[Prayer]  Father we give Thee thanks for the privilege of opening the Scriptures and reading them and thinking about them and through them coming to know Thee in a clearer and a better way in a more fruitful way.  We thank Thee for the word of God and for the way in which Thou hast blessed us through it and we pray that others too may be blessed, as the Scriptures are unfolded.  Give us, Lord, the mind to think clearly and the heart to respond purely and fruitly to Thy word.   We commit this hour to Thee to that end. 

For Thy blessing through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

[Message]  Now, we are looking in our series at the biblical doctrine of historical covenants.  And what we mean by historical covenants is the covenants set forth in Scripture as historically grounded in the history in the word of God.  And the subject for tonight is “The Biblical Doctrine of the Historical Covenants:  The Abrahamic Covenant,” and our study passages are Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and Acts chapter 3, verse 12 through verse 26.  So why don’t you take your Old Testaments and turn with me to Genesis chapter 12, and we’ll read verses 1 through 3, before we begin and later on look a little bit more at chapter 15 and on into other Old Testament and New Testament passages. 

While you’re finding Genesis let me remind you of this that in our tape library, there are a number of studies, not only by me but by others on the Abrahamic covenant, and so in the series that I had drawn up, I had drawn it up as devoting three times to the Abrahamic covenant, but since we have in the past devoted a good bit of time to the covenant I thought it would be a little bit too repetitious to devote three of our Wednesday nights to it.  And so tonight I’m going to try to hit the high spots and just deal with the Abrahamic covenant one time.  So we will go rather rapidly.  I will expect that most of you already have some understanding some of the crucial points of the Abrahamic covenant.  If you don’t, I suggest that you go back and get some of the other tapes that unfold various parts of this covenant.  For example, in the series on Eschatology or the later exposition of the Book of Genesis, chapter 12 and chapter 15 and the exposition of Micah, chapter 5, chapter 7, all of these have the Abrahamic covenant set forth.  And then the Book of Acts in Acts chapter 3, the particular section that we’re going to look at briefly tonight that’s expounded in more detail in the Acts series, in Romans chapter 11, in the Romans series all of these have to do with the Abrahamic covenant.  But we are dealing with a doctrinal study and so we need to take it up briefly at least. 

Moses writes in chapter 12, verse 1 of the Book of Genesis.

 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’”            

There is no question but that Abraham is one of the greatest of the characters in the word of God.  In fact, one of my teachers has said that Abraham is the greatest human character in the Bible.  One reads the Old Testament and actually you could not understand the Old Testament if you did not understand the place that Abraham had in the history of the nation Israel.  And then strikingly when you come into the New Testament aside from Peter and Paul and John and eliminating the expressions like Moses wrote or Moses sayeth, which were not really things specifically concerning Moses as a character but rather simply about the Scriptures, Abraham’s name is the occurs the fourth most frequent in the New Testament; Peter, James John that is of the human characters and then Abraham.  That seems a bit surprising but that will give you an indication of how important in Scripture Abraham is.  The frequency of his name suggests his greatness.  He’s the pattern of justification by faith, one of the greatest of the messengers of the New Testament.  He is also rather surprisingly the pattern of the Christian life and one thinks of the Epistle to the Hebrews and there the greatest amount of space is devoted of that author to the significance of Abraham’s life as a life of faith. 

I was reading a review of a recent commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which I haven’t had a chance to get and read yet, but in Interpretation Magazine there was a review of a book by the professor by the name of Achtmeyer from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond Virginia, a very well-known man, and the author, who was a professor at Yale University in the religion department, comments concerning a statement that Achtmeyer makes.  And he said, “if we’re to share God’s blessing for all peoples” and these are the words of Achtmeyer, “we are going to have to get it through Abraham or we will not get it at all.”  And the professor from Yale objected a little bit to that particular statement thinking it was a little strong although he didn’t offer anything in rebuttal but, I think, really that Professor Achtmeyer is correct.  That if we’re going to share in the blessing that comes for peoples, we’re going to have to get it through Abraham or we’re not going to get it at all.

