Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #4 of Genesis, chapter 12 and we will begin by reading Genesis 12:2-5:

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. So Abram departed, as JEHOVAH had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

We have been spending some time discussing the statement God had made to Abram that He would make him a great nation. We saw that the Bible had in view a spiritual nation – spiritual Israel – made up of everyone God saved throughout history. They are the seed or children of Abram, as God speaks of them, but they are really the spiritual seed that are in Christ.

The Lord also said, in verse 2: “and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” We also read of blessing in Genesis 12:3:

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.

So, there is really a strong emphasis by the Lord, expressing His intention to bless Abram and to bless them that bless Abram and in him “shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Again, it is strong emphasis by the Lord that there will be blessing. To think about this language of blessing, a good verse to turn to is in Genesis, chapter 22. In this chapter the Lord tempted Abraham to take Isaac, his son of promise, to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him and Abraham passed the test. Then we read in Genesis 22:15-18:

And the angel of JEHOVAH called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith JEHOVAH, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

We see similar language that we found in chapter 12 concerning blessing. Not only Abraham would be blessed, but it says in verse 18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” This also fits with Genesis 12:2: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee.” So, there is a “nation” and there is “blessing” and, here, the Lord said it would be due to the “seed” of Abraham. It was through the seed of Abraham that there would be a blessing, so right away when God speaks of the seed we are directed by the Bible to look further at this “seed” to find out what is in view. That leads us to Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Here, we can see a good example of why we compare Scripture with Scripture. We look up the words that are in a verse. In the Old Testament, the words would have been in Hebrew and we would look up all the Hebrew word references, but it is also a good idea to look at the New Testament because it is one Bible. Does God mention a “seed” in the New Testament? Of course, He does. And, obviously, since God speaks of Abraham and his seed being the ones that God made promises to, we know we are on the right track; when we read of “seed” in the New Testament it is equivalent to the “seed” we read about in the Old Testament. Often, God will make this kind of “equivalency” or “tie-in” in order to show us that we can understand the New Testament Word is on equal footing with the Old Testament Word, and vice versa.

So, it says in Galatians 3:16: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” Then God goes on to make a very important point: “He said not, And to seeds, as of many.” That is true and we can see that when we look at Genesis 22:17: “That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed.” We can see that it is singular “seed” and not plural. Then it says in Genesis 22:18: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God, was making this point that the “seed” was singular, in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

There is just one “seed” that is in view. Then we are given further information: “And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Now we have the explanation. Since God is the Author of the entire Bible, we have God Himself defining the seed. By the way, this does provide the spiritual definition for the word “seed.” When we find that word elsewhere, we can understand that Christ is in view. And we do find in the New Testament the parable of the sower and we are told that this sower is sowing the Word of God. Who is the Word of God? Christ is the Word of God, so there is that relationship between the “seed” the sower is sowing and the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the point here in Galatians is that the “seed,” singular, is Jesus. It is Christ. And that is very helpful, just like in 1Corinthians, chapter 10 where we read of the rock that brought forth water in the Old Testament and we are told that rock was Christ. Occasionally, God does that and assists us (directly) with spiritual definitions. So, in this case, we know the “seed” is spoken of in a singular way, and it is Christ, and that is very helpful, but it also raises questions, as we read Genesis 22:17:

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore;

It is singular. The point in Galatians 3, verse 16 is letting us know it is “seed,” singular, so why is God speaking of multiplying the seed? Why is He giving the impression that this great number of stars or sand will be the “seed”? This is confusing, until we check out everything the Word of God has to say about the matter. We do not have to go far. In Galatians, chapter 3, after it tells us that the “seed” is Christ, it says in Galatians 3:28-29:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

God is saying that Christ is the “seed” of Abraham and in that “seed” all nations will be blessed; that is, “in Christ” will be the blessing that will come upon the nations. We have discussed this word “nations” and it is referring to the nation of them that are saved. The way God has worked it out is that Christ is the seed that provides the blessing, but you can be found “in Him” if you are Christ’s. If He predestinated you and chose you from the foundation of the world to be one of those blessed elect, then at the point of the world’s foundation He took your sins upon Himself, suffered and died for them and rose from the dead at the foundation of the world, declared to be the Son of God. Then you are “in Christ.” You have been bought with a price. You have been redeemed. Therefore, you and I and all the elect are Christ’s. We belong to Him: “then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” We are counted “in Him” and that is how a “seed,” singular, can turn into the stars of heaven for multitude. It is all the blessing that was performed in that single “seed,” the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we read of the “seed” of Abraham or we read that Abraham is “the father of us all,” it is pointing to the fact that through Isaac and Jacob and down through that line would eventually come the Lord Jesus as He was born into the world to demonstrate the works He had accomplished at the foundation of the world. He is the promised “seed” to Abram.

