Page 62 - TH130 Kingdom of God A4 Final

The Kingdom of God

I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

The Abrahamic Covenant is the first of the theocratic covenants. In
this covenant, God promised to bless Abram (Abraham) in seven ways:

1. He would make Abraham into a great nation.
2. He would bless him.
3. He would make his name great.
4. Abraham would be a blessing to others.
5. God would bless those who bless Abraham.
6. God would curse those who curse Abraham.
7. Through Abraham all peoples on earth would be blessed.

Of these seven promises, the last is the greatest and most important.
It says that through Abraham “all peoples on earth will be blessed.” The
other six blessings are merely the means through which the seventh
will be fulfilled. God repeated and clarified His covenant with Abraham
throughout Genesis (13:14–17; 15:4–6, 18–21; 17:1–8, 18–19; 18:17–19;
22:15–18; 26:2–5; 28:10–15).

The “Sovereign LORD” reconfirmed His covenant with Abraham when
He appeared as a “smoking firepot with a blazing torch” and passed
through the pieces of Abraham’s sacrifice (Genesis 15:8, 17). God
was symbolically pledging His life as a guarantee of His promise to
Abraham. He was telling Abraham that He was making himself personally
responsible for fulfilling the covenant. He was in effect saying, “If I do not
fulfill my promise, I will die.” This, of course, is impossible.

Then in Genesis 17, when Abraham was 99 years old, God appeared
to him yet another time and confirmed the covenant. This time God
made it clear that His covenant was an everlasting covenant. He made
this promise to Abraham:

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