Now, what we mean by that is simply this that Abraham is the one whom God chose that the seed might come through him and furthermore, that he might be the means of blessing of all that is involved in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is himself the seed of Abraham and so you can see that how important Abraham is.  So if you are justified by faith well in that specific sense that it’s related to the promises God made to Abraham you’ve gotten it through Abraham.  Primarily, you get it through Abraham’s seed the Lord Jesus Christ but he comes as seed of Abraham.  So it’s obvious that Abraham is very important in the Scriptures.

Now, when we think about Abraham’s covenant and its relationship to eschatology we can say much the same thing.  In fact, one of my teachers once said a long time ago that the way one looks at Abraham’s covenant more or less settles the entire argument in eschatology.  So it’s important to have a concept of what is taught in the Abrahamic covenant, its unconditional character and also the Scriptures that have to do with its future fulfillment.

Now, the passage that we’ve read is the passage that I would like for you to think about as I say just a few words about the provisions of this covenant.  First of all, our capital A under our outline under the provisions of the Abrahamic covenant, one reads these three verses and then reflects upon them and then reflects upon other passages and that reflection makes it obvious that the parties to the covenant are God and Abraham.  When we think about the promises of the covenant we can look at them in this way.  We can, for example, look at them as personal promises to Abraham himself, “For the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.’”  So one of the first of the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant is the making of Abraham a great man.

Now, we have seen that in our comments concerning the New Testament frequency of his name that he’s the pattern of justification and also the pattern of the Christian life even though an Old Testament character himself.  That’s one of the Abrahamic covenant and it’s been noted by Bible teachers and students very often that Abraham shares a rather unusual transcendence in spiritual things.  Judaism, one of the great religions earth, thinks highly of Abraham regards him as their forefather. In Christianity, Abraham has a superior place because of just what we’ve been talking about and then in Islam Abraham also has a superior place and there he is called a friend of God just as he is called in Scripture.  So in the three great monotheistic religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Abraham is great in all of them.  So one can surely say God has made the name of Abraham great.

Now, he is also given other promises.  He says that he will take him out of his country and from his kindred and from his father’s house and he will give him a land.  Now, this national promises of a land for Abraham and for his seed is part of the promise of the word of God and of course, Scripture makes it very plain that this is an unconditional kind of promise and at the end of the Old Testament with Israel largely in disobedience to the Lord God these promises are still repeated as being valid in spite of their disobedience.  And the third of the promises given to Abraham could be called a universal kind of promise because in the third verse we read, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  So Abraham has personal promises.  He has national promises concerning the land and universal promises that touch not only the seed that comes through Isaac and Jacob but even Gentiles are included in the fundamental promises that are made to Abraham, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Now, perhaps it would be useful for us for a moment to think about the term seed of Abraham so that we understand clearly what is meant by that term because it doesn’t have a uniform usage.  Sometimes the term seed of Abraham is used of just people who are Jewish people; what we would call Jewish people Israelites.  They are seed of Abraham in the physical sense.  In John chapter 8 in verse 33, the Lord Jesus speaks of them in that way as being legitimately able to say of themselves that they are seed of Abraham but they’re a seed in the physical sense alone.  Then also the Scriptures speak of seed of Abraham in the sense of a spiritual descendant of Abraham, a spiritual partaker in the promises of justification by faith.  In Galatians chapter 3 in verse 29, 28 and 29, we have that set forth.  One might read verses 6 through 9, and then verses 28 and 29, where it’s plainly said that we are the seed of Abraham.  In fact, in Hebrews chapter 2 in verse 16, seed of Abraham there is singled out as being those who are truly children of Abraham by faith and the ones for whom Christ died as that context makes quite plain.  And then the term seed of Abraham is used of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Genesis chapter 3 in verse 16, Paul make it very plain that the ultimate reference to the seed is to the Lord Jesus and others are seed of Abraham by reason of their relationship to him.  So we have then these different senses of the term seed of Abraham.  Seed of Abraham in the physical sense seed of Abraham in the spiritual sense of justification by faith and that of the Lord Jesus Christ as the descendent of Abraham naturally in the sense of being a fleshly relative of Abraham’s but at the same time the supreme spiritual Son of God the one to whom all of the promises ultimately pertain and through whom all of the promises are to be fulfilled, he as the representative of the people of God.

