3.1 The Promises Of God: Introduction
At this point in our studies we have reached a broad understanding of who God is and how He works. In doing so we have cleared up a number of common misunderstandings about these things. Now we want to look more positively at the things which God has "promised to them that love him" (James 1:12; 2:5) by keeping His commandments (Jn. 14:15).
The promises of God in the Old Testament are what comprise the true Christian hope. When on trial for his life, Paul spoke of the future reward for which he was prepared to lose all things: "Now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers...for which hope's sake...I am accused" (Acts 26:6,7). He had spent much of his life preaching "glad tidings (the Gospel), how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled...in that he hath raised up Jesus" (Acts 13:32,33). Paul explained that belief in those promises gave hope of resurrection from the dead (Acts 26:6-8 cp. 23:8), a knowledge of the second coming of Jesus in judgment and of the coming Kingdom of God (Acts 24:25; 28:20,31).
All this sinks the myth that the Old Testament is merely a rambling history of Israel which does not speak of eternal life. God did not suddenly decide 2,000 years ago that He would offer us eternal life through Jesus. That purpose was with Him from the beginning:-
"(The) hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; but hath in due times manifested his word (concerning it) through preaching" (Titus 1:2,3).
"That eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 Jn. 1:2).
Seeing that God's purpose of giving His people eternal life was with Him from the beginning, it is unlikely that He would remain silent about it during the 4,000 years of His dealings with men recorded in the Old Testament. In fact, the Old Testament is full of prophecies and promises which each give more detail of this hope which God has prepared for His people. It is because of this that an understanding of God's promises to the Jewish fathers is vital for our salvation: so much so that Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus that before they knew these things, they "were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12) - although doubtless they had thought that their previous pagan beliefs did give them some hope and knowledge of God. But this is the seriousness of not knowing the Old Testament promises of God - in reality "having no hope, and without God in the world". Remember how Paul defined the Christian hope as "the hope of the promise made of God unto our (Jewish) fathers" (Acts 26:6).
It is a sad fact that few churches place the emphasis on these parts of the Old Testament which they should. "Christianity" has degenerated into a New Testament-based religion - although even then tending to use only a few verses from that. Jesus clearly put the emphasis the right way round:
"If they hear not Moses (i.e. the first five books of the Bible which he wrote) and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Lk. 16:31).
The natural mind might reason that believing in the resurrection of Jesus is enough (cp. Lk. 16:30), but Jesus said that without a solid understanding of the Old Testament, this would not be fully possible.
The disciples' collapse of faith after the crucifixion was traced by Jesus to their lack of careful attention to the Old Testament:-
"He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe (properly) all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Lk. 24:25-27).
Note His emphasis on how the entire Old Testament spoke of Him. It was not that the disciples had never read or heard the words of the Old Testament, but they had not properly understood them, and therefore they could not truly believe them. So a correct understanding of God's Word, rather than just reading it, is necessary to develop a true faith. The Jews were fanatical in their reading of the Old Testament (Acts 15:21), but because they did not understand its reference to the things of Jesus and His Gospel, they did not really believe it, and so Jesus told them:-
"Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" (Jn. 5:46,47).
Despite all their Bible reading, they were just not seeing the real message about Jesus, although they liked to think they were assured of salvation. Jesus had to tell them:-
"Search the Scriptures (i.e. properly - cp. Acts 17:11); for in them ye think (are confident) ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (Jn. 5:39).
And so it can be with many people who have an outline knowledge of some of the incidents and teachings of the Old Testament: it is just knowledge which they have picked up incidentally. The wonderful message of Christ and the Gospel of God's Kingdom still eludes them. It is the purpose of this study to take you out of that position by demonstrating the real meaning of the main promises of the Old Testament:-
- In the garden of Eden
- To Noah
- To Abraham
- To David
Information about them is found in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis-Deuteronomy) which were written by Moses, and in the Old Testament prophets. All the elements of the Christian Gospel are found here. Paul explained that his preaching of this Gospel said "none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people" (Acts 26:22,23), and in his last days the song remained the same: "he (Paul) expounded and testified the kingdom of God...both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening" (Acts 28:23).
The hope of Paul, that supreme Christian, should be the hope which motivates us also; as it was the glorious light at the end of the tunnel of his life, so it should be for every serious Christian. Fired with this motivation, we can now "search the Scriptures".
3.2 The Promise in Eden
The pathetic story of man's fall is related in Genesis chapter 3. The serpent was cursed for misquoting God's word and tempting Eve to disobey it. The man and woman were punished for their disobedience. But a ray of hope comes into this dark picture when God says to the serpent:-
"I will put enmity (hatred, opposition) between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (the woman's seed) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15).
This verse is highly concentrated; we need to carefully define the various things involved. A "seed" means a descendant or child, but it can also refer to the people associated with the particular "seed". We will see later that Abraham's "seed" was Jesus (Gal. 3:16), but that if we are "in" Jesus by baptism, then we also are the seed (Gal. 3:27-29). This word "seed" also refers to the idea of sperm (1 Pet. 1:23); so a true seed will have the characteristics of its father.
The seed of the serpent must therefore refer to that which has the family likeness of the serpent:-
- distorting God's Word
- lying
- leading others into sin.
We will see in Study 6 that there is not a literal person doing this, but that within us there is
- "our old man" of the flesh (Rom. 6:6)
- "the natural man" (1 Cor. 2:14)
- "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" (Eph. 4:22)
- "the old man with his deeds" (Col. 3:9).
This "man" of sin within us is the Biblical "devil", the seed of the serpent.
