". . .In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (GENESIS 12:3).
To understand some of the Bible's most amazing and inspiring prophecies, we must embark on a study that begins 4,000 years ago__when God began working with a man called Abraham. Abraham was a remarkable figue. God made astounding promises to him that continue to affect not only his descendants but the whole world. The story of his offspring is remarkable too. It covers much of what we know as the Old Testament. This is a story filled with great themes__the rise and fall not only of great men and woman but of kingdoms and empires. The story of Abraham's descendants has its share of twists and turns and ups and downs and more than a few mysteries.
# 2 _The books of the Old testatment describle Abraham's offspring growing into a mighty nation__the Israelite kingdom__and entering into a special convenant relationship with God. Comprised of 12 tribes, or family groups, the nation gained prominence for a time.
Yet before long the Israelites divided into two competing kingdoms. When the larger of the two, which retained the name Israel (comprised of 10 of the 12 tribes), rejected its partnership with God, it set in motion one of history's greatest mysteries when its people were forcibly exiled from their ancient homeland.
# 3 _The smaller, southern kingdom of Judah__comprisded of the two memaining tribes and remnants of another__failed to learn the lesson of its northern kinsmen. Its citizens likewise rejected God and were taken into captivity. For the most part, however, they retained their identity and have remaind visible through history as a small and often persecuted race, the Jewish people.
# 4 _But what happened to the 10 tribes of Israel whose enemies forcibly removed them from their land? The Assyrian Empire captured and exiled them from their Middle Eeatern homeland in the eighth century B.C. But standard history books make no mention of them today. The world remembers them only as the lost 10 tribes of Israel. God, however, had entered into a covenant__a divine commitment__with all 12 of the tribes. He had promised they would always be His people and He would always be their God. Can we count on Him to keep His word? How is that possible if the lost 10 tribes died out, as many assume? To add to the puzzle, Bible prophecy repeatedly tells us that these supposedly lost Israelites are destined to reappear on the world scene in a promient role immediately after Jesus return__after their rescue from a "time of trouble" that could dwarf their previous suffering. The prophets of old even speak of their restoration after that time of trouble to their original homeland under the rule of the Messiah.
# 5 _Notice this promise Jesus made to apostles: "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve throns, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (MATTHEW 19:28). Did Jesus mean what He said? If these descendants of Israel are destined to play a future role that God has prophesied for the world, where are they now? How can we identify them among the people of the world today? And why is this knowledge so important to us?????
# 6 _As we proceed with this eye-opening study, you will learn just how much God is involved in shaping crucial aspects of our world. You cannot afford to be ignorant of this incredible knowledge. If this information about the lost tribes were simply of historical and archaeological value, then it might indeed be of interest only to those who are fascinated with history. But it is far more important than that. It is a master key for understanding all biblical prophecy. It explains why so many prophecies speak of a coming restoration of all of the tribes of Israel as one reunited kingdom and why those prophecies are so prominent in the pages of the Holy Scriptuires. By understanding this incredible story, you can learn a lot about what God expects of all who would serve Him. May God grant you the spiritual insight to understand this amazing story and heed the lessons you are about to discover.
# 7 _WHAT IS A BIBLICAL COVENANT !!!!!!!!
In the Old Testament the word covenant comes from the Hebrew berit. It means "covenant; league; confederacy.' This word is most probably derived from an Akkadian root meaning 'to fetter'; it has parallels in Hittite, Egyptian, Assyrian, and Aramaic. Berit is used over 280 times and in all parts of the Old Testament" God's covenants contain two especially important components: terms and duration. Although humans may reach covenants or other agreements through their own devices, God's covenants with people are usually unilateral. He alone determines the terms and conditions; humans choose whether to accept them.
# 8 _For example, after God clearly defined the aspects of the convenant He was making with the nation of Israel, including the blessings for honoring it and the consequences for ignoring it (LEVITICUS 26; DEUTERONOMY 28__30), both parties__God and the people of Israel__accepted it. Through this process God and Israel entered into a covenant relationship, a binding commitment to honor and fulfill their respective roles.
