Great and Precious (5)

“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

God on his side
Thus far we have seen two pairs of promises that outline the exceedingly great and precious covenant promises of God, first declared to Abraham, recalled to Israel in captivity, and now available to all who share the faith of Abraham by believing in Jesus Christ as our covenant-keeping Savior and King.

A third pair of promises so enticed Abraham that he preferred them to the comfort and security of his wealthy and successful existence in Ur of the Chaldees. These relate to the way that God intended to protect Abraham, to provide for him, and to ensure a legacy for him throughout the course of history.

As a blessed people, a great nation with a powerful name and blessings to spread around, Abraham and his descendants would attract the attention of many nations and peoples. Some would be eager to support and assist Abraham; others would threaten to dominate him. But God promised to bless those nations that treated him favorably and to curse all those who treated him with dishonor.

God, that is, promised to meet all Abraham’s needs and to care for him intimately.

A legacy of blessings
In this dual promise we can discern God’s determination to protect and provide for Abraham, as well as for all those who would follow by faith in the pathway of divine promise. The additional promise that Abraham would be a blessing to all the families of the earth encouraged him to believe that his greatness and power to bless would reach around the earth and down through the corridors of history. His would be a secure and far-flung legacy of blessings.

That same legacy of promises is ours to claim today, beginning in our own spheres and callings.

It’s no wonder Abraham left his secure home and country to follow God’s leading in pursuit of these promises. The prospect of an eternal relationship of friendship with God, of being able to extend that relationship to others, of being the first of a vast and numerous people who know the blessing of God, of having the powerful Name of God with which to persuade and influence others, the promise of God’s care and provision, and of an ongoing and globe-spanning legacy – these exceedingly great and precious promises certainly dwarfed anything Abraham might have been able to dream up by himself.

And they’re greater and more precious than anything we might be able to conjure as well.

Abraham believed God
But laying hold on those promises in the day-to-day grind of trusting in God was not always a smooth road. There were many temptations and a few blind alleys, wrong turns, and botched opportunities. But Abraham persevered, his mind firmly set to gain what God had offered, and to settle for nothing less. He believed God, the Scriptures tell us, and so conformed his daily life in all its details toward the realization of God’s promises. It took time for the first of God’s promises to be realized, but then the floodgate cracked open, and the blessings continue pouring through today.

As Abraham believed God and lived toward His promises, so also God commanded His people in Babylon. They were to seek Him, to hope in His promises, and to live toward those promises by being a blessing to the people among whom they lived. God made better promises to Israel in Babylon – great things and mysteries they had never known – and He has made even better promises to us who believe in Jesus Christ.

We who share in the faith of Abraham are also encouraged to reach for these same great and precious promises. The promises made to Abraham are our promises, all of us who believe in Jesus Christ. For in Christ all the promises of God are “Yes!” and “Amen!” (2 Cor. 1.20) And He makes those exceedingly great and precious covenant promises even better than they were because they are guaranteed by His life, death, resurrection, and reign at the Father’s right hand.

Jesus guarantees God’s covenant. Nothing can separate us from Him, or from the better promises He offers, so long as we look to Him in faith and persevere, day after day, in living toward the precious and very great covenant promises of God.

We can know life as God intends it, life in all its fullness of meaning, purpose, joy, power, and peace. But we will only know it when we set aside our own promises and go in pursuit of God’s.

For reflection
1.  How do you see that God is faithful to His promises of provision and protection, even in our day?

2.  God’s promises moved Abraham to leave his “comfort zone” and strike out in unfamiliar directions. What would our lives look like if we lived toward the promises of God like Abraham did?

3.  What does Paul mean by saying that all the promises of God are “Yes!” and “Amen!” in Jesus? How should knowing this guide our walk with and work for the Lord?

Next steps – Conversation: Blessing, greatness, provision: great promises, indeed! Talk with some Christian friends. What is their approach to aiming for, living by, or laying hold on those precious and very great promises?

T. M. Moore

This is part 2 of a 5-part series, Living toward the Promises. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here. You can learn more about living toward the promises of God by ordering a copy of the book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. In this course T. M. Moore provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in an age in flight from God such as ours. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.