The Great Salvation/27
PROPOSITION 27.
The Promises to Abraham Have Never Been Fulfilled
Since God has made oath that He will give Abraham and his seed the land of Canaan for an everlasting inheritance and since He has not fulfilled it, it follows that the fulfillment is yet future; for God's promise cannot fail. You, dear reader, will probably imagine that the possession of the land by the twelve tribes was a fulfillment of the promise so far as the land was concerned; but remember that the words are, "To thee and to thy seed." Now that Abraham never received it you will see--you cannot help but see--by the following proof:
Micah 7:20 Thou wilt (not thou didst) perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
Rom. 4:13 For the promise that he (Abraham) should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law; but THROUGH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH.
Rom. 15:8 Now I, Paul, say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (the fact that Christ confirmed them proves they were not fulfilled).
Luke 1:54, 55 He hath (prospectively) holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; * * * as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Luke 1:68, 73 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 month of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, end 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 aware to Abraham.
Heb. 11:13 These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb. 11:8, 9 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterwards receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
Acts 7:5 And he (God) gave him (Abraham) none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on, yet HE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD GlVE IT TO him for a possession.
We have shown that the promises made to Abraham are called the gospel (Gal. 3:8). The gospel cannot be preached unless Christ is preached. In what sense was Christ preached in these promises to Abraham? Is it not Christ that is to possess all nations of the earth"? Is it not to Christ that the "uttermost parts of the earth are to be given (Isa. 2:8)? But let us be sure that Christ is the very essence, as it were, of the promises made to the fathers; then, since He is the very essence of the gospel of the great salvation, we shall see that the covenant with Abraham and the gospel are identical.
Now read carefully Gen. 22:17, and you will see that we can safely make the following proposition: