“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)
In Genesis 12 God blessed Abraham when He called him: “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 12:2-3)
Some Replacement theologians claim that this blessing of Abraham belongs to all of Abraham’s children including the Arabs, who claim they are descendants of Ishmael. We clearly see from the Scriptures that this is not true. Even though Ishmael was also blessed, Abraham sent him away in order that he would not inherit Abraham’s blessing and promises together with Isaac, see Ge 21:9-14.
In Genesis chapter 27 we see that out of Isaac’s two sons, it is Jacob and his descendants, the Jewish people, and not Esau and his descendants that received Abraham’s blessing and the special promise: “Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!” (Ge 27:29)
And what is the situation today? Has God removed the special blessing over the descendants of Jacob, the people of Israel? The answer is clear no! That God’s special blessing and promises to the Jewish people is still there today, even after the death and resurrection of Messiah is very clear from many passages from the writings of the Apostles. Maybe the clearest is found in Acts 3. Peter is preaching to the Jewish people in the Temple in Jerusalem and he begins by first saying to them:
“But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” (Ac 3:14-15)
What a serious charge! But Peter did not stop there. He continued:
“And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.” (v. 17-20)
The death of Yeshua was according to God’s for ordained plan and will. Peter then continued:
“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.’” (v. 25)
It cannot be more clear. The promises and blessings given to Abraham, which continued through Isaac and Jacob and then to his descendants the Jewish people, are still there also after the cross. Paul wrote: “But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Ro 11:28-29) Let no theologian tell you differently!
The good news are that through faith in Messiah, Gentiles have been grafted in to inherit the promises together with Israel. (Eph 3:6) But they have never been removed from the Jewish people as a nation.