# 9 _A second important concept for us to understand about God's coveant with Israel is its continuing relevance to our day. In reaffirming the covenant with the generation of Israelites who were poised to enter the Promised Land, Moses explained that they were doing this "that [God] may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sowrn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today" (DEUTERONOMY 29:13__15).
# 10 _The covenant clearly applied to Israel's descendants as well. Understanding the continuing nature of the covenant, King David, on the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, wrote: "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! . . . He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. Remember His covenant always, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statue, to Israel for an everlasting covenant" (1 CHRONICLES 16:8__9, 14__17).
# 11 _Covenants are simply binding agreements between two or more parties. God Himself designed the covenant He made with Abraham and his descendants. When God makes a covenant, He will always perform what He has bound Himself to do.
A STORY OF RELATIONSHIPS AND AGREEMENTS !!!!!!!!
# 12 _Our story begins with a series of remarkable promises God gave to a man named Abram thousands of years ago. "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you," God told Abram. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all pepoles on earth will be blessed through you"
(Read GENESIS 12:1__3)
# 13 _As we will learn in this blog, God is always faithful in His promises. Preparation for His relationship with ancient Israel began centuries before its people became a nation. He initiated His plan for Israel as a group of tribes__or extended families__when He established a relationship with Abram. Later He changed the name of Abram, meaning "exalted father," to Abraham, meaning "father of a multitude" (GENESIS 17:5).
Notice again God's promise to him: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (GENESIS 12:3)
# 14 _What a fantastic commitment! With these promises God set in motion an awesome design destined to benefit "all the families of the earth"when they are fulfilled. The history and prophecies of this nation, springing from Abraham, are important not only for its own people but for the people of all nations. God later passed these promises on to Abraham's son Isaac, his grandson Jacob and then to Jacob's 12 sons__from whom came the 12 tribes of Israel. God provided succeeding generations more details about His purpose for Israel and how He intended to fulfill His grand design for them.
# 15 _This commitment by mankind's Creator is the thread that links the various parts of the Scripture together. It enhances the meaning and gives structure to the Bible. Even the mission of Christ is a continuation of this promise. Almost 800 years after Israel sisappeared as a nation, the apostle Paul described gentiles (non-Isralites) who are "without Christ" as "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world"
(EPHESIANS 2:12)
# 16 _That's strong language, but it underscores the importance of God's commitment to Abraham and that Paul recognized that Israel, including the lost 10 tribes, continued to exist. If Paul had been talking only about the Jews, the tribes comprising the southern kingdom, he would have spoken of Judah, not Israel. Paul then clarifies His meanings. "In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (EPHESIANS 3:5__6), How can all peoples share in the promises God made to Abraham through Jesus?? Paul explains, "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (GALATIANS 3:29). This means that God must graft all who become His servants into the family of Abraham, and God has bound Himself by a series of covenants to accomplish this (ROMANS 11:13__27). God's promise to Abraham was not limited to a small and ancient people in the Middle East. It extends far into the future, and it is not limited by national boundaries. From the beginnning, God designed this promise to bring blessings to all nations. That is His purpose. That is what He will accomplish.
# 17 _WHY GOD SELECTED ABRAHAM !!!
Why did God choose Abraham to be His servant and, through him, bring ancient Israel into existence as a nation? What did God have in mind, and why did He call Abraham into His service at that particular time in history? After the Flood in the days of Noah, the earth's inhabitants once again began to turn their back on God. By Abraham's time all peoples had again grown corrupt. God then set in motion a major aspect of His plan to offer salvation to mankind. Selecting Abraham was a crucial step in God's long-term plan to turn all nations back to Him. The remainder of the Bible is woven around His plan to reconcile all humanity to Himself.
# 18 _You may remember that shortly before the Flood "God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for allthe people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth"' (GENESIS 6:12__13). God spared only Noah and his wife and their three sons and their sons' wives.
