Genesis 15:2-6 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God will only speak true to His word. He cannot enter into flights of fancy or hypothetical discussions for to do so would alter His word. Even when we look at what is not and base all on what we see, He will always speak what He has spoken for nothing has changed. (Romans 4:17) Even if we doubt, He cannot.
2 Timothy 2:11-13 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; 13 if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
We forget as Abram forgot, while the promise is to us, it is for God. It is His blessing to give to those that will believe and receive from Him. As God reminded Abram, He Himself is our reward. (Genesis 15:1) God is the gift and the giver of the gift. His Word is our gift, whether the Bible or the promises He gives over the particulars of our individual lives. This is precious to Him and it must come to pass.
Isaiah 55:8-11 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Yet what comes to pass is not based on what is seen or felt but on what God has said. The entirety of our relationship with God is that we believe His word. (Yes we believe His work, such as His work in Christ, but how do we know what His work in Christ was except by His Word?) This is righteousness to God, to believe Him. There is nothing greater to Him. Even the works that we work for Him have no value to Him if we do not do them out of our belief in Him! He is not a God of duty but of faith, or else it would not be faith that pleases Him! (Hebrews 11:6)
For God to not keep His Word it would be as though He disowned Himself! (2 Timothy 2:13) This is how powerful the Word of God is, it cannot be separated from who God is! God speaks Himself.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
His Word is not idle or random, as it is as powerful and able as is God! (Isaiah 55:11)
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
To believe God is to believe His Word, for His Word is who He is! If we believe what we see over His Word then we are saying that there is another that is greater than God and that God is not able to perform what He has promised. (If He cannot do as he has said, then He is not God!)
There is no righteousness in doubt, for doubt takes another god called “fate” and gives our faith and worship to the appearance of fate over the truly powerful, life changing Word of God! This is why Jesus would rebuke doubt so often in those around Him! (Matthew 14:31) So Abram believed beyond what He could see, Abram believed God. Because Abram believed, God counted him as worthy to receive! This is our blessing and promise, that God is greater than what we see and know, He is as good as His Word and His Word is to us- “Worthy to receive!” For this Christ came, that the promise – the Word of God would be fulfilled, and that we would receive the fullness of the power of that Word, (Galatians 3:14), that if we believe, we will receive!
Mark 9:23b “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
Chapter 3 – The Blessing of Abraham
Through Christ, we have been promised the Blessing of Abraham. In fact, Christ came to deliver us from sin and bring us to God so that the Blessing of Abraham could come upon the Gentiles!
Galatians 3:14 To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit. (AMP)
The greatness of the blessing of Abraham is the following; “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, James 2:23)
When we are righteous all of heaven is opened to us: eternal life, Sonship, every blessing of every type, power, protection, health, wealth, and every good thing! Most of all we receive the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee or deposit of all that God has for those that believe on His Son Jesus! (2 Corinthians 2:21-22, 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14) In the blessing we stand before God through faith in His goodness rather than on our goodness or worthiness. Through our faith that God is good we please God and can be openly rewarded by God because we believe Him! (Hebrews 11:6) This is a lot to take in for us, as it was for Abram.
How could Abram be sure that his faith was based on reality and that God would do as He said? Abram believed God, but what could Abram base his faith on? To help Abram in his faith, God “cut covenant” with Abram, giving Abram the evidence that his faith had already proved!
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Abram, knowing the significance of entering into a blood covenant, would then have the covenant to rest his faith upon.
Genesis 15:7-9 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” 8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” 9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
While there is much to say on this event, we can see the sealing of the covenant when God entered into the sacrifice!
Genesis 15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
Abram saw and understood that God was pledging to Abram His life if the promise was not kept. Yet there was a even a deeper significance. In entering into the sacrifice and thus sealing the covenant with Abram, God was also making known that if Abram or his descendents failed in the covenant, then God Himself would pay the price of death that bound the covenant! This is how Abram could know that what he believed would come to pass, and this is how we know that what we believe will come to pass – God has sealed His covenant with us with His life!
Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
God entered into the life of man to redeem man; to be the sacrifice and blood covenant for man, (Isaiah 59:15-16, Matthew 1:20-23, John 1:1-14, Hebrews 10:5-18), so that all could live in the blessing that God promised Abram - that through Abram all nations would be blessed! (Galatians 3:8)
Like Abram we have a covenant to base our faith on, the giving of Christ – God in bodily form, (that we see and partake of in communion), so that we know that our faith is not in vain.
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Chapter 3 – The Blessing of Abraham The Seal of the Spirit
Through Christ, we have been promised the Blessing of Abraham. In fact, Christ came to deliver us from sin and bring us to God so that the Blessing of Abraham could come upon the Gentiles!
