Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Genesis 12 | Date: August 21, 2022 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

The Context of Genesis and the Seed Promise

All right, Genesis chapter 12. Someone read for us verses one to seven. All right, in the larger context now, we’re trying to keep that in mind as we go through each chapter here. The larger context of Genesis—remember the importance of the seed promise or the offspring promise that began in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, where the seed of the woman is promised who will come and fix this mess that Satan has got us into, Adam’s fall and the consequences of it. We see a hint of it again in Seth, the son of Adam and Eve. And then again, we see it in chapter 9 with Shem. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem,” Noah’s son. So there’s a seed promise coming, and now it comes to Abraham and his seed, his offspring, that will bring blessing.

So notice a trend here, a pattern that we’re seeing in Genesis already, and it’s something that we’ll see in the rest of Scripture. In Genesis 1 and 2, remember Genesis 1:1 and 2, there’s the God creates and the world is without form and void; there’s this chaos and disorder, and God steps in and makes order of it. And so we saw the ordering of the initial creation in Genesis 1 and 2. And then in Genesis 3, we have rebellion, and God steps in after the rebellion, pronounces judgment, but he also promises a redeemer, Genesis 3:15. In Genesis 4, we have that instance of fratricide, Cain killing Abel, and God steps in again to give this strange protection to the murderer, to Cain, evidently preserving him and his offspring to continue his purpose in the world.

And then we come to chapter 6 and we see the sin in humanity has progressed to the point that God has to destroy it all and wipe it all out except for Noah and his family. And God does do that. In the midst of human sin, he steps in and yes, he destroys all, but he does preserve humanity by a remnant and he makes a promise again. And evidently we see, that’s the Noahic covenant that we saw a couple of weeks ago. And so we see again that God is evidently very determined to carry on with his purpose to bless creation. He created the world, blessed it, set it in order to do its thing. Creation has fallen and rebelled, but God is determined to carry it out. So he makes the covenant with Noah: “I will not destroy it all again.” And evidently that is the framework then for the rest of redemptive history, what he carries out as saving purpose.

Then we come to Genesis chapters 10 and 11, and we see more sin, and we see the Tower of Babel, and man’s supreme self-assertion against God, and humanity still becoming more progressively sinful. And now in the context of that, God steps in again and now makes a promise to Abraham that he’ll bless the world through him. So we see this sustained theme of, on the one hand, sin and moral failure in humanity. This is east of Eden. Things left to themselves are falling apart. We’re a long way from the paradise of Genesis 2. But in response to all of that, God keeps stepping in and reaffirming his purpose to bless his creation and continue his purpose to bless humanity. And here now, he chooses one man from the family of Seth, Shem, and now Abraham, and through him, he says he’ll bless the world.

And there’s kind of a connective note there. If you look back at chapter 10, verse 32, there we saw the table of nations and the sons of Noah—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their descendants. And there’s a comment made in chapter 10, verse 32: “These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies in their nations from their nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.” And now look ahead, chapter 12 in verse three: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” In chapter 10, it’s translated in our version “clans”; in chapter 12, it’s translated “families.” It’s the same Hebrew word setting us up for it. So here’s the dispersion of the nations, and now through those nations, through Abraham’s seed, all of those nations will be blessed.

So chapter 12, verses one to three is a very important turning point in the Bible and in redemptive history. It’s kind of a hinge point. You’ve got this increasing corruption of humanity and increasing rebellion again and again. And God steps in and says he’s determined he’s going to bless all the families of the world, and he will do it through Abraham’s seed. So in chapter 3, it was promised that there would be the woman’s seed. Chapter 9, it would be through Shem, we are told. Centuries pass, sin deepens, it spreads. And now chapter 12, verses one to three, hope is renewed again. God promises salvation through Abraham’s seed.

So, as I say, chapter 12 is an important hinge in the flow of redemptive history. Chapters 1 to 11, we have creation, we have the fall, and we have all the consequences of that. So in chapters 1 to 11, the problem is established, and it raises the question: how will fallen man be restored to fellowship with God? Chapter 12 and then on through Genesis, and on through the end of Deuteronomy, begins to sketch out the answer for us, and it’s rooted in God’s promise to Abraham. Through him, he’ll bless the nations. And then through the rest of the Bible, not just the rest of the Pentateuch, but through the rest of the Bible as well, we have the establishing of the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, and we have the giving of the law, and then we have the coming of Christ, and we have the establishing of the church, and then finally, in the Eschaton, in the last days, we’ll find the seed of Abraham has come and is blessed to all of the nations. So again, chapter 12 is a hinge of redemptive history; it’s a turning point, it’s something of a focal point from which we read the rest of the Bible. There’s Genesis 1 to 11, and then Genesis 12 to Revelation is something of the rest. Now there’ll be some important other additions to that with the giving of the law at Sinai, with the Davidic covenant and the new covenant—we’ll add to all of that—but this is the first real turning point that we have.

