Jesus’ Descent from Abraham
“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 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: 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.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
After Adam and Eve sinned, God did not abandon them. He had a plan to reconcile mankind to Himself. This plan was not Plan B because Adam and Eve had ruined Plan A. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are actually Plan A because God knew that Adam and Eve would sin. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection were “…foreordained before the foundation of the world,” (1 Peter 1:20)
The first preview of Jesus’ death was the death of the animals to provide clothes for Adam and Eve. After they ate of the forbidden fruit, they realized they were naked and “…sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” (Genesis 3:7) The fig leaves may have dealt somewhat with the nakedness problem but did not deal with the main problem. The main problem was that Adam and Eve were now sinners separated from God, a problem fig leaf aprons could not remedy.
Genesis 3:21 says, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Adam and Eve had not seen violent death before. If you ever have, you know how horrific it is. Imagine their shock at hearing the animals’ painful cries and seeing all the blood. Yet Adam and Eve learned that the innocent would pay a terrible price for the sins of the guilty.
In our passage, God chose Abram–later to be known as Abraham–to be the father of Israel, the nation through whom the Saviour would come. Why Israel? It was not because they were larger than any other nation: “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” (Deuteronomy 7:7)
Deuteronomy 7:8 tells us why: “But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Simply put, God loved them because He loved them; just as He loves us because He loves us!
Of course, God loves all people. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (boldfaces added) That is why God told Abram, “and in thee shall all families of the earth (not just Jewish families) be blessed.”
The greatest blessing you can have is to know your sins are forgiven and that you have a home in heaven. If you want to see how to receive Jesus, God the Son, as your personal Saviour, please go to www.clevelandbaptist.org, click “Helpful Links,” then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller 5/19/2022
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822