GOD'S PROMISE

Gal 3:16-18 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ. 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. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

As we start the study of the lesson text, God's promise, first made to Abraham, and later to Isaac and Jacob, needs to be repeated for emphasis. It is the very foundation on which Christianity rests. God said to Abram (later changed by God to Abraham), Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:1b-3). At a later time, God repeated this promise to Abraham, when He told him, That 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 seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice (Gen. 22:17-18).

The apostle, Peter, recited this promise of God to Abraham, to the Jewish nation on the Day of Pentecost, following the resurrection of Jesus. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter told the multitudes gathered on that day, Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed (Acts 3:25).

Through Abraham's son, Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob, the Jewish nation, the children of Israel, became a great nation, as numerous as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand, which is upon the seashore. These were the seeds of Abraham; God promised them, and God's promise was fulfilled. This promise was restricted to Abraham's heritage through his grandson, Jacob, who was the father of the Israelites - the Jewish nation. However, the other, more significant, promise made to Abraham was that in his Seed shall all the nations (all the kindreds) of the earth be blessed. This promisewas not restricted to the Israelites, but was made for the spiritual benefit of all nations,both Jew and Gentile. When fulfilled these were the two categories of people that inhabited the entire world. The entire world was to receive God's blessing available in this promise to Abraham. This Seed is spoken of singularly. There was only one Seed through which all people of the world would be blessed, and Paul tells us, in the lesson text, that Seed ...is Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior of the world.

The hope of eternal life was, in the mind of God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began (Titus 1:2). This was the promise made to Abraham when, he was told by God, that in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. This was God's promise, His covenant with Abraham, and with all nations of the world, and God cannot lie. The hope of eternal life was fulfilled in the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Law of Moses, which was given four hundred and thirty years after the promise was made to Abraham, could not disannul it, and it cannot be disannulled by any institutional or denominational "law" of mankind that may have been declared thereafter. The fact that the hope of eternal life was made to all the nations of the earth, through Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham, cannot be changed, annulled, or affected in any way by the Law of Moses or any other man-made "law."

If the inheritance of eternal life could have been secured by obeying the works of Law of Moses, then it is no more of promise. What, then, was the purpose of the Law of Moses. Paul tells us in the verse following the lesson text. It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made, and that Seed was Christ Jesus. With the coming of Christ, the Law of Moses - the covenant between God and the Jewish people, was replaced by a New Covenant between God and all mankind through Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, was the covenant promise made to Abraham fulfilled. And God's promise of eternal life can only be attained by those that are obedient to His New Testament will.