Introduction

Who receives the promises given to Abraham and his Seed? The promises are received by Jesus the Christ, and extended to all those who are in Christ and have the faith of Abraham. In other words, the promises of Abraham are given and received in their fullest sense to Israel according to the spirit through Jesus. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”¹ And yet, those promises are not revoked from Israel according to the flesh because “the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.”² The promises still remain for them, but have yet to be realized fully, and will only be fullfilled in and by Jesus the Christ.

The promises to Abraham can more broadly be understood as part of the one covenant of grace which spans the entirety of redemptive history, beginning in the Garden of Eden, extending through various administrations under Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and ultimately in the new covenant with Christ. Classic Reformed covenant theology provides a helpful way of understanding the overarching structure and unity of Scripture. But here we will examine the seven successive instances in which God establishes his covenant with and Abraham through promises and ritual.

God establishes, restates, and elaborates the promises throughout Abraham’s life. This happens when he is called out of Ur and Haran, when he arrives in Canaan, when Lot separates from Abraham, after he rescues Lot in the path of blood covenant, four years after Hager gives birth to Ishmael when God gives the covenant in circumcision, when the Lord and two angels visit him at Mamre, and during the binding of Isaac. Here, in part one, we will limit ourselves to the promises made in the first three instances: Abraham’s initial call out of Ur and Haran, his arrival in Canaan, and Lot’s separation.

It might be more tidy to simply extract the promises from their context and examine them like students dissecting a frog, but I’m not going to do that. God communicated these promises to Abraham during his life through specific events, and these were then recorded for our sake. And so I think it’s beneficial to read the promises in their context, even if more messy, because we the events themselves also reveal more fully what God is speaking to Abraham and to us, which is that these promises are Christocentric.

The Initial Call

The Lord initially calls Abraham out of Ur which is in present day southern Iraq, close to the Euphrates.³ St. Stephen tells us the Lord said to Abraham, “Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.”⁴ Abraham leaves Ur with his father’s household, not knowing where he was going, but trusting in the Lord. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”⁵ Abraham is already acting in faith from the very beginning.

This is important for Christians to understand in their walk with the Lord. Sometimes God doesn’t give every detail of what you’re supposed to, but only to move in a certain direction. As you move in that direction by faith, God continues to illuminate your path with more light. This is what God does with Abraham. While in Haran and living with his father’s household, the Lord says,

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.”⁶

God repeats what He said to Abrham Ur, but gives an additional specification. Leave your father’s household. Abraham does leave his father’s house when leaving Haran.

Great Name, Great Nation, Personal Blessing

God then makes promises to Abraham. He promises to make him a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great.⁷ Israel according to the flesh becomes a great nation under Moses and Solomon. Israel according to the spirit, the new covenant Church also becomes a great nation in the past 2,000 years. Remember St. Peter refers to Church as a holy nation, even though we are composed of many nations. As one non-religious comedian said, “I always tell my kids the same thing. I tell them that there are many religions in the world and they’re all equal, but the Christians are the main one. That’s what I tell them. The Christians won. They’re the winners. So act accordingly. Congratulate Christians when you meet them because they won the world.” Abraham being the father of this great nation which has won the world is blessed and his name is great. We have seen the fulfillment of these promises, and we trust the Lord will continue to fulfill them in greater measure. And this is pertinent to how we can understand the promises applied to Israel according to the flesh. I don’t know exactly how God is going to continue to give them Land, how far their territories will expand, when their eyes will be open to their brother Jesus as king, but I trust that He will. And I believe God takes great delight in this.

Universal Familial Blessing is Gospel

God extends His blessings beyond Abraham personally. God says that Abraham will be a blessing, and that in him all the families of the earth will be blessed. The blessing, even from the beginning, is universal in scope – all the families of the earth will be blessed. Later after the binding of Isaac, God promises to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s Seed. This promise of blessing to all the families and nations of the earth through Abraham anticipates the new covenant in Christ. St. Paul quotes the later version of this promise in Galatians and says this is the gospel announced to Abraham.

“Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”⁸

Abraham believes the gospel. He doesn’t understand the mystery of it entirely like we do now with the advent of the Christ, but he looked forward to the advent of Christ. Jesus says, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”⁹ He understood that the Lord is trustworthy, acted accordingly, and was justified in doing so, with the same faith that we, the families of the earth, are now also justified. From the initial call of Abraham we see the gospel of Christ in view immediately.