Now, a question that comes when we think about the Abrahamic covenant is what kind of a covenant is it?  Is it an unconditional covenant or is it a conditional covenant?  Last week we looked at the Mosaic covenant and we sought to show that that was a conditional covenant.  In other words, there were conditions that Israel was expected to do in order to enjoy the benefits of that covenant and they had responsibilities; God had responsibilities and in the ratification in the covenant itself, there was a recognition of that for the blood was sprinkled upon the book as representing God and upon the altar as representing God and upon the book as representing people.  So that it was a conditional covenant and as you well know that covenant was broken by the children of Israel shortly after the ratification of it that is set out in Exodus chapter 24.  So now what is there about the Abrahamic covenant that might enable us to answer this question and of course, we turn to Genesis chapter 15 where the covenant was ratified and I’d like to ask you to turn there and we’ll read beginning at verse 7.

Now, Moses has just written in verse 6, concerning Abraham and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness.  And then we read on and he said, “And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, ‘Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?’ And he said unto him, ‘Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’  Then he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.”  By the way, remember that God had first called Abraham out during the night and asked him to look at the stars.  That gives you an inkling of the time and now he has told Abraham what he is to do with reference to the ratification of the covenant but notice the time Abraham is left waiting for a lengthy period of time.  Verse 10, “He took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down.”  Now, he’s been out there all day long.  “When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, ‘Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.’”  In other words, the promises await the future so far as Abraham is concerned.  “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”

Now, it doesn’t take any imagination if you’re a reader of the Scripture at all to realize that this is a theophany in symbolic fashion.  Now, when you think about what happens later and God protects the children of Israel with the pillar of fire at night and the pillar of cloud in the daytime then you can see that what we have here is God appearing in the form of smoking oven.  So the smoking furnace came and a burning lamp that passed between the pieces of the animals that Abraham had slain and put over against one another.  “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.’” It’s well known that Voltaire the French philosopher made fun of Exodus chapter 3 in verse 8, and the promises that God made to Abram.  He said that the Lord God promised a good land to the children of Israel, but actually it was not a very good land and it’s certainly was a very small land.  And so the God of Abraham must have been a very petty God.  But Voltaire, of course, hadn’t read the Bible very well and it’s true the Palestine of his day had about twelve thousand square miles but what God promised Abraham was a territory of three hundred thousand square miles.  So it is a beautiful and good and a land to be enjoyed.  So he says, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Now, the thing that we must note about this is that this is a unilateral ratification of a covenant.  Now, if you’ll go back and study the custom that is represented here, for example, in the Hebrew text, the expression to make a covenant is to cut a covenant, karath bariyth so that actually in the Greek text too because sunthitemai means to cut oaths or to make a covenant.  So the idea of making a covenant involved the idea of cutting in the semantics of that expression, the philology of it and even in Mari, a related tongue, to make a covenant the expression to slay an ass is used.  So the idea of cutting animals and dividing them is fundamental to the making of covenants.  And one will also find in Jeremiah chapter 34, a reference to the cutting of the pieces of the animals.  So the idea that is set forth is an idea that would have been well known.  I’d like for you to notice three things about it before we look at the significance of it though.  Abraham is forced at first to wait for a number of hours.  It had been nighttime.  It’s not until afternoon and as the sun is going down that something significant happens.

Now, that was designed to give Abram an indication of the fact that the covenant is not going to be fulfilled in the immediate future.  So the delay in the ratification of the covenant is meant to teach that there will be a delay in the fulfillment of it and Israel must pass through a period of disciplinary time.  And, of course, we know Israel’s history reflects that.  Furthermore, we read here that when the time did come for God to ratify the covenant Moses says a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and lo and horror fell upon him.  In other words, he had something similar to what we would say was a nightmare. 

Now, if you’ve ever had a nightmare, you know that that’s a terrible experience and so we are probably not pressing Scripture.  I, of course, wouldn’t want to try to defend this with somebody who just doesn’t see anything in the Bible, but we are probably not stretching Scripture at all because many sound commentators have referred to this.  That the fact that the terror and the horror of great darkness is associated with the ratification of this covenant suggests the judgment that is bound up in the ratification of it in reality in the future when the Lord Jesus Christ represented by this covenantal ratification dies upon Calvary’s cross.  So the terror and the horror of darkness is designed to suggest that the ratification of the covenant in reality not in type or not in illustration is a matter that involves the most serious and most painful of the divine judgmental discipline.  That’s the second thing and then of course, the theophany of God appearing as a smoking furnace and as Abraham saw this, this was the antecedent of what is ultimately, as I’ve suggested, the pillar of fire represented as a pillar of cloud in the day time but seen as a pillar of fire at night; the fire representing, of course, the nature of the Lord God.