Galatians 3:14 To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit. (AMPLIFIED)
There are many aspects to the Blessing of Abraham, but we must always remember that our covenant is a better covenant based not on us but on Christ. (See Hebrews 8:6, although this speaks to the promises under the Law, what we have in Christ is superior to anything any have experienced before Christ!) One such aspect of Abraham’s covenant that is far better for us is the seal of circumcision.
Genesis 17:1-14
The seal circumcision had to do with showing that those in Abraham’s covenant were not following the ways of the flesh, depending on the flesh, or wanting to be like everyone else. Circumcision showed that God had made them through faith and not by their goodness or will. In short, the seal of circumcision was to separate Abraham and his people from the world in every way. Circumcision was to always remind the people that God was their creator and their source and that their lives were solely dependant upon Him. He would be their God and Abraham and his descendants would be His people!
How is our covenant better? In every way! The seal of circumcision became the work of circumcision. The confidence of Israel turned from confidence in God to confidence in the flesh. What Israel failed to realize was that the cutting of the flesh did not cut away the sin or eliminate the need of God’s grace. The cutting of the flesh only showed the inadequacy of the flesh and their need of God’s mercy and grace. Israel forgot that God looked at the heart but in Christ we know that everything is about the heart. (See 1 Samuel 16:7, Jeremiah 4:3-4)
Romans 2:28-29 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
In Christ we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as our sign of covenant.
Ephesians 1:11-14 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory. (See also Ephesians 4:30) In Christ it is the word of our hearts that speak of our faith and show the world that we belong to God and not just in name but in total dependence in Him! By faith we show that we live by the very Spirit of God!
Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.
Ours is a life based on the grace of God and not on a righteousness of our own! (Galatians 6:15) It is a life of faith working by love rather than a life of laws and keeping score! (Galatians 5:6) As Abraham we are made righteous and then sealed in that righteousness through faith. (See Romans 4:9-12) Yet unlike Abraham, we, those that believe on Christ, are blessed with the very fullness of Christ - not because of anything that we have done but because we have believed on what Christ has done for us!
Colossians 2:9-15 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
We have a seal of righteousness and that is the very Spirit of God by whom we live in righteousness by faith. Because our seal is not in the flesh, then the flesh is not our master and we owe nothing to the flesh, all for us is in Christ by His Spirit.
Ephesians 2:(1-13) 8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Chapter 3 – The Blessing of Abraham
Changed for the Supernatural
Now we move into the radical potion of the blessing of Abraham. This is the shadow of greater things that we have in Christ. This is the transformation of all things and the opening to the supernatural power of God in our lives and that not just spiritual but also manifesting in the natural!
Genesis 17:(1-)5, 15-16 Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations. 15 And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai; but Sarah [Princess] her name shall be. 16 And I will bless her and give you a son also by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her. (AMPLIFIED)
The corresponding New Covenant passages to the above would the following:
John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ( See also 1 John 3:1)
In Christ we too have a new name; we live in the name of Christ Himself. This means that we live in the fullness of Christ in position, power, and life and not in whom we were or what we had!
John 16:23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (See also Ephesians 1:4-14 and Colossians 2:6)
In His name we are open to the miracle working power of God because we believe in His name just as Abraham believed in the power of God to cause him to live up to his new name!
John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (Which speaks of the Giving of the Holy Spirit.)
Anyone can leave their country or in our case, turn from sinful ways. Anyone can be blessed and prosper. Neither shows a new life. Neither opens a life up to the power of God flowing in and through them. What opens up a life to the flow of the power of God is being a life begun by God, originated in Him and filled with or empowered (animated) by His Spirit. (John 14:26 See also Romans 8)
Galatians 3:14 (AMP) To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing [promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might [all] receive [the realization of] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.
1 John 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the seal of our redemption, corresponding with outward circumcision, but He is also the power of God working in the born again! The Holy Spirit is not a divided spirit that is power or peace, He is who He is and He is all that He is! Just as God gave Abraham and Sarah life and power that Abram and Sarai did not have, through His Spirit we receive power, (Acts 1:8), because we live in, (believe on), the name of Jesus. We have been changed and we have been changed to live in the power and promise of God – which is one and the same!
Galatians 3:5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
Because we have been changed, we depend on the power of God to accomplish every promise and work. In the name of Jesus we by the Spirit call on and exercise the very power of God! Because we have been changed, nothing is impossible to us.
Matthew 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Galatians 4:(5-7) 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
(See also Romans 8:13-17)
The Blessing of Abraham God Will Perform
The Blessing of Abraham, that we are brought under when we believe on Christ, (Galatians 3:14), is a blessing of God seeing to what He has promised. We receive what God has promised by faith, but the faith that God required of Abraham was different than much of what is taught today. The faith that God required of Abraham was a faith of obedience to God’s instruction and action corresponding with the promise. (i.e. Abram leaving his former country and moving into Canaan did not take anything on Abram’s part but leaving the old to go into the new, God took the responsibility for everything beyond that point!) Both the Abrahamic Covenant as well as in the New Covenant that we have in Christ are the same, as one brings us into the other, the burden is never on the believer to make anything happen but rather only to respond to the Word or promise of the Lord! The burden is always upon the Lord to bless and to do as He has promised!
