Torch, Fall 1980

IO by Rev. Hugh Hall The history of the human race is filled with the records of the rise and fall of nations. Classes of people come and go in the historical records, but never are we faced with such great mind-staggering events as confront us in the scriptural record and in secula r accounts regarding the Jewish people. The Promise To an old man named Abraham, God made a solemn Promise, recorded in Genesis 12:1-3: (1) He would make of him and his seed a great nation; (2) He would bless this coming nation; (3) through this nation (Israel) all the nations (Gen– tiles) would be blessed. This is a promise made by a covenant-making and -keeping God and involves the establishment of a nation. This promise is to be taken simply and literally and not in a nonliteral or symbolic sense. The Bible always speaks authoritatively on the things to come. This includes the details in the prophetic picture of the Children of Israel. God means what He says, and says what He means. The Place God also promised Abraham a Place for His chosen people. "Unto thy seed will I give this land" (Genesis 12:7). This promise of land granting is reiterated in Genesis 13: 141 7 where Abraham is directed by the Lord to survey the land in all directions. Genesis 15:18-20 declares that the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates river is given to Abraham and his seed as a perpetual possession . Genesis 28 :13-14 repeats this promise to the posterity of Jacob and not to the seed of Esau. These prophecies in the Abrahamic Covenant are sovereignly granted and are not contingent upon the future obedience of Abraham and his seed. The Purpose Many are puzzled by the simple question: Why? What Purpose did God have in promising a people, in giving them a place, a land, for an everlasting possession? Some of the purposes are set forth in Deuteronomy 7:6-8: ".. . thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God .. . thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself . . . because the Lord loved you ... and would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers." Asovereign God called a race of people, a nation, into existence and preserved them by His mighty miracle-hand. Through this people would come God's mind and thoughts and will-the Holy Scriptures. Through this people would come the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Saviour of the world. God brought this nation into being, through whom He would channel blessings to the nations and families of the world.