This Day in History: 0000-12-15

December 15 – Genesis 12:1-3 & 22:15-18

The Lord had said to Abram, “…I will make you into a great nation…All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Then the Angel of the Lord called again to Abraham, … “I will certainly, bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number… and through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed…”

PROPHECY

• The Messiah would come through the lineage of Abraham.
• All nations on earth would be blessed through him because their salvation would come through Abraham’s line.

FULFILLMENT

Matthew 1:1 – This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham.

Acts 3:24-26 – Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke about what is happening today. You are the children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your ancestors. For God said to Abraham, “Through your descendants all the families on the earth will be blessed.” When God raised up His servant, Jesus, He sent Him first to you people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways.

Galatians 3:8 – What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in His sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when He said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”

Thousands of years ago God made a promise to His servant Abraham. The Bible tells us that Abraham believed God. He knew he couldn’t save himself, so his hope was completely in God. It was through that belief that God counted Him as righteous. Abraham was just a man. He sinned. The Bible records a few of those sins for us, and we scratch our heads and wonder why God chose him to be the one through whom Salvation would one day come.

But that’s just the thing. It’s not through any works we do that God’s redeeming work is accomplished. It is simply through our faith in Him and in Him alone. He has given us His Word, just as He gave His word to Abraham. We can choose to believe Him, as Abraham did, or we can reject Him. Either way, He will accomplish His purposes.

Y’all, the same God that was faithful to keep His promises to Abraham can be trusted today. He worked through one generation after another bringing about the birth of His Son at just the right time. So far this month we’ve seen how the lineage had been promised to go through both Jesse and Abraham, and in the next few days we’ll see how it was perfectly woven through the fabric of so many others.  Through Jesus, every prophesy about the coming Savior was perfectly fulfilled, giving every one of us the opportunity to cross from death to life. Through Him, we all have the chance to take part in the great blessing of being adopted into the family of God. Won’t you join me in entrusting to Him every detail of our future and looking forward with eager anticipation to that day when He will come again?