God has put before his people both blessings and curses.
Deuteronomy 29:25-26-27-28, “Because they = (the Jews) have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers. — For they = (the Jew) served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, — And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, = (Israel) to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book.” And the LORD rooted (uprooted) them (the Jew) out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 30:1-2-3-5-6-7, The LORD said, “all these thing are come upon thee, (the Jew) the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee,” — God said, there is coming a day when the Jew will, “return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.”
The day of regeneration for the Jew has not yet occurred. In Verse 3, “Then the LORD thy God will turn (turn back) thy (the Jew’s) captivity, — and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.”
Verse 5. “And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land (Israel) which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it.” This is a work in progress. The Jews’ are being drawn from every corner of the earth, this is the promise of our God.
Verses 6-7, will be fulfilled after the gathering of the Jew’s has been completed. It is written, “God, will circumcise thine heart, (destroy their old nature and give them a new nature) and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou = (the Jew) mayest live.” — I, “will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.” When the Jew’s turn to their Messiah, only then will God’s blessings be sent.
The Abrahamic covenant is an unconditional covenant. This covenant has been established and sealed by God. Mans thoughts, actions, or deeds will have no effect or bearing on the covenants implementation or results; for it is fully unconditional.
Abram was to leave Ur of the Caldees (currently in Iran) and go to the land of Canaan (current land of Israel.)
Hebrews 11:8-9, “By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; — By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange (foreign) country.” Upon his departure, the covenant was sealed.
God’s promise to Abraham was that he would be the progenitor of the nation, and the father of many nations. The fulfillment of this Covenant would be through and by the works of Jesus Christ. It rests on the exclusive promise-keeping power of Christ, and not on Abraham or his seed. Abraham by faith, believed, left the city of Ur, thus entered into this covenant with God.
The secret to Israelis immortality is God’s promise to preserve the seed of Abraham, and the land of Israel for the Jews forever.
Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob (the Jews) are not consumed (utterly destroyed or finished.)”
Written in this covenant are the blessings for the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church, also the prophetic words concerning the end of the enemies of God. More than four thousand years have passed since this covenant was established and now appears to be in its final days.
Prelude to this covenant:
In the years following the flood, man fell under a deep, spiritual darkness. The people of the earth turned to astrology and the occult. Fewer of Noah’s descendants clung to the worship of the true God. The people erected a huge ziggurat (tower) on the plains of Shinar (Babel), today’s modern-day Iraq.
The ziggurat was dedicated to stargazing and pagan worship. Man said, “let us go up,” as men were trying to reach unto heaven. God looked down on man, and said,
Genesis 11:7, “let us go down.”
This tower represented a turning point in human history. There were neither Jews nor Gentiles. Mankind existed collectively as a single race. Shem the oldest son of Noah was given the blessing of the first-born. From Seth we find Abraham and the other great patriarchs up to Jesus. From Seth to Jesus several thousand years passed. Through Christ, all the Covenants and the law are fulfilled.
Colossians 1:19, “For it pleased the Father that in him (Jesus) should all fullness dwell.”
Abram was God’s man. Abram means, “a high father,” When Abram left the city of Ur, the Lord changed his name to Abraham, which means, “The father of a great multitude.” Abram was to leave the city of Ur, and go to an unspecified place. Abram moved forward in what we call, “blind faith,” for he trusted God. Abram had committed himself to God.
Genesis 12:1, and Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”
The Covenant contained seven provisions, Genesis 12. The covenant was later enlarged and amplified in Genesis 13:14-17, 15:1- 7, 17:1 thru 8, Genesis 17:21.
The First Provision:
Genesis 12:2, “And I (God) will make of thee a great nation,” Although, Abraham is the father of many nations, (most of whom are Arabs,) through primarily his son Ishmael, and to a lesser extent his sons Zimran, Joshan, Median, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Genesis 16:3, 25:2. The promise of the Messiah would find its fulfillment in Israel, the seed of Abraham through the line of Isaac. The reference in Genesis 12:2 is clearly to one nation (singular), not many. God said to Abraham,
“I will bless thee, and make thy name great.”
This part of the covenant was to establish a great nation. Israel and her people have suffered many wars and takeovers by foreign invaders, the Meads (Iraq;) the Persian’s (Iran;) the Greeks; Romans; Arabs; England, etc. In 1948 the nation of Israel was reborn in one day. After six wars with the Arab nations, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, etc. Israel still stands, because of God’s promise, which stood with any conditions.
This conclusion of, “A great nation” (one nation) is drawn from the Scriptures which declare that Isaac was the sole inheritor.
Genesis 17:19-21, God said, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. — But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time next year.”
