GROUP 1 ASSIGNMENT

Question: God’s covenant with Abraham; what are the issues at stake? Discuss the

issues with references.

INTRODUCTION

Blessing people is the prerogative of God and it is a priviledge and quite fascinating

to have a covenant relationship with God. A covenant is simply a mutual agreement

between two people or parties. A covenant remains binding as long as both parties

stand by the terms and conditions guiding the agreement. About 1500B.C, God made

a covenant with Abraham, one of the greatest and best known characters in history. In

this write-up, we shall be discussing the issues that are associated with this multi-

sectional covenant between God and Abraham otherwise known as the Abrahamic

covenant.

ISSUES AT STAKE

THE CALL INTO COVENANT RELATIONSHIP: Abraham was born into an

idolatrous family and environment (Josh 24:2,3). This necessitated the call of God

upon his life to forsake all and start a walk in His will (Gen 12:1). Thus relevance in

the kingdom of God requires sanctification, that is, being set apart for God’s use. This

call however came with a promise of 3-fold greatness. God promised to make of

Abraham a great nation, to greatly bless him and to make his name great (Gen 12:2).

In addition to this promise of greatness came the promise of God to make Abraham a

peculiar person (1 Pet 2:9) whereby anyone who pronounces a blessing on him would

be blessed and those who curse him would remain cursed (Gen 12:3).

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The call finally came along with the promise to bless all the families of the earth

through Abraham (Gen 12:3c). God was making a messianic statement in which

Christ would be the seed of Abraham and that everyone who believes in Christ would

become an heir of Abraham's promise. So the scripture says in Gal. 3:29, "If you are

Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise." Or as

Romans 4:16-17 says, "The promise is according to grace in order to be guaranteed to

all Abraham's descendants, not only to the Jews but also to Gentiles who share the

faith of Abraham, who is father of us all, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father

of many nations’."

THE COVENANT: Prior to Gen 15, God had only made promises of greatness and

peculiarity to Abraham but not a covenant. It is in Gen 15 that we see the covenant

proper and its solemnization as well wherein God had to swear by Himself since he

found none greater than Him to swear by for men swear by someone greater than

them. In the introduction we stated that a covenant is guided by terms and conditions.

In Gen 17, we see the covenant conditions as spelled out by God Almighty (El-

Shaddai) to Abraham the mortal being. God requested that Abraham should walk

blameless before Him (Gen 17:1b). Abraham was 99years old when the ageless God

gave him this condition.

God’s part to play in the covenant was to confirm or bring to fulfilment His promises

if Abraham would fulfil the condition he was given. Heb 6:16-18 shows the certainty

of God to fulfil His own part of the covenant.

Abraham worshipped God (Gen 17:2) in response to the confirmed promise of God,

being fully persuaded that the ageless God was able to perform what He had promised

(Rom 4:20-21). God confirmed His covenant with Abraham, re-emphasizing the two

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parties involved in the covenant “…my covenant is with thee” and the promise to

make him the father of many nations.

RESULTANT EFFECT OF THE COVENANT: A change in name and status was

the result of the covenant. God changed his name from “Abram”- exalted father to

“Abraham”- father of many (Gen 17:5) for He had already pronounced him father of

many nations.

Abraham was to become exceedingly fruitful with nations coming through him. Note

that the word “nations” is in its plural form meaning more than one nation, Israel (Gen

17:6). Abraham did not father a multitude of nations in a physical or political sense.

Therefore the meaning of God's promise was that a multitude of nations would

somehow enjoy the blessings of sonship even though physically unrelated to

Abraham. So when God said to Abraham 4,000 years ago, "Behold, my covenant is

with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations," he opened the way

for anyone of us, no matter what nation we belong to, to become a child of Abraham

and an heir of God's promises. All we have to do is share the faith of Abraham - that

is, bank our hope on God's promises, so much so that if obedience requires it, we

could give up our dearest possession like Abraham gave up Isaac (Jn 8:39). We don't

become heirs of Abraham's promises by working for God but by being confident that

God works for us. "Abraham grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God, fully

convinced that God was able to do what he had promised" (Rom. 4:20). That's why

Abraham could obey God even when obedience looked like a dead-end street. He

trusted God to do the impossible. Faith in God's promises or today we would say,

faith in Christ, who is the confirmation of God's promises is the way to become a

child of Abraham. Thus, we who hope in Christ and follow Him in the obedience of

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faith are Abraham's descendants and heirs of his covenant promises. There's no doubt

that’s what God meant. Among these blessings is that from Abraham’s descendants

many kings would arise (Gen 17:6b).

