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Transcript/ notes from Session 6, “The God of Gracious Covenant Loyalty”

Introduction: where the rubber meets the road

Welcome to the Benefits of the Cross, Session 7. This session is entitled, “The God of Gracious Covenant Loyalty.” Today we’re going to take another look at hesed from Psalm 103:4. This makes the 3rd message where I have focused on this word.

Psalm 103:4 – [He] crowns you with lovingkindness [hesed] and tender mercies,…

There are over 170 English translations for this untranslatable Hebrew word, hesed, which is the defining characteristic of God. Michael Card in his book “Inexpressible Hesed” described hesed this way: “Even though I have no right to expect anything from Him, He is pleased to give me everything.”

About a month ago while meditating on hesed, this phrase came to mind: hesed is “where the rubber meets the road.”

I have used that phrase in my teaching many times to describe how radical grace is. No matter what we have done, God has already forgiven us at the cross, and we have to take it to “where the rubber meets the road” to fully get the revelation of it.

This phrase “where the rubber meets the road” is literally referencing a car’s rubber tires making contact with the road – it’s the point of impact. Figuratively, it means the point of no return at which a theory or idea is put to a practical test. It’s the moment of truth.

The revelation of hesed is when everything you have been taught about Jesus is no longer theory. It’s the point of no return because what you have seen you can never unsee. It’s not too good to be true, it’s too good NOT to be true because you see the face of Jesus, and you realize God really is just that kind and just that good.

Grace abounds much more

As I was pondering these things, Romans 5:20 came to mind:

Romans 5:20-21 – But where sin abounded [pleonazo], grace abounded much more. [hyperperisseuo – it’s a different Greek word meaning superabounded beyond measure to overflowing.] 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We have two royalties, two dominions. One is sin, the other is grace. They both give a gift. Sin gives death; grace gives life.

But grace is not the opposite of sin. Righteousness is. Why didn’t Paul say, “As sin reigned in death, even so righteousness might reign in life”? Or put more simply: why didn’t Paul say, “If you sin, you die. If you behave righteously, you live”?

Because in and of ourselves we have no righteousness. There is nothing we can do to overcome sin. Sin does not fear us. Sin fears God’s grace because grace is the only thing that can overcome it. 

While there is no life without righteousness, there is no righteousness apart from God’s grace. And God’s grace comes only through Jesus Christ. 

Remember John identified Jesus as “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” from God’s own self-definition in Exodus 34 – He is “Full of “hesed va emet.” 

When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive all the fullness of God’s hesed – His mercy, grace, and love all wrapped up together. And when we are in Him and He is in us, sin has lost its dominion over us because even when we fail, we will never die. Death has lost its hold on us because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus forever. This is pure grace.

So then in the very next verse Paul brings up the question that inevitably comes up when you preach pure grace. It’s “where the rubber meets the road.” It’s a question that needs to put pressure on our revelation of hesed. Just how far do we want to take grace?

Romans 6:1 – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Here’s a quote from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones commentary on Romans 6:1 – 

The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. [“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound”] There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel than this, that some people might misunderstand it and mis-interpret it that it really amounts to this: that because you are saved by grace alone, it does not really matter at all what you do, you can go on sinning all you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. That is a very good test of gospel preaching. If my preaching of the gospel does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel. Let me show you what I mean. If a man preaches justification by works, no one would ever raise the question. If he says, “If you want to go to heaven, you must stop committing sins, live a life filled with good works, and keep this up regularly and constantly until the end, then you will be a Christian and go to heaven when you die.” Obviously, no one will accuse a man who preached like this of saying, “Let us continue in sin that grace may abound.” But every preacher who preached the gospel has been accused of this! They have all been accused of ‘antinomianism.’ [law hating] I would say to all preachers: If your preaching of salvation has not been misunderstood in that way, then you had better examine your sermons again, and you had better make sure that you really are preaching the salvation that is proclaimed in the New Testament to the ungodly, the sinner, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to those who are the enemies of God. There is a kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation. [Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981, pastor of Westminster Abbey, from commentary on Romans 6, p 8-9]

Here’s Paul’s answer to the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”:

Romans 6:2 – Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

So Paul’s answer was that it was an impossibility. He didn’t say, “You shouldn’t live in sin.” His answer was, “How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?” It’s an impossibility. 

