Abraham and the Great Covenant

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: History of the Sons of God: Abraham and the Great Covenant Scripture: Genesis 11:27-32; Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 17:1-8; Genesis 18:17,18 Greetings Kingdom Citizens In the previous message we talked about the family of Noah and how God started the human race again through him and his family. We also saw how the bloodline of Ham lead to the birth of one of the most evil nations, Babylon and how the bloodline of Shem will remain the bloodline which will introduce Jesus to the Earth. Now we will look at Abraham and let’s us first state that Abraham is a distant grandson of Noah. Based on the genealogy in Genesis 11:27-29. Now God tells Abram (before the covenant) to leave his country (Land of Ur) and follow the Lord to a land that He will show Him. Now before they even get started in this journey, God tells him in Genesis 12:2-3 that He will make Abram a great nation and God will bless him and make his name great and he shall be a blessing because in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed. Let’s stop and dissect this without going to fast. First, God said He will make Abram a great nation. This is through his bloodline and the nations (people) that will come out of this bloodline. Second, He promised to bless Abram. Blessing is not just physical in needs, but spiritually through joy, righteousness and peace where Abram went. Third, He promised to make Abraham’s name great. Abraham’s name would be great because of the covenant God will make with him and because of the faith Abraham had in God. Fourth, He promised that He would bless those who blessed Abram and curse them that cursed Abram. And finally the great promise, God promised Abram that in Him shall all the families of the Earth be blessed. This is referring to the seed God told satan about back in Genesis 3:15 which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the great blessing that will bless all families of the Earth. Is this consistent with the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3? Absolutely! Now God tells Abram about the affliction and slavery of Israel to the Egyptians (Genesis 15:13-14) and informed him that they will be there 400 years. But after all of this revelation and prophecy, God explains the covenant He will make with Abram. Now here is something you need to know Abram made some mistakes: 1. He lied to Pharaoh about Sarai being his wife 2. He had a child out of wedlock with handmaiden, Hagar which produced Ishmael (We will look at this in a subsequent series) Now number two is the one we want to focus on. Now God was not going to allow this bloodline to be corrupt with children outside of his ordained marriages. Sarai was the wife (one wife) of Abram. Now as many know God told Abram that he and his wife would have a child, even in their old age. Now Sarai reasoning in her own mind that she could not possibly have a child at her age she proposes that Abram have intercourse with her handmaid Hagar because she was of age to have children. And even after God had told Abram that this son will come from your own family, Abram listens to Sarai and commits adultery to make a child that Abram can call his own. Here is a lesson: “When God tells you He will do something, Let Him do it. Do not reason within yourself because your soul knows it can think independent of God.” Here is another thought who did God give the covenant to? Abram! But who did Abram listen to to try to make the covenant real and happen? Sarai. Ok! Who did God give the commandment in the Garden regarding the tree of good and evil? Adam. Who transgressed first in the garden? Eve. So Adam followed Eve and Abram followed Sarai. Same situations different people. God gives instruction to the head of the house and instead of following instruction from God, He listens to his wife which did not receive the instruction and caused them to err. This will be played out many times more in the old testament, especially with the spirit of Jezebel. But in Genesis 17, God makes the covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham (vs. 1-5). God tells Abraham that He will make many nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee. Now were there Kings that did come out of Abraham? Yes for example David and most of all, Jesus, the King of Kings. But who else? How about all those of the promise, the believers of Christ Jesus. Are we not all Kings? To prove let’s go to Galatians 3:29! “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” Now that tasted good. It is through Abraham, that we see the great promise of eternal sonship and royalty made. Abraham died having faith in the promise, Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We are privileged and honored to be able to be in the Kingdom of God on Earth and represent God in the Earth with the Holy Spirit abiding in us. Many have died and were persecuted and one paid the ultimate price that we may have life and have it more abundantly, let’s live like it! At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.