In Gen 17:7&8 we see the very heart of the Abrahamic covenant. God promises to

enter into an everlasting relationship with Abraham and the generations after him. The

“seed” herein referred to is Christ, as Paul explains in Gal 3:16 “Now the promises

were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as

referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ”. Abraham

therefore becomes a link to the gentile nation.

The heart of the Abrahamic covenant is that God will be God to us. He will be our

God. The longer you meditate on this simple truth the more spectacular it becomes.

Jeremiah tells us what it means. He quotes God: "They shall be my people and I will

be their God … I will not turn away from doing good to them … I will rejoice in

doing good to them … with all my heart and with all my soul" (Jer 32:38-41). It

boggles the mind to try to imagine what it must mean if the God who made the

planets and stars and galaxies and molecules and protons and neutrons and electrons

rejoices to do you good with all his heart and with all his soul. If God is God for you

then all his omnipotence and all his omniscience are engaged all the time to do good

for you in all the circumstances of your life.

When Jesus was approached by the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection,

he said (in Mt. 22:31-32), "As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what

was said to you by God, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God

of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead but of the living." The Sadducees had not

stopped to ponder or muse over the meaning of "I am the God of Abraham." They

didn't realize how spectacular it is for the creator of the universe to say to a human

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being, "I will be God to you … I will be your God." So Jesus tells them: When God is

your God you cannot die: "He is not the God of the dead but of the living." The

Sadducees were utterly naive to think that death could end the fellowship between

God and those to whom he had said, "I am your God!"

God’s covenant with Abraham and his seed was to be an everlasting, that is, eternal

covenant. God promised the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession to Abraham

and his seed. The real promise is for an everlasting heavenly Canaan, not an earthly

Canaan. The Hebrew writer confirms that in chapter 11 of his book. He speaks of

Abraham and of that land of promise and said, “By faith he lived as an alien in the

land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow

heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations,

whose architect and builder is God” (verses 9-10).

If scripture says that Abraham was living as an alien in that land but he was looking

for a heavenly city, then Abraham knew that the true promise was never for the

earthly Canaan. The true promise was always the promise for a heavenly Canaan and

we can see that when we hear Paul refer back to God’s covenant promise to Abraham

and say, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not

say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that

is, Christ.” (Galatians 3:16) God was promising the earthly land to Abraham’s

earthly descendants and He was promising the spiritual land to his spiritual

descendants.

For this everlasting covenant, God introduced an additional covenant requirement

which was circumcision. God told Abraham to circumcise every male child in his

household, irrespective of their physical descendency. The covenant promise was an

everlasting one and His covenant requirement of circumcision was to be everlasting as

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well. How then do we fulfil this particular requirement? Paul explains “For he is not a

Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But

he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the

Spirit, not by the letter…” (Romans 2:28-29). Furthermore in Galatians 3:26-29, Paul

tells us how every nation on earth is included in the covenant promise “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”. According to Romans 15:8, "Christ became a servant to the

circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the

patriarchs."

CONCLUSION

God made a covenant with Abraham that if he and his descendants would keep His

commandments, be perfect and circumcise their male children; God would bless them

and be their God. God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations and to

give him the land of Canaan. God later added that He would bless all nations through

Abraham. This covenant blessing can be seen in four stages of development (the call,

the covenant, the solemnization and the effects of the covenant) as recorded in

Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-16; 15:4-21; and 17:4-16. Our citizenship is in heaven not in an

earthly Canaan and God will keep His covenant promise to those descendants who

keep His covenant requirements. Through Christ, we become Abraham’s descendants

and heirs of this same promise. This is the gospel!