Blessing, Curses, and God’s Elect

God goes on to say that those who bless Abraham will be blessed, but also that those who curse him will be cursed. (Genesis 12:2-3) The way others interact with Abraham affect their own well being. The blessings and curses are distributed according to how one interacts with Abraham. We may infer that this principle extends to Abraham’s children with later texts, but for now, in this promise, it is tethered to Abraham personally.

This is significant because here and as the promises are elaborated, we see God’s promises are individual, familial, national, and universal. Sometimes Christians only think in terms of the individual. Or sometimes they only think in terms of their family, or the nation, or the world. God is in the business of redeeming and judging all of these things.

It’s also significant because it establishes a principle developed throughout all of Scripture of blessings and curses as it relates to God’s elect.

The Psalmist, speaking of the Patriarchs says,

“When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,
Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”¹⁰

God sent plagues and sterility on Pharoah and Abimelech’s people when they took Sarah. God sent plagues on Egypt when Pharoah refused to release the Israelites. David refused to touch the sinful anointed one, King Saul. The empires which God used to judge Israel are in turn judged. Jerusalem is once again destroyed by the Romans after the unbelieving Jews crucified and rejected the Anointed One and did harm to His bride.

Balaam the prophet says this of the nation of Israel: “Blessed is he who blesses you,
And cursed is he who curses you.”¹¹ Anti-Zionists often say this principle only applies to Abraham personally, which is false. It is also applied nationally to Israel according to the flesh by a prophet speaking for God.

This principle of blessing and curse is ultimately about Christ, and applies to all those in Christ. So it applies to Israel according to the spirit as all of these promises are. And yet, St. Paul says that unbelieving Israel, who are enemies of the gospel, are still elect for the sake of the patriarchs. In this sense, we may think of Israel according to the flesh as an anointed Saul figure and Dispensationalists and Zionists are not wrong to apply this principle to them still. But Dispensationalist and Zionists would do well to recognize that this promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ and Israel according to the spirit, and it is to this end that Israel according to the flesh is moving toward under the providence and promises of God.

Arrival in the Land

The Land is Promised to the Seed

God calls Abraham out of Ur and Haran, to leave his country, his family, and his father’s house to a land that God would show him. Already we see Abraham acting in gospel faith here. Leaving everything to follow the Lord, and not knowing exactly where he is going, but trusting the Lord will show him. Once Abraham arrives in Canaan, the Lord continues to expand His promises by saying, “To your descendants I will give this land.”¹² The land is Canaan. This is the first time God promises to give Abraham the Land. The word “descendants” is זֶרַע (zerah) which can mean seed, offspring, or descendant in a natural sense. For example, when Jacob goes to Egypt, his zerah come with him. His descendants accompany him, meaning all of his natural children.¹³ And the term seed is also used in later promises to Abraham that are clearly tethered to his natural seed. For example, in Genesis 15:13, God says Abraham’s seed will be strangers in a land not their own, referring to their enslavement and exodus out of Egypt. So, we see the covenantal blessings of God are given personally to Abraham, his natural descendants, to all the families of the earth through him, and that the land will be given to Abraham’s seed.

As St. Paul tells us, the Seed of Abraham is Christ, but this doesn’t exclude Abraham’s natural seed. We know the Land is given to Abraham’s natural seed, or Israel according to the flesh, through the line of Isaac, and Jacob, in their conquering of Canaan and to a greater extent under Solomon. They also become a great nation during these times. These promises see a fullfilment in Israel according to the flesh. And yet we know also that the Seed is Christ. And so the Land ultimately belongs to Him, but the natural seed of Abraham participate in what is given to Christ.

During the fullfillment of these prophecies Christ spiritually sustains the Israelites. St. Paul says, “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”¹⁴ To the extent these Israelites according to the flesh trusted the Lord, they are to be counted as Israel according to the spirit. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, as the Apostle says. There’s an overlap between those who are truly Abraham’s seed and those who are only Abraham’s seed according to the flesh. The new covenant Church has a similar arrangement. Some are formally in the new covenant through baptism, but not all are truly sons of Abraham as evidenced in their not bearing fruits in accordance with repentance and others outright apostatizing. Similar to the Israelites who died in the wilderness.