Now, the animals were placed opposite one another.  The birds were not divided evidently because they were small and I said a moment ago that this was reflective of the customs of the times.  There’s a well-known illustration following the death of Alexander.  In my recollection, Alexander died around three 323 B.C.  After Alexander died remember there was quite a struggle among his generals to take his place and the one of the generals by the name of Perdiccas was the head of the cavalry of the army and Maliga another general was head of the infantry.  And they became so embroiled in the struggle with one another that they were almost ready to go to war these two parts of Alexander’s army, the infantry and the cavalry.  And, finally, an agreement was reached and what they did was to take a dog and they cut the dog in half.  They should have cut a cat in my opinion.  Emily Ray is not here tonight.  She loves cats.  You can give her my comment because she and I have had quite a few words about cats.  She loves cats.  I don’t like cats.  So a cat would have been ideal, in my opinion, but at any rate they took a dog and the dog was cut in half and then the infantry and the cavalry passed between the pieces in token of the fact that the two generals had made an agreement.  Well, now, that happened in history in the fourth century before our Lord but notice that a similar thing happens here with one outstanding exception and that is that Abram does not pass between the pieces only the smoking furnace passes between the pieces representative of the Lord God.  In other words, in the ratification of the Abrahamic covenant it was set out that this was a unilateral covenant.  Put in other terms it was an unconditional covenant. 

You know you cannot often get men as wide apart theologically as C.F. Kyle, an old Lutheran; and an orthodox German commentator and Gerhardt Von Rott a twentieth century liberal German commentator and Herman River Boss a Dutch New Testament scholar and H.C. Loophole a modern Lutheran commentator to all agree on anything.  It’d be very difficult to find them agreeing on anything but surprisingly these men all agree that the significant fact concerning the making of this covenant is that it is unilateral.  That is God passes between the pieces and Abraham is not invited to follow.  I’ve always liked Von Rott who is a liberal.  Von Rott says the striking thing about this is the utter passivity of Abraham.  But I like River Boss’s comment.  He says, “God passes between the pieces of the animals and Abram is the astonished spectator, astonished spectator.”  Well, I’m sure, as he reflected upon it, and this smoking oven passed between the pieces and he wasn’t invited to pass between the pieces it must have struck home to him that God was trying to say to him that he was going to fulfill that covenant and the ultimate fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant depends upon God.

Now, you would think that if you read something like that you wouldn’t have any problem with an unconditional covenant but sometimes other issues cause men to abandon even their own best principles.  Arthur Pink is known as a Calvinistic interpreter started out as a dispensationalist left dispensationalism finally became a Calvinistic interpreter and a covenant theologian.  Well, Professor Pink also became an amillennialist in his later years and abandon the premillenialist that he had early espoused and not going to try to settle that issue tonight I just want to comment on the fact Mr. Pink abandoned his own principles.  Of all the people who should believe in an unconditional covenant it is the Calvinists, because that’s the one thing that they try to say about the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ; that the New covenant and the covenant our Lord ratified in his own blood is an unconditional covenant God kinda taking upon himself to fulfill that covenant.  But if you can introduce a condition then you might thereby suggest that those promises regarding the land will not be fulfilled; those promises that are specifically related to the prophetic side of the word.  And Mr. Pink did not think really clearly on this point and suggested that there really was a condition in the Abrahamic covenant and that you could not say it was unconditional.  When asked to point out where the condition was in this chapter, he said it’s implied and, furthermore, he made a valid point that every passage of Scripture doesn’t give all the details that may pertain to what is being described.  That’s very true.  But there is no condition attached to the Abrahamic in this passage nor is there any condition later on that is attached to the fulfillment of the covenant.

