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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The Abrahamic Covenant And Prophetic History Part 1 Introduction
Abraham
is an important man in history. Christians,
Jews, and Muslims all claim close association with him.
The following may be a bit technical and involved for some
people, but if you want to understand the message of the New Testament,
then understanding what God promised Abraham is vital.
Others of you may not agree with my position, and that's okay.
Time will tell who is right. The collective promises God made to
Abraham are known as the "Abrahamic Covenant". There
are two major ways of viewing the Abrahamic Covenant, each of which have
secondary variations. This subject has been debated for centuries.
I certainly won't end the debate.
So as Paul said, "consider what I say and the Lord give you
the understanding in all things (2 Timothy 2:7)." The
promises God made to Abraham are important because they are directly
related to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Another reason why these promises are important is because how we
view them will shape our thinking on Biblical prophecy, especially in
relation to Israel
and the church in prophetic history.
Differing opinions on this issue have led to many doctrinal
traditions such as, Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, Replacement
Theology, and Restorationism. I
lean in one direction, but incorporate a bit of both sides in my
thinking. Truth is often
found between two extremes. What
Did God Promise Abraham? I'll
quote what God promised Abraham from the NIV.
Reading these passages will refresh your memory.
Before
I begin, I need to say a couple of things.
Paul, in Galatians 3:16 speaks of
"promises" God made to Abraham.
It's important to know that God promised Abraham more than one
thing, and on more than one occasion. Paul
addresses many of these promises separately throughout his writings, and
so should we. We tend to
lump them all together into some sloppy soupy mix that is hard to
swallow. You'll
notice the word "offspring" that appears in certain verses in
the NIV. The KJV uses the
word "seed" instead of "offspring".
Both words mean the same thing in the context that they are used.
Paul builds a major argument on the fact that the word
"seed" is singular and not plural.
For this reason I've placed the word "seed" in brackets
after each time the word "offspring" occurs.
You'll
also notice the word "descendents", that's plural, not
singular. If you consider
what Paul says, the word "descendents" differs in meaning from
the words "offspring" or "seed" which are singular.
This has led to much confusion.
I'll talk about that later.
Here
are the promises God made to Abraham in the order in which they occur in
Genesis. "I
will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make
your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will
curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
(Genesis 12:2 and 3) "To
your offspring (seed) I will give this land." (Genesis 12:7) "…
look north to south, and east to west.
All the land you see will be given to you and your offspring
(seed) forever." (Genesis 13:14 and 15)
"This
man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be
your heir … Look up at the
heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them … So shall
your offspring (seed) be ... I
am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this
land and take possession of it." (Genesis 15:4 to 8). "…
your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they
will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards
they will come out with great possessions … you
however will go to your fathers in peace …" (Genesis 15:13 and
14) "On
that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and said, 'to your
descendents I will give this land. From the "I
will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase
your numbers … As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be
the father of many nations. No
longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have
made you a father of many nations. I
will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you and kings will
come from you. I will
establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and
your descendents after you for the generations to come, to be your God
and the God of your descendants after you.
The whole "God
said … your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him
Isaac. I will establish my
covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendents after
him … my covenant I will establish with Isaac …" (Genesis 17:19
to 22) "I
will surely return to you this time next year, and your wife Sarah will
have a son." (Genesis 18:10, also in verse 14) "Abraham
will surely become a great and powerful nation and all nations of the
earth will be blessed through him …" (Genesis 17:17 and 18) "…
it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." (Genesis
21:12) "I
will surely bless you and make your descendents as numerous as the stars
in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.
Your descendents will take possession of the cities of their
enemies, and through your offspring (seed) all nations on the earth will
be blessed …" (Genesis 21:17 and 18)
There
they are. Hopefully I can
clarify any confusion.
Summing
Up The Promises I
count 13 main promises God made to Abraham. There's
a few more minor ones. I've
placed them in three categories.
Category
1 - Personal promises God
promised Abraham: 2
- that it would be through Isaac that his offspring or 3
- that he'd be a great nation (Genesis 12:2 and 3) 4
- that he'd be the father of many nations, not just 5
- that these promises would be forever and that He'd 6
– that he'd die in peace at an old age (Genesis 15:15) Category
2 - Promises relating to Abraham's descendents God
promised Abraham: 7
- that the number of his descendents would be as 8
- that his descendents would inherit a specific piece of 9
- that his descendents would be freed from four 10
- that his descendents would possess the cities Category
3 - Promises relating to Abraham's offspring or seed God
promised; 11
- a certain piece of land to Abraham's offspring that 12
- that his offspring would number as many as the 13
- that all nations of the earth would be blessed There
you go, specific promises in three categories. You will notice that
promises relating to land, numbers, and greatness are promised to both
Abraham's descendents and also to his offspring.
This is important because Paul teaches us that descendents are
not the same as offspring. I'll
explain later. To
sum up, God promised Abraham certain things relating to personal issues,
descendents issues, and offspring or seed issues.
"Zera"
– The Seed There
is an important point that I have to address before I go any farther.
I have just said that there are 3 recipients to the Abrahamic
Covenant.
I say this based on the NIV Bible.
If you read the KJV Bible, you will note that there are only two
recipients to the Abrahamic Covenant.
They are Abraham and his Seed.
This is an important issue because this is where our present day
problem lies, or so I believe.
I
will explain the 2 major theological issues that concern the Abrahamic
Covenant.
One say there are 2 recipients of the covenant while the other
states there are 3 recipients.
When I come to explaining Galatians 3:15 to 18 where Paul says
there are 2 recipients of the covenant, this becomes an issue. The
Hebrew word "zera" is the word in the Genesis account that is
translated as "seed", or as "descendents" in the
NIV. The
KJV only translates "zera" as "seed".
It does not translate "zera" as "descendents
anywhere in the Genesis account.
Why would this be so.
First
of all, it is clear the NIV translators translated "zera" in
some places as "seed" (singular) and in other places as
"descendents" (plural) because of the context.
Simply put, they felt the context made it clear that
"zera" should be singular in certain places and plural in
other places, and when it was plural, that would refer to Israel. When
it was singular, as we will see later in Galatians 3:15 to 18 it is
Jesus.
Some might suggest that they NIV translators had a theological
bias, and I cannot discount that, but I am far from convinced that is
so.
I
suggest that the KJV translators had a bias and did not translate
"zera" as "descendents" because that would have
recognized Israel
as having prophetic and historic significance right up until the end of
this age, and most theologians back then did not believe that.
There was very much an anti-Israel bias throughout church
history.
So,
depending on what translation of the Bible you prefer, might well
determine what theological position you will hold to. I
do want to make this note.
Even though Paul stresses the point that the word
"seed" is singular in Galatians 3:16, it is clear that he sees
the same word "seed" as plural in Galatians 3:29.
This then shows us that there were in fact 3 recipients of the
Abrahamic Covenant.
So, in my thinking, the NIV translators have done a better job at
translating "zera" into English than the KJV translators did.
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