Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Abraham » God's covenant with
Abram was ninety-nine years old. Jehovah appeared to him and said: I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. I will establish my covenant between us. I will greatly increase your numbers. Abram fell on his face and God said to him: read more.
This is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. You will no longer be called Abram (Exalted Father). Your name will be Abraham (means Father of Many). I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as a long lasting covenant between us. It will be for your descendants after you, for the generations to come. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now a guest (alien) (foreigner) (stranger), I will give a long lasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God. Then God said to Abraham: As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision. It will be the sign of the covenant between us. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. This includes those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner, those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be a long lasting covenant. Any male not circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him. Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac. Sarah will bear him to you by this time next year. When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
This is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. You will no longer be called Abram (Exalted Father). Your name will be Abraham (means Father of Many). I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as a long lasting covenant between us. It will be for your descendants after you, for the generations to come. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now a guest (alien) (foreigner) (stranger), I will give a long lasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God. Then God said to Abraham: As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision. It will be the sign of the covenant between us. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. This includes those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner, those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be a long lasting covenant. Any male not circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. God continued: Do not call your wife Sarai any longer. Her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell to his face. He laughed and said to himself: Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? Abraham said to God: If only Ishmael might live under your blessing! God replied: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son! You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a long lasting covenant for his descendants after him. Concerning Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac. Sarah will bear him to you by this time next year. When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
You will give truth to Jacob, and show loving-kindness (unchanging love) to Abraham. For you have sworn this to our fathers from the days of old.
The promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world was not through the law but through righteousness by faith.
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcised for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers.
When God made a promise to Abraham, he could swear by no one greater then himself, so he swore by himself. He said: I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.
Abraham believed God and Jehovah considered his faith as his righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) You know that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture revealed ahead of time, that God justified the people of the nations by faith. He preached the good news beforehand to Abraham. He said: In you will all the nations be blessed. read more.
So then those who have faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. Those who are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, by obeying them. The fact that the Law justifies no man before God is evident. The righteous will live by faith. The Law is not based on faith. He that does them will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It is written; Cursed is everyone who is hung on a stake. This way the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations through Christ Jesus and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brothers, I speak like a man speaks: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He did not say to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. If the inheritance is based on the Law, it is no longer based on a promise. However God granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
So then those who have faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. Those who are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, by obeying them. The fact that the Law justifies no man before God is evident. The righteous will live by faith. The Law is not based on faith. He that does them will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It is written; Cursed is everyone who is hung on a stake. This way the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations through Christ Jesus and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brothers, I speak like a man speaks: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He did not say to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. If the inheritance is based on the Law, it is no longer based on a promise. However God granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise.
It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the freewoman. How is it that the son by the slave woman is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise? This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. read more.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10) Brothers, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is. She is in bondage with her children. The Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. It is written, Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and cry, you who do not labor; for there are more children of the desolate than of the one who has the husband. Brothers, we are children who belong to the promise, the same as Isaac was. Just like then, the son who was conceived in a natural way according to the flesh persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way. That is exactly what is happening now! What do the scriptures say? Throw out the slave woman and her son. For the son of the slave woman must not share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. (Genesis 21:10) Brothers, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.
The Covenant » Is unalterable
This is my promise to them,says Jehovah. My Spirit is on you and my words that I put in your mouth will not leave you. They will be with your children and your grandchildren permanently, says Jehovah
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah. I have compassion on you.
I will not dishonor my promise or alter my own agreement.
Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
The Covenant » Confirmed in Christ
Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
Israel » Living » Egypt » 430 years
God spoke to this effect, that his seed would be alien residents in a strange land. They would enslave them, and mistreat them for four hundred years.
Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
Jehovah said to Abram: Know this for sure; your offspring will be strangers (aliens) in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years.
The Israelites had been living in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. After exactly four hundred and thirty years all of Jehovah's people left Egypt in organized family groups.
the Law of moses » Could not disannul the covenant of grace made in Christ
Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
The promises of God » The law could not disannul
Now this I say: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.