The seed of the woman was to be a specific individual - "thou (the serpent's seed) shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). This person was to permanently crush the serpent's seed, i.e. sin - "it shall bruise thy head". Hitting a snake on the head is a death blow - seeing its brain is in its head. The only person who is a likely candidate for the seed of the woman must be the Lord Jesus:-
Jesus Christ, who hath (by the cross) abolished death (and therefore the power of sin - Rom. 6:23), and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10).
"God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh", i.e. the Biblical devil, the seed of the serpent (Rom. 8:3).
Jesus "was manifested to take away our sins"(1 Jn. 3:5).
"Thou shalt call his name Jesus (meaning "Saviour"):for he shall save his people from their sins" (Mt. 1:21).
Jesus was literally "made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4) as the son of Mary, although God was his Father. Thus in this sense, too, he was the seed of the woman, although provided by God in a way no other man has been. This seed of the woman was to be temporarily wounded by sin, the seed of the serpent - "thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). A snake bite on the heel is normally a temporary wound, compared to the permanence of hitting the snake on the head. Many figures of speech have Biblical roots: "knock it on the head" (i.e. completely stop or end something) is probably based on this prophecy of Jesus hitting the snake on the head.
The condemnation of sin, the serpent's seed, was primarily through Christ's sacrifice on the cross - notice how the verses quoted above speak of Christ's victory over sin in the past tense. The temporary wound to the heel suffered by Jesus is therefore a reference to his death for three days. His resurrection proved that this was only a temporary wound, compared to the death-blow that He gave sin. It is interesting that non-Biblical historical records indicate that victims of crucifixion were nailed through their heel to the stake of wood. Thus Jesus was "wounded in the heel" through His death. Is.53:4,5 describes Christ as being 'bruised' by God through his death on the cross. This is plainly alluding to the prophecy of Gen.3:15 that Christ would be bruised by the seed of the serpent. However, ultimately God worked through the evil which Christ faced, He is described here as doing the bruising (Is.53:10), through controlling the forces of evil which bruised His Son. And so God also works through the evil experiences of each of His children.
The Conflict Today
But the question may have arisen in your mind: "If Jesus has destroyed sin and death (the serpent's seed), why are those things still present today?" The answer is that on the cross Jesus destroyed the power of sin in himself: the prophecy of Gen. 3:15 is primarily about the conflict between Jesus and sin. Now this means that because He has invited us to share in His victory, eventually we, too, can conquer sin and death. Those who are not invited to share in His victory, or decline the offer, will, of course, still experience sin and death. Although sin and death are also experienced by true believers, through their association with the seed of the woman by being baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27-29), they can have forgiveness of their sins and therefore eventually be saved from death, which is the result of sin. Thus in prospect Jesus "abolished death" on the cross (2 Tim. 1:10), although it is not until God's purpose with the earth is completed at the end of the Millennium that people will actually stop dying - when death will never again be witnessed upon earth: "For he must reign (in the first part of God's Kingdom) till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:25,26).
If we are "baptized into Christ" then promises about Jesus, like that in Gen. 3.15, become personal to ourselves; no longer are they just interesting parts of the Bible, they are prophecies and promises which are made directly to us! As the seed of the woman, we, too, will experience the victory of sin over us in the short term. Unless the Lord returns in our lifetime, we, too, will be bruised in the heel as Jesus was, in that we, too, will die. But if we are truly the seed of the woman, then that "wound" will only be temporary. Those who are properly baptized into Christ by dipping under water, associate themselves with His death and resurrection - symbolized by the rising up from the water (see Rom. 6:3-5).
If we are the true seed of the woman, then our lives will reflect the words of Gen. 3:15 - there will be a constant sense of conflict ("enmity") within us, between right and wrong. The great apostle Paul described an almost schizophrenic conflict between sin and his real self that raged within him (Rom. 7:14-25).
After baptism into Christ, this conflict with the sin that is naturally within us should increase - and continue to do so all our days. In a sense it is difficult, because the power of sin is strong. But in another sense it is not, seeing that we are in Christ, who has already fought and won the conflict. Note how the believers are described as a woman in Eph. 5:23-32, as if by being the seed of the woman we are also the woman.
In the same way as the seed of the woman represents both Jesus and those who try to have His characteristics, so the seed of the serpent speaks of both sin (the Biblical "devil") and those who freely show the characteristics of sin and the serpent. Such people will disregard or misrepresent God's Word, which will eventually lead them into the shame of sin and alienation from God, which happened to Adam and Eve. Seeing that the Jews were the people who actually put Jesus to death - i.e. bruised the seed of the woman in the heel - it is to be expected that they were prime examples of the serpent's seed. This is confirmed by John the baptist and Jesus:-
"When he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees (the group of Jews who condemned Jesus) come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of (i.e. gendered by, created by) vipers (snakes), who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"(Mt. 3:7).
"Jesus knew their (the Pharisee's) thoughts, and said...O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?" (Mt. 12:25,34).
The world - even the religious world - has these same serpent characteristics. Only those baptized into Christ are associated with the seed of the woman; all others are, to varying degrees, the seed of the serpent. How Jesus treated the people who were the serpent's seed must be our example:-
- He preached to them in a spirit of love and true concern, yet
- He did not let their ways and thinking influence Him, and
- He showed them the loving character of God by the way in which He lived.
Yet for all this they hated Him. His own effort to be obedient to God made them jealous. Even His family (Jn. 7:5; Mk. 3:21) and close friends (Jn. 6:66) put up barriers and some even went away from him physically. Paul experienced the same thing when he lamented to those who had once stood with him through thick and thin:-
"Am I therefore become your enemy, because
I tell you the truth?" (Gal. 4:14-16).
