The Promise: To Abraham & His Seed | Genesis 16–20 | Day 4 of 238
In continuity, from Abraham’s ‘wise lie’ (Genesis 12:13) to Lot’s greedy eyes (Genesis 13:10–12), we come to this epic moment in history; after the Abrahamic covenant (the Blood Covenant), in Genesis 15, God made a promise to Abraham and his seed.
Genesis 17:7 KJV
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, PhD, in his book, The Promised Land, said, “This is marvellous. You ought to notice that God did not say ‘thy seeds’ referring to many, but ‘THY SEED’, referring to one. The promises God made to Abraham in the covenant were not made to him alone, but to him and his seed in their generations.”
In his epistles to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul by the Holy Ghost threw more light on this and revealed the identity of this seed of Abraham.
Galatians 3:16 KJV
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
“…And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Christ is the seed God referred to in Genesis 17:7. And this is where it gets juicy because in Galatians 3:27, 29 the Bible says: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ…And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (IF YOU’RE JUMPING NOW, IT’S TOTALLY ALLOWED)
Hallelujah! How beautiful. As Christians, we are automatically Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. Oh, and that also means we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, no biggy (Romans 8:17).
LESSON: You are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, have this consciousness and walk with gusto. Calm down, your father owns the universe.
Was Abraham really lying when he called Sarah his sister (Genesis 20:12)?
Technically, in the past of their marriage (i.e. before their marriage), she was his sister — what you would call a half-sister today. But after their marriage, that changed. She became, as you would agree, his wife. What Abraham said in Genesis 20:12 was a derivative of what he said in Genesis 20:11 — he wanted to defend himself from ‘wicked and unreasonable’ men.
In God’s sight, Sarah was Abraham’s wife. God referred to her in Abimelek’s dream as “a married woman” (Genesis 20:3), and “the man’s wife” (Genesis 20:7).
FUN-FACT:
Do you know why it’s now an error for anyone to marry his/her relative?
Previously, it was allowed because the mass population of the earth were close families; brothers had to marry their own sisters/relatives, and vice versa, to multiply and replenish the earth. But when Israel had grown, God gave her the law, and it condemned marriage/sexual relations with any close relative (Leviticus 18:6–20 NIV). Verse 22 condemns homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22 TLB).
I hope this answers your question.
Please feel free to ask more in the comments section.
God bless you. 😊
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