Lot Goes East

Exile and Exodus Motif

Shortly after arriving in Canaan, a severe drought occurs, and Abraham seeks refuge in Egypt. He goes down to Egypt, experiences hardship, divine plagues hit the adversary, Abraham acquires wealth, leaves Egypt, and re-enters Canaan more wealthy than when he arrived. This sets a pattern for all of Abraham’s children. Isaac with the Philistines in Gerar. Jacob with Laban in Haran. All of Israel with Pharoah in Egypt. All of these have similar structures to Abraham’s exile and exodus, which continue throughout all of Israel’s history, most notably their exile and exodus from Babylon, but signifying and culminating in Christ’s exile into Hades and exodus from the grave.

The pattern all throughout Scripture portrays the reciprical blessing/cursing promise to Abraham. God tells Abimelech he is a dead man because he took Sarah. Abimelech’s wife and servants all become infertile because Abimelech took Sarah. When she is returned, the death sentence over Abimelech is cancelled and his household is able to have children again. Abimelech later makes a covenant of peace with Abraham because he realizes God is with Abraham and it benefits Abimelech and his people to live in peace with Abraham. Laban’s flocks increase when Jacob is with him in Haran. Laban himself realizes this happens because of Jacob. And even though Laban was an unfair man, he realizes its to his own benefit to heed the warnings of God to not speak anything good or bad of Jacob when pursuing him and instead made a covenant of peace with him to establish a boundary and agreement not to harm each other. When Pharoah elevates Joseph, Egypt is saved from famine. When a later Pharoah refuses to release Abraham’s children, plagues engulf Egypt and Pharoah loses his son, his army, and his own life.

The exile/exodus pattern happened again with Israel’s exile by the Romans into all the nations in the first and second century, and subsequent return 2,000 years later culminating in the state of Israel. Since St. Paul tells us unbelieving Israel continues to be elect, it seems foolish to me to say they have no more significance and the blessings/cursings no longer apply to them. We need more of the fear of King David, and the restraint of Laban, and the worldly cunning of Gentile kings who blessed and benefited from these exile people.

How can a Christian read God’s providence over all of these exiles and returns in Holy Scripture and conclude God has nothing to do with Israel’s return from exile in our own time? God’s people have always struggled with incredulity when heaven intervenes in their own day. Later they build monuments to those times. The Dispensationalists and Zionists are wrong on a lot, but they are right to be excited about this. They recognize the patterns of God’s story, whereas the one who denies its significance seems to disregard these relentless divine patterns in redemptive history. And like the Pharisees, they are unpersuaded when they see God bring the dead to life, like Lazarus. Israel is the Lazarus of our day, and we still are committing the same sins in response as many of the Jews did in the first century, except for the Charismatics, Evangelicals, Dispensationalists, and Zionists. And I believe this contributes significantly to why God has blessed Zionist Christians in so many ways, whereas most anti-Zionists churches, like the Protestant mainlines, are dead or dying. Or like the Eastern Orthodox churches who are plagued with the yoke of Muslim masters and corrupt former Soviet KGB officers. The Roman Catholic Church has softened its anti-Zionist stance since Vatican II, and in some cases there are Roman Catholics who are very friendly to Israel if not outright Zionists themselves. I believe this has acted as something of a preservative to Roman Catholicism, even with all of their faults.

Lot’s Voluntary Exile

When Abraham and lot resurrect from Egypt and enter the Promised Land, they have so much wealth that the Land can’t contain them. Someone has to leave Canaan. Abraham permits Lot to choose where he will go. And Lot chooses exile from the Land because the plains of Jordan and Sodom looked like the wealth he saw in Egypt. We’re told it looked like the garden of the Lord. But it is a counterfeit. It is the kind of wealth and paradise that the wicked can muster, which ultimately vanishes like grass in the wind. So Lot chooses a figurative Egypt. He chooses Sodom. He goes East, which is the direction of exile. Adam is exiled East of the Garden. Cain is exiled East of Eden. And Lot chooses voluntary exile East of the Promised Land. In effect, Lot is saying, “Abraham you can have this supposed Promised Land which is dead and barren. Remember when we first got here and there was widespread famine? I don’t want to do that again. I’m going to where there’s fruitfullness.”

Land in Every Direction, Descendants like Sand

After Lot separates from Abraham, God reaffirms, specifies, and expands the promises to Abraham. God promises that all the land he could see in every cardinal direction would be given to him and his seed, who will be numbered like the dust of the earth, forever.¹⁵ In later promises, after the rescue of Lot, and after the binding of Isaac, Abraham is promised descendants as numerous as the stars.¹⁶ Here, again, we have a clear indication that seed can refer to a plural number of offspring. This promise begins to see fulfillment in Israel according to the flesh during the exodus from Egypt and the kingdom era.

