We are the people of Abraham. We don’t come from the same families or nations or ethnicities. We don’t have the same color skin or eyes. We don’t have the same cultures or backgrounds. The people of Abraham are ultimately not a race bounded by descent, but by faith.
In ancient times, God made a covenant (or promise) with Abraham, and God swore by Himself that He would keep it (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:1-8). Abraham couldn’t keep his end of the promise, and neither can we. The Old Testament proved this, as Abraham’s physical descendants, the people of Israel, failed and failed again morally. They kept trying to worship anything other than the One True God, and we do the same thing. We are sinners and desperately need God’s intervention. Fortunately, Christ, the physical descendent of Abraham, kept the promise for us, and we are secure in Him through faith (Galatians 3:16, 26-29).
Abraham didn’t just believe in God. He believed God could raise the dead (Hebrews 11:19). This is the faith that saved him, and this is the faith that saves us as Christians. We have all the more confidence, knowing God has raised Christ from the dead. Like Abraham, we believe God will raise our bodies from death, and we will die no more (Romans 8:11).
As Christians, our faith is more than two thousand years old. Abraham lived at the very dawn of civilization, and God has been adding to His family ever since. One day, the whole family will be together. Abraham will see the children God promised him, like the sand on the seashore. They will come from ancient times, the medieval period, and the modern era. They will come from the land Abraham settled and every other land under heaven.
Christ will gather them because He was the One who made the promise. • Kevin Zeller
• God’s covenant with Abraham required Abraham’s full obedience, but, as a sinner, Abraham couldn’t live in obedience. Instead, God counted Abraham’s faith in Him as sinlessness (or righteousness) (Genesis 15:6). It was as if Abraham had never sinned. How did God’s faithfulness to Abraham show what He was going to do through Jesus (Romans 4:1-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:8-9)?
• As a Christian, what does being in a family this huge mean to you?
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 (CSB)
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Hebrews 11:8-19
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