Genesis 17:15-16 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” (See also 17:21, 18:10)
The above promise makes no demands upon Abraham in any way but to be with his wife. The rest is all on God. There is no prayer involved for favor or mercy for the favor has already been granted. There is nothing for Abraham to study to learn how to get God to bless him as God has already chosen Abraham to be blessed! All that is required of Abraham is to be obedient to the blessing. Abraham was never asked to make the blessing happen, rather he only had to live in or cooperate with the blessing. It is the same for those of us in the New Covenant. God has promised and God will see to His promise. We are only to live in or to cooperate with the Covenant! It is not up to us to make anything happen, but rather to act on the promise already given! In Christ we do not need to pray or do any works for favor, for we have already been chosen for favor!
Ephesians 1:3-14 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the praise of his glory.
God assured Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child together and that He would see to it. In the same way, as believers in Christ, there are blessings and there is power given to us that we do not have to pray over, seek over, or have special training in, we need only to act and let God fulfill His word! Such is the faith of the Covenant!
Mark 11:22-24; 16:15-18 John 14:12; 15:7,16; 16:33 Romans 10:9-10 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 2 Corinthians 1:20; 6:16; 9:10-11 Galatians 5:16 Philippians 1:3-6 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 1 Peter 2:24 2 Peter 1:3-11 1 John 5:4-5
The above list is only a sampling of what God has provided and seen to in Christ on our behalf! It is the same as the blessing that was upon Abraham! Abraham did not just know a way that could bring blessing to him but literally he was in the favor and blessing of the Lord! Abraham walked under the covenant of the Lord and therefore his life was blessed. He did not hear the promise and then have to spend hours in prayer to receive the benefits of the promise, he simply believed that what God said that God was able to perform and so Abraham received the promise! We receive in the same manner! We believe that God will do all that He has said and we act accordingly – not trying to make anything happen but because we believe that in Christ it has already happened and it is ours! (Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:14-16, 12:22-24)
Romans 4:(16-)19-25 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Abraham believed, and so he acted on the promise of God, and therefore Abraham received!
Genesis 21:1(-7) Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
Chapter 3 – The Blessing of Abraham The Friend of God
One of the great blessings that comes from the blessing given to Abraham, which we have upon us in Christ, (Galatians 3:14), is that we can talk as friends, or in our case as mature children with God! Being friends with God is not just one sided, not only can we talk to God, but He will talk to us as friends or even better - mature children, and as co-laborers and rulers of this earth!
Genesis 18:16-25 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” 22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Notice the give and take in the above passage. Abraham does not have a one-sided conversation with God. Neither is Abraham’s intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah reactionary or after the fact, but God made known to Abraham His plans and thereby treated Abraham as one in place and authority. In Christ, by the Holy Spirit, we have this same relationship with God! We are not only free to speak to Him about anything and at anytime, but we are free to engage in matters of earthly importance that involve not just life and death but changing the very plans of God! We can do this because the Spirit informs us of God’s plans!
John 16:12-14 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
Just as Abraham was heard and answered in the affirmative, so will we receive according to our request!
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (NKJV) (See also Matthew 7:7-8 and John 16:23)
But as what we have in Christ is better than what Abraham knew, we have help in speaking to God that gives us boldness even when we don’t know what to say or to say it!
Romans 8:26-27 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
Abraham knew God. Through Christ we know God. God treated Abraham as a friend because he was the friend of God! (James 2:23) In the same way we are called friends and are treated as friends, or even better, as mature children of God and co-heirs with Christ! (See Romans 8:14-17) How can we share if we do not know and why tell us if we cannot enter into the plans of God?
John 15:15-16 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Abraham had a familiarity with God that was so remarkable in his comfort with God. In Christ we have that same relationship only intensified a million times over because in Christ we are the children of God! In Christ we do not just speak to God, but we speak to our Father!
Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Abraham knew God, was comfortable with God, and spoke freely with God, but Abraham also knew that God was still God. We should even be more comfortable with God than Abraham, yet like Abraham we must never lose our reverence and knowledge of Him as God. As did Abraham we can make our desires known on certain matters, but we too need to know when God has settled the matter. (Compare Genesis 15:2-36 and 17:18-22 to see the familiarity with God and yet the knowledge that God is God.) How are we to know what is changeable and what must be? We know God, we ask God, we listen, and we accept Him as merciful and caring and knowing. (2 Peter 3:9) God has certain plans that are set, but He also has many that are changeable. In the Blessing of Abraham we can change many things for many people because we will be told by the Spirit what is and is to come, and that we are the children of God! As David prophesied concerning the inheritance of Christ, we too, like Abraham, can ask for the nations! (Psalms 2:7-8)