# 19 _Then, shortly after the Foold, when humanity again began to oppose theway of God, the Tower of Babel became the symbol of their rebellion (GENESIS 11:1__9). In the context of this rebellion, and the founding of the city-state system of human governance accompanying it, God initiated a new phase in His plan to lead all nations to worship HIM. He decided to select one faithful man and develop his descendants into a group of influential nations chosen for the explicit purpose of teaching and illustrating HIS values and way of life. A part of that plan involves God's desire that all nations recognize the stark difference between these two conflicting ways of life. He wants every person to learn that His ways alone can consistently bring true and lasting blessings to all people.
# 20 _HOW GOD SHAPED ISRAEL'S FUTURE !!!!!!!!!
Many people are familiar with the story of God miraculously freeing the people of Israel from Egyptian bonage and making them into a nation. He performed many other miracles to accomplish this. Not so familiar, however, are other miracles demonstrating that God personally oversaw the fulfillment of the promises He had made to Abraham.
# 21 _The miraculous births of Isaac and Jacob, Abraham's son and grandson, also are important milestones. It was through them that God gave the 12 tribes of Israel the promises He made to Abraham. By these miracles God demonstrated that the nation of Israel could never have come into existence without His intervention.
# 22 _Consider the birth of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham's wife, Sarah, remained childless through decades of their marriage. Yet God intervened and miraculously gave Abraham and Sarah a Son when she was well beyond the normal childbearing age. Later Isaac, 20 years after he and his wife, Rebekah, married, also had no children. Finally, when Isaac was about 60, he prayed for his barren wife. Rebekah miraculously conceived and gave birth to twins, Esau and Jacob (GENESIS 25:21, 26).
# 23 _What important lesson can we glean from these miracles? God showed the descendants of Abraham they could succeed in the calling and mission He gave them only if they relied on divine help. That is a hard lesson for human beings to learn. That difficult lesson is written in the successes and tragedies of the people of Israel.
# 24 _The writers of the Bible have already recorded much of it so all peoples can learn from Israel's example. From Abraham God miraculously formed a nation to illustrate to every other nation the benefits that come from obeying Him and the tragedies that come from disobeying Him. Israel has been an example of both. Its part in God's great plan is far from finished. Israel's finest hour still lies ahead.
# 25 _CHOSEN FOR SERVICE _God created all peoples on earth "from one blood" (ACTS 17:26). The story of the Israelites is the story of a single family the Creator God chose for His service out of all the earth's peoples. Although the Israelites were a chosen people, in no way were they to be considered a superior people__ either in antiquity or now. The apostle Peter later explained that "in every nation anyone who fears [God] and does what is right is acceptable to him" (ACTS 10:34__35) This has always been true.
# 26 _Some may assume God chose to work with Abraham and his decendants because they were in some way greater or innately better than other people. That simply wasn't the case. God deliberately chose to work with a small group of people who had no international prominence. Notice what God said to ancient Israel: "The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers . . . Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments" (DEUTERONOMY 7:7__9; compare 1 CORINTHIANS 1:26__29).
# 27 _God chose Abraham for a particular Job. But He also tested Abraham to see if he would be faithful to Him. Abraham passed those tests. God then began using him because he believed and trusted his Creator. "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness"' (Roman 4:3; compare GENESIS 15:6). God forged ancient Israel, under His careful guidance, from 12 related tribes, or extended families, whose ancestors were Abraham, his son Isaac and Isaac's son Jacob.
