Part LXXX on The Study of Galatians

Isaiah 61:10
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; (now this is a man under the Law remember) for he (God) hath clothed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, (do you see how that fits with Romans) as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."  That's the outward view now that God sees in the believer. Adorned, covered with righteousness, but inside it's still old me for the most part, and it's still old you. But on the other hand we are New Creations in Christ because of all that has taken place when we first believe. Not when we go through a bunch of rituals, customs and religious ceremonies that will never save anybody. Or even our first estate into which God places us for our learning and teaching by the Holy Spirit's workings within us. We're to come to the place where we've so disgusted within our selves because of sin that we're willing to take what ever punishment the Law requires of us and we become willing to die in order to connect with God and His Love. If this does not take place or happen within us some time after we've received the Holy Spirit we say that we'd better do a check up from within  and then from the neck up. As something is not right someplace within. In fact most rituals (even those of Israel's past) are in fact an abomination before God. Now come back to Galatians chapter 3 again. Now let's look at verse 29.



Galatians 3:29
"And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, (now that doesn't make us a Hebrew, be careful thinking that. A lot of people teach that when we become a Christian we become a Hebrew. No, no, but we become the offspring of promise to Abraham in the realm of the spirit. And so if we're Christ's then we are Abraham's seed, and if we are of the seed of Abraham in the realm of the spirit then we become) and heirs according to the promise." Now this is the desired purpose and out come of our first estate placement by God for this only happens after a death, the secret hidden with in the sacrifice of Isaac and God's covenant promise with him.


Now think about that. If you're Christ's you are Abraham's seed. Now again we've got to go back to Genesis chapter 12. We've got to see these things before they really began to make sense. In chapter 12 we will just look at the 3d verse and remember it's part of the Abrahamic Covenant and part of the covenant with Isaac.


Genesis 12:3
"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed."  Since all families of the earth are blessed through Abraham then God here is looking way beyond all the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is looking beyond the Law, He's looking at His coming Son and this Age of Grace. We're in His blessing of salvation which goes to the whole human race through Isaac as a figure of Christ in his being offered to God as a sacrifice. And it doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor, black or white, it makes no difference. As soon as we become a believer of this Gospel which Paul's letters reveal, then we are one in Christ, and we're in the Body, the Church as a Holy Assembly of God's promised possession to Christ Jesus. And then we become heirs of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac. Because you see God's promise went way beyond the Nation of Israel, and so that's where we come in then, as we've showed earlier. Now we'll look at Genesis chapter 17:


Genesis 17:19, 21
"And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him..... But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."
Now we'll turn to chapter 21:

Genesis 21:12 
"And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, 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 chapter 22:

Genesis 22:9 
"And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood."
Here within is the secret contained of Christ and His being offered as the promised son of Israel who is to follow.



As Abraham was saved by faith + nothing we are also. Did Abraham bring sacrifices for salvation? No. Was Abraham circumcised before he had salvation? No. Was Abraham under the Law? No. So what did Abraham do to merit salvation? He just simply trusted and believed God. So he becomes then the first to really be saved by faith + nothing! Immediately after that sacrifices are coming in again. So now then here we are 2000 years BC and Abraham saved by faith + nothing. And here we are over on this side of the cross in our Age of Grace, the 1960 + years also saved by faith + nothing. So what does that do? It just simply ties us to the man Abraham and that's where we're connected. Not through earthly progeny, not through the practice of some ritual or custom or the tradition of men but only in the realm of the spiritual do we become the children of Abraham. Is that clear?



We hope we can make this plain, that here is where the connection comes in as God made the promises to Abraham 2000 years BC. And yes out of him would come the Nation of Israel. Yes, through the Nation of Israel would come the Law, and yes, Israel would be the vehicle that crucified the Redeemer, who was promised them and made our salvation possible. But then Israel slips off the scene and the Gentiles come in and are dwelling on the root and the fatness of Abraham because all of those promises that were made to Abraham have become ours. So we have entered into the whole concept of being joint heirs according to the promises. The hidden meaning of the Last Supper, the cup, and all the figurative language up to an including the ascension of Christ.  Now the subject of joint heirs should bring us back to Romans chapter 8.