God’s Plan Through Israel and the Church – Part 5

For Your Edification and Encouragement

Two thousand years after Adam, and just two centuries after Babel, mankind has once again fallen into idolatry and spiritual darkness. The world is pagan, the nations are scattered, and no one seeks after God.

So God does something brand new (but already preordained before time began): He calls out one man, Abram (later called Abraham), from the line of Shem, to create a nation for Himself.

“Now the Lord had said to Abram:
‘Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.’”
— Genesis 12:1

The Covenant Promises (Genesis 12:1–3)

God makes seven promises to Abraham:

1. I will make you a great nation. 
2. I will bless you. 
3. I will make your name great. 
4. You shall be a blessing. 
5. I will bless those who bless you. 
6. I will curse those who curse you. 
7. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 

This is the beginning of the Abrahamic Covenant, which is later expanded to include:

• A land grant (Genesis 15:18–21) 
• A physical lineage and people (Genesis 17) 
• An everlasting covenant with Abraham’s seed 

And Paul tells us in Galatians 3:16:

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made… and to your Seed, who is Christ.”

A New Race of People

From Abraham will come the Jewish people, the nation of Israel—a people set apart by God, through whom:

• The Scriptures would come 
• The Law would come 
• The Messiah would come 

God calls Abraham out of the mainstream of humanity and separates his descendants as His own inheritance (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6–8).

Why This Matters

• The Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, eternal, and foundational. 
• The rest of the Bible builds upon this covenant. 
• If you don’t understand this covenant, you can’t understand the prophetic plan of God. 
• These promises were made to Israel, not to the Church.

Believers, members of the body of Christ which is His church, are partakers of these promises by believing the gospel.

God’s redemptive plan moves forward—not through all mankind—but through Israel, the nation God Himself created from Abraham. Even in this Church Age, Gentiles are partakers of the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David.