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1.
Are believers to-day enjoying the blessings of the
Abrahamic covenant?
We do not believe that the covenant with Abraham is in force to-day, for as a covenant
is dependent upon the keeping of its terms, and as this covenant has special reference to a
land and a nation, both of which have been for the time being virtually set aside, the
operation of the covenant is impossible, except in some spiritualized sense.
The terms of the covenant of God with Abraham are as follows:--
"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed" (Gen. 12: 1-3).
Here we have a land and a nation vitally connected with the outflow of blessing to
other nations.
To Isaac this covenant was repeated (Gen. 26: 3), as it was subsequently to Jacob
(Gen. 28: 3, 4). In each case the land, as well as the seed, form an integral part of it.
In the fullness of time Christ is born, and Matthew writes his Gospel showing that the
Christ is the Son of David and of Abraham (Matt. 1: 1). Zacharias, filled with Holy Spirit,
refers to the fulfillment of the covenant made with Abraham (Luke 1: 68-79), and Peter,
upon the renewed calling of Israel to repentance, makes it very plain that the Gentiles can
only enjoy the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant upon the fulfillment of its
conditions:--
"Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our
fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be
blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in
turning away every one of you from his iniquities' (Acts 3: 25, 26).
The epistle to the Galatians makes it plain that justification by faith, and sonship,
belong to the believing Gentile as to the believing Jew, but it also most emphatically
repeats the sentiment of Acts 3: 25, 26:--
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law . . . . . that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ" (Gal. 3: 13, 14).
Israel was the appointed channel through whom would flow the blessing of Abraham
to all nations. While they remained a nation in their land, even though they were not all
truly converted, the Gentiles were able to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree
(Rom. 11:), but when Israel were set aside in blindness and unbelief (Acts 28: 22-31),
and subsequently scattered among all nations and temporarily dispossessed of their land,
it became obvious that the full enjoyment of the Abrahamic blessing must be postponed