Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3

Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

  Galatians 3:6-9

These are two passages that also have direct correlation from old to new. And in these verses, we will find truth that can easily get overlooked yet, when received, becomes the backbone for our understanding in claiming the very promises of God, both in the Old and in the New. As Christians, the entire Bible is full of promises and they are ours to claim through faith in Jesus Christ. So let’s take a look at the blessings originally given to Abraham, then we will connect that historical account to the reality that Christians share all of the same blessings in Christ. 

God came to Abram (later Abraham) and gave him a set of instructions. He was to leave his homeland, leave his relatives, and his parents and was to travel to a land in which God would show him. Notice that God’s instructions were a call for Abram to leave before he even knew where he was going. How would you do with this? What if God told you to leave everyone and everything that you know, the comfort of your home and family, and take to the road? And by the way, when you ask God where it is that you’re going (which is something we would all want to know), God simply responds with, “I’ll let you know.” Would we be able to do that? Abram did and there would be blessings to follow. 

Among the statements of blessing that God gave Abram are, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” We will not go extensively into each of these statements but God was going to eventually make a covenant with a people known as the people of Israel. These people were descendants of Abraham, his son Issac, and his son Jacob (Israel). And it is this covenant that we read about all throughout the Old Testament of the Bible. It would be a binding covenant until God would bring in a new covenant that He would make through the cross of Jesus Christ, applicable to all who belong to Christ, Jew and Gentile alike (Hebrews 8-10). As the old covenant faded, the new covenant would become the agreement between God and humanity until the second coming of Christ, in which God will make all things new once again. But just because the old covenant is no longer in effect, the promises and truths that we see throughout are ours to enjoy. Why? Because the same God that established a covenant with the people of Israel is the same God that has brought about salvation in those who place their faith in the work of the cross accomplished by Christ’s obedience. So, this means that, as Christians, although we are not under the old covenant, we still enjoy the same promises as did the people of Israel. And this is all explained in our second passage, effectively connecting Genesis to Galatians, connecting old to new.

Righteousness By Faith

Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

    Galatians 3:6

Our righteousness in now by faith in Jesus Christ. Abraham was declared a righteous man because he believed God and was obedient to leave the comfort and familiarity of his home and relatives and set out for another country. It was his obedience that demonstrated his faith in God. So to, our willingness to obey the directives of God demonstrates whether or not we truly trust God. But what is righteousness? Take the first five (5) letters of the word and you have a solid definition of the word. Righteousness is being “right” with God. It means that we are no longer at enmity with God rather that we belong to Him and He considers us His sons and daughters. This is accomplished when we are born again and move from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is this spiritual transformation that is referred to in scripture as “being saved.” Consider the following, dealing with the issue of faith and righteousness:

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works…

    Romans 4:3-6 

Our faith in Jesus is credited to our spiritual account as righteousness. And this is done completely apart from works so that no one will boast before the Lord. It is because of God’s love, grace, and mercy that we have the opportunity to receive this free gift of salvation provided in Jesus Christ by faith (Romans 6:23). So Abraham was declared righteous (right with God) because he believed God. As Christians, the same is true for us.

Faith Is What Connects Us To Abraham

Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

  Galatians 3:7

When we read and study the Old Testament, we do so through the lens of the cross. We are not under the old covenant rather we are under the new. That’s why faith is the key! When we place our hope of eternal life on what Christ has done for us, we are firmly standing on the promises of God. That’s why Paul tells us that “those who are of faith” are “sons of Abraham.” And when Paul says, “those who are of faith,” he means those who belong to Jesus Christ. This directly connects us to the Old Testament, the life of Abraham, and all of the promises of God, both old and new. This is easily overlooked but it is the very reason why we study both Old and New Testaments, because all of the truths found in scripture apply to the life of believers in Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Preached To Abraham

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.”

  Galatians 3:8

Did you catch that? When God spoke to Abram in Genesis 12, He was actually preaching the “gospel” to him. God knew beforehand that he would make a covenant with Israel but also knew eventually that the new covenant would be established in Christ for all people groups, both Jew and Gentile (Romans 10:12-13, Ephesians 2:13-16). So the gospel was preached to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3), the gospel (good news) was preached to the people of Israel (Numbers 13-14, Hebrews 4:1-2), and the gospel is now preached to us (Romans 10:14-15). But like Abram, we have to enter into fellowship and a right relationship with God through faith and our faith is in the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ. But like the people of Israel, we forfeit our right to salvation and God’s best when we find ourselves living in unbelief. The gospel is preached and heard today, but this “hearing” of the gospel has to be united by faith in those who hear (Romans 10:14-15, Hebrews 4:1-2). And true faith, like in the life of Abram, is manifested and demonstrated in our willingness to believe the promises of God and be obedient to His instructions. 

Blessed With Abraham

So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

  Galatians 3:9

We conclude with the connecting verse linking us to the original promises made to Abraham and, by extension, his offspring. Again, when Paul says, “those who are of faith,” he is referring to “born again” believers in Jesus (John 3:3, 3:18). And when we are saved, we are not only “sons of Abraham” but we are also “blessed with Abraham,” referred to as “the believer.” This is the reason that Christians can claim all of the promises of God. They applied to the people of Israel under the old covenant and they apply to us, as Christians, under the new. 

Two Important Distinctions

We need to make two important distinctions between the old and new covenants found in scripture. First, the old covenant was only made between God and the people of Israel, the linage of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (Israel). God did not make this covenant with the Gentile nations, only the people of Israel. The new covenant is completely different however. God has now made a new covenant (the one we currently live under until the second coming of Christ) with anyone who will come to Christ by faith, both Jew and Gentile (Romans 10:12-13). 

The second distinction is that, under the old covenant, God would send His Spirit to be upon certain individuals at certain times. Under the new, and this is vitally important, at conversion, God gives us His Spirit to come live on the inside of our hearts (Acts 2:38, John 7:38-39, Ephesians 1:19, 3:16). The Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of Christ, then resides with us all throughout our lives on this earth. It is His presence in our lives that gives us the power to live our lives for Him and to see the miraculous. 

Faith and Blessings…they were Abrams and they are ours in Jesus Christ!

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

            Galatians 5:1