Someone said, “All the promises of God are for us but not all of the promises of God are to us.” Not all of the Abrahamic Covenant is to us but this promise is for us. The Abrahamic Covenant is primarily to Israel. Just like the OT Mosaic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant. In Romans 9:4a, Paul asked “Who are Israelites?” Then he answered, “to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants.” But this promise is for us in the sense just as God will fulfill his promise to Israel, he will fulfil his promises to us.
1. There are two kinds of covenants between God and man
A. The conditional covenant is the Mosaic Covenant. In Exodus 19:5, God said, “If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine.” In Exodus 19:8, the people of Israel agreed.
B. An unconditional covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant which has no “if” attached.
2. God’s unconditional covenant promises in the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3)
A. The promise of land (Genesis 12:1; 13:17: 15:18; 17:8) developed in the Palestinian Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:3-5).
B. The promise of seed (Genesis 12:2; 13:16) developed in the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:16; Psalm 89:1-4; Luke 1:30-33).The Four Seeds of Abraham in Scripture
Natural seed
All physical descendants of Abraham
(Genesis 12:1-3, 7; et al.)
Natural-spiritual seed
Believing physical descendants of Abraham
(Romans 9:6, 8; Galatians 6:16)
Spiritual seed
Believing non-physical descendants of Abraham
(Galatians 3:6-9, 29)
Ultimate seed
Jesus Christ
(Galatians 3:16)
Abraham then returned to the well he had purchased at Beersheba and lived there (v. 19).
Moses probably preserved the details of this story because this test involved the future of God’s promised seed, Isaac, and, therefore, the faithfulness of God. He probably did so also because this incident illustrates God’s feelings in giving His Son as the Lamb of God (cf. John 1:29; 3:16). Other themes in this chapter include testing and obedience, the relationship between God and man, and the relationship between father and son.[636],” Grace Theological Journal 1:1 (Spring 1980):19-35.
C. The promise of blessing (Genesis 12:3) developed in the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
3. The conditional element of the Abrahamic Covenant
A. The Fact of the covenant was conditioned on Abraham’s obedience in Genesis 12:1-6
(Whether there would be a covenant program with Israel depended on Abraham’s obedience to the two imperatives in Genesis 12).
1. The first imperative was to leave his country (12:1). In that day, when the sons married they did not leave, they built an addition to their father’s houses. Sometimes houses covered an acre of land with all of the additions.
2. The second was to be a blessing (12:3).
B. The Kind of covenant established with Abraham was unconditional.
(Once Abraham obeyed, the fulfillment was unconditional and no longer dependent on Abraham’s obedience)
1) The covenant was confirmed in Genesis 13:15
2) The covenant was confirmed in Genesis 15:7-18
3) The covenant was confirmed in Genesis 17:19. This confirmation was after Abraham’s disobedience in 16:1-4) showing that the fulfillment was unconditional.
C. The individual blessings of the covenant were conditional.
1) Abraham left the place of blessing in Genesis 12:10-20 and lost the blessing.
2) God told Isaac in Genesis 26:2-3 to remain in the land and receive the blessing. '‘Usually, a restatement of the covenant promises occurred during a time of crisis in the life of a patriarch. In spite of opposition or danger, God would provide for his own, and he would never abandon the family of Abraham. In chapter 26 Isaac faces the twin problems of famine and a group of hostile Philistines. The solution might have been a trip to Egypt, as Abraham had done earlier. But the Lord appeared to Isaac and told him to stay in the land” (Herbert Wolf, An Introduction to the Old Testament Pentateuch, Chicago: Moody, 1991, 111).
a. Salvation is conditional on obedience to the command, “Believe on the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31). Salvation is not conditional based on works (Eph. 2:8-9).
b. Then salvation becomes unconditional as in John 10:28. This is how the Abrahamic Covenant is for us but not to us.
D. The fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional
(The covenant was reconfirmed more often to the deceitful Jacob than any other patriarch in Genesis 27:29; 28:3; 35:11-12; 48:3-4).
4. The promises to Israel must be literally fulfilled
A. There are three kinds of promises in the Abrahamic Covenant
1. Individual promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 and these were fulfilled literally. Abraham’s name has become great. The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are founded on Abraham.
2. Universal promises to save gentiles is being fulfilled in Galatians 3:8.
3. National promises to Israel and these will be fulfilled literally.
a. The land promises has not been fulfilled (Acts 7:2-5)
b. The seed promise has not been fulfilled (Luke 1:32-37)
B. Israel will fulfil these promises according to Romans 11:26-27