CHAPTER IV
The
Covenants of Promise
MAN,
through sin, having fallen from the exalted position in which God had placed
him, becomes an outcast, an alien from God and in the language Of the Apostle
Paul, was "without hope and without God in the world”. He was then so far as he himself was
concerned hopeless and absolutely powerless to help himself. He had fallen. He
was lost. While he had thus brought evil into the world, dethroned himself and
become the subject of sin, resulting in the deplorable history of human affairs
which followed, he placed himself in a predicament to become the subject of
Divine mercy. This gave scope for the manifestation of the love of God, to show
that His tender mercies are always manifest towards those who will believe His
word and obey His commandments He does not leave man to die under the sentence
and go down into dust without hope, but He comes to his rescue opening up a new
relationship.
COVENANT WITH ADAM
Here,
we may safely say is the first covenant of promise to be found in the Bible.
While the promise is made in so many words the covenant feature is only implied
The implication however is sufficient to assure us
that a covenant relationship was opened up between man and his creator. The
Scriptures lay down the principle that "without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sin" (Heb. 9: 22). A covenant, therefore,
providing for man's redemption must always provide for a sacrifice for the
remission of sins. Was there such a sacrifice in the case of our first parents? May we not safely conclude that the coats of
skins made for covering their nakedness implied a sacrifice involving the
shedding of blood? That by the goodness of God an arrangement was entered into
between God and man at that early stage, requiring sacrificial offerings, is
clear from the words of the Apostle Paul
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by
which he obtained witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts: and
by it he, being dead, yet speaketh (Heb 11: 4) This alludes to Gen 4: 3, 4 - “And in process of time it came to pass,
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And
Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering." How could Cain
and Abel know that it was necessary to make offerings unless they had received
the revelation from God? That a covenant had been entered into, God promising
redemption and requiring submission to his prescribed conditions, would seem to
be more than implied in what the apostle says. He first defines faith, saying, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen." Our first parents and their sons could know
nothing of future life and could hope for nothing after the fall, unless God
had made promises to them. In these promises they had "evidence of things
not seen," things far in the future, involving human redemption. Without
this faith "it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11: 6). This is
what is called in other parts of the Scriptures "the one faith,” the
"one hope.” We may safely conclude
also that this one faith is what is termed the one gospel, and therefore the
gospel from the beginning and throughout all ages since has been the same,
involving the redemption of man and the "restitution of all things spoken
of by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began." Having
defined what the one faith is, the apostle proceeds to say, "Through faith
we understand that the worlds (ages) were framed." and then he adds,
"By faith," this faith already defined, "Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain." The one faith was therefore revealed
to them, and this one faith instructed them that God required an offering from
them, or rather offerings, for evidently there were two kinds of offerings to
be made - one of the fruit of the ground and the other of the firstlings of the
flock. It does not appear that God found fault with Cain's offering in itself,
it was all right in its place, but where he fell short was that he did not do
all that God had required as Abel his brother did. That it was not displeasing
to God to offer the fruit of the ground us shown by the fact that such
offerings were instituted in the Mosaic law. The
difference between the two was that the one was an offering of gratitude to
God, while the other, the firstlings of the flock, involving the shedding of
blood, acknowledged man as a sinner and his dependence upon God for forgiveness
and redemption through the shedding of the blood of the typical victims, which
pointed to Christ, whose blood has been shed for redemption. An offering which
acknowledged the justice of God in inflicting death for sin and His goodness in
granting remission of sin and release from its evil effects was esteemed very
important, sufficiently so to cause God to have respect to Abel's obedience and
to bring frowns upon the disobedience of Cain. The words spoken to Cain,
"Sin lieth at the door" (Gen. 4: 7) should
be rendered "A sin-offering croucheth at thy
door," intimating that an animal proper to be offered for atonement, and
which Cain had failed to offer, was within reach. We may safely say that
"Jesus Christ and Him crucified" was in the gospel or the faith known
to our first parents, and that their offering pointed directly to Him, as all
the types and shadows of the Mosaic law did, of which
the apostles assure us. Here then in the
Garden of Eden, as soon as man fell, we have a covenant of promise.
