The Saints' Inheritance.
By J. N. Loughborough
THE PROMISE MADE TO ABRAHAM.
THE promise to Abraham is the very ground-work and assurance of the Christian's hope. And because of the immutability of God's word of promise to Abraham, the Christian's hope is not a nullity. Some object to our dwelling on the promise made to Abraham, and wish us to confine ourselves to the teachings of the gospel. Well, if we preach the gospel (which we hope we shall ever be found doing) we must needs teach elementary principles before entering upon the great truths of the gospel. Those first principles must be connected with the first gospel-sermons, and Paul says, God "preached before the gospel unto Abraham."* This promise to Abraham is thus recorded: "And the Lord said unto Abram, 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."† After the Lord made this covenant with Abraham and was about to confirm it, he said to him, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age."‡ We are told that these promises which were made to Abraham were concerning the temporal possession of the land of Canaan. To this we object, 1. If it was only a temporal possession of the land that was promised, then Abraham would have received it in his life-time; but, according to Stephen's testimony, he never received it in his life-time: "And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on."|| 2. It could not be a temporal possession that was promised; for he was to have it forever, and for an "everlasting possession." If we should admit that the terms forever, and everlasting, are limited§ in this testimony, and the promise had been fulfilled, we should find Abraham still on the land; for the everlasting is not limited by Abraham's life; but it is the possession which is to be everlasting, and he would needs be on the land as long as the land continued. In Gen. 17:1-8, the Lord enters into covenant with Abraham respecting the possession of the land: "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." This charge given to Abraham, as we learn by the marginal reading of the text, was to "be upright, or sincere." Uprightness and sincerity can only be developed by a perfect law, and so we conclude that the very conditions here given by which the inheritance is to be obtained is keeping the law of God.¶ The blessing of the covenant is stated again in verse 8: "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession." The promise made to Abraham was renewed to Isaac. The Lord said to him: "Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee, . . . . and 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,"** This promise we also find confirmed to Jacob, as he had a view in his dream of the ladder: "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 wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed."* But we now wish to inquire into the nature of the Abrahamic promise. Some say that all God ever designed by the promise was accomplished when the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan. Was this simply a promise that Abraham should have a temporal possession of the land of Canaan? If it was, the promise failed; for he died "in a good old age," and "he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on." We shall not admit that he did not receive it because God failed to fulfill on his part; but, that the promise of a possession made to him is yet to be fulfilled, and be fully realized in a future possession of the earth. Paul says Abraham "sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country."† It is vain that men strive to find a fulfillment of this promise, either to Abraham or his posterity in the past; for it cannot be done. Simply a possession of the land of Canaan does not meet the promise; for Paul says the promise was that "he should be the heir of the world."‡ To gain further light on the nature of the Abrahamic promise, we will look at the comments of Paul. "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."§ If the seed to whom the promise was made was Christ, then the promise could not be fulfilled prior to the coming of that seed, consequently, not prior to the first advent of Christ. With the view above, we readily perceive that there is no ground for the claim which is made by some, that the promise made to Abraham was all fulfilled when the children of Israel sojourned in the land of Canaan. Were Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob with them when they went in to possess the land? No. "They carried up Joseph's bones." Here are four generations that did not receive the land while alive, and yet the Lord said to Abraham, "I will give it [the land] to thee." To Isaac, he said, "For unto thee I will give all these countries." To Jacob, he said, "The land wherein thou liest, to thee will I give it." If we allow due force to the above language, when the promise is fulfilled, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will personally have the land with the rest of God's people. Although Christ is the seed to whom the promise was made, to the church has been granted the privilege of joint-heirship. Paul says, "If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."¶ Christ's children could not be said to be heirs of a promise that is fulfilled. Jews after the flesh are not heirs simply because they are descendants of Abraham; but, as expressed in verse 9: "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Paul says, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he 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; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."** This testimony shows that when Abraham was in the land, the promise was not fulfilled; but "he should after receive it. Again, when he receives the accomplishment of this promise he is to receive "a city whose builder and maker is God,"—The New Jerusalem. In verses 12, 13, Paul testifies of these ancient worthies: "Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." This language can mean only one of two things, either that these worthies died and God never made any promise to them, or else they died without receiving the accomplishment of the promises he had made. The latter, of course, is the only conclusion we can consistently draw from the text. Well, says the objector, this means they died without seeing the Saviour; the promise is respecting him. True, the promise is respecting the Saviour; he is the true seed, and he is the one with whom we are to be joint-heirs to the land. And your admission proves too much for you; for the possession could not be till after the heirs came, and so could not be in Abraham's life-time. This chapter mentions a number of worthies, and says time would fail to tell of them and the work they accomplished through faith. In verses 39, 40, this conclusion is given in regard to them: "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." Did God fail to fulfill his promise because he had concluded to do better for his people than he promised Abraham? We do not so understand the text. The "better thing" is not a better inheritance, but something better than that these ancient worthies should receive the promise in their day, and others be receiving it all the way along, as expressed in song:— "If you get there before I do,
Look out for me, I'm coming, too." No, the Lord has provided a better plan, which is that this promise be realized when all those whom Paul styles us, shall have been gathered out by the gospel preaching. It refers to the perfect state. Had this promise been accomplished to the ancient worthies, they would have been made perfect without us. It is to be accomplished when our perfection shall come, which is when "we shall know even as we are known;"* when faith is lost in sight. Paul says of this promise, "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely, blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail."† Would Paul claim that the Christian's hope was sure because God confirmed the promise with an oath unto Abraham, if that promise had no reference to the future, but had been all fulfilled in the past? Certainly not. Again, he says: "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?"‡ He is willing to be judged for this hope relative to the promise to the fathers. He saw that the people would inquire how Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could receive this promise if they were dead; so he inquires why they should think the resurrection incredible. It would be strange indeed if Paul should submit himself to be judged in a Roman court, liable to be condemned to death because of a hope inspired by a promise that was all fulfilled. The fulfillment of this promise is beyond the resurrection. And the evidence is most conclusive that the Abrahamic promise reaches the new-earth state. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
(Continued.)