Blessed

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES AND FULFILLMENT CONCERNING CHRIST

BLESSED

Gen 18:17-18

17 Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

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This is the second prophecy concerning Christ. Surely with the support of these other verses we are convinced this is talking about Jesus.

Gen 12:2-3

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."

NIV

Gen 22:17-18

 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

NIV

The whole of it is wrapped up in the word translated offspring. The Hebrew word means seed, not seeds. It is singular. Of course this could refer to Isaac as his singular seed, but although Abraham had only the one son with Sarah his first wife, he had other sons with his second wife, Keturah by whom he had six sons. So when we use the singular seed it must refer to Jesus, who through him the whole world was blessed.

The verses which show us this truth, the fulfillment of this prophesy is:

Acts 3:24-25

 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, 'Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'

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Gal 3:16

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.

NIV

We also have the complete genealogy from Adam to Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew 1:1-17 which we will not copy here. Yet all this gives us the truth that we are indeed blessed through the seed of Abraham, Jesus. What would the world be like if God did not declare he would bless the world by sending his son to go to the cross and take away our sin? It would be a dark place, a place reminiscent of the world in the time of Noah. Man’s heart was bent toward every inclination of evil all the time. In Fact the account of Noah is a picture for us of Jesus and the cross. Those who were in the ark were saved and those not in the ark perished. This is the same with the cross. Those of us who died with Christ on that cross and were resurrected with him are saved. Those who did not die with him on the cross will perish. Why would someone choice to perish? Why would we refuse to be saved? Perhaps the world is not much different than in the time of Noah. Maybe there are just as many people whose hearts are bent toward every inclination of evil all the time, as in the time of Noah, maybe even more. Yet a blessing is theirs for the taking. God will forgive all sin, if but people will only accept his offer, Jesus. Yet there is the great truth that when we accept Jesus, we must join him on that cross and die to self. We cannot accept him and go on living as the same old self. Without our death and resurrection we have not been changed. This blessing God bestows upon us is, in fact, being make a new creature.

Rom 6:1-7

6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

NIV

This is truly the blessing which God meant when he said the whole world would be blessed through Jesus. Whoever believes in him will be saved. What more of a blessing could we ask for? So often we get caught up in the trappings of this world looking for God to bless us materially. But he has told us to seek first his kingdom, to seek Jesus, his Son, through whom we are blessed with salvation. He will take care of all the stuff, but that is not being blessed, it is being provided for. The Hebrew word translated blessed has many meanings. One is to kneel as we would bless God, but another use is to be blessed, to be adorned. The dictionary defines blessed as made holy, consecrated. God has adorned us with Jesus, who makes us holy. God declares all who are in Christ Jesus as blameless and holy in sight. We are blessed.