THE COVENANT WITH NOAH
Coming
down to the time of Noah when the wickedness of man became great and God's
justice and vengeance required the destruction of almost everything that
existed, provision being made for the safety of Noah and his family and
sufficient of the animal kingdom to give the world a fresh start, another
covenant of promise was made. In the building of the ark which saved Noah and
all that went in with him we have a figure of Christ The apostle Peter says, "The like
figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us" 1 Pet 3 21 ) The storm and flood having
subsided God enters into covenant with Noah, instructing him in certain details
concerning thie various animals by which he could
discriminate between the clean and the unclean, He then says,
Gen 9: 9-17 And I, behold I
establish my covenant with you
and with your seed after you and with evey living living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of
the cattle and and every beast of the earth with you;
from all that go out of the ark to every
beast of the earth. And I will establish
my covenant with you neither shalt all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall all there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth. And God said
This is the token of the covenant which l
make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for
perpetual generations I do set my bow in the cloud and it shall be for a token
of a covenant between me and the earth
And it shall come to pass when I
bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud and I will remember my covenant
which is between me and you and every
living creature of all flesh and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all
flesh And the bow shall be in the
cloud: and I will look uipon it that l may remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth And
God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all
flesh that is upon the earth.
Again we would pause here and ask the reader to remember that these
covenants, so far is we have gone pertain to the earth and the creatures upon
it that they
deal with the results of the curse which was the origin as cause of all the
evils necessitating the covenants and the end they are intended to reach. No doubt there were many details in these
covenants communicated to the people of the times that are not recorded
revelation not seeming to abound in giving particulars from Adam to Abraham as
it does from Abraham to Christ and His apostles. The outlines given, however,
with references made in more recent writings in the Scriptures, are sufficient
to assure us that God's promises and all His arrangements with man in those
early ages dealt with things as they had come to be in the earth with a view of
ultimately righting all wrongs and eradicating every vestige of sin and its
woeful effects. Over two thousand years pass away before the details of the
covenants of promise begin to be clearly revealed and assume tangible form,
which brings them well within the scope of the comprehension of following ages.
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
Abraham
is told to leave his native country and to go into the
Gen 13: 14-17 - The Lord
said unto Abram after that
Gen 15: 5-8 - And he
bought him forth abroad, and said Look now toward heaven and tell the stars, if
thou be able to number them; and he said unto him. So shall thy seed be. And he
believed in the Lord: and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said
unto him I am the Lord that bought thee out
Verse 18 - In the same
day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying Unto
thy seed have I given this land from the
Gen. 17: 1-8 - And when
Abram was ninety years old and nine the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto
him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make
my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked
with him saying, As for me behold, my covenant is with
thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name be called Abram, but thy name shall he Abraham: for a
father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful,
and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to seed
after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a
stranger all the
Gen
REPEATED TO ISAAC
Gen 26: 1-5 - And there
was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of
Abraham And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the
Philistines unto Gerar And the Lord appeared unto him
and said Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which l shall tell thee of
sojourn in this land, and I will he with thee and will bless thee for unto thee
and unto thy seed l will give all these couniries and l will perform the oath which l made unto
Abraham thy father; and l will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heavn, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries
and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed because that Abraham obeyed my voice.and
kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.
REPEATED AGAIN TO JACOB
Gen 28: 13, 14 - And,
behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy
father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of
the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west
and to the east, and to the north and to
the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed.
TYPICALLY CONFIRMED
Those
who have departed from the Abrahamic faith and
subverted the covenants of promise will claim that these Scriptures found their
fulfillment in the history of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; at any rate in that of
their descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel They are astonished when we
quote these testimonies and apply them to ourselves. They have no idea that the
gospel the only true and saving gospel is found in these very promises Perhaps
you, dear reader have taken this ground
but let us reason together a
little. You will notice that in making the promise to Abraham it is said, not
simply that I will give this land including the blessings promised, to thy seed
but I will give it to thee and to thy seed. Therefore it was intended that
Abraham himself and Isaac, and Jacob should personally receive the inheritance
and enjoy the blessings contained in the covenant That Abraham did not understand that he was
then to receive the inheritance is clearly shown from the anxious inquiry he
makes when he says, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that l shall inherit
it?" What could make him ask such a
question as this if when the promise was made the inheritance was given to him
and he already inherited it? There was no reason why he should ask for evidence
that at a future time he would come into the possession of the inheritance if
it was then given into his possession. It is evident that he saw how
far-reaching the promises were, that they reached away beyond the time of his
natural life; and may we not conclude that it was in this that he saw the day
of Christ, of which our Saviour speaks when he says,
"Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." The
manner in which Abraham asked for assurance show's that this was the case. He was
not answered in so many words, but he was commanded to take an
heifer of three years old and with it and other things make an offering which
shows that the realization of the promises depended upon sacrifice. All
sacrifices, especially those in which there was the shedding of blood, pointed
to Christ. If we view this typically we may safely conclude that the answer
points out that the inheritance could not be realized except through Christ,
and that he would be the covenant sacrifice, whose blood would be shed to bring
the covenant into force.