So again, in big picture, we have Genesis 1–3: creation and then the failure of humanity and the rebellion against God. Genesis 3:15, we have God’s promise of a champion who will come to fix the problem. In Genesis 8:20 and then in chapter 9, which we saw was the Noahic covenant, we see God’s promise to preserve humanity despite its continued rebellion. And now chapter 12, he promises he’s gonna bless all the families of the world through this one man, Abraham, and his offspring. Now we’re gonna track that out through Genesis this morning, but that’s the main point that you’ll see, and I want to show how that is sustained then through Genesis, and this becomes a defining point.

Abraham’s Background

First of all, Abraham’s background. We’re told back in chapter 11, verse 31, that he’s from Ur of the Chaldees. That was a wealthy, populous, sophisticated pagan center of southern Mesopotamia. Some have argued that there’s another Ur up in northern Mesopotamia. It’s a very small town. It seems that this is the larger city in southern Mesopotamia that’s in view here. I’m not an expert in that, but that seems more reasonable to me. Might be good to look at Joshua chapter 24. Joshua chapter 24. Someone read verse two. Joshua said to all the people, “This is [what the Lord says]… Terah and Nahor lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.”

Okay, so now Joshua is going into the land that God promised to Abraham, and he looks back to that original promise. And actually, he goes back a little bit further than that, and he says Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, they served other gods. An important point to see that this is just another study in divine initiative and grace. Here they are, pagans like the world around them, and God intervenes and gives grace and reveals himself in some way to Abraham and calls him out of that to serve his purpose. So in Genesis 11, we have a genealogy traced from Noah through Shem to Abraham, but there’s no hint really of a faithful line until God interrupts. He comes in chapter 12 sort of out of the blue, reveals himself to Abraham, selects a man for his own reasons and his own purpose, and already we know that the covenant that God makes with Abraham is a gracious one.

The Promise and Its Provisions

So we get to chapter 12 then, verses one to three. Let’s look at the promise and its provisions. Verses one to three: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'” Again, we have it in verse seven: “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.'”

So what is he promising to him here? Verse two: “I’ll make of you a great nation.” As late as chapter 11, we read that Sarah was still barren and she had no child. And yet through Abraham, eventually a great nation, Israel, would come. So he promises a great nation. Again in verse two, the end of the verse, he says he’ll bless Abraham with greatness, but not just bless Abraham with greatness; he’ll bless Abraham with greatness so that Abraham will be a blessing to others. That’s verse two: “I’ll make of you a great nation. I will bless you, make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” So he’s not only blessed himself, but he would be a blessing. Abram would be a blessing to others. And that, of course, is tied then to verse three: “In you, all the families of the world will be blessed.” Verse three, he promises further, “I’ll bless and/or curse others based on their treatment of Abram,” God says. And then the end of verse three, he’ll bless all the families of the earth through him. Then verse seven, he specifies the land of Canaan. This is a residence for his great nation, Israel, that God will provide for them.

Now I’d like to take the time to read through some other passages in Genesis so you’re familiar with them, to see how this promise is sustained and reaffirmed between God and Abraham—or Abram at this point. Chapter 13, look at verses 14 to 18. Here God reaffirms the seed and the land promise. Chapter 13, verse 14: “The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see, I will give to you [and] to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.’ So Abraham moved his tent and came and settled by the Oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.” All right, so here we have God reaffirming and expanding, giving some more specifics of the promise that he gave him in chapter 12.

