Greetings, friends! There are some interesting things about the Abrahamic Covenant, and I never cease to be amazed when I study God’s Word and find assurances of His faithfulness.

You are probably familiar with this passage from Genesis 12:1-3 in which God first makes known His promises to Abraham!

12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God actually cut covenant with Abraham, based on those promises, and the accounts are found in Genesis 15 and Genesis 17. Notice the promises of land and descendants, along with the admonition to bless all the families of the earth. But this was not a “one-and-done” covenant only with Abraham. It was an everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendants, specifically through Isaac and Jacob. Note the reaffirmation with Isaac:

³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
~Genesis 26:3-4

Then the reaffirmation with Jacob:

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. ¹⁴ Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 
~Genesis 28:13-14

For good measure, the psalmist repeated the vow in Psalm 105:8-11:

⁸ He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
¹⁰ And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance.”

Friends, there is no getting around the fact that the Abrahamic Covenant was an everlasting covenant that must flow through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! The same promises of land and descendants were repeated with each, and each was admonished to bless all the families of the earth! God would accomplish that through Abraham and his descendants, and He is doing that still today!

Three generations, one unbroken covenant!

But wait, there’s more! In Numbers 24:1-9 we find a pagan sorcerer named Balaam hired to curse Israel. Instead, blessings flow from his mouth, including verse 9, which echoes Genesis 12:3:

“Blessed is he who blesses you,
And cursed is he who curses you.”

By this time, Abraham was long gone, yet the blessings and curses principle lived on. And so it does today! The promises to Abraham did not follow him to his grave! They live on!

But wait, there is one more nugget to glean! Since the covenant promises made to Abraham extend to Israel as a nation, what about the church? Glad you asked!

In Genesis 12:1-3 (quoted above), note that God promised to make Abraham a great nation. That is Israel. But then, He goes on to say in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Israel is a nation, yet all the families of the earth make up a multitude of nations. Israel is the vehicle through which world redemption would arrive! In Genesis 17, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (father of many nations). Through Abraham, all nations will be blessed.

The apostle Paul referenced that blessing in Galatians 3:8 when he borrowed language from Genesis 12:1-3.

⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 

Indeed, through Abraham and his descendants came Jesus the Messiah…the greatest blessing the world has ever known!

The church is not in competition with Israel, nor has the church replaced Israel! If the true Israel is the church, how on earth could the Messiah have come through the church!?! The church is simply the fulfillment of the second part of the promise to Israel.

Isn’t Scripture amazing? Spend time in it and allow it to soak into every pore of your being. God’s Word is powerful, and it is comforting. We need it in today’s world in order to fight for righteousness and rest in His goodness.

Tomorrow we’ll carry these thoughts forward through history. But for now, let these Scripture passages sink in!