Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:1-3
Remember our theme: One book, one story, about one Person—Jesus. We have considered Jesus in Creation and in the Flood. Let’s turn our attention to Jesus and the Patriarchs, beginning with Jesus and Abraham.
That Jesus has some connection with Abraham is confirmed by the first verse in the NT. “Jesus is the Son of Abraham.” Jesus refers to Abraham 19 times in the gospels.
Abraham’s name first appears in the Old Testament book of Genesis, chapter 11. God first spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. Besides calling Abraham to move to a land that God promised to show him, God promised to make of Abraham a “great nation,” or people. (Remember God’s plan to create a special people for Himself?)
God made three promises to Abraham: (1) God promised to bless Abraham and that he would be a blessing. (2) God promised that those who bless Abraham would be blessed and those who cursed him would be cursed. And (3) God promised that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed.
To what (or whom) was God referring? Most have concluded that since Abraham was the father of the Jewish people, these promises must refer to the nation of Israel, or the Jews. Though Israel was especially blessed by God (Romans 9:4), there is a verse in Galatians (3:16) that identifies who the promised Seed of Abraham is, and is not. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many [Israel], but as of one, "and to your seed," who is Christ.”
The promised Seed is Christ. This corrects the error that God’s promises were ultimately and exclusively to Israel and the Jews. Paul states emphatically that these promises are ultimately about Jesus Christ.
Jesus was Jewish and came from the Jews, but ultimately, Jesus is the Seed of Abraham—confirmed in Matthew 1:1 where Jesus is called the Son of Abraham.
Has the world been blessed by Israel and the Jews? Yes, in many ways, but the greatest blessing this world has ever experienced is in Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the World, and the Seed of Abraham.