All the words spoken in the following portions of the Word are the content of the covenant God made with Abraham, the called one: Genesis 12:1-3, 7, 13:14-17, 15:1-21, 17:1-21, 21:12, and 22:16-18. This is an orthodox covenant, a covenant of grace; it is joined to the new covenant, and it is the basis of the new covenant. This covenant can be explained in seven points.
God wanted to gain the kingdom, a great nation, through Abraham. This kingdom, this great nation, is the nation of Israel in the Old Testament age, the church in the New Testament age, the millennial kingdom in the coming age, and the new heaven and the new earth in eternity. In other words, the past nation of Israel, the present church, the future millennial kingdom, and the new heaven and the new earth in eternity are all components of God’s kingdom, which God wanted to gain through Abraham.
This blessing includes the blessing of God’s creation and the blessing of God’s redemption. God’s creation is for created man, and God’s redemption is for fallen man. There are blessings in both God’s creation and redemption, and God wanted to give every blessing to Abraham. The content of this blessing includes every blessing that God wants to give to man. It includes God Himself and everything that belongs to Him; it includes everything heavenly and earthly; and it also includes everything in this age and in the next. We need to understand nation as something great and we need to understand blessing also as something great.
A nation is a matter of dominion, and a blessing is a matter of life. We are able to enjoy the blessings of God’s creation and redemption because God has given us His Spirit so that we may have His life. Galatians 3 says that the blessing God gave to Abraham has come to us through the Lord Jesus by believing in Him. As the Spirit the Lord Jesus came into man to be man’s life and to enable man to receive every blessing that belongs to God in the heavens, on the earth, in this age, and in the next age, including God Himself.
While the center of these blessings is God as life, the ultimate result for those who receive this blessing is that they will have the image of God. A nation is a matter of dominion, and a blessing is a matter of image. Therefore, both nation and blessing are related to image and dominion, which is spoken of at the beginning of Genesis.
According to Galatians 3:16, the seed refers to Christ Himself. Through Christ God blesses all the families of the earth. In other words, God wants all the people on the earth, through Christ, to have the opportunity to receive His life and enter into His kingdom, that is, to express His image and to be under His ruling.
The above three items are the gospel. Galatians 3:8 says that the gospel we hear today was preached to Abraham in Genesis 12.
God has always kept this promise. None who have mistreated the Jews have had a good ending; the same is true for those who mistreat the church. The Jews are the earthly descendants of Abraham, while the church is the heavenly descendant of Abraham. During World War II, Hitler treated the Jews cruelly, and we know of how his life ended. Today, countries in the communist world are very unfriendly toward the Israelis, and they are also doing their best to persecute the church, so we can conclude that their ending will be met with God’s curse. This is because God said that He would bless those who bless His people and curse those who curse His people.
Galatians 3:16 says that this covenant is focused on the Lord Jesus Himself. When the Lord Jesus comes again, this promise will be utterly fulfilled. At that time, He will officially inherit the land of Canaan, using the land of Canaan as the center of His administration to rule over the whole world.