Chapter 15 is enormously important in this. I’m gonna take the time to read a good bit of this. Well, let’s read, you know, let’s begin with verse one. And here, God not only makes a promise, but he formally enacts a covenant with Abram to ensure the keeping of this promise. Chapter 15, verse one: “After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘Oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless. The heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus.’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir.’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.’ He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, number the stars if you’re able to number them.’ And he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, three years old, a female goat, three years old, a ram, three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these, cut them in half, laid each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. When the birds of prey came down on the carcass, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, a dreadful and great darkness fell on him. Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for 400 years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’ The sun had gone down and it was dark. Behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'”

All right, an important passage. Verses one to three: Abraham is pretty puzzled. God has promised him a child, a seed, a great nation, and there’s nothing yet. A promise has been made, but there’s no evidence that it’ll be fulfilled. So God responds in verses four and five, and he says, “You’re gonna have more children than you can count. You can count the stars, and you can count your children.” So verse six, then, Abraham responds in faith. He believed God. And this becomes an important verse in the New Testament, particularly in Romans 4 and in Galatians chapter 3, where Paul is expounding justification by faith; he points back to Abraham. Even Abraham was justified by faith, not by works. And we know that because Moses writes of it: “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” He’s justified on the ground of his faith, not because of works that he had done.

So Abraham’s puzzled, God responds and reaffirms the promise: “You’re gonna have more children than you can count.” Abraham believes. But, verse eight, Abraham still wants some confirmation. And so, verses nine and following, then we have this covenant ceremony, where the animals are cut in half. And typically, in a covenant ceremony in the ancient world, like this, the animals are cut in half, and the parties of the covenant would pass between them. It’s a symbolic action. To see that, if you’d like to just jot down—we don’t have time to turn to it, but you can jot down Jeremiah 34 verse 18. It says, “The men who transgressed my covenant did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me. I will make them like the calf that they cut into and passed between its parts.”

So this was a symbolic act. You cut these animals in half in sacrifice. You pass between them and you’re symbolically saying, “May it happen to me like it happened to them if I transgress this covenant.” It’s a very solemn agreement that’s being made. Now what’s significant here is that only God passes between the parts. And so we like to call this a unilateral covenant. God makes the promise. He doesn’t say to Abraham, “If this and if that and the other, you must do the other in order for this.” God is just promising that this is what he’s going to do for Abraham. “This is what I’ll do. It’s what I’ll do. And I’ll pass through these parts to symbolize that.” And that may well look forward to the cross where God does take the responsibility for the transgressions of the covenant.

Verse 13 and following gives us the timing involved when Abraham’s descendants will receive this promise of the land. It’ll be after they serve in a land not their own, a foreign place, and they’ll be servants. That’s predicting now the slavery in Egypt. But in verse 16 he says they’ll come back to this land because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. That is, the Amorites and the others living in this land are a wicked people, but God’s going to give them more time, more time, more time. And finally, the wickedness is filled up and God’s going to send in Israel to execute judgment on them and to take the land. Verses 18 to 20 then, he reaffirms the land promise and even defines the borders, the boundaries: from the Nile River, the river of Egypt, up to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia.

All right, that’s chapter 15. Chapter 17, we have the promise further defined and expanded. “When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly.'” Now notice here, there’s something of a conditional element here. “Walk before me, be blameless, that I may make my covenant.” So there’s something of a responsibility on Abraham’s part implied here, but still in chapter 15, it is God alone who passed through the pieces of the animals and took responsibility for the covenant. Verse three: “Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come from you, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.’ God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male through your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant.'”

All right, so some significant expansions and clarifications now of the covenant here, verses one to six. He says, “I’m gonna make you not just have a lot of children, but you’re gonna be the father of many nations.” And to signify that, he changes his name from Abram, which means “exalted father,” to Abraham, which means “father of many” or “father of a multitude.” You can imagine Abram in his wandering through this land and looking through it all, he meets people. “What’s your name?” “Oh, my name’s Exalted Father.” “How many children do you have?” “Well, I don’t have any.” And he’s an old man. That’s very funny. Your name “Exalted Father.” Well, then it gets worse. Years later now, “What’s your name?” “I’m the father of a multitude.” “Oh, how many children you have?” “Well, I actually don’t have any yet.” That’s pretty funny. But Abram believed God and God has established his promise. Verse seven: “I’ll establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant.” Verse eight, he reaffirms the land promise for his seed and his offspring that will come. Verses 10 and following institutes circumcision as the sign of the covenant. We’ve seen that before, that covenants typically have signs to symbolize the covenant: rainbows—the sign of the Noahic covenant; the Lord’s table—the sign of the new covenant; and so on. Here, the sign of the Abrahamic covenant is circumcision. It’s to be continued throughout his generations. Verse 15, you look down, Abraham laughs. We get to chapter 18, Sarah laughs also. This is just getting to be too much to believe.

But then we get to chapter 22. If you look there, we have yet another confirmation of the promise. Again, try to imagine Abraham’s confusion. God names him father of a multitude and there’s no children yet, but now God says, chapter 22, verse 16: “‘By myself I have sworn,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you have done this…'” Now remember the context here, this is Mount Moriah, the offering of Isaac and sacrifice, God interrupting, offering a ram instead of Isaac. Now God says, “‘By myself I have sworn,’ declares the Lord, ‘because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.'” Again, you have this conditional element that’s introduced a little, but Abraham has in fact been obedient.

Verse 16: “By myself I have sworn,” God says. The custom in the ancient world was to swear by someone greater. So you swear by the name of your ancestor, a great name in your past or something like that. Hebrews chapter 6 picks this up and makes the comment that God swore by himself because there is none greater. How could God swear by anything greater than himself? He can’t, so he swore by himself. That’s picked up to emphasize that this is a divine promise that God will himself see to. Well, we won’t take time to read these, but if you’d like to jot down chapter 26, verses one to five, this covenant is reaffirmed now with Isaac. It’s not just with Abraham, but it’s with his sons as well. That’s chapter 26, and then chapter 28, we have it reaffirmed with Jacob as well.

God’s Faithfulness Against Every Obstacle

All right, so running through Genesis, you see that not only in the big picture is God resolved to continue with his original purpose to bless his created order and humanity in particular, but God has resolved to keep this promise with Abraham. He’s going to make of him a great nation and through him, he’s gonna bless the world. So the promise is made, it’s made again, it’s made again, it’s made again, and reaffirmed throughout Genesis. And so what we have then through Genesis, chapters 12 to 50, what we call the patriarchal narratives—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then the Joseph story and all of that—what we have in those chapters is now a narration of the fulfillment of that promise against every obstacle.

And so looking at it from the big picture, as you read through all of these stories of Abraham, a man of faith and trusting God, and the patriarchs and their adventures and things like that, looking at it from up above, we need to see how God has made a promise and obstacle after obstacle after obstacle comes to that promise and God is keeping his promise anyway. And so you have the barrenness of Sarah. You have the barrenness of Rebecca. You have the barrenness of Rachel. No children, no children, no children. Oh, yes, there are. Oh, yes, there are. Oh, yes. And one obstacle after another comes, and God keeps his promise.

We have the obstacle of Abraham’s old age. That’s given to us in chapter 17 and 18. Chapter 18, Sarah herself laughs. “I’m too old to have children. This can’t happen.” That obstacle was not too great for God to overcome. Chapter 12 and chapter 20 and chapter 26, we have the obstacles of Egyptian and Philistine monarchs who almost stole wives from the forefathers, from Abraham and Isaac. Chapter 12 and chapter 41 and following, we have the obstacle of famine, and yet God keeps his promise. Chapter 22, there’s the seeming frustration—it had to be somewhat frustrating on Abraham’s part. He finally has a son, Isaac, and God says, “Go offer him in sacrifice.” What? I thought I was gonna have a nation through him, great nations. We saw that was resolved. That was not too great an obstacle for God.

We have family hostilities in chapter 32, where Joseph’s life is threatened, and that was not too great for God to overcome, and in fact, through those hostilities, God preserved the early family in order that their line may continue. Chapter 15, as we saw, and then the book of Exodus, we have the obstacle of Israel’s slavery. It seems to be a real obstacle to fulfilling this promise. But God, in fact, had predicted that in chapter 15. And then, of course, we see the Exodus in the book of Exodus. And in fact, the whole Joseph episode is to show us that in God’s providence, he will overcome every obstacle in order to fulfill his promise.

And so when you read through the patriarchal narratives and you see Abraham as a man of faith and so on, you need to view it in terms of this big picture. God has made a promise, he’s made a promise, he’s reaffirmed the promise, he’s given the specifics, he’s given details, and Abraham believed God. And I think you can even see some expressions of the growing faith of Abraham through those chapters. At the same time then in Genesis, Moses carefully records for us the numerical growth of Abraham’s seed: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his 12 sons, and so on. So if you’d like to look at it, chapter 47, verse 27, this is a programmatic kind of verse: “Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt.” Now this is during the Joseph story. “Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt and the land of Goshen and they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.” God keeping his promise.

