What Abraham's Promise Meant

The angel of the Lord said to Abraham:

"By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord...

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; 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" (Genesis 22:15-18).

Wonderful words.

Now let's see what the Apostle Paul said that meant:

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would JUSTIFY THE HEATHEN THROUGH FAITH, preached before THE GOSPEL unto Abraham, saying, In THY SEED shall all nations be BLESSED" (Galatians 3:8).

So according to Paul, Abraham's promise was a foretelling of the GOSPEL. The promised BLESSING foresaw that people of all nations would receive JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

(The promise was a description of the blessing of justification by faith coming upon the multi-national community of believers in Jesus, not just a description of the future of Israel or of those observant of Judaism - because the giving of the promise preceded the birth of Israel and preceded the giving of the Law. It just said, ‘all nations’. Potentially it could describe more of Israel, but only 'in thy Seed'.)

So now let's notice what Paul said about Abraham's SEED (in whom this blessing was to be received):

"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" (verse 16).

The promise wasn't made to 'seeds' (plural), but to Abraham's 'seed' (singular), whom Paul said is CHRIST.

So Paul didn't see Jesus Christ - the gospel - the Church comprising of both Jews and Gentiles - merely as something else - something unforeseen that God is only doing temporarily until He finally gets around to inaugurating the fulfillment of Abraham's promise sometime in the future. No, Paul's claim was that the gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly what the promise really actually meant all along.

Our Lord Jesus made the same claim about Abraham's promise:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see MY DAY: and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56).

According to Jesus, Abraham's promise foresaw JESUS Himself. It was about this gospel-time. Glimpsing the gospel of Christ in advance, gave Abraham joy.

The Lord God is now gathering together in one all things both which are in heaven, and on earth, people of all nations, through the gospel, to sit down with Abraham in His kingdom, new creation, as promised to Abraham long ago. This is precisely what Abraham foresaw!

I don't know about you, but as for me, I decided to just accept the way Jesus, Paul and the other Apostles unpacked Old Testament covenant, prophecy and Scripture, as radical as it may sound. It helps avoid tangents which can distract from the real message.

It's all about JESUS, the GOSPEL, and US in Him.

"For ALL the PROMISES of God IN HIM are yea, and IN HIM Amen, unto the glory of God by US" (II Corinthians 1:20).

Now, look at this next particuar promise about the seed:

"...thy SEED shall possess the gate of HIS enemies..." it said.

Through JESUS, Abraham's SEED, principalities and powers were spoiled and made a shew of openly, being triumphed over in his cross. God made peace through the blood of his cross, and by him reconciled all things unto Himself.

Jesus possessed the gate of his enemies, so in him we also receive the blessing of possessing the gate of our enemies, as coheirs of the promise.

Here's how Jesus said the blessing is actually received:

When Simon Peter confessed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus answered and said unto him, "BLESSED art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

What that meant is that knowing JESUS is HOW one is BLESSED with the promise. Having Jewish ethnicity wasn’t how.

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT".

Since the gates of hell didn't prevail against Jesus, they shall not prevail against his church either, because we are his body, his kingdom people. That's a promise.

Isaiah foretold of One coming, "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open" (Isaiah 22:22).

Then Jesus said to John, "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth" (Revelation 3:7).

Jesus is the One who was to receive the key, then he gave the keys to us his body, his kingdom people, in him.

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (see Matthew 16:16-19).

Since sin, death and the devil were conquered by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, so we also because we have been buried with him in baptism and also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead, are more than conquerors over sin, death and the devil too.

(And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.)

We are all the children of Abraham by faith. You have received the blessing of Abraham by faith. We are coheirs with Jesus of the promise. You are.

Have a blessed day with Abraham's family today, Christ's body, his church, his anointed kingdom people, inheriting all the promises of God in Him to the glory of God!

Ezekiel's and John's Visions

 

A popular interpretation of Bible Prophecy is that the animal sacrifices described in the Book of Ezekiel shall be required during what they call 'The Millennium', only not for actual atonement but as a memorial.

But in Ezekiel it stated that the animal sacrifices would be for atonement: it didn't say anything about it merely being a memorial.

It also stated that the Levite priest would officiate the sacrifices. But the New Testament states that the Levitical priesthood has been superseded by the endless Priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. His sacrifice was once for all.

So, Ezekiel's vision wasn't all about the future: part of its purpose was to provide inspiration and instruction for the Jews who would be returning from captivity, while the Old Covenant still stood.

But the grandiose scenarios described by Ezekiel never came to pass, some may say. But Ezekiel was describing visions - he wasn't writing in prose, unlike Moses who saw face to face Moses wasn't describing visions, he gave instructions for the building of the former tabernacle, in prose. It is the nature of visions that they need interpreting. So, the imagery in Ezekiel required interpreting: it wasn't meant to be taken as prose. That's just how a lot of ancient Jewish vision and prophecy worked.