The truth is never popular; knowing it and living it as we should will always create some form of problem for us, even resulting in persecution:-
"As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit (by true knowledge of God's Word - 1 Peter 1:23), even so it is now" (Gal. 4:29).
If we are truly united with Christ we must experience some of His sufferings, so that we may also share in His glorious reward. Again Paul sets us a matchless example in this:-
"It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him (Christ), we shall also live with Him: if we suffer (with Him), we shall also reign with him ...therefore I endure all things (2 Tim. 2:10-12).
"If they have persecuted me (Jesus), they will also persecute you...all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake" (Jn. 15:20,21)
- i.e. because we are baptized into the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16).
Faced with verses like these, it is tempting to reason, "If that's what being associated with Jesus, the woman's seed, is all about, I'd rather not". But of course we will never be expected to undergo anything which we cannot reasonably cope with. Whilst self-sacrifice is definitely required in order to unite ourselves fully with Christ, our association with Him will result in such a glorious reward "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us". And even now, His sacrifice enables our prayers for help through the traumas of life to be especially powerful with God. And add to this the following glorious assurance, heavily underlined in many Christadelphian Bibles:-
"God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10:13).
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33).
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).
3:3 The Promise to Noah
As human history progressed after the time of Adam and Eve, man became increasingly wicked. Things reached the stage when civilization was so morally desperate that God decided to destroy that system of things, with the exception of Noah and his family (Gen. 6:5-8). He was told to make an ark in which he and representatives of all the animals would live during the time when the world was being destroyed by flooding. In passing, there is ample scientific reason to believe that this huge flood did literally occur, apart from the clear statements of Scripture! Notice that the earth (i.e. this literal planet) was not destroyed, just the wicked human set-up which was upon it: "all flesh died that moved upon the earth" (Gen. 7:21). Jesus (Mt. 24:37) and Peter (2 Peter 3:6-12) both saw the judgment on Noah's world as having similarities with what will occur at Christ's second coming. Thus the desperate wickedness of man in Noah's time is matched by our present world, which is about to be punished at Christ's return .
Because of the gross sinfulness of man and the programme of self destruction this planet has embarked upon, there has arisen a belief, even among Christians, that this earth will be destroyed. This idea clearly demonstrates a complete lack of appreciation of the Bible's basic message - that God IS actively concerned with the affairs of this planet, and that soon Jesus Christ will return to establish God's Kingdom here on the earth. If man is to be allowed to destroy this planet then these promises just cannot be kept. Considerable evidence that God's Kingdom will be on the earth is found in Study 4.7 and Study 5. Meanwhile, the following should be proof enough that the earth and solar system will not be destroyed:-
- "The earth which he hath established for ever" (Ps. 78:69).
- "The earth abideth for ever" (Ecc. 1:4).
- "Sun and moon...stars...heavens...he hath also established them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass" (Ps. 148:3-6).
- "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Is. 11:9; Num. 14:21) - difficult, if God lets the earth destroy itself. This promise has not yet been fulfilled.
- "God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it; he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45:18). If God made earth only to see it destroyed, then His work was in vain.
But right back in Genesis God had promised all this to Noah. As he began to live again in the new world created by the flood, perhaps Noah feared that there could be another wholesale destruction. Whenever it started raining after the flood, this thought must have come to his mind. And so God made a covenant (a series of promises) that this would never happen again:-
"I, behold, I establish my covenant with you...I will establish my covenant with you (notice the emphasis on "I" - the wonder of God choosing to make promises to mortal man!); neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth" (Gen. 9:9-12).
This covenant was confirmed by the rainbow:-
"When I bring a cloud (of rain) over the earth,the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant...between me and you...the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth...This (rainbow) is the token of the covenant" (Gen. 9:13-17).
Because it is an eternal covenant between God and the people and animals of the earth, it follows that the earth must have people and animals living on it for ever. This in itself is proof that God's Kingdom will be on earth rather than in heaven.
Thus the promise to Noah is a foundation of the Gospel of the Kingdom; it demonstrates how God's attention is focused on this planet, and how He has an eternal purpose with it. Even in wrath He remembers mercy (Hab. 3:2), and such is His love that He even cares for His animal creation (1 Cor. 9:9 cp. Jonah 4:11).
3.4 The Promise to Abraham
The Gospel taught by Jesus and the apostles was not fundamentally different from what was understood by Abraham. God, through the Scriptures, "Preached before the gospel unto Abraham" (Gal. 3:8). So crucial are these promises that Peter started and ended his public proclamation of the Gospel with reference to them (Acts 3: 13,25).If we can understand what was taught to Abraham, we will then have a very basic picture of the Christian Gospel. There are other indications that "the gospel" is not something which just began at the time of Jesus:-
- "We declare unto you glad tidings (the Gospel), how that the promise which was made unto the (Jewish) fathers, God hath fulfilled" (Acts 13: 32,33).
- "The gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets (e.g. Abraham, Gen. 20:7) in the holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:1,2).
- "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead" (1 Peter 4:6) - i.e. believers who had lived and died before the first century.
- "For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them" (Heb. 4:2)- i.e. Israel in the wilderness.
The promises to Abraham have two basic themes:
(1) things about Abraham's seed (special descendant) and
(2) things about the land which was promised to Abraham.
These promises are commented on in the New Testament, and, in keeping with our policy of letting the Bible explain itself, we will combine the teachings of both Testaments to give us a complete picture of the covenant made with Abraham.