Verse 22:2, “God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; = (Laughter) and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him, And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”
Isaac was the prophesied seed, Genesis 15:1-6. Through him, God’s promises would be fulfilled. In Genesis 21:1-2 and Genesis 35:10-12, the promise was then passed to Isaac’s son Jacob. From here, the covenant finds its fulfillment in the nation of Israel, through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not through Ishmael or any of Abraham’s other sons.
Obviously this promise of a nation assumes the existence of a national homeland called Israel. Abram left his country and went to a land which the Lord said, “I will show thee.” and then said, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.”
The Second Provision:
The promise was one of personal blessing for Abraham,
Genesis 12:2, “I will bless thee,” This being fulfilled in two ways.
1. From a temporal standpoint, Abraham was blessed with an abundance of wealth and material possessions Genesis 13:14-15-17-18, and Genesis 24:34-35.
2. Abraham was blessed spiritually,
Genesis 15:6, “And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and He (God) counted it to him for righteousness.” The word ‘believed’ is a verb, and is in a tense meaning a continuous past action–literally, Abraham, “kept on believing in the LORD.”
The Third Provision:
The third promise is found in,
Genesis 12:2, “And I will ….. make thy name great.” Thus, Abraham would be a man of renown. Except for our Lord Jesus, Abraham is undoubtedly the most widely recognized name in the Bible. Today 4000 years later, millions of Christians, Muslims, and Jews around the world honor the name of Abraham.
The Fourth Provision:
The Lord told Abraham, in,
Genesis 12:2, “Thou shalt be a blessing.” This was not only a prediction, but a Divine mandate. God instructs Abraham to be a blessing. The Jews are designated as the, “Chosen People.” That is, God will show himself through this nation and this people.
God has and is still showing himself through this people and this land. The meaning of these words concerning the Jews, never implied that they were in any way better spiritually than others, for it is written in,
Acts 10:34-35, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation = (both Jew and Gentile) he = (anyone) that feareth him,= (God) and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”
All people are accepted equally by God through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Therefore, in what sense could anyone say that the Jews are uniquely called by God?
Acts 10:36, “The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, = (the Jew) preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)” Paul continues in verse 39, “and we are witnesses of all things which he = (Jesus) did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem;”
The Jews were and are the conduit through which the entire world would be blessed. This is why God commanded Abraham from the very beginning to be a blessing.
The Fifth Provision:
Genesis 12:3, God said, “I will bless them that bless thee,” This declaration by God established a very important principle: being that any nation that blesses and sustains the Jewish people will flourish under the power of the Lord.
In the O.T. Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham was sold into slavery to the Egyptians by his brothers,
Genesis 39:5, “The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.” For the next 3500 years some nations have been blessed for Israel’s sake, including the U.S.A. America has been a safe-haven for the Jewish people for these past 400 years.
The Sixth Provision:
Genesis 12:3, God said, “I will …curse him that curseth thee.” God will place His judgment on these nations that come against His people and their land. History bears this out. The sin of anti-Semitism = (Jew haters) inevitably brings God’s judgment upon them.
In 1492, not only did Columbus sail for America, but King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain. Thus, the king and queen sowed the seeds for eventual destruction of the Spanish empire. God used the England to fulfill the promise of His curse.
One hundred years passed. In 1588, the so called invincible Spanish armada was destroyed by a young, undermanned English fleet. The Spanish Hapsburg dynasty, both very wealthy and dominant in world of politics, sank to a second rate nation, never again rising to a major political or military power.
Likewise, Germany after both World War 1 and II, the nation lay in ruins. Today its power lies in the Unity of the E.U. and not in themself. Jew haters like Hitler, Gerbols, Rammel, Himler, Goering, and many others, all committing suicide. Germany destroyed by war, being put into a position of debt, and shame.
In the late part of the twentieth century, Russia suffered a major collapse in their military and political power. They were notorious for their hatred and persecution of the Jews.
America is showing signs of siding more with the enemies of the Jewish people, under the pretense of peace for land. Under the guise of a peace offering, the enemies of Israel have blinded the west. Israels’ lands, exchanged for Peace. This is a lie from Satan himself.
America is now in the process of aligning itself with the Arab oil cartel. If a democratic is elected to be President, you can bet we will move further away from Israel.
Many large and small so called (Christian) denominations have determined that they have become “spiritual Israel,” wrongly giving the idea that God is no longer dealing with or this people and the land; claim, “The Jews were responsible for the death of the Lord, therefore God no longer recognizes them.” What they chose not to omit is that the Gentiles also played a major part in the rejection and death of our Lord.
When the Roman Empire became the seat of Christianity through the Roman Catholic church, the Church taught, that the promise of the Abrahamic covenant would be fulfilled through them. Many others have followed this pattern of thought. Organizations such as the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Armstrong’s Church of God, etc. all teaching they are Spiritual Israel, that promised seed, His elect. Their claim, God is now using us to fulfill His covenant with Abraham.
