Page 5 - Eschatology - Student Ebook

The Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant is first given to Abraham by God in Genesis 12:1-3.
Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV84)1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your
father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless
you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
”The Abrahamic Covenant made promises to three groups of people. First, personal promises were
made to Abraham himself as we see in verse.

The Abrahamic Covenant is also found in Gen. 12:7; 13:14-17; 15:1-21; 17:1-21; 22:15-18.
7
Genesis 12:7 (NIV84) The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this
land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 13:14–17 (NIV84) The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your
14
eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will
15
give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so
16
that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the
17
length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

The covenant is more comprehensively shared in Genesis 15:1-21

Secondly, God promised that the nation of Israel, Abraham’s descendants, would be a great nation,
blessed of God, and protected by God from those who attempt to harm them. In Genesis 15:18-21, one
of the times God reminded Abraham or his descendants of this covenant, God promised a certain area
of land, with the boundaries given, which will be their property.

Genesis 15:18–21 (NIV84) 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To
your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the
land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites,
Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”Later we will learn why this is the most contested part of
the Abrahamic Covenant.

Thirdly, God promised that through Abraham’s descendants all the nations would be blessed. The
greatest fulfillment of this promise is Jesus Christ, born in the nation of Israel, as the Savior of the whole
world. He died for the sins of the whole world, rose again, and now offers salvation to everyone.

Conditional or Unconditional Covenant

One of the major questions concerning the Abrahamic Covenant is whether its promises are conditioned
on obedience or whether they are unconditional. If the promises of God are based on Israel's
obedience, then certainly the promises have been forfeited because of the sin of Israel. But if the
promises were conditioned on God's faithfulness alone, that is, if the promises were unconditional
promises, then they must be fulfilled in spite of man's unfaithfulness.

A conditional promise is based on man’s obedience, while an unconditional promise is based on God’s
faithfulness.

4