Abraham originally lived in Ur, a prosperous city in what is now Iraq. Modern archaeology reveals the high level of civilization which had been reached by the time of Abraham. There was a banking system, civil service and related infrastructure. Knowing no different, Abraham lived in this city; as far as we know, a man of the world. But then the extraordinary call of God came to him - to leave that sophisticated life and embark on a journey to a promised land. Exactly where and exactly what was not made completely clear. All told, it turned out to be a 1,500 mile journey. The land was Canaan - modern Israel.
Occasionally during his life, God appeared to Abraham and repeated and expanded His promises to him. Those promises are the basis of Christ's Gospel, so as true Christians that same call comes to us as it did to Abraham, to leave the transient things of this life, and go forward in a life of faith, taking God's promises at face value, living by His Word. We can well imagine how Abraham would have mulled over the promises on his journeys. "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out (from Ur) into a place (Canaan) which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8).
As we consider God's promises for the first time, we, too, can feel that we do not know exactly what the promised land of God's Kingdom will be like. But our faith in God's Word should be such that we also eagerly obey.
Abraham was no wandering nomad with nothing better to do than take a chance on these promises. He was from a background which, in fundamental terms, has much similarity with our own. The complex, agonizing decisions he faced were similar to those we may also have to face as we consider whether to accept and act on God's promises - the strange looks from business colleagues, the sly look in the eye from the neighbours ("He's got religion!")...these things would have been known to Abraham. The motivation which Abraham needed to go through with it all must have been tremendous. The only thing that provided that motivation throughout his long travelling years was the word of promise. He must have memorized those words and daily meditated upon what they really meant to him.
By showing a similar faith and acting upon it, we can have the same honour as Abraham - to be called the friends of God (Isa. 41:8), to find the knowledge of God (Gen. 18:17) and to have the sure hope of eternal life in the Kingdom. Again we emphasize that the Gospel of Christ is based on these promises to Abraham. To truly believe in the Christian message we, too, must firmly know the promises to Abraham. Without them our faith is not faith. With eager eyes we should therefore read and re-read the dialogues between God and Abraham.
The Land
1) "Get thee out of thy country...unto a land that I will shew thee" (Gen. 12:1).
2) Abraham "went on his journeys...to Bethel (in Central Israel) And the Lord said unto Abram...Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever...walk through the land...for I will give it unto thee" (Gen. 13:3,14-17).
3) "The Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates" (Gen. 15:18).)
4) "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession" (Gen. 17:8).
5) "The promise that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world" (Rom. 4:13).
We see here a progressive revelation to Abraham:-
1) 'There is a land which I would like you to go to'.
2) 'You have now arrived in the area. You and your children will live here for ever'. Note how this promise of eternal life is recorded without glamour or emphasis; a human author would no doubt have jazzed it up.
3) The area of the promised land was more specifically defined.
4) Abraham was not to expect to receive the promise in this life - he was to be a "stranger" in the land, although he would later live there for ever. The implication of this is that he would die and then later be resurrected to enable him to receive this promise.
5) Paul, under inspiration, evidently saw the promises to Abraham as meaning his inheritance of the whole earth.
Scripture goes out of its way to remind us that Abraham did not receive the fulfilment of the promises in his lifetime:-
"By faith he sojourned (implying a temporary way of life) in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles (tents)" (Heb. 11:9).
He lived as a foreigner in the land, perhaps with the same furtive sense of insecurity and mismatch which a refugee feels. He was hardly living with his seed in his own land. Along with his descendants, Isaac and Jacob, (to whom the promises were repeated), he "died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and (they) were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11:13). Notice the four stages:-
- Knowing the promises - as we are doing through this study.
- Being "persuaded of them" - if it took a process of persuasion with Abraham, how much more so with us?
- Embracing them - by being baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27-29).
- Confessing to the world by our way of life that this world is not our real home, but we are living in hope of that future age to come upon the earth.
Abraham becomes our great hero and example if we appreciate these things. The ultimate recognition that the fulfilment of the promises lay in the future came for the tired old man when his wife died; he actually had to buy part of the promised land in which to bury her (Acts 7:16). Truly God "gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession" (Acts 7:5). The present seed of Abraham may feel the same incongruity as they buy or rent property - on an earth which has been promised to them for their personal, eternal inheritance!
But God keeps His promises. There must come a day when Abraham and all who have those promises made to them will be rewarded. Heb. 11:13,39,40 drives home the point:-
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect".
All true believers will therefore be rewarded at the same point in time, i.e. at the judgment seat at the last day (2 Tim. 4:1,8; Matt. 25:31-34; 1 Peter 5:4). It follows that to be in existence in order to be judged, Abraham and others who knew those promises must be resurrected just before the judgment. If they have not now received the promises and will only do so after their resurrection and judgment at Christ's return, there is no alternative but to accept that the likes of Abraham are now unconscious, awaiting the coming of Christ; yet stained glass mosaics in churches throughout Europe have been known to depict Abraham as now in heaven, experiencing the promised reward for a life of faith. Thousands of people for hundreds of years have filed past those pictures, religiously accepting such ideas. Will you have the Bible-based courage to step out of line?
The Seed
As explained in Study 3:2, the promise of a seed applies primarily to Jesus and, secondarily, to those who are "in Christ" and therefore are also counted as the seed of Abraham.:-
1) "I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee...and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:2,3).
2) "I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered...all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever" (Gen. 13:15,16).
3) "Look now toward heaven, and tell (count) the stars, if thou be able to number them...So shall thy seed be...Unto thy seed have I given this land" (Gen. 15:5,18).
4) "I will give unto...thy seed after thee...the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17:8).
5) "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:17,18).
Again, Abraham's understanding of the "seed" was progressively extended:-
1) Firstly he was just told that somehow he would have an extraordinary number of descendants, and that through his "seed" the whole earth would be blessed.
