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PROPHECY
(Continued from page 13)
happiness and to life eternal. Man pursued bis own ways
and devices, walking contrary to the spiritual laws of
God. Sin and violence filled the earth.
God Started Hls Natlon Wlth One Man
It was in such a world, which had strayed far from God
and knowledge of the glorious benefits of God's rule and
the worship of the true God, that one man was honest
and upright, submissive and teachable, strong and pur–
poseful. So God gave him a test command of obedience.
To this man, Abram, God commanded: "Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And 1will make
ofthee a great nation" (Gen. 12: 1-2).
Here was a command, which was a
condition
and a
PROMlSE, provided the condition of obedience was
met.
And so now, as God had started the whole world with
one man, He started His own peculiar nation in the
world from one single man-Abraham. As the world,
which has strayed far from God and the blessings of
God's worship and rule, was started with one man who
rebelled against God and rejected His rule, so God's
own ftesh-born nation, from which is to be reborn
the Kingdom of God, was started with one man who
obeyed God without question, and accepted His d ivine
rule.
Did Abram stop to argue and reason? Did he say:
"Let's reason this out a bit first; here 1 am in Babylon, in
the very center of all this world's commerce, society and
gaiety. Why can't you justas well give me this promise
right here, where everything is pleasant and alluring?
Why must I leave all this and go over to that uncivilized
land?"
Did Abram quibble, resist, argue, rebel?
He certainly did not!
The inspired Scripture account states simply: "So
Abram departed." There was no arguing with God.
There was no human reasoning that God was all wrong.
There were no foolish questions: "Why must
J
leave
here?" "Can't 1 do as 1 p1ease?" There was no stopping
to say, "Well, here's the way 1 look at it."
"Abram departed." Just plain, unquestioned obedi–
ence!
And God established this man, \\(hose name He later
changed to Abraham, as the
Jather
of His nation,
Israel!
To Abraham and his descendants were all the promises
of God made. And we must become like Abraham, and
through Christ one of his children, if we are to inherit
the promise of eternallife in God's Kingdom.
Of His peculiar ftesh-born nation, Israel, the Eterna!
said: ''This people have I formed for myself;
they sha/1
38
shew forth my praise" (lsa. 43 :21). That prophecy shall
yet-and soon-be fulfilled!
Dual Promlses to Abraham
Few have realized it, but a duality runs all the way
through the plan of God in working out His purpose
here below.
There was the first Adam, material and carnal; and
there is Christ, the second Adam, spiritual and divine.
There was the Old Covenant, purely material and tem–
poral; and there is the New Covenant, spiritual and
eternal. God made man mortal, physical, of the dust of
the ground and of the human kingdom; but through
Christ he may be begotten of God to become immortal,
spiritual, and of the Kingdom of God.
And in like manner there were two phases to the
promises God made to Abraham-the one purely material
and national; the other spiritual and individual. The
spiritual promise oftheMessiah, and ofsalvation through
Him, is well known by the most superficial Bible students.
They know that God gave the spiritual promise to Abra–
ham of Christ to be born as Abraham's descendant- and
that salvation comes to us through Christ. But-and this
will sound unbelievable, yet it is true- almost no one knows
what that salvation is; what are the promises of salvation
we may receive through Christ; how we may receive them,
or when- incredible though that sounds! But that truth
belongs
in
another article.
What is essential to the theme of this series of articles
is
the fact that God also made another entirely ditferent,
most amazing national and material promise to Abra–
ham which has been almost entirely overlooked.
Notice now again how God first called Abram, and
the
twofold
nature of His promises: "Now the Eterna!
had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will shew thee: And 1
will make of thee
A
GREAT NATION.... and in thee shall all families of the
earth be blessed" (Gen. 12: 1-3).
Notice. the twofold promise: l) "1 will make of thee A
GREAT NATION"-the national, material promise that his
ftesh-born chi1dren should become a great nation- a
promise of RACE; 2) " ... and in thee shall al! the fam–
ilies of the earth be blessed"- the spiritual promise of
GRACE. This same promise is repeated in Genesis 22:18:
"And in
thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be
b1essed." This particular "one seed" refers to Christ, as
plainly affirmed in Galatians 3:8, 16.
Right here is where those who profess to be "Chris–
tians"-and their teachers- have fallen into error and
scriptural blindness. They have failed to notice the two–
fold promise God made to Abraham. They recognize the
messianic promise of spiritual salvation through the
"one seed"-Christ They sing the hymn
Standing on the
Promises-fatsely
supposing the
promises
to be going to
heaven at death.
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1978