Ezekiel was also told upfront that his hearers wouldn't do what they were being told through his prophesying. So, the fact they didn't fully complete all that was intended in Ezekiel's visions doesn't mean it is instead all about the future.

And yet, everything that was said and done in the Old Testament also foreshadowed New Testament realities. So, Ezekiel's visions were also pregnant, we could say, with the eternal spiritual realities which were later to be birthed, which have now have been birthed by the New Covenant. In the Book of Revelation John described seeing much of the same imagery and themes as Ezekiel but with a completely Christ-centred gospel shape to it all.

It's a mistake therefore to take visions like Ezekiel's and try to treat it as if it was all a video of the future-still. That forces an unintended meaning onto the prophecies, and attempts to artificially place things in the future when the future is meant to be different since Jesus came.

Ezekiel's visions were intended as inspiration and instruction for the Jews returning from captivity - and all of that also foreshadowed the eternal realities which we all now enjoy in Christ Jesus.

The Levitical priesthood has been superseded by Jesus' high priesthood forever.

Sacrifices were done away with by His own once-for-all sacrifice.

Earthly Jerusalem is no longer the required place of worship: we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem.

The true river is the river of life that flows from above.

It's all about JESUS now. The future won't be about pilgrimages to a stone temple in Jerusalem with Levite priests to offer blood sacrifices either for atonement or for memorial. Isn't that freeing!

Plus, the term 'The Millennium' isn't in the Bible anyway. Give that some thought!

The Bench

One day I was waiting on the roadside to get a coach from Sydney back home to Queensland.

But the bus didn’t come.

So I decided to get a flight home instead.

On the way to the airport, I went into a cafe in the city.

I felt like having some lasagne. But at the house where I'd been staying everyone was fasting, so I’d joined them, and so I hadn’t eaten for a few days. I thought lasagne might be a bit heavy on an empty stomach – so I didn’t mention lasagne at all, and just ordered a cup of light soup instead.

While I was sitting at the table sipping my hot soup, I thought to myself (and silently said to the Lord): “I’d prefer to be having lasagne”.  

Straightaway the lady came around from behind the counter and put a container that was in a white paper bag on the table in front of me. She muttered something in her European-sounding language, then went back behind the counter.

I took the container out of the bag – it was lasagne! Nice, hot lasagne. For free!

After enjoying eating about half of it I thought I better not eat too much more of it seeing I’d had such an empty stomach. So I decided to find a homeless person outside to give the rest of it to.

As soon as I stepped onto the footpath outside the cafe, there was a homeless-looking person right there scrummaging through a rubbish bin.

I went up to him, and I’d already stretched out my hand to give him the lasagne, when suddenly the words come to me:

"Stop! Not him. Walk down the street - you'll find a pedestrian-crossing. Across the road is a building. Behind the building is a park. In the park is a bench. And on the bench you'll see an aboriginal man - give it to him."

So I turned and walked down the road – and in just a minute or less, I came to a pedestrian-crossing.

While I was waiting for the green 'walk' signal to cross the road, I thought to myself, “This is going to be a good test of whether or not I'm really hearing from God” - because I wasn't familiar-enough with the Sydney CBD to have known such details.

It was raining lightly as I crossed the crossing. I looked up at the building towering in front of me directly across the road.

I walked around the corner - and sure enough there was a park – a big park - behind the building.

I entered the park – and immediately inside the park entrance was a park bench.

On the bench was a gentleman – and he indeed looked indigenous.

As it was still early morning, he was lying down on the bench sleeping.

I went up to him and putting my hand on his shoulder woke him. 

He sat up promptly, looking startled.

"Excuse me, brother,” I said, reassuringly, “I'm wondering whether you'd like some steaming-hot lasagne - for free."

"Oh yes thanks!" he answered, eagerly.

While he sat enjoying eating, I shared JESUS with him.

(I’d figured - he’s not going to tell me not to, seeing I’ve given him a meal.)

And when he finished eating, I asked him if he would like to receive the LORD.

So, there in the park, on the bench, we prayed together – the precious man received the Lord Jesus Christ into his life.  

He looked so glad!

We looked at each other’s faces, smiling.

As we saw into each other’s eyes, it felt like we'd both gained a new brother!

And we went on our ways, rejoicing.

Jesus said:

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10)

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" - (Rev. 3:20)

“A sower went out to sow his seed…” (Luke 8:5); “The sower soweth the word (Mark 4:14)

“And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following…” (Mark 16:20) 

“…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world…” (Matthew 28:20)