2) He was later told that he would have a seed who would come to include many people. These people would spend eternal life, along with himself, in the land at which he had arrived, i.e. Canaan.
3) He was told that his seed would become as many as the stars in the sky. This may have suggested to him that he would have many spiritual descendants (stars in heaven) as well as many natural ones (as "the dust of the earth").
4) The previous promises were underlined with the additional assurance that the many people who would become part of the seed could have a personal relationship with God.
5) The seed would have victory against his enemies.
Notice that the seed was to bring "blessings" to be available to people from all over the earth. In the Bible the idea of blessing is often connected with forgiveness of sins. After all, this is the greatest blessing a lover of God could ever want. So we read things like, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven" (Ps. 32:1); "The cup of blessing" (1 Cor. 10:16), describing the cup of wine which represents Christ's blood, through which forgiveness is possible.
The only descendant of Abraham who has brought forgiveness of sins to the world is, of course, Jesus, and the New Testament commentary on the promises to Abraham provides solid support:-
"He (God) saith not, 'And to seeds', as of many (i.e. in the plural), but as of one (in the singular), 'And to thy seed',which is Christ" (Gal. 3:16).
"...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 (i.e. the seed), sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:25,26).
Notice here how Peter quotes and interprets Gen. 22:18:-
The seed = Jesus
The blessing = forgiveness of sins.
The promise that Jesus, the seed, would have victory over his enemies now slots more neatly into place if this is read with reference to his victory over sin - the greatest enemy of God's people, and therefore of Jesus, too.
Joining The Seed
By now it should be clear that the basic elements of the Christian Gospel were understood by Abraham. But these vital promises were to Abraham and his seed, Jesus. What about anyone else? Even physical descent from Abraham would not automatically make someone part of that one specific seed (John 8:39; Rom. 9:7). Somehow we have to become intimately part of Jesus, so that the promises to the seed are shared with us as well. This is by baptism into Jesus (Rom. 6:3-5); frequently we read of baptism into his name (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5). Gal. 3:27-29 could not make the point any clearer:-
"As many of you (i.e. only as many!) as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one (through being) in Christ Jesus (by baptism). And if ye be Christ's (by baptism into him), then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise"
- The promise of eternal life on earth, through receiving the "blessing" of forgiveness through Jesus. It is by being baptized into Christ, the seed, that we share the promises made to him; and so Rom. 8:17 calls us "joint heirs with Christ".
Remember that the blessing was to come on people from all parts of the earth, through the seed; and the seed was to become a world-wide group of people, like the sand of the shores and the stars of the sky. It follows that this is due to their first receiving the blessing so that they can become the seed. Thus the (singular) seed "shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation" (i.e. many people; Ps.22:30).
We can summarize the two strands of the promises given to Abraham:-
(1) The Land
Abraham and his seed, Jesus, and those in Him would inherit the land of Canaan and by extension the whole earth, and live there for ever. In this life they would not receive it, but would do so at the last day, when Jesus returns.
(2) The Seed
This was primarily Jesus. Through Him the sins ("enemies") of mankind would be overcome, so that the blessings of forgiveness would be made available world-wide.
By baptism into the name of Jesus we become part of the seed.
These same two threads occur in New Testament preaching, and, not surprisingly, it is often recorded that when people heard them taught, they were then baptized. This was, and is, the way through which these promises can be made to us. We can now understand why, as an old man faced with death, Paul could define his hope as "the hope of Israel" (Acts 28:20): the true Christian hope is the original Jewish hope. Christ's comment that "salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22) must also refer to the need to become spiritual Jews, so that we can benefit from the promises of salvation through Christ which were made to the Jewish fathers.
We read that the early Christians preached:-
1) "The things concerning the Kingdom of God
and
2) the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:12).
These were the very two things explained to Abraham under slightly different headings:-
1) Promises about the land and
2) Promises about the seed.
Note in passing that "the things" (plural) about the Kingdom and Jesus are summarized as "preaching Christ" (Acts 8:5 cp. v. 12). All too often this is taken to mean "Jesus loves you! Just say you believe He died for you and you're a saved man!" But the phrase "Christ" clearly summarizes the teaching of a number of things about him and his coming Kingdom. The good news about this Kingdom which was preached to Abraham played a big part in the early preaching of the Gospel.
In Corinth, Paul was "three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God" (Acts 19:8); in Ephesus he went around "Preaching the Kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25), and his swan-song in Rome was the same, "He expounded and testified the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus...out of the law...and out of the prophets" (Acts 28:23,31). That there was so much to talk about shows that the basic Gospel message about the Kingdom and Jesus was not just a matter of saying "Believe on Jesus". God's revelation to Abraham was more detailed than that, and the things promised to him are the basis of the true Christian Gospel.
We have shown that baptism into Jesus makes us part of the seed and therefore able to inherit the promises (Gal. 3:27-29), but baptism alone is not enough to gain us the salvation promised. We must remain in the seed, in Christ, if we are to receive the promises made to the seed. Baptism is therefore just a beginning; we have entered a race which we then need to run. Don't forget that just technically being Abraham's seed does not mean that we are acceptable with God. The Israelis are Abraham's seed in some ways, but this does not mean that they can be saved without being baptized and conforming their lives to Christ and the example of Abraham (Rom. 9:7,8; 4:13,14). Jesus told the Jews, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me...If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham" (John 8:37,39), which was to live a life of faith in God and Christ, the promised seed (John 6:29).
The "seed" must have the characteristics of its ancestor. If we are to be the true seed of Abraham we must therefore not only be baptized but also have a very real faith in God's promises, just as he had. He is therefore called "the father of all them that believe...who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had" (Rom. 4:11,12). "Know ye therefore (i.e. really take it to heart!) that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7).