Now, in the seventeenth chapter when Abraham is told about circumcision he is told that circumcision is a sign of the covenant and that those who are uncircumcised will suffer the cutting off of the people of God.  So as far as individuals are concerned, there was a certain responsibility that they had which governed their enjoyment of the promises that God made to Abraham.  That’s true, as matter of fact, in our own life.  But, at any rate, the promise itself made to the nation as a nation is an unconditional promise and the ratification of the covenant makes that very plain.  The evidence of the fact that there are no stated conditions adds to it and then reflect upon this long after Israel has engaged in apostasy from the Lord God as a nation we still read in the word of God that he has covenanted to fulfill that covenant.  Take a look at Jeremiah chapter 31, for example, and verse 36, we read this, “‘If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.’”

Now, Israel has apostatized from their earlier faith in the Lord God but the promises are still repeated and over and over again through the Old Testament this is true.  When we come to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul states the principal just about as plainly as it could be stated.  Listen to what he says in Romans chapter 3 in verse 1 through verse 4.  He has just stated in verse 28 of chapter 2, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”  And Paul is simply pointing out there are two kinds of Israelites, a true Israelite and one who has only a fleshly relationship to Israel.  So the true Jew is like the true Israelite as he will see in chapter 9, verse 6, “Not all who are of Israel, are of Israel.”  Well, someone might say if that’s true if he’s going to say he is a Jew which is one inwardly and he is not a Jew which is one outwardly then what advantage then hath the Jew.  That’s the question with which chapter 3 opens, “What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?”  Well, Paul says which ever way there is a difference.  And even today in Paul’s day, in our day, for Paul wrote in our time, there is still an advantage through a Jew. 

Now, if there is an advantage for a Jew then he does have a special relationship before the Lord God.  Now, you might say, “But the Jews have been disobedient and that cancels their promises.”  Wasn’t that the condition faith, and they are in unbelief.  So the promises are cancelled.  Now, Paul answers that very question in the next two verses, “For what if some did not believe?  Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?”  In other words, if men who have been given an unconditional covenant disobey and are in unbelief doesn’t that cancel the promises?  Paul’s answer is, “God forbid, God forbid: Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, that thou mightiest be justified in thy sayings, and mightiest overcome when thou art brought into a court of law.”

You see, unbelief does not cancel unconditional promises.  Why not?  Well, because bound up in unconditional promises is the unconditional determination of God to bring faith and obedience to those who are the objects of his promises.  In other words, when God gives unconditional promises he not only makes a covenant unconditionally but he guarantees that they will come to faith by his grace.  So bound up in his promise is the effectuation of his promises.  So unbelief does not cancel the promises of God.  Mr. Pink forgot that.  Of all people who should ever forget that, Calvinists who believe in the sovereign grace of God that having set his love upon certain people and having divinely elected them in the ages past he will see that they come through unbelief into the possession of the salvation of God.  So Israel’s apostasy doesn’t cancel the promises of God.  What does it do?  Well, it cancels their enjoyment of them and as a result of it they’ve been scattered to the four corners of the earth.  They are sitting today as a nation under divine discipline but the promises shall be fulfilled.  And when the time comes and the discipline has done it’s work and God has said that now is the time for the promises to be fulfilled then he will move in his sovereign way and he will bring that nation back to a trust in him and bring them into the land and bless them with those promises made to Abraham.

Now, let’s turn finally to the Scripture promises to the future fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.  We’ll just read a few passages from the Old Testament and a few from the New.  You know sometimes just reading the Bible is even better then lesson to someone expound it.  Do you believe that?  Well, I didn’t know you’d be so enthusiastic about it. [Laughter] but you ought to, you really ought to.  So let’s look at a few of these passages.  And let’s look first at Leviticus chapter 26, verse 40 through verse 46 because Leviticus 26, as you know records the disciplinary judgment that is going to fall upon the nation which has the promises if they are disobedient.  He says, for example, in verse 33, “And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.  And in fact, they are going to be so persecuted and scattered to the four corners of the earth and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them.”  Any Hebrew who has experienced the hatred and anti-Semitism of a Hitler government will know precisely what that means.  And if you visit in the land and go to Amsterdam and go to Anne Frank’s house you will see some of the same kind of thing.

But, now, look at verse 40.  Near the end of this unfolding of the discipline we read, “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me,” notice, it’s singular.  Commentators are divided over the significance of this but of course, if we are thinking about the ultimate trespass of the crucifixion of the Messiah this would be in harmony but there isn’t anything in the context that would make that very clear.  The word is singular, however, in the Hebrew text.  “With their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”

Now, let’s turn over to Jeremiah chapter 16.  Those are words from Moses which in a sense tell Israel what will happen but now when some of these things are happening some of the prophets are writing and in Jeremiah 16:14 through 16 we read.