RESURRECTION REVEALED
There
is another reason why we may conclude that this promise reached down the ages
beyond the time of the resurrection. The matters recorded in the fifteenth
chapter seem to follow each other in natural sequence. The first command given to Abraham in answer
to his inquiry whereby he should know that he should inherit the land, is to offer sacrifice. This takes us back to the sin
of our first parents which necessitated sacrifice in order that men might
escape the curse which Adam brought upon the race. Had God never interposed in
mans behalf, man must have died under the condemnation and gone into the
perpetual darkness of the grave. But sacrifice having been provided, pointing
to Christ hope is given of escape from the power of death and the bondage of
the grave through resurrection Hence the next step in the answer to Abraham's inquiry
was one that removed the grievous difficulty which, no doubt, stood in his way.
He felt and confessed that he was “but dust and ashes”: realizing that in a few
years; his life must end, and he would be ''gathered to his fathers and see
corruption.'' How then could he inherit such wonderful worldwide endless
blessings as had been promised? How could he pass over the dark chasm of death
and the grave and reach the time when all the nations of the earth would be
blessed in him and in his seed and he would receive the everlasting inheritance
promised? He exclaims in the earnestness of his soul, “Lord
God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” In answer after
commanding that offerings be made the sun is going down and Abraham is caused
to pass into a ''deep sleep and a horror of great darkness fell upon him. . .
What can this be but death and the grave that perplexing obstacle which Abraham
saw between him and the realization of the grand promises? Why is he thus caused to symbolically die, to pass into the
darkness of the grave? Is it not that God might awaken him out of this sleep,
and thus show him by symbol that the
obstacle standing in his way would be removed, and that by him ultimately being
awakened from the sleep of death and brought victoriously forth from the power
of the grave he would realize the promises?
If
this is the gospel involved in the Abrahamic promises
it surely concerns us as much as it did him. The same gospel that suited his
condition and his future prospects suits ours. Therefore these promises
seriously concern us, and let us not be persuaded that they are out of date and
pertain to the ages of the past, having no reference whatever to our salvation.
Previous
to the Lord appearing to Abraham the second time to amplify the covenant, he
was subjected to the severe test of offering his son his only heir, as a
sacrifice to God. We have only to imagine ourselves in Abraham's place to
realize what a trying ordeal it was for him to be the recipient of such
momentous promises. Had he not been the
right man in the right place, he certainly would have faltered and fallen under
the weight of such responsibilities as he must have felt devolving upon him, by
reason of being the one upon whom in the hands of God, depended such wonderful
eventualities. God's goodness however always
provides for the weakness of fallen men and "the word of the Lord"
came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, “Fear
not Abram: I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward” ( Gen l5 : 1). Still the question pressed itself, How could such great things be accomplished
through his seed when he was a childless man advanced in years? He exclaims
"Behold to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is
mine heir” (verse 3). All through the trying ordeal Abraham is in anxious and
intelligent inquirer doubting not the power and veracity of God but seeking
"the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen which
is always well pleasing to God who even condescends to say to the intelligent
creatures of his creation, "Come let us reason together". As Abraham's anxiety grew in intensity, one
by one the obstacles were removed and
the light increased, shining ''brighter and brighter unto the perfect
day" He is assured and strengthened by the words, “This
(Ishmael) shall not be thine heir; but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” (verse 4 ).
When Abraham was ninety years old and nine the Lord appeared unto him to
renew the covenant and said. ''As for Sarai thy wife thou shalt not call her
name Sarai but Sarah shall her name be. And l will bless her, and give these a son
also of her: yea I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations: kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed
and said in his his heart, Shall a child be born unto
him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah,
that is ninety years old bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might
live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall hear thee a son indeed;
and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will
establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed
after him" (Gen. 17: 1-5 19). In due time Isaac was
born; and after a while, when the mocking of Ishmael sorely displeased Sarah,
she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of
this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the
thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of
his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because
of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto
thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Gen.