In Acts, chapter 3 we can see how God brings some of these ideas together. It says in Acts 3:25-26:

Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Here, we see how the Lord is speaking of blessing in connection with the seed or with the Lord Jesus. God “sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities,” referring to His elect. God granted His elect repentance and repentance is the regeneration of the heart. God has blessed through the “seed.” He blessed through his Son Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. That represents a lot of the blessings that are in view. We have the blessing of having been turned away from our iniquities. We have the blessing of the new heart and new spirit and of eternal life. There is also the blessing that accompanied His promise, in Genesis 17:5-7:

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

Who is that seed? It is Christ and all that are in Him. It is Christ and His people. Then it says in Genesis 17:8:

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

The promise to this “seed” is a promise to all those that are saved in Christ. The promise is the inheritance of the land of Canaan. God has said He will give it to us. This is all part of the blessings through the “seed,” the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Psalm 37:22:

For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

This also ties in with what we read in our verse in Genesis 12:3:

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.

It is the blessing of eternal life and the blessing of receiving the new heaven and new earth, but for those not counted for the “seed,” they will be cursed. And to be cursed means that they will be cut off. Their inheritance is this present world in its corrupt form. They are enjoying their inheritance until the world is no more and then they, too, will be no more. The Lord will cut them off and they will suffer the same fate. When this creation is burned up, they will be burned up and that is related to the curse.

But the blessing is upon the seed and those that are in the “seed” or in the Lord Jesus.

Let us go on and read Genesis 12:4:

So Abram departed, as JEHOVAH had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

We have already discussed Abram’s birth when his father Terah was 130 years old. Terah had three sons. Abram was the saved son and the other two (sons) were not saved. Abram crossed over the flood and that was a picture of going through the wrath of God and being baptized in Christ at the foundation of the world. In this verse, God is telling us the exact point in time when this took place as Abram crossed that river. He tells us that Abram took Sarai and Lot. We also know that Sarai, who later became Sarah, was a child of God and is pictured as the mother of all believers. Lot is called “righteous Lot,” so this group that crossed over are a picture of the true people of God.

We are told that Abram was 75 years old. We know that Terah died at 205 years old and we know it was at the point of Terah’s death at Abram left Haran, so we just subtract 75 from 205 and that is how we came up with Terah’s age of 130 when Abram was born.

But, also, now we know that Abram first stepped foot into the land of Canaan in the year 2092BC. We know this because he was born in 2167BC when Terah was 130, so 75 years from 2167 equals 2092. The year 2092BC is the first time that Abram will walk in the land of Canaan. Abram died at the age of 175, so Abram would spend exactly 100 years in the land of Canaan, so that points to the completeness of his stay, since the number “10” or multiples of ten signifies completeness. So, now the Biblical calendar of history is working down and we are given certain clues that help us follow the timeline through these key events.

The year 2092 is also significant as far as time paths. From 2092 to 33AD when Christ went to the cross is 2,125 years. The number “2,125” can be broken down to “5 x 5 x 5 x 17.” These are very significant numbers, as the number “5” is the number of atonement and it is found three times, so the Lord is really highlighting the atonement of the Lord Jesus and, of course, that is exactly what 33AD was, as it was a demonstration of the atonement. We can see the significance of that and God’s involvement with those kinds of numbers. One on hand, when we look at the very important date of crossing over to Canaan, it can picture entering the kingdom of heaven or the new heaven and new earth. And when the time path takes you from there to a point in history when the Lord Jesus was on the cross and we see the heavy emphasis on the atoning work of Christ, that is no accident. God is the one that designed Biblical history and He is the one who causes things to occur at important junctures. He is the one that rigorously follows His times and seasons very precisely – everything has its time, as we are told in Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. There is a time and season for everything and we can see this time relationship.

Also, there is the time path from 2092BC when Abram first entered Canaan until 2033AD, which is the year we are looking at because there is mounting evidence for the possibility of Christ ending the world in that year. The number of years is 4,125 calendar years. (It is also calendar years when we followed the time path to 33AD.) The breakdown of the number “4,125” is “5 x 5 x 5 x 3 x 11.” The number “5” points to the atonement; the number “3” points to purpose; the number “11” points to Christ’s coming to demonstrate the atonement; and, of course, the end of the world is really the fulfillment of all that the Lord Jesus did to atone for His people, so, perhaps, we can understand that finding the number “11” here is pointing to the ultimate atonement or the atonement that will finally equip the saints of God with their new resurrected bodies. Anyway, each number is very significant, just as with the prior time path to the cross in 33AD.

We are going to stop here for now and, Lord willing, we will pick up in Genesis 12 as Abram is entering into the land of Canaan. We will see what the historical Biblical account will reveal when we return to Genesis 12 in our next study.