And the whole flow of Genesis now is a tracking of God’s faithfulness to his promise. And you see that then not only through Genesis but you see it through Exodus, through Deuteronomy, you see it in Joshua and the taking of the land. You see it in the book of Judges and Samuel with David and the rise of the kings. All of this is an outworking of God’s promise to Abraham. It’s kind of summarized for us in a fascinating verse and a very important one in Malachi chapter 3, verse 6: “For I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, O children of Jacob, you are not consumed.” If it had been up to them, this promise would have failed. But God says, “I made a promise and I don’t change. It’s a unilateral promise that I will keep.”

The Purpose of the Story in the Canon

Now that then is the original purpose and the original function of this whole story in Genesis. For Moses, he’s writing this now—keep in mind—sometime after the time of the Exodus. He’s writing this for the people of Israel and he’s writing this story, and the immediate purpose will be to establish hope and reaffirm God’s promise to the people of the Exodus. God called your father Abraham. He made a promise. He even predicted that you would have this time in Egypt as slaves. Now he’s delivered you just like he said he would. God has chosen you. He’s chosen you through your father, Abraham. He’s promised you a land. He’s promised you great prominence. And this great deliverance from Egypt that we see in Exodus is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise. More promise: he’ll give you a homeland. Through you, he’ll bless all the families of the world. So I think that’s the function of the story in its original setting when Moses writes it.

But now let’s look at the purpose of the story in big picture, in the canon. How does this function in the rest of Scripture? Well, this promised seed of Abraham is enormously important throughout the Old Testament. We’re reminded of it. And we get to the New Testament and you remember how it opens: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” And there’s the announcement right up front in what otherwise would seem like a boring way to start a book with a genealogy. It’s established right up front in the New Testament that here’s the one whom God promised to Abraham. Here is his seed, his offspring, through whom all the families of the world will be blessed. And so in a sense now, Abraham’s seed, his offspring, have grown and grown and grown, and you have this multitude of people called Israel, and now it’s reduced to one, and that’s Jesus—one child of Abraham, Jesus. And through him now, all the families of the world will be blessed. And so that becomes in the New Testament that important theme of the seed of Abraham, we being the children of Abraham, Abraham’s seed, Galatians chapter three. As believers, we are the children of Abraham, not only in that we are like him, but we have inherited with Jesus the promise of Abraham. And so through Jesus, the seed of Abraham, through him the world is reclaimed and brought back to fellowship with God, and men and women at the end from every tribe and tongue and nation confessing the same Lord, blessed in the presence of God himself in Revelation chapter seven.

There’s a professor at Southern Seminary where I teach that has written a fascinating book in many ways on Genesis. In one section of it, he has just this fascinating observation that he calls—we should notice—the gospel of Abraham in Genesis. And so he points out outstanding features of the patriarchal narrative, which taken together constitute the gospel given to Abraham. Now I’m gonna read through just this list of the features. I’m not gonna take time to expand on them. But I’ll read through these features and you tell me if it doesn’t ring a bell from the New Testament: First, a promise is founded on the birth of a son; the miraculous birth of a son; a covenant sacrifice; a covenant memorial sign; alienation of the covenant community; Abraham leaving his homeland; a promise of trials for the covenant community; an eschatological hope for the covenant community; the inexplicable death of the son; the resurrection of the son. You see a pattern that corresponds somewhat to the New Testament, the story that we have there, all of this prefiguring what would come about in Jesus. He’s promised us in a very real way a safe homeland, and men and women in Christ from all of the nations of the world inherit the new heaven and the new earth in Christ the son of Abraham.

Well, that’s the big story then in Genesis. You can see how chapter 12 is a turning point, not only in the Genesis narrative, but in the Pentateuch itself, in Genesis through Joshua, and in the big picture of the whole Bible as well. Every nation. All right, there are eschatological implications to all of this regarding the land. “I promise your land for all of your generations” and things like that. There are differences among interpreters on that. Pastor Boyd, Pastor Greg would argue that the land promise is fulfilled in Christ who gives us the new heaven and new earth finally. Others, and I tend to lean toward this, that this land promise still has something to hold with regard to Israel. I think the land promise is pretty explicit. It’s difficult for me to get over. But in the Eschaton, Israel will be there, among all of the other nations of the world that will be there as well, Revelation tells us. But either way, we see this finally fulfilled in the new heaven and new earth, and that’s easy enough to affirm, whatever the details of all that are.

All right, let’s be dismissed then in prayer.