21: 10-12).
Thus
far all obstacles have been removed, everything made clear and Abraham could
more fully trust in God, and wait in faith the fulfillment of the covenants of
promise. But still a more trying ordeal awaited him, one that without the faith
developed by irresistible evidence and by intelligence concerning the power and
purpose of God, he could never have endured. The indignant scoffer flushes his
cheeks and cries out against God's demand of Abraham to “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
of" (Gen. 22: 2). To the mere natural man it appears cruel; but to one who
knows God's power, authority and wisdom it is quite intelligible. Had Abraham
reasoned from the standpoint of the mere natural man, to slay his son and heir
would be to frustrate the purpose of God and defeat the plan the covenants of
promise provided for. But was not Isaac's existence a token of God's power? Had
not God in various ways shown His power and faithfulness? Even if I slay my
son, cannot the God, who supernaturally gave him to me, prevent the pangs and
pains of death, even though he die by the knife, and
then restore him to life again? This was a faith based upon the power and
veracity of God, and one that required reason and intelligence concerning His
plan of a character too high for the unenlightened mere natural man to reach.
It was, however, the faith that strengthened Abraham for the trying test; for
the Apostle Paul says, "By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up
Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that
God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received
him in a figure" (Heb 11:17-19). Here we have a representation of God's
love in giving His Son, and of Christ's resurrection to life through sacrifice,
which is the real and final confirmation of the covenants of promise. As the sacrifice of the victim brought Isaac from the dead in
"a figure" so the "God of peace brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant" (Heb.
NOT YET FULFILLED, BUT WILL BE
Should
you, dear reader, not feel disposed to accept what seems to be the unmistakable
meaning of the types or symbols we have called attention to, we are pleased to
assure you that the futurity of the Abrahamic
promises is not dependent upon these alone. The Scriptures positively declare
it in words that cannot be mis-understood. Coming
down to the first century of the Christian era, over two thousand years from
Abraham's time, we have the words of the Apostle Paul declaring, "By faith
Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, * * * went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he
sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise"
(Heb. 11: 8, 9). There can be no question that the apostle here refers to the
very land promised to Abraham for an inheritance, including also, of course,
all the blessings involved I must again remind you that there is not one word
indicating a promise to Abraham of an inheritance in heaven. It all has to do
with the earth. He is told to "look northward, southward, eastward and
westward, and all the land which thou seest," it
says, "to thee will I give it." When he is commanded to arise and
walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it, and he is
assured that to him God would give it – the land. Abraham believed this and it
was accounted to him for righteousness, Had he changed this and believed in
"reading his title clear to mansions in the skies," he would not have
believed the promise, but something else, not promised; and that would not have
been accounted to him for righteousness, for "he that believeth not God
hath made him a liar;" and surely God cannot be well pleased with those
who, by refusing to believe His promises as they are given, without perversion,
make Him a liar. In this very land he sojourned; and in this very land he was a
stranger; of this very land he was heir, not yet in possession; of this very
covenant, of these very promises made to Abraham and others, the apostle says,
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, hut having
seen them afar oft, and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth" (Heb. 11: 13). At that
time they were strangers and pilgrims, but when they come to the realization of
the promises they will no longer be strangers and pilgrims, for then they will
be of those spoken of by our Saviour, in His promise,
"Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth," and they
will join in that grand song of redemption, "Thou hast made us unto our
God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth."
Some
base the claim of a past fulfillment of the promises to Abraham upon the words
from Neh. 9: 7, 8 - "Thou art the Lord the God,
who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out
of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest
him the name of Abraham: and foundest his heart
faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him,
to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites,
and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his Seed,
and hast performed thy words."