Moses says to Israel, “The Lord your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude…Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.”¹⁷

During the reign of Solomon we read, “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing.”¹⁸

This reading of numerous, natural, seed is affirmed in the book of Hebrews. Speaking of Abraham, “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”¹⁹

These promises are ultimately fulfilled and expanded in Christ. They are received by all those who have the faith of Abraham, who place their trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as Abraham did.

St. Paul says to the Christians in Rome,

“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”²⁰

Abraham’s offspring are not only those who are of the law, Israel according to the flesh, but also all those who have the faith of Abraham, Israel according to the spirit. St. Paul acknowledges the two categories. He goes on to quote the promise God makes to Abraham during the circumcision covenant. “I have made you a father of many nations.” This expands from the earlier promise of being made into one great nation in Abraham’s initial call. St. Paul connects Abraham’s being made a father of many nations to the promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. This is fulfilled and being fulfilled in the new covenant Israel.

When the centurion comes to Jesus to heal his servant, and trusts that Christ’s words have the authority to do exactly that, Jesus marvels at his great faith. He remarks that he hasn’t seen that kind of faith in Israel. Then he says, “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”²¹ “They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.”²² This is happening now in new covenant Israel as all men from every direction have come to sit down with the Patriarchs in the Heavenly Jerusalem both now in the Church and in the world to come. Sometimes Zionists scoff at the idea that these promises have spiritual fulfillment. But this is precisely what the writer of Hebrews tells us the new covenant Church is. It is an arrival not at a mountain that can be touched with hands, like Mount Sinai. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven…”²³ Entire nations from east and west, north and south, are coming and have come into the kingdom of heaven.

In St. John’s Apocalypse he sees a vision of the Church Triumphant. First, he sees the children of Israel. Then he sees men from all nations. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!””²⁴ When he first sees the children of Israel, 144,000 from every tribe, there’s valid debate over what this exactly means as it relates to seeing the great multitude from all nations. But I’m inclined to believe he is seeing what St. Paul means when he says “All Israel will be saved.” The entirety of the elect from the nation of Israel and the nations of all the earth.

I lay these out to show the expansion and ultimate fulfillment of these promises. One earthly with Israel according to the flesh, and one heavenly with Israel according to the spirit. Some commentators take the images used by God of sand and stars to symbolize these two realities – one earthly and one heavenly.

The Land is Conquered by the Christ

After the Lord promises the Land to Abraham and his seed forever, and that his seed will be as numerous as the sand, God orders Abraham to “Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”²⁵ To walk the land in its entirety, puts the Land under Abraham’s feet and symbolizes the conquering of the Land. Walking the length and width approximates the shape of the cross by which these things are attained and foreshadow. It also anticipates the reality that Israel will have to die and resurrect out of Egypt, out of Babylon, out of all nations, and ultimately in Christ, before they can inherit the Land fully. This is also symbolized when Abraham sets up his tent by a terebinth tree and builds an altar. A tree next to an altar figures Calvary. Again, I said I wanted to walk through the context because the context so heavily and relentlessly anticipates these promises finding their fulfillment in Christ. Israel is part of the story, but Christ is the center of the story. He is the entire story and we participate in it through Him.

As mentioned earlier, St. Paul tells us that Christ spiritually sustained Israel in their exodus from Egypt. Christ who is the Lord gives them the Land. He leads them in battle as the commander of the Lord’s army.²⁶ Joshua bows down and worships Him, and this Man with a sword doesn’t refuse the worship, as angels do. This Commander tells Joshua to take his sandals off for the place that he stands is holy. This is what the Lord says to Moses when the Angel of the Lord appears to him in the burning bush. These Christophanies are the pre-incarnate Christ. They show us that the Trinitarian God is with Israel according to the flesh in fulfilling His promise to give them the Land of Canaan as promised to Abraham.

The Land is Given by Grace

In a fascinating exchange, Joshua asks the Man with a sword, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” And the Man says, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” The Man rejects the framing of the question, and essentially says I am here for God’s purposes. And this is made clear to Israel any time God brings them into the Land.

Before Israel is about to enter the Land, Moses tells them,

“Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.

Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.”²⁷

The Lord gives the Land because He made a promise and He is faithful, not because the people are faithful. It is pure grace. Unmerited, unearned, pure grace. It is for His purposes, and along with keeping His promise to the Patriarchs, He is using Israel to drive out the nations in Canaan because of their wickedness. It is judgment on Canaan and grace on Israel. God’s purposes are prioritized. His faithfulness is why Israel receives the Land.