Real faith must show itself in some sort of action, otherwise, in God's eyes, it isn't faith (James 2:17). We demonstrate our belief in these promises that we have studied by first being baptized, so that they come to apply to us personally (Gal. 3:27-19). So do you really believe God's promises? This is a question we must continually ask ourselves all our lives long.
The Old And New Covenant
It should be evident by now that the promises to Abraham summarize the Gospel of Christ. The other major set of promises which God made were with the Jews in the context of the law of Moses. These stated that if the Jews were obedient to this law, then they would be physically blessed in this life (Deut. 28). There was no direct promise of eternal life in this series of promises, or "covenant". So we see that there have been two "covenants" made:-
1) To Abraham and his seed, promising forgiveness and eternal life in God's Kingdom when Christ returns. This promise was also made in Eden and to David.
2) To the Jewish people at the time of Moses, promising them peace and happiness in this present life if they obeyed the law which God gave to Moses.
God promised Abraham forgiveness and eternal life in the Kingdom, but this was only possible through the sacrifice of Jesus. For this reason we read that Christ's death on the cross confirmed the promises to Abraham (Gal. 3:17; Rom. 15:8; Dan. 9:27; 2 Cor. 1:20), therefore His blood is called the "blood of the new testament" (covenant, Mt. 26:28). It is to remember this that Jesus told us to regularly take the cup of wine, symbolizing his blood, to remind us of these things (see 1 Cor. 11:25): "This cup is the new testament (covenant) in my blood" (Lk. 22:20). There is no point in "breaking bread" in memory of Jesus and his work unless we understand these things.
The sacrifice of Jesus made forgiveness and eternal life in God's Kingdom possible; he therefore made the promises to Abraham sure; he was "a surety of a better testament" (Heb. 7:22). Hebrews 10:9 speaks of Jesus taking "away the first (covenant), that he may establish the second". This shows that when Jesus confirmed the promises to Abraham, he did away with another covenant, that was the covenant given through Moses. The verses already quoted about Jesus confirming a new covenant by his death, imply that there was an old covenant which he did away with (Heb. 8:13).
This means that although the covenant concerning Christ was made first, it did not fully come into operation until his death, therefore it is called the "new" covenant. The purpose of the "old" covenant made through Moses was to point forward to the work of Jesus, and to highlight the importance of faith in the promises concerning Christ (Gal. 3:19,21). Conversely, faith in Christ confirms the truth of the law given to Moses (Rom. 3:31). Paul quaintly sums it up: "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24). It is for this purpose that the law through Moses has been preserved, and is still beneficial for us to study.
These things are not easy to understand at first reading; we can summarize as follows:-
Promises concerning Christ made to Abraham - New Covenant.
Promises to Israel associated with the law given to Moses - Old Covenant.
Death of Christ. Old Covenant ended (Col.2:14-17). New Covenant came into operation.
For this reason things like tithing, Sabbath-keeping etc., which were part of the Old Covenant, are not now necessary - see Study 9.5. The New Covenant will be made with natural Israel when they repent and accept Christ (Jer. 31:31,32; Rom. 9:26,27; Eze. 16:62; 37:26), although, of course, any Jew who does that now and is baptized into Jesus, can immediately enter the New Covenant (in which there is no Jew/Gentile distinction - Gal. 3:27-29).
Truly appreciating these things makes us realize the certainty of God's promises. Sceptics unfairly accused the early Christian preachers of not giving a positive message. Paul replied by saying that because of God's confirmation of His promises on account of the death of Christ, the hope they spoke of was not a touch-and-go affair, but a totally certain offer: "As God is true, our word (of preaching) toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us...was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, Amen" (2 Cor. 1:17-20).
Surely this torpedoes the attitude of, 'Well, I suppose there might be some truth in all that...'?
3.5 The Promise To David
David, like Abraham and many other recipients of God's promises, did not have an easy life. He grew up as the youngest son in a large family which, in the Israel of 1000 B.C., meant looking after the sheep and running errands to his rather bossy older brothers (1 Sam. 15-17). During this time he learnt a level of faith in God which few men have since approached.
The day came when Israel were faced with the ultimate challenge from their aggressive neighbours, the Philistines; they were challenged to let one of their men fight the giant Goliath, the Philistine champion, on the understanding that whoever won that fight would rule over the losers. With God's help David defeated Goliath by using a sling, which earned him even greater popularity than their king (Saul). "Jealousy is cruel as the grave" (Song. 8:6), words which were proved true by Saul's persecution of David for the next 20 years, chasing him as a rat around the wilderness of southern Israel.
Eventually David became king, and to show his appreciation of God's love toward him during the wilderness of his life, he decided to build God a temple. The reply from God was that David's son, Solomon, would build the temple and that God wanted to build David a house (2 Sam. 7:4-13). Then followed a detailed promise which repeats much of what was told Abraham, and which also filled in some other details:-
"And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever" (v.12-16).
From our previous studies we would expect the "seed" to be Jesus. His description as the son of God (2 Sam. 7:14) confirms this, as do many other references in other parts of the Bible:-
- "I am the...offspring of David", Jesus said (Rev. 22:16).
- "(Jesus), made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3).
- "Of this man's seed (David's) hath God, according to His promise, raised unto Israel a saviour, Jesus" (Acts 13:23).
- The angel told the virgin Mary concerning her son, Jesus: "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father (ancestor) David...and of his Kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32,33). This is applying the promise of David's seed, in 2 Sam. 7:13, to Jesus.