A
moment's thought will show the fallacy of such a claim, and those who make it
forget that if they succeeded in proving that Nehemiah meant the fulfillment of
the promises to Abraham, the passage would be a flat contradiction to what is
said in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul declares that the possession of the
promised land under the Mosaic law, or the added covenant, did not disannual to make the Abrahamic
covenant of none effect (Gal. 3: 17, 18). Supposing we were to make the words
of Nehemiah read as some would have them read, "And madest
a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorties, and the Perizzites, and
the Jebusites, and the Girgashites,
to give it, I say (to thee and) to thy seed, and hast performed thy
words." Then we should be met with the words of Stephen in Acts 7: 5 where
he declares, "And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as
to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a
possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." No
one who has any regard for the Scriptures would force a claim that necessitates
the admission that the Bible contradicts itself. There is no disputing the
words of Stephen, and if the words of Nehemiah say the very opposite a contradiction
necessarily must be admitted. Numerous testimonies show clearly that the
promise has not been fulfilled to Abraham and to his seed; for it centered in
Christ, and cannot be fulfilled until Christ takes possession of the promised
inheritance. But how would we harmonize
the apparent contradiction? Very easily if we pay strict attention to what
Nehemiah says. He does not say, "to give it, I
say, to him and to his seed." He simply Says, "to
give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words." The seed here
referred to were the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh; and the
possession of the land by them was under the Mosaic covenant, which was added
to the Abrahamic "till the seed should come to
whom the promise (the great Abrahamic covenant, to
which the Mosaic covenant was added) was made." The possession of the land
under the Mosaic covenant was a small matter compared with the promise to
Abraham in its amplitude and was simply an added affair to illustrate a greater
and grander constitution, that to which it pointed and of which it was a type.
It was the lesser involved in the greater, and when it had served its purpose
was abolished and Abraham's natural seed driven out of the land and scattered
among all nations of the earth. Hence Paul says of the two covenants
represented by Sarah and Isaac, and Hagar and Ishmael, "which things are
an allegory for these are the two covenants the one from the Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which* * *is Agar and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with
her children But Jerusalem which is above” or as some translate it,
"Jerusalem the exalted” the one
that will be higher and more glorious than the one that was is free This one is represented by Sarah and Isaac
Hence he adds " Now we, brethren as Isaac was are the children of
promise." The Abrahamic promise is therefore
still a promise and not a thing fulfilled.
Upon the principle of the greater involving the lesser, which is
characteristic of the Scriptures in many cases, there is a double fulfillment
provided for. The possession of the land under the Mosaic law
was involved in the promise made to Abraham, but it was not the fulfillment of
it. As an illustration of this principle we may refer to the words, “Out of Egypt
have I called my son”, which were originally applied to Israel coming out of
Egypt but they are applied also to Christ and it is a question if they are not
still applicable to the future and larger fulfillment God knowing the end from
the beginning, can give expression in the same words to events wide apart that
will repeat themselves in the future history of the world, and thus clothe
divine thoughts in few words It would be difficult for any one to divide the
promises made to Abraham, and say on the one hand, This applies to the
possession of the land under the Mosaic law, and on the other hand, This
applies to the everlasting inheritance under Christ. But if it be kept in mind
that the Mosaic possession, the lesser, is involved in the promise of the
everlasting inheritance through Christ, the greater, the difficulty will be
removed, and then we can apply the words of Nehemiah to the lesser, in which he
only says that the land was given "to his seed." It yet remains for
the absolute fulfillment required by the promise which declares, "To thee will I give it and to thy seed for an everlasting
inheritance;' and when this is fulfilled, "all families of the earth shall
be blessed," a thing that has found no fulfillment as yet in the history of
the world.
HOW TO AVOID A CONTRADICTION
Since
the covenants of promise are really the gospel and since salvation is to be
realized by all the saved of Adam's race at the same time, it is evident that
the actual inheritance could not be realized until all the redeemed should
enter upon it together, and this is exactly what this same apostle declares:
"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not
the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11: 39, 40). Should you still be in
doubt, dear reader, on this, let me invite your attention to what is recorded
in Acts 7: 2 "And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of
glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show
thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans,
and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his
father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he
gave him none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on; yet he
promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after
him, when as yet he had no child Here we
have a portion of the Scriptures made much of by infidelity. The infidel asks
the popular theorist some very awkward questions here, as follows: Did God
promise to give Abraham the
When
these truths are presented to the advocates of popular religious theories they
readily see that they undermine the whole superstructure upon which the creeds
are built. They endeavor to escape the force of these testimonies by the
process of spiritualizing
While
the promise describes a certain land to Abraham, the bounds of which are given
as "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river
Euphrates," which it would seem applies in a special sense, that is to
say, this particular land is to be allotted for a particular purpose, a center,
as it were around which the future workings of God, in blessing all nations of
the earth, wilh revolve. yet
the Apostle Paul seems to widen out the Abrahamic
promises into a "world." He says, "For the promise, that he
should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the
law, but through the righteousness of faith" (Rom.