# 28 _Abraham's extended family grew into an even greater multitude, the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob. God made them a nation and entered into a covenant relatioship with them. Collectively they became known as "Israel," "the sons of Israel" or "the children of Israel." Israel was another name for Jacob. When God began to work directly with Jacob He named him Israel, meand "one who prevails with God" or "a prince with God" (GENESIS 32:24__30). Israel's descendants were also to be known as "the seed of Abraham," "the House of Isaac," "the House of Jacob" or simply "Jacob"__and by their individual tribal names of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Benjamin and Joseph. The patriarch Jacob later adopted Ephraim and Manasseh, his grandsons through his son Joseph, as his own sons in regard to his inheritance. As a result, the nation of Israel has historically been said to consist of either 12 or 13 tribes, depending on whether the descendants of Joseph are counted as one tribe (Joseph) or as two (Ephraim and Manasseh).
# 29 _PROMISES OF HISTORIC IMPORTANCE !!!!!
As God worked with abraham He expanded the series of convenant commitments between them. These commitments were based on the most important and far-reaching series of promises and prophecies ever delivered by God to a human being. The later prophets of Israel, Jesus apostles and Jesus Himself all regarded these promises as the foundation of their work (ACTS 3:13, 25). Again notice what God told the patriarch Abraham: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (GENESIS 12:2__3; also note GENESIS 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14).
# 30 _The most important blessing ever to be made available to all nations through Abraham's "seed," we later learn from the apostles, is the blessing of erternal life through Jesus Christ (ACTS 3:25__26; GALATIANS 3:7__8, 16, 29). Through His mother, Mary, Jesus was born a Jew, of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of Abraham (HEBREWS 7:14). His sacrifice opens the door to the people of all nations to enjoy a relationship with the God of Abraham. When people of my age race or background enter into a covenant relationship with Christ, they, too, become Abraham's seed. As Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28__29: "There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
# 31 _Thus, from the beginning of God's interaction with Abraham, it becomes increasingly clear that God's objective is to make salvation available to all. The remainder of the Bible reveals many more details of how God will fully implement this plan. But we find it foundation in the book of Genesis in the promises God gave Abraham. The Bible reveals many aspects of God's master plan for the salvation of mankind. The spiritual dimension of His promise to Abraham is only one part of the story. As physical beings we function in a physical world. Therefore God often achieves His spiritual goals through physical means such as giving or taking away physical blessings__using the principle of rewards for good behavior and punishment for sin.
# 32 _For example, we need to consider why God promised to make of Abraham a "great nation" (GENESIS 12:2). Many modern students of the Bible fail to understand the importance of this great physical promise. Critics of the Bible simply scoff at it altogether because they think the people of Israel never amounted to more than a pair of insignificant kingdoms at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. But they are wrong. God doesn't lie (TITUS 1:2). He keeps His promises. We will soon see why and how God fulfilled this particular promise of national greatness to Abraham.
# 33 _PROMISES OF GREAT NATIONAL AND MATERIAL BLESSINGS !!!!!!!! _From Genesis 12 through 22, seven passages describe the promises God gave and reconfirmed to Abraham. In the initial account (GENESIS 12:1__3) God told Abraham to leave his homeland and family. This was the first condition Abraham had to meet before he could receive the promise. When Abraham willingly obeyed, God them promised to bless him and make his name great. His progeny would also become great. (As we will see, the results of this promise would rank among the world's greatest historical developments.) A few verses later God appeared to Abraham and promised his descendants the land of Canaan (verse 7). God's promises unequivocally included material aspects__physical land and possessions.
# 34 _Genesis 13 provides more details about the promises. After the account of Abraham's willingness to give the fertile plain adjoining the Jordan River to his nephew Lot (verses 5__13), God, in turn, promised all of the land of Cannaan to Abraham forever (vreses 14__17), indicating that the temporal and eternal aspects of His promise were closely related. Although Abraham was still childless, God also promised that his descendants would be counted "as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then [Abraham's] descendants also could be numbered" (verse 16). The immense scope of this promise__the almost limitless expansion of Abraham's descendants__should not be taken lightly. As we will see, it has enormous implications. About a decade later God again appeared to Abraham in a vision. Notwithstanding that he still had no offspring, God again promised him an heir__and this heir, said God, would come "from your own body" (GENESIS 15:4).