With the seed firmly identified as Jesus, a number of details now become significant:-
-1) The seed
"Thy seed...which shall proceed out of thy bowels...I will be his father, and he shall be my son." "...of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne" (2 Sam. 7:12,14; Ps. 132:10,11). Jesus, the seed, was to be a literal, bodily descendant of David, and yet have God as his Father. This could only be achieved by the virgin birth as described in the New Testament; Jesus' mother was Mary, a descendant of David (Luke 1:32), but he had no human father. God acted miraculously upon Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit in order to make her conceive Jesus, and so the Angel commented, "therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God" (Luke 1:35). The"virgin birth" was the only way in which this promise to David could be properly fulfilled.
-2) The house
"He shall build an house for my name" (2 Sam. 7:13) shows that Jesus will build a temple for God - both literal and spiritual. Ezekiel 40-48 describes how that in the Millennium (the first 1000 years of God's Kingdom after Jesus returns to the earth) a temple will be built in Jerusalem. God's "house" is where He is willing to live, and Isa. 66:1,2 tells us that He will come to live in the hearts of men who are humble to His word. Jesus is therefore building a spiritual temple for God to dwell in, made up of the true believers. Descriptions of Jesus as the foundation stone of God's temple (1 Peter 2:4-8) and of Christians as the temple stones (1 Peter 2:5) now slot into place.
-3) The throne
"I will stablish the throne of his (Christ's) kingdom for ever...thine (David's) house and thy kingdom...thy throne shall be established for ever (2 Sam. 7:13,16 cp. Isa. 9:6,7)". Christ's kingdom will therefore be based on David's kingdom of Israel; this means that the coming kingdom of God will be a re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel - see Study 5.3 for more on this. To fulfil this promise, Christ must reign on David's "throne", or place of rulership. This was literally in Jerusalem. This is another proof that the kingdom must be established here on earth in order to fulfil these promises.
-4) The kingdom
"Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee" (2 Sam. 7:16) suggests that David would witness the establishment of Christ's eternal kingdom. This was therefore an indirect promise that he would be resurrected at Christ's return so that he could see with his own eyes the kingdom being set up world-wide, with Jesus reigning from Jerusalem.
These things which were promised to David are absolutely vital to understand. David joyfully spoke of these things as "an everlasting covenant...this is all my salvation and all my desire" (2 Sam. 23:5). These things relate to our salvation too; rejoicing in them should likewise be all our desire. So again the point is made that these doctrines are important. It is a tragedy that Christendom teaches doctrines which flatly contradict these marvellous truths:-
- If Jesus physically "pre-existed", i.e. he existed as a person before he was born, then this makes nonsense of these promises that Jesus would be David's "seed", or descendant.
- If the kingdom of God will be in heaven, then Jesus cannot re-establish David's kingdom of Israel, nor can he reign from David's "throne" or place of rulership. These things were literally on the earth, and so their re-establishment must be in the same place.
Fulfilment In Solomon?
David's literal son, Solomon, fulfilled some part of the promises to David. He built a literal temple for God (1 Kings 5-8), and he had a very prosperous kingdom. Nations from all around sent representatives to pay respect to Solomon (1 Kings 10), and there was great spiritual blessing from the use of the temple. Solomon's reign therefore pointed forward to the much greater fulfilment of the promises to David which will be seen in the kingdom of Christ.
Some have claimed that the promises to David were completely fulfilled in Solomon, but this is disallowed by the following:--
- Abundant New Testament evidence shows that the "seed" was Christ, not Solomon.
- David seems to have connected the promises God made to him with those to Abraham (1 Chron. 17:27 = Gen. 22:17,18).
- The kingdom of the "seed" was to be everlasting - which Solomon's was not.
- David recognized that the promises were concerning eternal life, which precluded any reference to his immediate family: "Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant" (2 Sam. 23:5).
- The seed of David is the Messiah, the Saviour from sin (Isa. 9:6,7; 22:22; Jer. 33:5,6,15; Jn. 7:42). But Solomon later turned away from God (1 Kings 11:1-13; Neh. 13:26) due to his marriage with those outside the hope of Israel.
Digression 9: The Destruction Of Heavens And Earth (Rev. 21:1; 2 Peter 3:6-12).
God's purpose being to establish His Kingdom here on earth (see Study 5), it is inconceivable that He would destroy this literal planet, and Study 3.3 has demonstrated that He has consistently promised not to do such a thing. The above references to the destruction of the heavens and earth must therefore be taken figuratively.
The passage from Peter is showing the similarities between the judgments on the earth at Noah's time and what will happen at "the day of the Lord" in future. "The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now...are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment" (2 Pet.3:6,7).
Peter is pointing a contrast between water being the agent of destruction at Noah's time, and fire which will be used at the second coming. "The heavens and the earth" of Noah's time were not literally destroyed - "all flesh" which was sinful was destroyed (Gen.7:21 cp. 6:5,12). 'Heavens and earth' therefore refers to a system of things or of human organization. Those who misunderstand this passage tend to overlook the destruction of the 'heavens' which is spoken about. This cannot be taken literally - they are God's dwelling place (Ps.123:1), where there is no sinfulness (Hab.1:13; Ps.65:4,5), and which declares God's glory (Ps.19:1). If they refer to something figurative, so must the 'earth'.
The following passages demonstrate how 'heavens and earth' in other parts of the Bible are not to be taken literally, but refer rather to a system of things on the earth:
- "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void, and the heavens, and they had no light...For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land (of Israel) shall be desolate...For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black" (Jer.4:23-28). This is a prophecy of the judgments to come upon the 'heavens and earth' of the land and people of Israel, for which they (not the literal heaven and earth) would mourn.
