v 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
This is an almost unbelievable promise to an elderly, but faithful man. Just how vast is the concept – all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
That must have raised endless questions for Abraham. When will this all come about? How is it going to happen? What sort of blessing is in mind? It took nearly two millennia for the answer to such questions to become apparent. Even then, some of the early Christian disciples wondered if a person had to become a Jew first before inheriting this blessing promised through Abraham. It was hard for them to understand that all nations included even Gentiles!
All of these questions find their answers in Jesus.
The ‘When’ dawned when Jesus died on Calvary, reconciling us to the Father who had first announced the blessing. The ‘How’ was on account of Jesus dying as a sin-bearer, carrying the penalty of our sin in his own body.
And the ‘What is the blessing?’ needs a book to answer!
The penalty of our sin was carried by Jesus, and we are free of it.
The stain of our sin has been removed – and we have been made clean.
The power that sin had over us is broken, and we can now live for God.
We have been transferred from darkness to the light of God’s presence.
We have God Himself dwelling within us by His Holy Spirit.
We have been made members of the universal, and eternal, family of God.
We have the guarantee of resurrection to eternal life with God.
And you can go on and add yet more as you think of them. All of them are included in the promise to Abraham.
So now, today, 28th April 2021, these promised blessings are yours as you put your trust and hope in Jesus! My guess is that Abraham had no idea of how big the blessing was to be that resulted from his obedience.
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