A Promise Granted By Faith, Part 1 Series

4:13

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world…”

Heir of the world. This one man, Abraham, to be heir of the world? And not just Abraham, though it was to him that the promise was first given. Where is this promise? Genesis 12:3, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 15:5, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able… so shall your descendants be.” Genesis 18:18, “… all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham.” Genesis 22:18, “In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…”

In Genesis 15:18-21, Abraham’s descendants are promised a specific land from which they will bless the nations. Abraham is promised innumerable people, fatherhood over many nations, to be a blessing to the entire world.

What a promise. Jesus added in Matthew 5 that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” Those who are of faith produce that sort of fruit that makes them suitable to receive such blessings. We are included in this promise to Abraham. He inherits the earth. We inherit the earth.

The connecting verses that put Abraham and “the meek” together are in Galatians 3. First, verse 16: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”

This time I believe the New King James misses it and the King James is right on. The Hebrew is clear. The word for seed is zehrah . It means literally a physical seed, like an apple seed. It can have a figurative meaning, like “child”. But in the context, and in connection with what Paul says later, as God’s Spirit-led interpreter of the Hebrew text, it can never

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mean “descendants”, plural. The NKJV people were trying to help us out by using a more familiar word, but they missed the idea altogether.

Paul says God was promising a particular Seed, or child, or descendant, in that passage, and that particular Child is none other than the Son, not only of Abraham, but of God. What else does Paul say in Galatians 3? In verse 26, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” So the promise is to a Seed or Child that will come from Abraham. Jesus is that Child. And through faith in this Child you are a son of God. Then in verses 28 and 29: “… for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Huge! Abraham inherits the earth. Through Christ. But I am in Christ. So I inherit the earth with him and all the “meek-hearted” children of God, the born-again that look like Jesus, who said of Himself, “I am meek and lowly of heart.”

“was not to Abraham or his seed through the law…”

He has already proved it was not through circumcision that Abraham was justified, made right with God, because Abraham had saving faith before he was circumcised. Now, if that is true, it obviously follows that Abraham was not saved by the law, because the law of Moses did not show up for another five hundred years! No poster showing the Ten Commandments was in Abraham’s kitchen. No Scripture box was at the door or worn around his neck. Isaac was not going to sit and memorize Torah. There was no Torah.

The law is holy and good and pure, but it cannot save. God’s law was written on Abraham’s heart. And it is that same method that God uses to this day. Christ first, then the ways of Christ through His Spirit. The letter still kills, but the Spirit guiding us gives life.

We are people of the Book because the Book reveals Christ. To try to live the Book without Christ is vain and leads to Pharisaism. But on the other

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hand, a man who has met Christ loves the Book, as a woman in love delights in those love notes and poems sent to her by the lover.

“… but through the righteousness of faith.”

How odd the juxtaposition of those two words seems to us, even though we have known Him many years. Righteousness. Faith. A righteousness procured by faith. And not just any faith. But faith in the promises of God. Faith in the provision of God, as Abraham had, remember, on his own “Calvary” hill, where he almost sacrificed his own son. What was his faith? The Lord will provide a sacrifice. What is our faith? The Lord has provided a sacrifice. This is our joy. This is our life.

4:14

“For if those who are of the law are heirs…”