Saturday, May 19, 2012

Part LXIX on The Study of Galatians

Genesis 21:12
"And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, (in other words because he had sent Ishmael out into the desert) and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now the word "seed" in the Hebrew is like "sheep" in the English. And that is if we've got one over there it's a sheep. If we've got 5 or 6 down here it's still sheep. Well it's the same way with seed in the Hebrew. So in the Scripture the only way we can tell the difference is by watching the context. Is the Scripture speaking of the many which would be the offspring of Jacob who becomes Israel, the tribes, and multitudes of people or is it speaking of the singular the "Seed" which was Christ! Now this one in verse 12 is singular. The Lord is not speaking of the millions of people from the 12 tribes. Look at the last part of verse 12 again.


Genesis 21:12b
"...hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy (singular) seed be called."
So we have this constant promise according to the Abrahamic Covenant that through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the 12 sons would come the Messiah. Not through Ishmael, not through Esau but through Isaac. Now we see the Muslim world argues with that because they claim that the Old Testament has been polluted, and distorted (these claims being true don't change its language and truth), and that in reality Ishmael was the promised seed. Well we can see that's how it's so easy to confuse people and lead them astray. But our Bible being the Word of God that it is, we can rest on it that it was through Isaac that the "Seed" singular would come. Now let's come back to Galatians chapter 3 again and pick it up in verse 16 again.


Galatians 3:16
"Now to Abraham and his seed (the singular seed, Isaac, and not the whole nation in this setting) were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ."
So this is why everyone of us, regardless of where we are in human history, we are all benefiting from this Abrahamic Covenant through whom all the world would be blessed. This is also why we can say that all the Old Testament and its Covenants were fulfilled in Christ. Because they were spoken to or promised to Him, who was unseen and unknown of at that time. Yehovah God was calling Himself forward or into being as the son of man. Now let's move on to verse 17. Now Paul says -


Galatians 3:17
"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in (in the person of) Christ, (and now he's talking about) the law, (the Law was a covenant just like the Abraham's or Davids Covenant were covenants. They were agreements that God made and which He could never change or withdraw. It's settled forever, because God made it, and this Law covenant) which was four hundred and thirty years after,..."  430 years later Israel is going to come out of Egypt (a type of the world) and receive the Law at Sinai (the wilderness called sin). Now we've got to stop here for a moment because here is one of the places in Scripture where the scoffer likes to scoff and say, "see the Scripture contradicts itself." Here it says 430 years. In another place it says 400 years. Well what's going on? Well believe us there's no contradiction at all. Again let's come back to Genesis chapter 15, and set the record straight. Here God is speaking before Abraham's name was changed.

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