Part LXVIII on The Study of Galatians

Genesis 3:15
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; (see the language? And the seed of the woman, the body prepared for Christ Jesus) it shall bruise thy head, (Christ defeated Satan at the cross and finished it all there, then in victory rose again) and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Satan also got his licks in by virtue of making Christ suffer)


All that's the beginning of the promise then of the seed of the woman. It would come through the female side of the human race, not from Adam, but from the woman, and we can follow this all the way through scripture. As the red thread of redemption runs from beginning to its end in Christ Jesus. Now if we will go to Genesis chapter 12, and let's look at a portion of scripture that most of us have worn out our Bible, and we call it the Abrahamic Covenant. We maintain that it's one of the most important portions of the whole Old Testament. If we don't understand the Abrahamic Covenant then the rest of the Bible is like a mist. We just can't see it clearly! But once we get an understanding of this covenant, then everything falls into place. Now don't forget the seed of the woman back there in Genesis 3:15. As that same seed is not only Christ's body fore told but is our spiritual seed the size of a mustard seed hidden deep within us. When it is awakened within us by the illumination of the Gospel Light and the Holy Spirit we as a young plant come to newness of life, or are become born from above.


Genesis 12:1
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, (in Genesis 11:31) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:  Remember when God says, "I will" what is that? It's a promise that He's going to do it, and nothing in heaven or earth will ever stop Him. So He says, "I will shew thee a land."  Now verse 2.


Genesis 12:2-3
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and (I will) curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."  Now that's a bunch of promises isn't it? That's a truck load of promises that were promised to this one man. Now on the surface it doesn't seem that great, but all of human history since 2000 BC is resting on these promises, and God has kept every one of them. Abraham became a great man. He's still thought of as one of the great men of history. The scriptures uphold him as a great man. God blessed him in his progeny, and God has blessed those who bless Israel. God has cursed those who cursed Israel, and if we think we're stretching the point, then you don't know human history. All we have to do is go back into human history, and every nation that has ever come down hard on the Hebrews have gone down the tube, right on up through our present system of nations. Anyone that has turned against the Nation of Israel goes down the tube whether they like it or not. That's why we've maintained for the past 25 plus years that as long as America remains a friend of Israel then America is going to be in pretty safe straits. But if we ever turn on the Nation of Israel and stab them in the back then America is going to go down the tube just like all the others have.


Now we might say, "What are you talking about?" Well Spain is probably one of the best examples. Now if you know American history, who were the explorers that really covered a good part of North America? The Spaniards. Spain was riding on the crest of national power and empire, and then in 1492, which was a little before some of the great explorers, remember God's wheels turn slowly. But in 1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella made the decree that every Hebrew would either be out of Spain, convert to Catholicism, or be dead by such and such a day. So there was a great exodus out of Spain, and it wasn't but a 100 years and what was Spain? Nothing! Just a blimp on history, and so it's always been with every empire that has turned on the Hebrews, down they go, and it all comes back to this covenant promise, that, "He will bless them that bless the Nation of Israel, and He would curse them who curse the Nation of Israel."


But whatever way things go one promise is secure and that is through the man Abraham all of the families of the earth would receive a blessing. And that came about with their Messiah. When Christ came and finished the work of the Cross, He became then a blessing out of the line of Abraham, but a blessing for the whole human race, and that's where we are. Through Jesus came the promised Holy Spirit as the gift to all mankind. Remember when we looked at Romans chapter 11 that He broke of the branches of natural Israel off the vine, and He grafted in the Gentiles? Oh we love that chapter. And when He sat Israel aside for a season, He brought the whole Gentile world into that place of privilege.


Not that we're all saved, but we're brought into that place of privilege where we now have an opportunity for salvation based again on the promise made to Abraham.We all like Israel are placed by God within the tutor or as we've likened it inside a corral at conversion, to receive redemption with the deposit of the Holy Spirit. Its then His assignment as our comforter, teacher, trainer and guide to bring through the wilderness to the gate or the door of crisis, the cross of Christ. He does this by way of revealing Christ to us as we're to learn Christ as He is revealed from Genesis through the four gospels and up to Acts chapter 11, the Old Testament. It is while we're learning Christ in this fashion that The Holy spirit also reveals our undoneness and the utter sinfulness of sin and then the Fathers Will for us all, death to that old mans nature. It is just here that we face the split in the road which Jacob and Israel's wanderings in the wilderness for forty years symbolizes. For this is repeated in Acts with Peter and Paul, Peter being the way of Israel, spiritual blindness, and Paul being the way of revelation and enter into the promised Canaan Land which is Christ by way of the purchasing of the Pearl of greatest price, Christ through death.


Oh it's fascinating when we study this, and the whole human race for the past 1960 + years as Gentiles have been resting and feeding on the fatness of the root of Abraham while Israel has been out there in a dispersion. But the day is coming and we think it is getting close, where God is once again going to shut the door on the Gentile world. He'll break them off from that grafted position, and then Israel will be grafted back in again as Paul says in Romans chapter 11. As it also ties into God's timeline as seen in Psalm 2.


At that time the Gentiles will find themselves again where they were before - without a Messiah and outside the covenant promises. Well we hope to have seen the promises of I will, I will, I will and all the way up through Abraham's life God is constantly promising. Now remember some of these things took years before they were consummated. This is why the man grew impatient and finally succumbed to the temptation to use a slave girl. For after all he couldn't have a nation of people if he didn't have even one son. So that gave rise to the birth of Ishmael. Now before we leave the Book of Genesis come on over to chapter 21:12. We're going to follow this "seed" concept for a little bit. In this chapter Ishmael has reached the age of tormenting little Isaac. Isaac is now about 5 years old, and so Ishmael and his mother Hagar are sent out into the wilderness at God's instructions.