March 15th, 2018

The Father of Faith

“Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’  So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”  Gal. 3:6-8

Paul describes Abraham as the father of faith.  Paul is stating that back in the days of Abraham, who chose in Gen. 15:6 to “believe in the LORD” that God counted it to Abraham for righteousness.  Abraham did not believe in himself, he believed in the word of the LORD.  He believed by faith – because he certainly did not see evidence of what the LORD was promising him.  The doctrine of faith starts with Abraham!  All who believe in the Lord have it counted to them as righteousness – which we call salvation by faith through grace.  It is notable that this covenant between God and Abraham was made 430 years before God gave the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. 

It is also noteworthy that Gen. 28:14 is repeated by Paul in Gal. 3:8: “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”    The covenant with Abraham is filled with the promise of God’s blessings.  Let’s consider just a few below.

• Personal Blessing – Gen. 12:2.  God promised Abraham “I will bless thee.”  This makes the covenant irrevocable.  Not only did He bless Abraham, but God also extended the same covenant blessing to Abraham’s son, Isaac, and to Jacob, and then to the nation, Israel.
• Blessing to Others – Gen. 12:2.  Another promise of God to Abraham was, “Thou shalt be a blessing.”  He was going to be blessed in order to be a blessing to others.  This is an important spiritual truth for us.
• Blessed by Others – Gen. 12:3.  “I will bless them that bless thee,” God promised.  This continued the river of blessings, expanded to those who blessed Abraham.
• Messianic Blessing – Gen 12:3.  What a blessing!  God promised Abraham “in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  Blessings would continue generationally and to all through the line of Abraham.  This included Isaac, Jacob, the nation Israel, David, and of course, Jesus Christ.  Both the natural seed line and the spiritual seed line would be blessed.  What a prophecy of the Jew and the Gentile receiving the blessing of God!