The Foreshadowing of God’s Promises To Us That Were Fulfilled in Christ # 4

Today we will learn about Abraham who was also a ‘type’ of Christ

C.F Romans 5: 14b

Imprinted in Abraham, God was foreshadowing the promise of His blessing to all the nations through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior

In the early part of his life Abraham was called Abram

From Adam to Noah there were 10 Generations and 1, 000 years

From Noah to Abram there were also 10 Generations but only 292 years

Genesis 11: 26 ‘After Terah was 70 years old, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.’

These time periods tell us that Noah was still alive when Abram was born; in fact, Noah died when Abram was 58 years old, approximately 2, 000 BC

Now, let’s come to the Abraham narrative

Genesis 12: 1-9

Genesis 12: 1-3 God called Abram to leave his home in Haran and move to the land of Canaan and made several promises to him including, ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed through you’

Genesis 12: 4-6 Abram, who was now 75 years old when he left for Canaan with his family and upon arrival set up camp at Shechem

Genesis 12: 7-9 Then the Lord appeared to Abram for the first time and promised to give the land to him and his descendants. Then Abram set up an altar and dedicated it to the Lord. As Abram explored more of the land, he set up another dedicated altar and for the first time he worshipped the Lord

24 years later when Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to him again

Genesis 17: 1-22

Genesis 17: 1-4 God confirmed to Abram that He would give him ‘countless descendants’ and make him the ‘father of a multitude of nations!’

Genesis 17: 5-6 To reflect these promises God changed Abram’s name, which means ‘high father’ to Abraham which means ‘father of many nations’

Genesis 17: 19b, 21 Then God said to Abraham that Sarah his wife would have a son whom they should name Isaac and in Isaac the promises that God made to Abraham would continue through him and his descendants

Genesis 17: 20 As for Abraham’s other son Ishmael, God said that He would bless him too and make him a great nation, but His promise to bless the nations would be through Isaac, not Ishmael

Then 3 angels, one of them being the Angel of the Lord, appeared to Abraham and again confirmed God's promises to him

Genesis 18: 1-19

Genesis 18: 1-2 ‘For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.’

Genesis 18: 17-18 ‘Should I hide my plan from Abraham?’ the Lord asked. ‘For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him’

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born

Genesis 21: 1-3

About 17 years after Isaac was born the Lord tested Abraham’s faith and called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah

Genesis 22: 1-2

About 1,000 years after Abraham King David purchased Mt. Moriah in preparation for the new Temple that his son Solomon would build

2 Chronicles 3: 1-2

Here in this Abraham narrative, please notice that God considered Isaac to be Abraham’s (V2) ‘only son’ even though Abraham had another son, Ishmael.

Once again God was confirming to Abraham that Isaac not Ishmael was the promised son through whom the Lord would bless a multitude of nations

And as Abraham was ready to sacrifice his ‘only son’ by the shedding of his blood, so God the Father was prepared to sacrifice His ‘only Son’ Jesus Christ by the shedding of His blood; this time as a sacrifice for our salvation

Genesis 22: 3-10

C.F John 3: 16 ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.’

And as Isaac the ‘only son’ was ready and willing to obey his father and lay down his life, so Jesus Christ the ‘only Son’ was ready and willing to lay down His life for our salvation

Genesis 22: 6b, 9

C.F John 10: 17-18 “The Father loves Me because I sacrifice My life so I may take it back again. No one can take My life from Me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what My Father has commanded.”

As Abraham passed the test of faith, God spared His ‘only son’ and in Isaac’s place God provided a sheep for Abraham to sacrifice

And of course, 2, 000 years later God did NOT spare His ‘only Son’ but sent Him to die on Mt. Calvary in Jerusalem as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins - the sins of ‘a multitude of nations’!

Genesis 22: 7-8, 12-13

John 1: 29 “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Ephesians 1: 7 ‘Through the blood of His Son, we are set free from our sins’. GW

Ephesians 1: 12-13 ‘God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles (‘a multitude of nations’) have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago’.

However, before His death on the cross, Jesus ministered in the Temple area many times and at one time He restated God’s promise made to Abraham that He would bless all the nations

Mark 11: 17a ‘He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’”

C.F Isaiah 56: 7

I am deeply grateful to the Lord that in 2022 Jennifer and I got to experience the fulfillment of that Scripture

For the last 2, 000 years as the Gospel has been preached around the World, the foreshadowing of God’s promises to us in Abraham were fulfilled in Christ

Colossians 1: 6 ‘This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace’.

C.F Matthew 28: 18-20; Acts 1: 8; Acts 2: 9-12; Acts 8: 1; Acts 9: 19-20; Acts 9: 33, 42-43; Acts 10: 1-48; Acts 11: 19-21; Acts 13-28; Acts 28: 28

Revelation 7: 9 ‘After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands’ NKJV