The promises are all fulfilled in Jesus. Genesis 12.1-3
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Genesis (4)
Pray Psalm 119.49, 50.
Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
For Your word has given me life.
Sing Psalm 119.49, 50.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
LORD, remember all the good Word You have spoken unto me!
For I ever hope in You, LORD as I serve You joyfully.
This my comfort in affliction, this my comfort in all strife:
that Your Word is my redemption, giving me eternal life!
Read Genesis 12.1-3; 15.12-18; 2 Corinthians 1.20; meditate on Genesis 12.1-3.
Preparation
1. What did God promise to Abram (Abraham)?
2. How did He guarantee that?
Meditation
It’s not hard to see that Abram (Abraham) was a man of faith. When God called him to leave his home, family, and country and travel to a place he would only know once he’d arrived, he didn’t hesitate. The promises God made to him were so appealing because they were so astonishing that he packed up his stuff and headed west.
The promises God made to Abram in Genesis 12.1-3 are, we would say, unbelievable. Not only the promise of a new land, but also of blessing. And of becoming a great nation and having a great (influential and revered) name. And being completely protected and provided for as you extend blessings to all the families of the earth. For all time!
Yeah. That’d get my attention.
God taught Abram to look backward—to God’s Word and works—and forward—to His promises—by making this covenant with him. But after arriving in his new land, Abram knew only trouble and strife (Gen. 12, 14) and he began to wonder if God’s promises were true. God sealed His covenant of promise with Abram by the strange ceremony reported in Genesis 15.12-18. This was a ritual well known to the people of Abram’s day, except for one thing. Whereas in a normal such ceremony each of the covenanting parties would walk the covenant path—therefore taking upon themselves the obligation to fulfill the promise of the covenant or die like the animals of the covenant path—only the emblems of God walked the path. God took upon Himself the full responsibility for fulfilling all His incredible and great and precious promises. God would keep His Word to His people, and He would do it in a way that only He could.
Jesus fulfilled all the obligations of the covenant by keeping God’s Law perfectly. And He bore the judgment we deserve as violators of that Law and covenant. So that all the promises of God—all, not some—are in Jesus Christ “Yes!” and “Amen.” He is the Promise Keeper for whom Abram and all Israel waited, and Whom we have now come to know.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Because the promises God made to Abraham were so appealingly astonishing, he without a moment’s hesitation, packed up his family and all his stuff and headed out toward the promises and the new land:
I will show you the new land.
I will make you a great nation.
I will bless you.
I will make your name great.
I will make you a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you.
I will curse those who curse you.
I will bless all the families of the earth in you (Gen. 12.1-3).
And then we read this:
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham…” (Matt. 1.1) and Mary’s words: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior…He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever” (Lk. 1.46, 47, 54, 55).
We have been given the same appealing and astonishing promises. The words spoken to Abraham have trickled down to us, through the Covenant God made with him, now fulfilled in Jesus Christ, Abraham’s and our, LORD and Savior.
But do we see the promises of God with the same eyes of faith that Abraham saw with?
Are we willing to leave all behind and follow Him?
God expected Abraham to do just that; and He expects us to do the same.
“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk. 9.23). Wherever. Whenever. However. Whoever.
God promised blessings: the blessing of forgiveness through a Redeemer Savior; and the blessing of life in His Kingdom, serving Him as King, and living in His promised land here and now, and there and then.
“Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!
I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
and like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you” (Is. 44.21, 22).
Through this Redeemer all the families of the earth will be blessed:
“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3.16).
An attention-getting Promise, that when seen through eyes of faith, calls out “Yes and Yes”.
Always “Yes” in Jesus. To the glory of God—believed and lived by Abraham’s grafted-in children.
God always keeps His promises. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was praised for her faith in God, “because she judged Him faithful Who had promised” (Heb. 11.11). Praise for our faith will follow when we too, judge Him faithful Who has promised us so great a salvation.
“For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2.39).
Reflection
1. What role do the promises to Abram play in your walk with and work for the Lord?
2. How can you see that all the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus?
3. What can you do to realize more of the precious promises of God?
The command God gave to Abram, is much the same with the gospel call, for natural affection must give way to Divine grace. Sin, and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken; particularly bad company. Here are many great and precious promises. All God’s precepts are attended with promises to the obedient. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Genesis 12.1-3
Pray Psalm 119.51-56.
Thank God for His Word and promises. Call on Him to help you remember His Word and to live it out joyfully throughout the day.
Sing Psalm 119.51-56.
(Wycliff: All for Jesus)
Though the proud deride and taunt me, I will trust Your faithful Word.
Let Your judgments from of old be all my comfort, holy LORD.
Indignation grips me, Savior, for those who forsake Your Word.
All Your statutes, all Your favor, I will sing with joy, O LORD!
In the night Your Name attends me, and I keep Your holy Word;
let Your precepts all befriend me, as I keep them, glorious LORD
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