The verb “died” is in the aorist tense. One and done. We have been recreated from sin to righteousness, from bondage to freedom, from death to life through one definite act of the past – Jesus’s death. When we accepted Jesus, we were baptized into His death, and we entered into His resurrection. 

Verse 10 of that same passage in Romans 6 –

Romans 6:10 – For the death that He [Jesus] died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, [YOU also died to sin in the same manner that Jesus died to sin! Once for all! So – ] reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. [“Reckon” has to do with what we are believing.]

“Reckon” is the Greek word “logizomai,” and it’s an accounting term. It means “to calculate, to count it as a fact.” Reckoning has nothing to do with probabilities or opinions. If I reckon I have $1,000,000 in the bank, it’s because I have $1,000,000 in the bank.

But imagine that I didn’t earn that $1,000,000 and yet it’s sitting in the bank for me. If I don’t believe it or I don’t spend it because I don’t think I deserve it, then it does me no good. The point is that I have to believe it and receive it. I have to reckon that it’s there, and it’s mine.

Because of what Jesus has done, in greatest act of hesed in history – the cross – we are to calculate/ to count ourselves, as a fact, “dead indeed to SIN” – to the noun sin, its eternal consequences, its imputation, its power, and its ability to define us.  Sin went into the grave with Jesus, and we rose again in Him without it.

How far are we to take grace? As far as we dare to as we we discover how extravagant the love is.

Now, we who had a right to expect nothing are filled with everything that Jesus is, and we are given everything that Jesus deserves. When that revelation floods in, our first reaction is not “woohoo, let’s go sin!” It’s overwhelming gratefulness that you cannot express with words, and then out of honor and respect for Jesus and His obedience on our behalf, we are compelled to live our lives in such a way that He gets what He paid for.

What did He pay for? Not only did He pay for our victory over sin, and our identity as righteous children of God, but also for every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Him. Every benefit of every covenant: the Abrahamic Covenant, the Old Covenant, and the New Covenant of His grace. (which actually covers the other two because it makes us forever righteous).

With that as a backdrop I want to focus on one of the translations of hesed: “gracious covenant loyalty.”

As I have said before, Hesed is a covenantal word. The covenants are based in Hesed. Unlike contracts which are transactional, covenants are relational. God keeps Hesed because He is faithful to His promises to us because He loves us with an everlasting, unfailing, unconditional, and merciful love.

We have failed, but His Hesed will never fail. Because Hesed is who He is. Hesed is His heart for us.

“For I Am Hesed”

Jeremiah was a prophet under the Old Covenant who prophesied of the New Covenant and of Jesus. 

He was called the Weeping Prophet, because he lamented through tears, and he would plead with God’s people who had rejected Him to return to Him, and receive His grace and mercy, but they refused.

Jeremiah 3:12, NLT – [God tells Jeremiah] Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people [My “mᵊšûḇâ” people. Literally: “My people who have turned away from Me.” The root of mᵊšûḇâ/ mshuwbah is the word šûḇ/ shuwb, which is the very next word in the passage -], come home to me again [That phrase is the word šûḇ/ shuwb – return, restore; turn back, come back home again. “My faithless people come home to me again” in Hebrew has a poetic and pitiful sound, “Shubah, mashubah,”—God is crying out from His heart of love, “Turn back to Me, you who have turned away!” Why?], for I am merciful.” [“I am ḥāsîḏ” – adjective form of hesed; CSB – “I am unfailing in my love.” No matter what they have done, He longs to be gracious to them!]

All they had to do was come back to the One who wanted to open up the windows of heaven for them and restore them. But they wouldn’t, and Jeremiah’s most dire warnings came to pass.  The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, and they were taken into captivity for 70 years.

Over and over, throughout the scriptures, God gave His beloved the chance to reciprocate His Hesed – His unfailing love, His lovingkindness – which He graciously extended to them at every turn, but they never did. If they only knew His heart. We’re going to find out that it’s in the New Covenant that all will know Him because the Holy Spirit is going to be given to us to open our eyes and the love of God is going to be poured into our hears by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Jeremiah 9:24, NASB – [The Lord says] “Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness [hesed], justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. [He delights in hesed and He delights setting things right!]

This reminds me of John 3:17 in The Message – 

John 3:17, The Message – God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Because God delights in setting things right, the hesed of God – His gracious covenant loyalty – was left with only one remedy for mankind: He would have to keep the covenant that they broke. But it would have to be a New Covenant where His hesed and His righteousness would be put inside of us as a free gift.

