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prophecies. They miss tbe fact
that God gave Abraham promises
of physical
RACE
as well as spiri–
tual
GRACE.
But the plaín fact that the
"great nation" promise refers
alone to race-not the "one seed"
of Galatians 3:16, who was Jesus
Christ the son of Abraham and
the Son of God, but to the plural,
multiple seed of natural fteshly
birth- is made certain by God's
The Church, it is true, is spoken of
as "a royal priesthood, an holy
nation"
(I
Peter 2:9), but Christ's
Church is not divided into "many
nations." This is speaking of race,
not grace.
"And 1 will establish my cove–
nant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee in
their
genera–
tions . .." (Gen. 17:7). The "seed"
is plural-"in their generat ions."
"And 1 will give unto thee, and to
od says he is not a
respecter of persons. Is he,
then, a respecter of
nations?
thy seed after thee,
the
land
wherein thou arta
stranger, all the land of
Canaan [Palestine), for
an everlasting posses–
sion; and 1will be
THEIR
God" (verse 8).
Notice, the land-
material possession- is
promised to the plural
seed, of whom he is
" th e ir," not "h is,"
God. The plural pro–
noun " thei r" is used
again in verse 9: "and
repettt ton of his promise in
greater detail later.
Israel to Become Many Natlons
Not ice carefully! Understand
these promises!
"And when Abram was ninety
years old and nine, the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said unto
him, 1 am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect.
And 1 will make my covenant
between me and thee,
and wi/1
multiply thee exceeding–
ly.
. . .
thou shalt be a father of
MANY NATIONS.
Neither shaiJ thy
name any more be called Abram,
but thy name shal l be Abraham;
for a father of
MANY NATIONS
have
1made thee" (Gen. 17:1-5) .
Notice, the promise is now
conditional upon Abraham's obe–
dience and perfect living. Notice,
the "great nation" now becomes
many nat ions- more than one
nation. This cannot refer to the
"one seed," Christ. The following
verses prove that.
"And
1 wi/1 make thee exceed–
ing f ruitful,
and 1 will make
nations
of thee, and
kings
[more
than one] shall come out of thee"
(verse 6). Notice, these nations
and kings shall
come out of
Abra–
ham- physical generation- mul–
tiple seed, in add ition to the one
descendant
through whom
scat–
tered ind ividuals
may
become
Abraham's children by spiri tual
begettal t hrough C hr ist (Gal.
3:29) . The scattered, individual
Christians do not form
NATIONS.
thy seed after thee in
their
gener–
ations."
But now examine this
PROMISE
carefully!
The future of great nations
rests on the promises the eternál
Creator made to Abraham. The
only hope of life after death for
anyone- regardless of race, color
or creed- is dependent on the
spiritual phase of these promises
to Abraham- the promise of
grace through the "one seed"–
Christ the Messiah!
How Much Land-What Size
Natlons?
These are not casual, incidental,
unimportant promises. These are
basic- the found ation for the
establishment of the greatest world
powers; the basis for any personal
salvation spiritually; for any hope
of eternal life for humans. T hese
are stupendous promi ses. The
future of manldnd is based, by the
Creator God, on them.
Jesus Christ carne "to confirm
the promises made unto the
fathers" (Rom. 15:8)- Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. These same
promises were repromised to
Isaac, Abraham 's son, and to
Jacob, the son
of
Isaac.
After 430 years, God raised up
bis nation Israel-descendants of
Abraham, Isaac and J acob, wbose
name God cbanged to Israel.
To lead tbese people out of
Egyptiañ slavery and to tbe Prom–
ised Land , God called Moses .
Moses was not seek:ing God. But
G od bad caused Moses to be
trained specificaJly for tbis com–
mission by baving bim reared as a
prince in tbe palace of tbe Egyptian
pbaraob. So now again, after Moses
bad been specially trained for lead–
ersbip, God called bim out of tbe
world to lead tbe descendants of
Abrabam, Isaac and Jacob out of
Egyptian slavery.
Why a Chosen Nation?
So now again we come to tbe ques–
tion,
WHY
did God raise up tbis
special Hebrew nat ion as ..tbe cbos–
en people" ?
WHY,
when God never
made accessible to tbem bis Holy
Spirit?
One point to notice here. Tbe
probability is tbat tbese people
were all- or nearly all-of tbe
wbi te racial strain, uncbanged since
creation.
After Jacob and bis sons and
fami lies bad come into Egypt at
J osepb's bebest, tbey were kept in
tbe locale of Gosben- geograpbi–
cally separated from tbe major pop–
ulation centers of Egypt.
In tbi s connection , go back
momentari ly to Abrabam. He pre–
vented bis son Isaac, born of Sarab,
from intermarrying among tbe
Canaanites tben in tbe land. He
sent bis cbief servant to bis own
fami ly in Mesopotamia to fi nd a
wife for Isaac. Abrabam said,
.... . tbou sbalt not take a wife unto
my son of tbe daugbters of tbe
Canaa nites, among wbom 1 dwell"
(Gen . 24:3).
Tbe next generation, Jacob mar–
ried Leab and Racbel , daugbters of
Laban, nepbew of Abrabam, wbo
lived in tbe land of Haran, brotber
of Abrabam. Tbe wbole communi–
ty of Haran, wbere Laban lived,
was of tbe same family ancestry as
Abraham.
Jacob bad six sons by Leab, two
from Racbel- all of tbe same origi–
nal racial stock, and two eacb from
tbe maids of Racbel and Leab- 12
in all . Even tbe maids of Leah and
Racbel undoubtedly were of pure
Hebrew stock. Tbese 12 became
tbe progenitors of tbe 12 tribes of
tbe nation Israel.
But God specially prepared from
birtb and called Moses, witb Aaron
bis brotber to assist as bis spokes–
man. (Moses stuttered.)
The
PLAIN TRUTH