Some
will possibly ask, How about the children of Abraham going into the promised land under Joshua? Was not that a fulfillment of
the Abrahamic promise? This, indeed, is the position
generally taken by those who have subverted the covenant and substituted in its
place the theory of heaven-going. But this question is settled as clearly as it
is possible for any question to be settled if we take the word of God as our
authority, and what else can we take? There is no other authority worth
considering. Take all the help you please from frail, mortal fallible man, the
court of final appeal in all these cases must be the unerring word of the
living and true God. The Apostle Paul seems to anticipate the very theories of
our time and head them off, as it were, by argument and facts irresistible. He
says, "And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of
God, in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot
disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect" (Gal. 3: 17).
The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ is undoubtedly the Abrahamic covenant, which was made four hundred and thirty
years before
If
in making the covenant with Abraham the gospel of salvation was made known to
him, or in other words, if the Abrahainic covenant
and the gospel are synonymous, then, since the gospel wherever it is found and
by whatever name we give it, must have Christ in it, we ought to find Christ
clearly and distinctly revealed in the Abrahamic
covenant. Some may object to what we have set forth in relation to Christ being
typified by the offerings Abraham made, although we can scarcely imagine how
the truth thus shadowed forth could be evaded, but even allowing such
objection, there is unmistakable and indisputable evidence that Christ is in
the Abrahamic promises. For instance, we read,
"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore”
(Gen. 22: 17). Here, no doubt, we have first a promise of the great nation
which should come forth from Abraham according to the flesh, but from other
testimonies we may be safe in concluding that there is a higher meaning still,
and that the promises involved a multitude of Abraham's seed according to the
spirit, as we shall presently see from other testimonies. Then it is added,
"Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Here we have an
individual seed. It is not, Thy seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, but thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies, “and
in thy seed,” this particular individual seed, in or through him “all nations
of the earth shall be blessed.” Who is
this? If it is Christ, then we have here the second Adam that is to undo the
evil of the first Adam. If it is Christ, then we have here the one that shall
"possess the gate of his enemies;" have power over all enemies; rule
as king of all the earth; the one to whom it is said, "Ask of me and I
shall give thee the heathen (nations) for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Psa. 2: 8). If it is not Christ who is it? Who can it be?
Can the question be settled beyond the shadow of a doubt? We have frequently called
this promise the gospel. Should our right to do so be questioned, we would
refer to the Apostle Paul for our authority. He says, "And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
(before visiting the Gentiles) the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, “In thee shall all nations be blessed" (Gal. 3: 8).
The gospel then promises a blessing for all nations of the earth. This gospel
was preached to Abraham. There is no other gospel vevhich
will save. In this very same letter to the Galatians he says, "Though we,
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel 'unto you than that which we
have preached unto you let him be accursed" (chap. 1: 8). There being but one gospel and that gospel
having been preached to Abraham, we are safe in saying that in the Abrahamic covenant we have the gospel of our salvation In
this gospel we are to find Christ. Have
we found Him? Again the words ring with the force of truth, “Thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies.” We claim these words can apply to no one
except Christ. Are we right? Let us be sure. Let us be safe. The subject is important. It has
many enemies. Popular sentiment m the world is against it. Nothing will settle
this but Inspiration. Again we ask, Is this seed, this
individual seed, Christ? The Apostle Paul has declared the oneness of the
gospel, and then directing us back to the book of Genesis, where we should have
an account of that one gospel preached to Abraham, by which all the nations of
the earth are to be blessed, he removes all possibility of doubt and shows us
that Christ is the very heart of the gospel. "To Abraham and to his
seed" he says, "were the promises made." Yes, Paul, we have seen
that, for we have read in the book of Genesis that God promised the land of
Canaan to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting inheritance; but there is
much dispute in the modern religious world about this question, and popular
theology says that the "seed" there is simply the Jews, who dwelt in
the land for a time and on account of their wickedness have been scattered and
destroyed as a nation and that is the end of the matter. We would like
therefore to know who this seed is. He answers, "He saith
not and to seeds as to many; but as OF ONE, And to thy
seed WHICH IS CHRIST" (Gal.
