Many who claim to follow Christianity may be surprised to know that the Bible does not teach there is a supernatural devil or satan who opposes God and tempts men and women to sin. This idea is of pagan origin and was introduced into the early church.
Most people who claim to be Christian today look for a reward in heaven. But the Bible plainly teaches that reward will be found in earth in a world-wide Kingdom which will be established at the return of Jesus Christ.
The promises God made to Abraham contain this important message. These promises are central to the Gospel which Jesus and his apostles preached and are referred to many times in the New Testament.
Who was Abraham?
Abraham (or Abram), the father of the Jewish race, is first mentioned in the book of Genesis chapter 11. His story and that of his descendants takes up a large part of Genesis.
God called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees, a prosperous and idolatrous city in Mesopotamia where he was living, to go to a country which God would show him. Abraham was then directed to the land of Canaan, a land also known as Palestine and today as Israel.
In faith, Abraham obeyed God and left the comforts of Ur to live in a tent, not knowing where it was he would go (Hebrews 11:8).
God’s promises to Abraham
God then made certain promises to Abram which are summarised below:
- That his descendants (or “seed”) would be as numerous as the stars and form a great nation
- That Abram’s own name would be great
- That one of his descendants, a special “seed” (Jesus Christ) would be the ONE who would rule over his enemies and in whom all the nations of the earth would find blessing
- Abram would possess Canaan (or the land of Israel) for ever, together with this ONE
- Abram, together with this ONE, and all Abram’s descendants (or “seed”) would possess the land for ever
How God made His promises to Abraham
God made these promises five times to Abram. With each promise, God added a little more information:
1ST PROMISE Made in Ur of the Chaldees (Genesis 12:1-3)
2ND PROMISE Made at Shechem: “Unto thy seed will I give this land” (Genesis 12:7)
3rd PROMISE Made at Bethel after Lot separated from him (Genesis 13:14-17)
4th PROMISE Made at the plain of Mamre after defeating the four kings (Genesis 15:1-6, 18 – 21)
5th PROMISE After Abram had been prepared to offer up Isaac, his son (Genesis 22:16-18)
An examination of these promises proves conclusively that God intended:
- A literal fulfilment involving Abraham and his descendants (including a special descendant)
- A literal country (the land of Israel) with boundaries clearly defined
- A benefit to all peoples of the earth when these promises were fulfilled
God repeated these promises to Abraham’s son, Isaac (Genesis 26:2 – 5, v. 24) and to Isaac’s son, Jacob or Israel (Genesis 28:12 – 15).
The Promises not yet fulfilled
The New Testament writers point out that Abraham did not receive God’s promises during his lifetime. He is described as being a “stranger and pilgrim” who died “in faith” and in expectation of the promises being fulfilled “afar off” in the future (Hebrews 11:8-13).
Abraham even had to buy a field from the then inhabitants of Canaan in which to bury his wife (see Genesis 23). In the New Testament, Stephen confirms that, during Abraham’s lifetime, God gave him “none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on”.
The Gospel preached to Abraham
Jesus and his apostles often referred to God’s promises to Abraham as being central to the Gospel they preached. Jesus spoke of Abraham being in the Kingdom of God and taught that “Salvation is of the Jews” (or the descendants of Abraham) (John 4:22).
Paul told the believers in Galatia that God preached the Gospel to Abraham in the promises He made to him:
“And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify (or make righteous) the heathen (or Gentiles) through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Galatians 3:8).
The Bible defines the Gospel as the “good news and glad tidings of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12, 25). The Gospel has to do with salvation from death through Jesus Christ and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. This is what is involved in God’s promises to Abraham.
The hope of Christians associated with the Abrahamic promises
The writer to the Hebrews associated the fulfilment of God’s promises with believers of the Gospel:
“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” (Hebrews 11:39, 40).
Paul specifically links the hope of the Christian believer and baptism with the promises made to Abraham:
“As many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ …. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:27-29).
Paul also taught that Jesus had come “to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (of the Jewish race)” (Romans 15:8).
In his defence when on trial for his life, Paul once again linked the Gospel which he preached to the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: “And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers” (Acts 26:6).
The “seed” or descendants referred to in the promises to Abraham
While the promises to Abraham referred to his natural descendants (the Jews), Paul tells us that they also included reference to a special “seed”, Jesus Christ:
“He (God) saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16).
We have already seen that Christian belief and baptism also makes the believer an adopted descendant of Abraham and an heir to the promises God made to him (Galatians 3:27-29).
So the promises to Abraham can be defined as including:
- Abraham himself
- His natural descendants (the Jews)
- Jesus Christ as his special descendant
- Believers in Jesus Christ who have been baptised
Jesus Christ as the special descendant of Abraham to return and establish God’s Kingdom on earth
Jesus Christ was promised before his birth to be a king, the rightful heir to his forefather King David’s literal throne (Luke 1:31-33). He is the one to rule over his enemies specified in God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17). In the Psalms, Jesus is foretold to be given the nations for his inheritance and the “uttermost parts of the earth” for his possession (Psalm 2).
The Bible contains many references to the time when all nations will be blessed in the worldwide Kingdom of God which Christ will establish at his return to earth. This will be a fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham that “in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18).
The promises to Abraham require resurrection and immortality
God told Abraham he would inherit the land of Israel “for ever”. Abraham is now dead and has not received the promises, so it is clear he must be raised from the dead to do so.
When Jesus returns to the earth, the New Testament tells us he will first raise the dead, and judge the living and dead who have come to know God’s purpose with the earth (2 Timothy 4:1).
Jesus has promised immortality to those whom he approves: “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). The book of Revelation also describes Jesus’ immortal followers as a “great multitude … of all nations” (Revelation 7:9).
Amongst these will be Abraham, as Jesus told the unbelieving Jews of his day: “Ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out” (Luke 13:28).
Abraham himself believed in resurrection of the dead (Hebrews 11:19), and it is through resurrection that he will inherit the promise.
To share in the fulfilment of this promise of immortality in the Kingdom of God on earth at Jesus’ return, we must have the faith and obedience displayed by Abraham.
Belief in the Gospel which was preached “before” to Abraham and baptism gives us the hope of a share in the fulfilment of God’s promises to him.
When giving these promises to Abraham, God told him to look around him at all the land which he saw, promising Abraham he would possess it for ever (see Genesis 13:14, 15).
These promises therefore do not offer a reward in heaven, but will have a literal fulfilment on earth at Christ’s return.