- Moses had earlier addressed all Israel: "Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth" (Dt.32:1). It is emphasized that there were two categories of people to whom he spoke: 1) "The elders of your tribes" and 2) "all the congregation of Israel" (Dt.31:28,30). The elders would then equate with the 'heavens' and the ordinary people with the 'earth'.
- Isaiah opened his prophecy in similar style: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth...Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers...give ear unto the law of our God, ye people" (Is.1:2,10). Again there is a parallel between the heavens and the rulers; and between the earth and the people.
- "He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge His people" of Israel (Ps.50:4). This speaks for itself.
- "I will shake all nations...I will shake the heavens and the earth" (Hag.2:7,21) likewise.
- "For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea...The sword of the Lord is filled with blood...for the Lord hath...a great slaughter in the land of Idumea" (Is.34:5,6). 'Heaven' is here equated with Idumea; the previous prophecy that "all the host of heaven shall be dissolved" (Is.34:4) therefore refers to the dissolution of Idumea.
- The heavens and earth mentioned as dissolving in Isaiah 13 refer to the people of Babylon. In a series of statements about Babylon we read that God "will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place...it shall be as the chased roe...they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land" (Is.13:13,14). The fleeing away of the heavens and earth is thus parallelled with that of the people. Heb. 9:26 speaks of the "end of the world" as occurring in the first century A.D. - in the sense that the Jewish world was ending then.
With all this held firmly in mind, it is to be expected that New Testament references to a new heaven and earth at the return of Christ will refer to the new system of things which will be seen when the Kingdom of God is established.
Closer examination of 2 Peter 3 confirms this. Having described how the present 'heavens and earth' will be ended, v.13 continues: "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness". This is quoting His (God's) promise of Is.65:17: "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth". The rest of Is.65 goes on to describe this new system of things as being a perfect situation here on this earth:
"Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing...They shall not build and another inhabit...the child shall die an hundred years old (i.e. life-spans will be increased)...the wolf and the lamb shall feed together" (Is.65:18-25).
These blessings are clearly relevant to God's coming Kingdom on earth - the new 'heavens and earth' which will replace the present miserable set up.
Digression 10: The Claims Of 'British Israelism'
The idea has been put forward by the likes of H.W.Armstrong's 'Plain Truth' organization that the promises to Abraham have been fulfilled in the British and American peoples, who, it is claimed, are the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Members of the 'British Israelite' movement believe that the kings and queens of England are descended through the line of Judah which began with king David. In order to justify their theories, they have had to conclude that the Jews have been rejected as God's people and the British peoples chosen instead.
If the reasoning of Study 3 has been followed, it should be apparent that Biblically these claims are in no way justifiable. The following are just a few of the many additional points which could be made:
- All human beings are equally under the curse of sin (Rom.3:23), and therefore Christ died to enable people from all nations to have the opportunity of salvation. Whatever national background we are from is irrelevant if we have been baptized into Christ and become part of spiritual Israel (Gal.3:27-29). We have been commanded to preach the Gospel to all nations, baptizing those individuals who believe it (Mark 16:15,16); thus the new Israel is comprised of people from all nations, not just the British.
- It is very difficult to prove the origin of the British and American peoples; they are a mixture of people from many parts of the world. Just because someone was born in those countries does not mean that they are God's chosen people.
- British Israelites claim that the blessings promised to Abraham's seed have been fulfilled in the British peoples, regardless of their obedience to God. This runs contrary to the repeated principle that the blessings of God are conditional on obedience. The whole of Lev.26 and Dt.28 outline the blessings which would come upon Israel if they were obedient to His word, and the curses which would result from their disobedience. To claim that God has given Britain these blessings regardless of their obedience to His word, and often in the face of their distinct disobedience to it, surely does violence to the terms on which God offers these blessings.
- The implication that God has cast off His people of Israel and replaced them with the British flies in the face of passages like Rom.11:1,2: "Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I (Paul) also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham...God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew".
- The Kingdom of God was the Kingdom of Israel in the past (2 Chron.9:8). It was overturned because of their disobedience, but the Kingdom will be re-established (Ez.21:25-27). The Kingdom will return to Jerusalem (Mic.4:8) when Jesus reigns there on David's throne (Lk.1:32
- The presently scattered people of Israel are to be regathered from the various parts of the earth where they have been scattered: "I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone...and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel" (Ez.37:21,22). This is being fulfilled in the form of the natural Jews returning to their land; its complete fulfilment will be in the Kingdom, which Israel's present return to the land indicates must soon come.
Footnote: Those particularly interested in this topic may like to obtain the free booklet, 'British Israelism Examined', available from the publishers.
STUDY 3: Questions
1. Which of God's promises predicts a constant struggle between sin and the righteous?
a) The promise to Noah
b) The promise in Eden
c) The promise to David
d) The promise to Abraham
2. Which of the following statements are true concerning the promise in Eden?
a) The seed of the serpent is Lucifer
b) Christ and the righteous are the woman's seed
c) The seed of the serpent was temporarily wounded by Christ
d) The seed of the woman was bruised by Christ's death.
3. Where would Abraham's seed live for ever?
a) In Heaven
b) In the city of Jerusalem
c) On the earth
d) Some in Heaven and some on earth.
4. Which of the following were promised to David?
a) That his great descendant would reign for ever
b) That his 'seed' would have a Kingdom in Heaven
c) That the seed would be God's son
d) That his seed, Jesus, would live in Heaven before birth on earth.
5. How can we become the seed of Abraham?
6. Will the earth ever be destroyed?
7. How do God's promises prove your answer to question 6?
8. Explain the promise in Eden in Genesis 3:15.