 “‘Therefore, behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers,’ saith the Lord, ‘and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.  For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eye.’” 

Turn over a few pages to chapter 23 in verse 3 through verse 8, we have similar words.  We read in verse 3 of Jeremiah 23.

 “‘And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.  Behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.’”

  Well, the king has come but the judgment and justice on the earth is not yet been exercised.  In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called Yahweh Tsidqenuw or “the Lord our righteousness.”  He says in verse 7.

 “‘Therefore, behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.’” 

Unconditional promises given to Abram.  Turn over to chapter 33, verse 19 through verse 26.  Aren’t you enjoying reading the word?  This is the sanctifying influence of the word of God.  Chapter 33, verse 19.

 “And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord; if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David, my servant.’”

Remember the Davidic covenant we’ll talk about next week, the Lord willing, but it is an expansion of certain aspects of the Abrahamic covenant. 

“‘That he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.’  Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, ‘Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off?  Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.’  Thus saith the Lord; ‘If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.’” 

So if you can number the stars in heaven then the covenant will no longer be fulfilled.  Turn over to the prophecy of Micah.  Brief intermission while Bible students find the Book of Micah.  You may look at the table of contents if you like and find it.  Some of you are looking at your Bible as if already have it and you’re probably looking down at Ezra or Neimiah [laughter] or something like that but you’re not fooling us.  Micah chapter 7 in verse 18, we read, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”  Now, mind you this is written to a people who have departed from the Lord.  “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities.”  Notice that’s very strong language, “He will subdue our inquities.”  “And thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob.”  Now, when he says perform the truth, of course, he referring to the faithfulness to his word.  “Perform the truth to Jacob, and the loving kindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”  So long after Israel has failed the promises still are a valid for they depend upon the Lord God and he is faithful to his truth and to his loving kindness, his passive, his loyal love, his faithful regard for his chosen people.  Those are very strong words.  We could turn to chapter 5 in Micah and read the same thing but for the sake of time I want to turn to a few passages in the New Testament.  Let’s turn to Acts chapter 3.

Now, think of all the things that have happened.  Hundreds of years have passed since Micah, the four hundred silent years, the synagogue has risen, the temple is there but the priests are largely unbelieving priests.  The Pharisees are students of the word of God, but their traditions have overlain the word of God so that it’s very difficult for them to find the word.  And now in Acts chapter 3, the Lord Jesus has come, the Messiah has died.  He’s been rejected by his own people to whom he came and Israel has been in the words of the Apostle Paul, “cast off.”

Now, the apostles are preaching and we read here in Acts chapter 3 of the healing of the lame man.  And then Peter is going to get up and explain how it is that this healing has taken place.  Verse 12 of Acts chapter 3.

 “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ‘Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this?  Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?  The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.  But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.’”  Isn’t that a striking contrast?  Killed the Prince of life.  “‘Whereof we are witnesses.  And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.  And he shall send Jesus Christ (the Messiah), which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” 

Now that is so comprehensive that the promises spoken by all the prophets are going to be fulfilled when Israel repents and God send the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven.  Incidentally, that expression that is found here the times of restoration restituion the Authorized Version has the root of that word is the same root that is used in verse 6 of chapter 1 where after our Lord’s resurrection we read, “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”  And so in chapter 3, when he talks about the times of the restitution of all things, the restoration, it’s obviously the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.  All of those prophecies of the Old Testament set forth a preeminence of the nation Israel in the kingdom that is to come.  So even if we were to differ on what kind of kingdom is to come we cannot differ over the fact that Israel is to have preeminence.  That’s a very interesting point never to forget.  So he says the times of restitution shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Now, verse 22.

 “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, ‘A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.’” 

What days?  Times of refreshing coming from the presence of the Lord.  restitution of all things that the holy prophets have been speaking about.  Verse 25, now Peter turns to the people who are listening to him largely a Jewish group for remember the church was a Jewish church in its early days.  The olive tree belongs to them remember. 

“Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

Now, that is simply an illustration of God’s faithfulness to his truth as well as to his mercy or loving kindness.  He said he would ratify the covenant.  He said he would carry out the conditions of that covenantal arrangement.  He has done it in that the sacrifice has been offered and the word is preached to the people who are the children of the covenant.  Of course, we know what happens according to the history of Acts.  Israel persists in their rebellion and then something strange to them, we look back now and it’s no longer strange to us because Paul has explained it to us.  What happens is that God had another mystery secret in mind.  Worldwide salvation through an apostle from Israel and he laid his hand upon Paul called him as an apostle of the gentiles and as a result of this, the work of God has spread over the four corners of the earth.  Why?  To bless Gentiles?  Yes, but, ultimately, to make Israel jealous and bring Israel back to the place where the covenant will be fulfilled to them in his grace that there might be as a result of that as many passages set forth worldwide salvation for Israel is the who is they key and the clue to worldwide blessing.  The apostle sets it all out in Romans chapter 11, verse 11 through verse 15, and then in verse 16 through 24, and verse 25 through 27.  All of those verses so significant. 

Well, let’s read another passage.  We have just a minute.  We’ll turn back and let’s read Luke 1:46 through 55, and 67 through 80.  And we’ll close with that because in this we will see that before our Lord’s crucifixion Israel the faithful in Israel were still expecting the Abrahamic covenant to be fulfilled.  Here we have the Benedictus of Zacharias of Zacharias and the magnificant of Mary.  In verse 56 or 46, I should say, we read this.  This is the magnificant. 

“And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.’” 

Notice by the way all these familiar old expression in the word of God.  Do you know Mary and Zacharias and Elizabeth and Simeon and Anna they were all believers in sovereign grace.  They believed these promises were going to be fulfilled.  “He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath helped.” I still kinda like that old English word in the Authorized Version, “He hath hopened his servant Israel.”  Hopened is a little better than help.  Just sounds a little better don’t you think?  That’s a good Texas word, I believe.  “He hath hopened.”  [Laughter]  “His servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.”  Forever

Now, verse 67 through verse 80, and here Zacharias, John the Baptist father.

 “Filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham.’”

  Well, I’ll stop that.  What about the land promises then?  You know there are people who say that we can believe the spiritual that will be fulfilled through the ministry of the Lord Jesus but as the land for the land promises no unfortunately they are not going to be fulfilled.

Now, I would like to point out something that, I think, is sometimes forgotten.  There are lots of people who will say in the New Testament where are land promises mentioned as being fulfilled to Israel?  And I would have to honestly admit it’s hard to find it except in some passages like this strongly implied.  And so sometimes people get the idea that the proper way to interpret the Scriptures regarding this matter is if the New Testament doesn’t say something about it then we are free to abandon the things that are said in the Old Testament.  In other words, things have changed.  I’d like to say that that’s poor hermeneutics.  I’d like to say this which is better; that we should believe everything that the Old Testament sets forth.  This was the Scripture for the apostles.  We should believe everything that the Old Testament says except that which the New Testament justifies us in abandoning.  That’s the biblical principle of hermeneutics and that’s the principle that the apostles followed.  And to show you from Scripture itself that that is precisely what they believed, I’ll ask you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 1 and verse 2.  Here’s one of the apostles himself and he is saying.

 “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.” 

So as far as the apostles were concerned they said believe the prophets and also believe the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They both are authoritative for us.

Now, I closed.  I mentioned in the conclusion here were they not fulfilled in Old Testament times.  They were partial fulfillments, but the fulfillment of the Old Testament in which at one point in Solomon’s reign according to 1 Kings 4:21.  The kingdom of Israel stretched over the area roughly given in the Abrahamic promise at that time that was a kingdom but not a homeland and, furthermore, it was not permanent and forever and the promises of God give the land to them forever.  So the Abrahamic covenant is then the unconditional covenant around which the fundamental promises of our Lord and redemption and the outworking of the divine plan is gathered.  Study it.  Study it for yourself.  Read those passages and under the Spirit’s guidance look for their meaning.  We don’t have to worry about that.  We can leave that for the Holy Spirit.  Don’t follow me.  Follow him. 

Let’s close with a word of prayer.

[Prayer]  Father we thank Thee and raise Thee for the word of God which so ministers to us concerning him who is the evidence of the divine. [End of Tape]