HOW GENTILES MAY BECOME HEIRS
The question is safely settled, and we go back to Genesis and read the
promises again, with the assurance that they are made to Abraham and to Christ.
The chief, the head, the Alpha and the Omega is Christ, and yet the seed
through him is to be multitudinous. The promise to him is that he, Christ,
shall have the land. the world, the "uttermost
parts of the earth for his possession
That He is to bless all nations of the earth. There is no promise to any
one not of the seed of Abraham. Therefore the apostle says, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith"-the Abrahamic faith, of course, the same faith that was
accounted to him for righteousness-"know ye therefore that they which are
of faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (Gal. 3: 5-7). How may we
become the children of Abraham? Hear what the apostle says in writing to the
Ephesians, '"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you
Gentiles if ye have heard of the
dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:
how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote afore in
few words Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery
of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it
is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (Eph.
3: 1-5). What is this that is revealed to Paul that concerns the Gentiles, that
which we may safely presume will concern the greater part of Our
readers? Unless we become the seed of Abraham we cannot hope to share in the
promises made to Abraham and his seed. As Gentiles we are not the seed of
Abraham; therefore have no right to the promise. But the apostle has already
told us, that ""they which are of the faith * * * are the children of
Abraham." And now he is going to tell us clearly what had been revealed to
him specially in behalf of the Gentiles, and it is
this: "That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs,
and of the same body and partakers of
his promise, in Christ by the gospel"
(Eph. 3: 6). While we are Gentiles, and in no sense the seed of Abraham we are,
he says, “by nature the children of wrath" (Eph. 2: 3): and he tells us to
“remember that when we were Gentiles in the flesh we were without Christ, being aliens from the comonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world (Eph. 2: 12). If the Gentiles are to be made
fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of the same promise in Christ
by the gospel, and if before this takes place they are aliens, strangers,
having no hope and without God in the world, is it not, dear reader, a vital
question, the most important question to us, how may we change our relationship
so as to become the seed of Abraham, and not to be aliens and strangers,
hopeless and helpless, but come into such a relationship that we shall have a
hope, the hope of the gospel, that our God may be the God of Abraham, of Isaac
and of Jacob, that we may be heirs of the commonwealth of Israel? The apostle's
answer is, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who
hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us" (Eph.
Now
it is quite clear that the covenants of promise so far as we have gone, were
made for the purpose of effecting human redemption through Christ: that Christ
is the very essence of the promises made to Adam, to Noah and to Abraham Isaac
and to Jacob From experience and observation we have learned that in dealing
with these grand truths it is quite difficult to keep the religious people of
the world from soaring into the heavens and imagining that the Bible has more
to do with other worlds than with ours. There is a reason for this. The oracles
of God were committed to the Jews, not to the nations who were in a state of
idolatry throughout "times of ignorance" as the Apostle Paul terms
them. The human family had apostatized
almost completely from God in the days of Abraham and in him there is a
beginning of taking out from among them a people for Yahweh’s name Abraham
becomes the nucleus of this people, we might say both according to the flesh and according to
the spirit, for the Jews, according to the flesh, are the children of Abraham
by nature; while the "holy nation;” as Peter calls it, consists of the
children of Abraham or Israel according to the spirit, made so by the one
faith.
When the time came that
The
rapid strides which Christianity made in the first century of the Christian era
caused it to become popular to a large extent. Pagan worshippers saw that it
was destined to sweep everything before it, and unless some compromises were
made Paganism would utterly cease and go into ruin before the powerful advent
of Christianity. The headers, therefore, hastened to make a compromise
Christianity so called, but corrupted and perverted, was soon constituted the
religion of the state, exalted to the throne of the civilized world which was
named Christendom. This was the establishment of the spurious kingdom of
antichrist. This system of antichrist sought to forestall the true kingdom of
Christ and of Christ Himself, by becoming enthroned. The
truth in its simplicity and in its work of "taking out of the Gentiles a
people for His name”, was not intended to be enthroned or in any sense
incorporated with the powers of the state. Its followers while they were
to be in the world were not to be of the world.
