“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Ge 12:1-3)
This is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption for the whole world. The first book of the Apostolic Scriptures begins: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Mt 1:1)
The redemption story is connected to a specific land. God said to Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (v. 1) This geographical is important. The Messiah told His disciples: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Lk 24:47)
This is also how God’s program of salvation for the world will end: from Jerusalem and the land of Israel.
“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isa 2:1-3)
This is why Israel is called the Holy Land (Ps 78:54 and Zec 2:12) and Jerusalem is called the Holy City (Neh 11:1,18, Isa 52:1, Dan 9:24, Mt 4:5;27:53, Rev 11:2;21:2;22:19). It is the place that God has chosen in the earth to bless the whole world.
The promise to Abraham was repeated to his Isaac and not to Ishmael. God told Isaac:
“Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Ge 26:3-5)
Then the promise was given to Jacob and all his descendants and not to Isaac’s other son Esau. God said to Jacob:
“I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Ge 28:13-14)
We see that in all three cases the land is promised to them and their offspring will bless every family of the earth. Isaac also told Jacob before he died: “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Ge 27:29)
Is this specific promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants the same in the new covenant “after the cross”? Yes it is! Peter said to the Jews gathered to pray in the Temple in Jerusalem:
“You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’” (Ac 3:25)
It cannot be said more clearly. The land the promises still stand. The Jewish people are still God’s chosen people! Don’t let any theologian or preacher lie to you. Nothing has changed in the new covenant. Paul expressed it this way:
“… as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. … For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” (Ro 11:28-29; 15:8)
God said further to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Ge 12:3) This is the new ESV translation, which is more accurate in this verse than most other translations included the traditional King James. God says about the Jewish people: “him who dishonors you I will curse.” It is enough to dishonor the Jewish people to deserve God’s curse. May we learn to fear God!
Today the Jewish people are hated again like never before. Islam wants to kill all of them. Right now, the Jews in Jerusalem, including women and children are targeted by murderous terrorists in the streets, in buses, in alleys and walkways. The Palestinian Authority teaches the school children how to stab Jews to death (see this video). And the world once again says nothing it. This is outrageous. We must not remain silent but speak up about this injustice in every way we can! And we must stand with Israel and the Jewish people in every way we can. They are still God’s chosen people destined to bless the whole world even more than what they already have.