# 35 _An incredible mulititude of people would develop from that heir, Isaac. "Then [God] brought [Abraham] outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them...So shall your descendants be'''(verse 5). How did Abraham respond? "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness" (verse 6).
# 36 _Abraham's confidence that he could trust God to keep His word__even far into the future__was one of the reasons God loved Abraham. God chose him to be not only the father of several mighty nations but "the father of all those who believe" (ROMANS 4:11). God was working out a dual role for faithful Abraham. A few verses lather God promised him not only innumerable descendants but all the territory stretching "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates" (GENESIS 15:18). This swath of territory covered much more land than the land God included in His original promise of the land of Canaan (GENESIS 12:6__7; 17:8; 24:7).
# 37 _GOD EXPANDS HIS PROMISES - As Abraham further demonstrated his faithfulness, God expanded the scope of His promise to him. Ultimately they involved far more than He had originally revealed. The most detailed accounting of God's astounding promises to Abraham appears in Genesis 17. "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My coverant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly . . . As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
# 38 _'''No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I gave to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God'''(verses 1__8).
# 39 _ As with earlier statements of this promise, God's blessing was still conditional and based on Abraham's obedience and commitment to maturing spiritually. Here God again reminds him of this by saying, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blamless" (verse 1; compare Matthew 5:48).
A "GREAT NATION" IS EXPANDED TO "MANY NATIONS"
Remember that an important part of God's promise was to greatly multiply Abraham's descendants. Here God emphasized this yet-to-be reality by renaming the patriarch. Up to this point he had been known as Abram. God now told him: "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations" (GENESIS 17:5). As mentioned earlier, Abram means "exalted father," but Abraham means "father of a mulitude."
# 40 _God elaborated on this aspect of His promise: "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you" (verse 6; See also verses 15__16). God continued: "Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God ... You shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations" (verses 8__9). The account in Genesis 17 establishes God's commitment to Abraham as an "everlasting covenant" (verses 7, 13, 19), a binding agreement obligating God to give the patriarch's descendants the land of Canaan in perpetuity (verse 8). God's commitment to Abraham was major and far-reaching.
# 41 _The sixth account of God's promise to Abraham appears in Genesis 18 in a setting immediately before the destruction of the sin-infested cities of Sodom Gomorrah. Abraham's angelic guests__messengers with news about the divine punishment to come on the two cities__reconfirmed the soon-coming birth of a son to the 99-year-old Abraham and his wife, Sarah, 10 years his junior (verses 10__14).
# 42 _With God promising that He would not "hide" His intintions from Abraham (GENESIS 18:17; AMOS 3:7), the angels then visiting the aged patriarch affirmed the promises that Abraham would "surely become a great and mighty nation"__a physical, material and national commitment of immense scope. They also reconfirmed the messianic promise that "all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (GENESIS 18:18). Dramatically fulfilling the promise, about a year after this encounter Sarah gave birth of Isaac (GENESIS 21:1__3). First Abraham had proven himself faithful to God. Now, miraculously, God proved His faithfulness to His commitment to Abraham.
# 43 _ABRAHAM'S SUPREME TEST __The climax of these seven accounts of God's promises appears in Genesis 22. Here we find one of the most significant events in the Bible. This is God's final elaboration to Abraham of His promise. In this account Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac foreshadows the foundational event of God's plan to offer salvation to all__God's willingness to offer His only Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice (JOHN 3:16__17). Earlier we noted that God's promises were dependent on Abraham's continued obedience (GENESIS 12:1; 17:9). But after the events of Genesis 22 God transformed His coveant with Abraham by elevating it to a new level__and with good cause.