They were to come out from the world and be separated from it in all its ways, a "peculiar
people," regarded by popular sentiment as the off-scouring of all things, as their Master had been before them. But the enthronement of the truth, genuine
Christianity, was not to be until the return of Christ who appeared the first
time as a "Lamb to be led to the slaughter”, but who will appear the second time as
the Lion of tribe of
We
must, therefore eradicate from our minds the superstitious spiritualism of
Paganism and come to realize that the Bible is a book that deals with things
here on earth, here now and hereafter, but here all the time. Herein is the
difference between truth and error. Bible truth teaches a hereafter.
Antichristian systems teach a thereafter as the Pagans did of old. Let us not
then imagine the covenants of promise to be an astronomical matter, but a
geographical, for there is a geography to the
question. Abraham is not told to hook into the heavens, let me remind you
again, dear reader but to the four quarters of the earth, and his promise is of
the hand which he saw and which he walked through, in the length of it and in
the breadth of it. This land was described as from the
The
The
difference of latitude and longitude in the land actually occupied by Israel
and that which was promised in the everlasting covenant, and still remains to
be fulfilled, is as follows: - See I. Kings 4: 25, “Judah and Israel dwelt
safely from Dan even to Beersheha, all the days of Solomon." (But Solomon like
his father David, exercised a nominal or real
sovereignty over all the regions which the Lord had given to the seed of Jacob -
See I. Kings 4: 21).
The
latitude of Beersheba is 31 deg. 15 min.;
of Dan 33 deg. 15 min.; the south point of the Dead sea, the ancient
border of Israel, is 31 deg. 7 min. in the same longitude with Dan, the
intervening distance, in a line from north to south, being 128 geographical, or
about 150 English miles. The latitude of the north point of the Elanitic gulf or the
The breadth of Immanuel's land, instead of
its anciently contracted span, from the
On the
northern extremity of the land the range of Amanus mountains from the river
Separated as Israel is from other lands,
such are its borders, that it has unequaled freedom of access to all * * * and
is well-fitted for becoming "the glory of all lands," the heritage of
a people blessed of the LORD.-See Keith's "Land of Israel."
THE LAND OF PROMISE was so called from God's
having given it by promise to the seed of Abraham, - Gen. 12: 7; see also Gen.
13: 14-17, "And the Lord said unto Abraham, after that Lot was separated
from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the
place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth:
so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be
numbered. Arise, walk through the hand, in the length of it, and the breadth of
it: for I will give it unto thee (17: 8). And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the hand wherein thou art a stranger, all the
We do not read in so
many words that the Abrahamic promises contain the
establishment of a kingdom, but there is enough to show that what in subsequent
times is revealed as the
The Spirit speaking through the prophet
Malachi declares, "Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare
the way before me" (Mal. 3: 1). This found partial fulfillment in the work
of John the Baptist, preparatory to Christ who, he said, should "'be
mightier than he, the latchet of whose shoes he was not worthy to
unloose." His father, Zaacharias, saw in John
the forerunner of the promised Son of Abraham and, filled with the Holy Spirit.
bore testimony to the truth contained in the covenants
of promise, saying,
Blessed he
the Lord God of
Here
again it will be observed that all this is to ""perform the mercy
promised to the fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he sware to our father Abraham."
It
would seem that while God was making these promises, he was also exemplifying
them by causing Abraham and his descendants to pass through an experience, the
history of which would be prophecy, the past foretelling the future-type
pointing to antitype. In the literal immigration of Abraham out of his own
native country and his separation from his idolatrous relatives, we have a
representation of the Abrahamic faith taking out from
among the Gentiles a people for Yahweh's name. His literal going into that
land, a type of our coming out, as it were of darkness to the light of the
truth, and in mind going into that land by faith: and ultimately of Abraham's
descendants, according to the flesh, and his children by faith taking full
possession of the land, when the former would constitute the subjects and the
latter the rulers of the greatest kingdom that has ever adorned the earth. Coming
further down we have what the Apostle Paul says ""had happened for
types" in the history of Israel's deliverance from Egypt, their wanderings
in the wilderness and their final entrance into the land of promise under
Joshua's remarkable leadership, that is at once history and prophecy; for out
of the wilderness of sin and desolation, as it were, Abraham's seed by faith
are called. They pass through the waters of baptism, as