Seed Of Abraham Series

Seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3)

The Grinch hated Christmas, so he carried out a diabolical scheme to steal it away from all the Who’s in Whoville. He dressed up like Santa Clause, put fake antlers on his dog’s head, and headed down into Whoville from his mountain home high above the city. He snuck into every home and stole everything that reminded him of Christmas: toys and decorations; lights and trees; even the Roast Beast and all the candy. To quote Dr. Seuss:

Gifts and candy he takes the whole lot.

Not an ornament, not a toy, not a crumb he forgot.

Then the Grinch headed back to his mountain home and waited to hear all the weeping and wailing from the Who’s in Whoville when they woke up to find everything gone. Instead, he heard singing. The citizens of Whoville had gathered in the town square to join hands and sing! As Dr. Seuss had put it:

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming!

IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?” (Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Random House, 1957)

Indeed, how could it be so? Because Christmas can be a struggle for some, especially if so much is gone! If your health is gone, if the money is gone and the bills are piled high, if a loved one is gone, it’s hard to celebrate.

So how do you learn to sing in the hard times? How do you find the blessing of Christmas when you feel like you’re living under a curse?

Well, that was the state of the world 2,000 years before Christ. Man’s pride at the Tower of Babel had invited God’s judgment as He scattered humanity all over the face of the earth. People lost their homes, their friends, and their livelihoods. In fact, the world had been under a curse, having gone through Adam’s fall into sin, and the flood, which spared only Noah’s family. Then God’s judgment at the Tower of Babel brought even further pain and loss.

Even so, in the midst of such loss, God promised to bless the world through one family. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 12, Genesis 12, where we see God’s promise of blessing for people who have lost so much.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (ESV)

Here, God promises Abram land, seed, and blessing, not so that he could keep it all to himself, but to bless the world through him. So in the midst of your pain and loss...

FIND GOD’S BLESSING IN ABRAM’S SEED.

Be enriched through your association with an offspring of Abram. Flourish, thrive, and grow in a relationship with his descendant.

There’s no other way, because Abram’s seed or offspring is God’s plan to bless the world. In Genesis 22, God repeats His promise to Abram. There, He says, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18).

Does that mean we have to get close to the Jewish people in order to receive God’s blessing? Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt to befriend some Jews, because God promises to bless those who bless Abraham’s descendants. However, there’s only one Jew you MUST know to receive God’s blessing.

The New Testament commentary on this verse is very clear. Galatians 3:16 says, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings” (plural), referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” (ESV)

Christ, the offspring (or seed) of Abraham, is the One through whom God blesses the world, and indeed, that has been the case!

In his book, Is God a Moral Monster, Paul Copan lists many of the positive achievements the influence of Christ has had over the last 2,000 years. They include:

Eradicating slavery: As the Christian faith spread after the fall of Rome, the practice of slavery dwindled. Centuries later, when slavery reemerged, Christian advocates (like the Mennonites, the Quakers, and individuals like William Wilberforce) strongly opposed it.

Opposing infanticide and infant exposure: Abandoning infants was a common Greco-Roman practice until Christians led reforms to outlaw it in the fourth century.

Eliminating gladiatorial games: This brutal sport, which used the death of slaves to entertain the masses, was condemned by Christian activists.