The Seventh Provision:
Genesis 12:3, states, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
The unfolding of God’s plan establishes the threefold fulfillment of His promise.
1. The world has been blessed, first of all, through the coming of the Lord Jesus; He coming from Abraham seed. Jesus is the prophesied seed of Eve,
Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it — (He) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This promise of a seed was fulfilled through Abraham.
2. The promise is now extended to the body of Christ, the true church, consisting of both Jew and Gentile. The Christian Gentiles have not replaced the Jews, as the “chosen people,” but hs been grafted in, or adopted into the promise; “To the Jew first, and then the Gentiles.”
Therefore the promises are fulfilled in Jesus and the Church.
Galatians 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” The Church has never replaced the nation of Israel or the Jewish people. The existence of a spiritual seed in no way nullifies God’s commitment to Abraham’s physical seed.
3. In the promised coming of the 1000 year reign of Christ, (The Millennium, meaning 1000 Years) the Gentile nations will be blessed through Israel, Abraham’s physical seed.
Deuteronomy 28:8- 14. “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee (the Jew) — and he shall bless thee in the land (Israel) which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee (the Jews) an holy people unto himself as he hath sworn unto thee, (through the Abrahamic covenant) — and all people of the earth shall see that thou (the Jew) art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.”
He goes on to tell us how He will prosper the people and the land with agriculture, goods, fair weather, financial, medical, the sciences, etc.
“And thou shall make thee (the Jew) the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; etc.” This is yet future.
Isaiah 60:3- 5-11-16. “And the (unsaved) Gentiles shall come to thy light, (the Messiah) and kings to the brightness of thy rising.= (the Lords return) — the Gentiles shall come unto thee (the Jew.) Therefore thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces (wealth) of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. Thou (the Jews) shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the might One of Jacob.” This is yet future.
When it comes to the descendants of Abraham, there are three different “seeds,” they are represented as sand, stars, and dust.
Sand: Genesis 22:17, “That in blessing I will….multiply thy seed…as the sand which is upon the sea shore.”
This is Abraham’s physical seed, the Hebrews. What does sand as a symbol represent? Sand is produced by a natural process of abrasion and erosion upon larger stones. It is then scattered along the shores of the world’s oceans. Israel has been ground fine by persecution and war, and the people have been scattered among the nations of the world, this like no other race in world history.
Stars: Genesis 15:5, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.” Star’s represent the spiritual seed of Abraham, the Christian church! The Church population since Christ’s resurrection is without number, and like the stars of heaven, illuminating the world with the truth of God; this to an evil, corrupted world.
Matthew 5:14-16, “Ye (Christians) are the light of the world. A city (population) that is set on an hill (high above the corruption of the world) cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel (do not hid your love for Jesus from the world) but on a candlestick; (show it) and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Dust: Genesis 13:16, “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” In the Bible, dust is often a generic symbol for humanity, the human race.
1. Genesis 2:7, “And God formed man of the dust of the ground,” God now called this first man Adam, which means earthly man. See following examples.
2. Genesis 3:19, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
3. Genesis 18:27, Abraham said, “I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am (I am) but dust and ashes:”
4. Job 10:9, Job said to God, “thou hast make me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?”
The dust represents the Gentile nations, who have been grafted in, now the adopted sons unto Abraham.
The distinction of Israel, the Gentile nations, and the Church are confirmed in the N.T.
1 Corinthians 10:32, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.” The three are God’s created vessels, each having a free will to receive or reject God’s gift of salvation, as each will have their part in God’s justice.
Since 1948, God has put into effect the last part of His promise to Abraham. He has been gathering the Jew back to the land, from the four corners of the world. Six wars have been declared upon this small nation by the Muslim world. The results, the Arabs have lost six wars.
In 1948 the Jews numbered around 650,000 people and faced the Arab nations who numbered over 200 million. The Arabs fielded 5 armies, yet the small nation of Israel defeated them. From that year on, the Arabs have lost all other declared wars. Their numbers far exceeding the Jews, yet God will not allow the Jew to be taken from His promised land. Recently the war in Lebanon with the shadowed figure of terrorism was defeated.
God will not allow the land to be taken, stolen, or traded off for it is His land. He gave it to the Jew’s for an inheritance, and so shall it be. No army can, or will defeat the Jew. Satan will not rest, neither will his disciples; day or night will they not rest in their vain attempt to destroy the Jew, and drive them into the sea. Because Jesus is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, having the power of His promise, the war has been won. This is His covenant to His people, first the promise, then the fulfilling. When the gathering is completed, and the nations of the world have declared war on them, then will the vengeance of God be felt on their enemy’s.
Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com