavenly part of the millennium as co-kings with Christ. The earthly part is the Messianic kingdom, the kingdom of the Messiah, composed of the future Jewish nation.) The nation of Israel in the Old Testament age, the church in the New Testament age, the coming kingdom in the millennium, and the new heaven and the new earth in eternity-all are included in this “great nation” which God promised to make of Abraham. In this way Abraham’s name became great. Other than the name of the Lord Jesus, no name on earth is greater than that of Abraham. He is the father of “a great nation.” He is the father of the nation of Israel, the father of the church, and he will be the father of the millennial kingdom and of all the redeemed ones in eternity. What a “great nation” with a great name this is!

TO BLESS THE CALLED - God promised to bless Abraham (12:2). What is this blessing? It is the blessings of God’s creation and redemption, including all that God wants to give man-God Himself and all that He has in this age and in the age to come. Galatians 3:14 shows us that this blessing eventually is the promise of the Spirit: “That the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Since the Spirit is God Himself, this means that God promised that He would give Himself to Abraham as the blessing.

TO MAKE THE CALLED A BLESSING TO ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH - God not only promised that He Himself would be a blessing to Abraham, but that Abraham would be a blessing to all the families, all the nations, of the earth (12:3). In His calling, God turned from Adam to Abraham. This meant that He had given up the Adamic race. But, in His promise, God made another turn from Abraham back to all the families of the Adamic race through Christ, the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:14). This is very meaningful. Firstly, God turned from Adam to Abraham and, eventually, He turned from Abraham through Christ back to the created race. By this new turn we all were captured. It appeared that God had left us and had turned to Abraham. Then God seemed to say to Abraham, “I will not only give Myself to you as a blessing, but I will make you a blessing to all those pitiful people of the Adamic race. Abraham, let us go back.” We may say that God made a U-turn. By this U-turn all of the called ones from the nations have been gathered in.

Let me say a word about our attitude toward the Jews. Never mistreat the Jewish people. God said, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” (In this word, “them” and “him” indicates people in both plural and singular number.) If you read history, you will find that during the past twenty-five centuries, from the time that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem until now, every country, people, race, or individual that has cursed the Jewish people has received a curse. However, whoever blesses the Jewish people receives a blessing. No leader in history died in such a pitiful way as Hitler did. Hitler died in that way because he was cursed for his cursing of the Jewish people. Since the United States is helping the nation of Israel today, surely the United States is under God’s blessing. This is not my opinion. This is according to God’s promise in Genesis 12:3.
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