# 44 _God told Abraham to take Isaac, the son of the promise (ROMANS 9:9), and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah (GENESIS 22:2). Abraham's supreme test of faith had arrived. By this time in his life Abraham had learned to trust God implicitly. He had long experienced God's wisdom, truth and faithfulness. He proceeded to do as he was told, only to be miraculously stopped at the precise moment he would have slain his son (verses 9__11). We can learn serveral profound lessons from this incident. First, God__whether in ancient or modern times__has never sanctioned worshipping Him with a human sacrifice. Second, God prohibited Israel from following the pagan practice of offering firstborn children as sacrifices to idols. Human sacrifice was part and parcel of the Mesopotamian society from which Abraham was called, as well as the nations around him. But God made sure his faithful sevant would not actually slay his son, although Abraham did not know in advance what God had in mind.
# 45 _In the next verse God's words reveal what He really wanted to find out about Abraham: "Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (verse 12). In his willingness to obey the living God, Abraham had proven that he would relinquish that which was most precious to him, his only heir (verse 16; compare JOHN 3:16). God did not want Abraham's son as a sacrifice. But He did want to know if Abraham trusted Him enough to make the hardest choice God could put before him. Abraham passed the test.
# 46 _Third, Abraham's behavior demonstrated he was a man fit for the role of "father of all those who believe" (ROMANS 4:11__22; GALATIANS 3:9; HEBREWS 11:17__19)__that he was a suitable founder of the family of countless descendants who could become the people of God (GENESIS 18:19). However, God could not complete the plan He initiated through Abraham without involving the problem of human sin, and that problem would later require the sacrifice of humanity's Redeemer__Jesus the Messiah, the Lamb of God (JOHN 1:29).
# 47 _GOD'S COMMITMENT BECOMES UNCONDITIONAL _At this point God's promises to Abraham__physical and spiritual__became unconditional. His words, "By Myself have I sworn" (GENESIS 22:16), show that the fulfillment of the promise no longer depended on Abraham. The fulfillment of the promise would now depend solely on God Himself. He unconditionally committed Himself to fulfill His promise to Abraham and his descendants. God puts His own truthfulness and integrity on the line in these commitments. He has unconditionally bound Himself to bring all of His promises to pass in all their details. Because we understand the unconditional nature of God's promises, we have a better picture of what to look for down through history concerning the descendants of ancient Israel. Since God cannot annul His promise to Abraham because He will not break His word (NUMBERS 23:19), every detail in His promises becomes a guide in our search for the identity of the lost 10 tribes of Israel after their exile.
# 48 _Genesis 22 concludes with God restating the central elements of His commitment to Abraham: "Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the ate of their enemies" (verse 17). These physical, material and national blessings continue as clues to the identity of Abraham's modern descendants.
# 49 _God continued: "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (verse 18).
The apostle Paul, commenting on this verse many centuries later in Galatians 3:16, explains that this promised blessing refers to Jesus Christ: "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ." Through Christ, as the Seed of Abraham, God would make salvation available to the whole of humanity (JOHN 3:16).
HOW JACOB BECAME ABRAHAM'S HEIR !!!!!!
# 1 _God chose Jacob, the second-born of Isaac's twins, to receive the birthright inheritance that is usually reserved for the firstborn. This bestowed on him the right to become the family's patriarch upon Isaac's death (GENESIS 25:29__34). The birthright blessing made Jacob the direct heir of Abraham and the recipient of the divine commitments to Abraham and his posterity.
# 2 _At the time Jacob received the blessing, he still had not committed himself to live by faith in God. Though God had designated Jacob as heir of Abraham's blessing shortly before his birth (verse 23), Jacob and his mother were both weak in faith and resorted to deceit to obtain the blessing from Isaac (GENESIS 27). This earned Jacob the hatred of his brother. Esau seethed with anger and set out to kill him (verse 41). Their mother heard about Esau's plans, so she asked Isaac to send Jacob to stay with relatives far away so he would be safe
(vesrses 42__46).
# 3 _So Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob back to Rebekah's family in nothern Mesopotamia. Apparently the only reason they mentioned to their large household was that they wanted Jacob to find a wife from among Rebekah's relatives. This was true, but Rebekah was also trying to prevent Esau from killing Jacob.
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