Jeremiah 23:5-6 – “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, [He’s talking about the New Covenant there] “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. [Yahweh Tsidqenu]

God would grant a New Covenant, based solely on His faithfulness, not man’s. Jesus, that “Righteous Branch,” would execute, uphold, and sustain this covenant in His hesed, expressed in the greatest act of hesed ever committed: the cross. And His hesed would forever become the basis of our appeal to God. His hesed is the basis by which we relate to God and pray to God. It’s not based on OUR hesed – our faithful love. We don’t say, “Lord, because I have been faithful to You, will You do this or that for me?” No! HIS hesed will forever be the basis by which we appeal to God. 

We deserved nothing, but He gave us everything in an unbreakable covenant. How can it be unbreakable? Because this covenant was not  made WITH us, but FOR us. It was made within in the infallibility of the Trinity between the Father and the Son. And the One in whom we dwell will never fail even when we do, and He never die!

Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him [Jesus], since He [Jesus] always lives to make intercession for them.

The God of Covenant Loyalty

So now I want to lay out why we can be so sure that God wants us to be a blessed people, and why believing in and receiving the goodness of God – having faith in His hesed as manifested in Jesus – is all we need in order to experience the blessed life.

We’ll have to go back in history 430 years before the Old Covenant (which was conditional) to the time when God established an unconditional covenant of hesed within Himself on behalf of Abraham: we call that covenant the Abrahamic Covenant.

And it was to Abraham and to all of his descendants, which Paul said includes us.

Romans 9:8, NLT – Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. [What is the promise? The promised inheritance of those who are righteous by faith, not by works.]

Galatians 3:29 – And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

When God told Abraham to look up to the sky and count the stars if he could number them, He was telling Abraham, “Your family is going to be My family. I am inviting you and all your descendants to be blessed beyond anything you can imagine.”

Through Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ, God would release His hesed on every family in the earth. How do we know this is true? The Bible tells us so! So let’s take a look at it.

Throughout the Old Testament we read about the promises of God which He swore to “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” You’ve heard that over and over, right?

Even when God’s people were under the law, God’s basis for blessing them was the covenant and the oath He swore to Abraham.

In Deuteronomy 6 and 7, Moses is reviewing the law with the Israelites, and he’s telling them what’s going to happen when they enter the Promised Land.

He says that God is going to give their enemies over to them, and He’s going to bless them abundantly. I’m going to read from Deuteronomy 6 and 7 in the Christian Standard Bible because of the translation of hesed as “gracious covenant loyalty.” 

Deuteronomy 6:10-11 and 7:6-9, CSB – “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. [What is this a picture of? A finished work – a place where all the work was done for them! A place where they would receive what they could never earn! A resting place; grace upon grace; unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor for them and their children. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 4 tell us that this is referring spiritually to our Promised Land of Rest in Jesus where we do not work for righteousness, but we rest in His. In Chapter 7, verse 6, Moses continues to give God’s message to the people – ] ….7:6 “For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, [Why?] not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. [In other words, God chose you NOT because YOU are so awesome and great. God chooses the least, the last, the lost, the losers. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” Why? “that no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1 Corinthians 1:27, 29). God wanted to show who HE is! He IS hesed! Moses continued – “God chose you ] 8 But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right?] he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [Speaking of their deliverance through the Red Sea – which is a picture of our deliverance from the sin and flesh, from the old creation, and our resurrection in Jesus as a new creation.] 9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty [hesed]…

The oath

We find the oath that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 when God first appeared to Abraham – a heathen out in the desert – and said to him –

Genesis 12:2-3 – “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you [barak – bestowing divine favor and prosperity. The act of kneeling, associated with “barak” is a physical expression of submission, humility, and reverence. I picture Abraham kneeling and God placing His hand on him.] and [God says, “I will] make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. [You shall be a source of blessing and prosperity. Did you know you are blessed to be a blessing?] 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; [Every tongue that comes against you in judgment God has condemned through Jesus at the cross. Those enemies have been cursed because now our righteousness comes from Him!] and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abraham set out as God instructed him, but Abraham wasn’t a perfect man by any stretch. We see right off the bat that God didn’t choose Abraham because he was a model citizen.

God chose Abraham so that He could reveal His own character – His mercy,  grace,  patience,  and gracious covenant loyalty (hesed).

God would bless Abraham and all of his descendants, not because Abraham was good, but because God is good.

