The Gospel Preached to Abraham

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed" (Gal. 3.8 RSV). The Gospel preached to Abraham! In what sense was the Gospel preached to the old patriarch, two thousand years before Christ? Jesus said of him "Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad" (John 8.56 RSV). What did Abraham back there in the middle of human history, see of the future day of Christ that gave him that happiness? We do not know all that God said to him in their hours of communion; we do have a definite statement that is the key to all God's outworking purposes in the realm of human history. "all peoples on the earth will be blessed through you" (Gen. 12.3 NIV). That promise runs like a golden thread through all the centuries since Abraham, confirming that at the last, in some sunlit day of the future, the tragedy of Eden will be rectified and all mankind enter into happiness. That implies the abolition of evil and the end of death. It demands that the prospect that stretched before the first man at the beginning, before sin and death entered, will be restored. Man will at the end enter upon the ages of eternity and life everlasting. That was the Gospel preached to Abraham, in outline, obscurely granted, but in sufficient detail to give him a basis for that faith which never left him to his dying day.

It was a long time before God elaborated on His promise. It was passed to Isaac (Gen. 21.12) and then to Jacob (Gen. 35.12) but it was not until Israel stood before God at Mount Sinai on their way to the Promised Land that the light began to shine. By then it was known and accepted that this foretold "seed of blessing" was to come through the line of Jacob (Ex. 19.3‑6). Neither Ishmael nor any other of the sons of Abraham, nor Esau the twin brother of Jacob, were included in this aspect of God's plan. Israel, the nation that sprang from the twelve sons of Jacob, was to carry the line on to the seed of blessing. In the meantime they themselves were to represent the things of God in a godless world and preserve His truth and His laws through coming generations. In a sense they were already to be a blessing to the nations and to that extent partake of membership of the promised Seed. "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples;… and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." is how the Lord described them, to declare His standards and His salvation to the ends of the earth.

Sadly, they failed at the outset. Despite their initial enthusiasm, "all that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient" (Exod.  24.7), they soon tired of the commission and demonstrated their unworthiness. But Moses their leader did not lose heart, and that was because he too, like Abraham six centuries before him, had received intimations of the Lord's future purposes in His talks with him at the top of the Mount. "The Lord said unto me…I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth.. . and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him" (i.e. call him to account - Deut, 18.15‑19 RSV). Where Moses had failed to preserve the nation's loyalty to its commission the new Prophet would succeed, but Israel must pass through a long period of sore travail first.

Fifteen hundred years later the Prophet appeared. Israel had never forgotten Moses' words. They waited and hoped for the promised Leader who would show them how to become the Seed of blessing. When John the Baptist appeared they sent to ask him if he was "that Prophet" who should appear in the Last Days (John 1.21,25,45), and John had to tell them he was not; he was only a herald of the One that was to come. But in the halcyon days of preaching immediately following the resurrection of Christ the fulfilment was made known. Peter, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminded his hearers of the prediction of Moses and told them that the promised Prophet had come in the person of the Lord Christ (Acts 3.18‑26). Jesus Christ had presented Himself to them, and been rejected by the majority. He had been accepted by the few, and had now returned to His Father until the time was ripe for the full realization of the promised blessing, and would then come to earth as the promised Seed of Abraham for the purpose of blessing all the nations of the earth. The heavens must receive Jesus, said Peter. "until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of a!! his holy prophets since the world began." At last and in the fulness of time the one whom Moses had foreseen in prediction and Abraham had beheld in vision had appeared amongst men for their salvation and would yet appear the second time for their eternal blessing.

