What is the Bible? Part 3 - The Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Introduction

Flood to Abram

Descendants of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 2 significant things: Shem (Semites => Abraham); Ham (father of Canaan)

Canaan gets cursed because he shamefully uncovers and mocks Noah’s nakedness.

Tower of Babel = God told them to populate the earth, but they do the opposite; the beginning of different languages

1. The Call of Abram (Gen 12:1-9)

Leave Everything (Gen 12:1a)

Genesis 12:1a “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house . . . ”

Go to a Foreign Land (Gen 12:1b)

Gen 12:1b “. . . to the land which I will show you.”

Become a Nation (Gen 12:2a)

Genesis 12:2a “And I will make you a great nation . . .”

Blessings and Curses (Gen 12:3)

Genesis 12:2–3 “And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

What This Means for Us

God had a plan from the beginning to make a people for himself

Not just Israel/Jews, but also Gentiles

Exodus 6:7 “‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Galatians 3:7–8 “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.””

God calls us out of our home and to go

Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

He Wants to Make a Nation still Today (The Church)

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ““Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””

Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

2. The Covenant with Abram (Gen 15; Gen 17)

The People (Gen 17:9)

Genesis 17:9 “God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.”

He was Abram = “exalted father”

Now Abraham = “father of a multitude”

The Promises (Gen 15:3-18; 17:9-14)

Promises are physical, material blessings:

Descendants (Gen 15:3-6)

Genesis 15:3–6 “And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Land (Gen 15:7-11, 17-18)

Genesis 15:7–11 “And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.”

Genesis 15:17–18 “It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:”

Covenant Ceremony:

Circumcision (Gen 17:9-14)

Genesis 17:9–11 “God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. “This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. “And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.”

Illustration: Marriage as covenant (two parties, man and woman), promises, ceremony, and symbols

What This Means for Us

The Old Covenant is no Longer in Effect, It Has Been Fulfilled

As great as the OC was, it is no longer in effect. It has been fulfilled.

Joshua 21:43–45 “So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.”

We Enter into a New Covenant with Better promises

Hebrews 8:7–13 “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them. “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

Nevertheless, the distinctive blessings of the new covenant are spiritual, not material; for example, God’s law written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, a personal knowledge of God, and the forgiveness of our sins.1

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

3. Abraham’s Salvation (Gen 15:6)

Faith Justified (Gen 15:6)

Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

The Covenant Did not Justify

Promises had nothing to do with being born again and sins being forgiven.

OC = promises were land and descendants, a person was born into the covenant, but this did not mean he was saved. He still had to be taught of God and have faith in Yahweh just like Abraham.

NC = promises are being born again and sins forgiven, cov’t is about salvation, when a person enters into the NC, he DOES become saved b/c those are the promises of the cov’t, a person is not born into the covenant, we come into covenant via faith, repentance with baptism as our ceremony to enter

What This Means for Us

1. God’s People are Christ-believing Jews and Christ-Believing Gentiles

There are not two separate people of God. God has made believers in Jesus ONE:

Galatians 3:26–29 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

Ephesians 2:13–14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”

2. The New Covenant Saves Us

It saves us—justifies us—because of Jesus.

The OC could not save anyone. The sacrifices only pointed out that there was a sacrifice required. But the sacrifices themselves did not take away sin:

Hebrews 10:1–4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Jesus made a NC, saying: Luke 22:20 “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’”

Hebrews 10:10 “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Conclusion