(Previous: Abraham’s Promise Fulfilled?)
Picking up where we left often, we’re now in a good position to ask a bigger question, a question about how Abraham’s promise fits into the larger story of Scripture:
- What does God’s promise to Abraham have to do with His work of New Creation?
- Everything – as we’ll see.
First, have you noticed that God’s efforts to restart the world over again are focused on rebirthing humanity in righteousness?
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- From restarting the whole world and humanity with the righteous Noah…
- …to restarting a special branch of humanity through the righteous Abraham, a people called to be holy as the LORD their God is holy…
Repeatedly in Scripture, we see God working to restart humanity as His righteous image bearers once again (just as it was in the beginning).
Second, the blessings that often follow that righteousness also reflect a desire to restore things as they were originally meant to be.
Take the righteous Abraham and his wife Sarah.
- In a world where humanity was made to fruitfully multiply, Sarah is barren.
- But God blesses them and Sarah’s womb – if only briefly – is made like new again.
It’s a “new Creation” miracle that – even if it lasts but one fruitful pregnancy – foreshadows the many restorative biblical miracles to come (healings, fertile lands, etc).
So what does God’s Abrahamic promise to overcome the curses of sin with the blessings of righteousness have to do with God’s work of “New Creation” ?
Everything!