Meanwhile another aspect of the promise was made known. Five hundred years after Moses came David, king of Israel. David, first of a royal line which the Lord said was to culminate in the promised Messiah, synonymous with the Prophet of whom Moses had spoken. Whereas Moses had spoken of his prophetic and priestly office as a teacher and pastor of the people, David was given a vision of his royal office as leader and King (2 Sam. 7.12‑16). Psalm 89 enshrines the Lord's words to David. He is the figurehead named in the psalm but it is easy to see that the allusions are to the greater David of the future. The first king of Israel, back there a thousand years before Christ, was just a representative or type. This coming King is anointed by God to his commission (vs. 20; see also Psalm 2). He is destined to be known as the firstborn Son of God and superior to all the kings of the earth. Phil. 2.9‑11 reiterates this, that He is supreme over all created things in heaven or on earth, and that to His name shall every knee bow and to His lordship every tongue confess. To the Ephesians Paul declared that He ascends far above all heavens, omnipresent in all things. (Eph. 4.10). He is to endure forever; his kingship is eternal (Psalm. 89.29‑37). All this is abundantly confirmed by virtually all the prophets and holy men of old time in their pen-pictures of the coming Millennial reign of Christ over the earth. Then all men will hear the Gospel proclaimed as it has never been proclaimed before, and the consequent blessings follow the conversion and reconciliation to God of those who respond to that Gospel appeal, will make the original promise to Abraham a glorious reality.

In a third sphere of thought this great Prophet and King is also foreshadowed as a Priest. He is not a sacrificing Priest like the Levitical order headed by Aaron, the brother of Moses, but a royal Priest whose office begins after all the suffering and sacrifice is over, one whose mission is to dispense blessing. David, again, foresaw this in Psalm 110 where he pictures Christ as a "Priest for ever after the order of Meichizedek". Melchizedek was a combined king and priest "of the Most High God" in Canaan in the days of Abraham. All that is known of him is that in the exercise of his kingly and priestly duty he dispensed gifts to men. Even Abraham acknowledged his superiority. David, and later on the writer of the Book of Hebrews make him on this account a picture of Christ. This was not in His coming to earth to die for man's sin for that was represented in the office of Aaron, but in His resurrection glory when He comes again in the power of His kingdom to bring blessings to mankind. Hence Psalm 110 has to do with the Second Advent and the Millennial reign of Christ, when He will, as the Psalm says, overthrow all His enemies, the forces of evil, and establish justice in the earth. Psalm 72 has a lot to say about this. "In his days shall the righteous flourish and (there shall be) abundance of peace..., men shall be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed..., and let the whole earth be filled with his glory".

The promised Seed of Abraham that is ultimately to bless all families of the earth, then, is Christ. Christ, at His Second Advent, when He comes to wind up the affairs of earth now under the rule of man, a rule which has brought misery, disaster and finally utter ruin upon the world we know. Christ, at His Second Advent, when He comes to establish what Peter calls "a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness" (2 Pet. 3.13), will bind Satan that he deceives the nations no more (Rev. 20.1‑2). He will restrain evil in the earth so that nothing shall hurt nor destroy (Isa. 11.9). He will lead all men to the point of decision, for an option for conversion and acceptance of Christ. They will have the opportunity with the consequent outcome of eternal life or death, so that ultimately the whole creation shall be purged of sin; these are the blessings to be dispensed by the Seed of Abraham, earth's Prophet, Priest and King, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham so many centuries ago. This is the Gospel preached to Abraham. There is a further factor. Paul, writing to the Galatians, showed that Christ is the promised Seed in the words "Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, 'And to offsprings,' referring to many, but referring to one 'And to your offspring', which is Christ' (Gal. 3.16). By this he indicated that not all of Abraham's eight or more sons were included in the promise, but only through one, Isaac, and so through David to Christ. But in Gal. 3.29 (RSV). Paul goes on to say "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise". In that brief sentence Paul uncovers one of the deepest truths of the New Testament, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is associating with himself a company comprising those who have been his consecrated and dedicated followers in this life. As a Body to a Head, his Church is to serve with him in the administration of the promised blessings to all in the age to come. This is what John meant when he saw in vision of the glorified Church reigning with Christ a thousand years (Rev. 20.4). This is what our Lord Himself meant when He said to His disciples "Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19.28 NRSV). That emphasizes the supreme fact that the call to Christians in this day and Age is to complete dedication of life and talents and possessions to the Lord Jesus Christ and His service, that at the end they may be included in that elect company which shall possess the privilege of bringing blessings to all the families of the earth.

TH