The Promises to Abraham
By Eugene W. Farnsworth
WHEN God made promises to Abraham and his seed, who were included? To whom will they be fulfilled? As John the Baptist was baptizing, there came to him many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, lineal descendants of Abraham, to be baptized by him. But as he saw them coming, he said: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." Matt. 3:7-9. These Pharisees and Sadducees did not belong to the promised seed. The prophet declared with great emphasis that God would make men of the stones by the wayside rather than acknowledge those who came to him for baptism as the seed of Abraham. On another occasion Jesus addressed the same class of people when this question was discussed. "They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. . . . Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. . . . And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not." John 8:39, 44, 45. Here the Saviour teaches that the children of Abraham are those who do the works of Abraham. To this agree the words of the apostle when speaking of Abraham's being justified by faith before his circumcision: "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, tho they be not circumcised." Rom. 4:11. One becomes a child of God, not by lineal descent, but by faith in Jesus Christ, whether he be Jew or Gentile. If Abraham became their father by faith, then the children, those who are counted Abraham's seed, must become so by faith also. Another testimony is very clear: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Rom. 9:6-8. "They are not all Israel, which are of Israel;" that is, not all who are Jews belong to the Israel of God. Not all who are Jews are counted as the seed. "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God [or Abraham's seed]: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." "Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called." Isaac was a child of promise. Abraham was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety, when he was born; and the Scriptures bear testimony that "through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed." Heb. 11:11. And so Isaac was born the child of faith. Another witness declares: "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now." Gal. 4:28, 29. Only Those Born of the Spirit
It follows, then, that those only are counted as the seed of Abraham who are born of the Spirit; that is, they experience the new birth. Natural descent, nationality, is not reckoned in this genealogy. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." "Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." John 3:6, 3. It is the new birth alone that places a man in line with the promise to Abraham. It is the new birth, not the old, that makes one a child of Abraham. A carnal or unconverted Jew is no more an heir of Abraham and the promises made to him than a carnal or unconverted Gentile. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:14. "For to be carnally minded is death" to the Jew as surely as to the Gentile. Testimony is given us still further on this point: "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3:7. How clear the evidence that in the promise to Abraham, the "seed" does not have reference to natural descent, but to those born of the Spirit, whether Jew or Gentile! "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." Gal. 3:9. Another very positive testimony is the following: "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." Gal. 3:16. In considering the great host of the redeemed, we can never disassociate their Saviour and Redeemer. He is "the chiefest among ten thousand. . . . Yea, He is altogether lovely." Cant. 5:10, 16. He is the "tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion." Micah 4:8. He is the One who entreats, "Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. 45:22. "And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." Col. 2:10. All things center in Him. "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one." John 17:23. So when God made promise to Abraham, saying, "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3; 18:18), the promise specially refers to Christ. In it Abraham saw the promised Redeemer. The One who filled the horizon of the patriarch's vision was none other than Christ. All else was eclipsed by Him, and so, "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29. Thus it is that all Christ's children are counted as the seed, and become heirs together with Him. God said, "In multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore." Gen. 22:17. The prophet John saw the same company. "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Rev. 7:9, 10. What a host of the redeemed there will be! How they sing! These are all Abraham's children. These are numbered among the promised seed. "They shall walk with Me in white," is the promise of the One who made them white. Next week we will study the inheritance promised to Abraham.