We see this again in the prophets when they foretell of Israel’s return to the Land from diaspora.

The Lord, speaking through Ezekiel the prophet, among the Judean exiles in Babylonia, says,

“‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.”²⁸

Whether this is about the return from Babylon to the Land, or the return to the Land in the 19th and 20th centuries, or both, the message is the same: God is not doing this for the sake of wicked Israel, but for for the sake of the Lord’s Name. Let God be true, but every man a liar.

The Inheritance of the Land and the World

In our own day, God has brought Israel back into the Holy Land from among the nations because God is sovereign over everything. Not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will. Are we to believe God is helplessly in the corner of heaven somewhere caught by surprise that unbelieving Israel took the Promised Land that He doesn’t really want them to have? That God’s plan was to bring the Jews back to Israel only after they repented and got their act together, but they decided to get ahead of what God really wanted to happen first? God is not standing helplessly on the sidelines here. The Land is Christ’s. He owns it. He is king of it. And He is a gracious king. He keeps His word. And He is not finished with Israel according to the flesh. He is just beginning to bring them back to life. We see this not only in their miraculous return to the Holy Land, but also a growing number of Jews who are confessing Jesus as their Messiah. Does God not act on behalf of these Christians?

In the new covenant we see the Land promises expand to all the earth. That all the nations of the earth who are truly sons of Abraham are given the earth as an inheritance. Jesus says to His disciples, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”²⁹ “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”³⁰ St. Paul applies a Land promise to Christians in Ephesus who lived in Anatolia, modern day Turkey. Well outside of even the Greater Israel territory. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’” The Greek word for land and earth is the same and so context determines what specifically is in view. But this application by St. Paul clearly gives the reception to Christians outside of the earthly Promised Land to Israel according to the flesh. Along with spiritual blessings, it also indicates earthly blessings given to Israel according to the spirit. Earthly blessing are not removed from the fulfillment of these promises when they are received by spritual Israel.

The Gentiles have always been an empire people: The Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonians, and the Romans. In the new covenant, Christ leads His people, as Commander of the Lord’s army, again, through trials, and tribulations, martyrdoms, like soldiers who fight spiritual battles, and in the end these Gentiles inherit the earth as expressed in Christian political rule like the Late Roman Empire under Constantine and afterward, the Byzantine Empire, the Carolingian Empire, the Russian Empire, The Holy Roman Empire, the French colonial Empire, the British Empire, and now the Pax Americana, an extension and expression of Protestant Christianity that has brought unprecedent peace, freedom, and wealth to the entire world. Most of what we call Western Civilization after Christ is simply a euphemism for Christendom. And the roots go back to the promises given to Abraham. Not because of our culture, or our ethnicity, or morality, or anything like this. It has been in spite of those things and purely by the grace of Christ for the purpose of His Kingdom and His glory on earth as it is in heaven.

1. 2 Corinthians 1:20 ↩︎
2. Romans 11:29 ↩︎
3. Genesis 15:7, Nehemiah 9:7, Acts 7:2–3 ↩︎
4. Acts 7:3 ↩︎
5. Hebrews 11:8 ↩︎
6. Genesis 12:1 ↩︎
7. Genesis 12:2 ↩︎
8. Galatians 3:8 ↩︎
9. John 8:56 ↩︎
10. Psalm 105:12-15 ↩︎
11. Numbers 24:9 ↩︎
12. Genesis 12:7 ↩︎
13. Genesis 46:6 ↩︎
14. 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 ↩︎
15. Genesis 13:14-16 ↩︎
16. Genesis 15:5; 22:17 ↩︎
17. Deuteronomy 1:10; 10:22 ↩︎
18. 1 Kings 4:20 ↩︎
19. Hebrews 11:12 ↩︎
20. Romans 4:13-18 ↩︎
21. Matthew 8:11 ↩︎
22. Luke 13:29 ↩︎
23. Hebrews12:22-23 ↩︎
24. Revelation 7:9-10 ↩︎
25. Genesis 13:17 ↩︎
26. Joshua 5:13-15 ↩︎
27. Deuteronomy 9:3-6 ↩︎
28. Ezekiel 36:22-24 ↩︎
29. Matthew 5:5 ↩︎
30. Luke 12:32 ↩︎