So Abraham sets out to go to Canaan, the land that God had promised him, but there was a famine in the land. Out of fear, not believing that God would sustain him in Canaan, Abraham diverted to Egypt. When he and his wife Sarah were near the border of Egypt, he said to her –

Genesis 12:11-13 – “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. [So in order to save his own skin, he says – ] 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”

This is the first of two times that Abraham lied about Sarah being is sister. He was 75 and she was 65. Even at that age, she was gorgeous. Pharaoh coveted her beauty, so he took Sarah into his harem. 

If God’s oath to bless Abraham was based on his performance, Abraham would be in deep trouble with God! But what does the scripture say?

Genesis 12:17-20 – But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. [God prevented Pharaoh from laying a hand on Sarah by sending plagues on his household even though Abraham was the one who lied!!] 18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him [Abraham]; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had. 

Who was plagued? Pharaoh. Who was blessed? Abraham and Sarah. Here’s how Abraham left Egypt:

Genesis 13:2- Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. [That’s how strong God’s gracious covenant loyalty is.]

Genesis 15 – the Abrahamic Covenant

Then 10 years later, in Genesis 15, Abraham was still childless at age 85, and God came to him again. God said – 

Genesis 15:5-6 – “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him [Abraham], “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he [Abraham] believed in the Lord, and He [God] accounted it to him for righteousness.” [That’s what Paul called the righteousness of faith.]

And then God told Abraham to bring animals for a sacrifice to enact a covenant.  In those days, when two parties came into a covenant, they would each pass between the pieces of animals. But in Genesis 15 we see God alone passing between the halves of the animals.

Genesis 15:12, 17 – Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram… [God put Abraham to sleep! He had NOTHING to do with enacting the covenant!]… 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those [animal] pieces. [This picture of God symbolized that in the midst of darkness, God would bring the Light of His salvation – a prophetic picture of the coming of Jesus.]

In the very next chapter of Genesis, chapter 16, we see Abraham failing again. He took Sarah’s advice to sleep with her slave girl Hagar to force God’s promise of descendants, and of course, it only caused trouble.

God changes their names

Fourteen years later, when Abraham was 99, the Lord came to Abraham  again. But this time, God literally changes his name. 

The name Abram has 4 Hebrew letters, and God added a 5th. His new name is who God made Abraham to be. What was the letter God added? Hei – the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The letter of grace.

The pictograph is a window, meaning revelation. If we have the revelation of grace, we will walk in who God says we are. God added grace, and changed Abram to Abraham, and the man whose body was as good as dead, became the father of many nations.

Genesis 17:5, 15-16, 19 – [God said to Abraham] No longer shall your name be called Abram, [אַבְרָם – which means exalted father] but your name shall be Abraham [אַבְרָהָם – father of multitudes]; for I have made you [past tense – before Abraham had a son, God said, “I have made you – ] a father of many nations. [Did you know that God declares His promised destiny over each one of us? All it takes is to believe it. And no matter how impossible it seemed, Abraham believed God – “contrary to hope, in hope he believed, so that he DID become the father of many nations.” (Romans 4:17-18)] … 15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife [שָׂרַי – which means princess], you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. [שָׂרָה – princess of multitudes. God also changed Sarah’s name by adding the hei – the letter of grace!] 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” [God added grace and blessed Sarah, whose body was past the age of childbearing (she was 89), and she became the princess of multitudes.] 19 Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; [which means laughter] I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

Shortly thereafter, in chapter 18, God sends angels to tell Abraham that his son would be born the next year. Sarah was listening inside the tent door, and she laughed at God’s word! God said to Abraham – 

Genesis 18:13-14 – “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord?” [Yahweh. I thought it was interesting that God didn’t say, “Is anything too hard for the Almighty God?” He said “Yahweh, the covenant keeping God, YHVH – Jesus who would establish the New Covenant in His blood]

Sarah denied laughing because she was afraid. Do you know what God said to Sarah?

Genesis 18:15 – And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” [God corrected her!]

God knows everything about us and loves us anyway! Do you know how God records Sarah’s behavior in the New Testament? 

Hebrews 11:11 – By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, [This is how God remembers Sarah – full of faith! This is pure grace!] and she bore a child when she was past the age, [Why?] because she judged Him faithful who had promised. [Wow! This is what is recorded in heaven: Sarah judged God faithful who promised!].

God surely doesn’t keep a record of our sins. Instead He keeps hesed – everlasting merciful love. He does not remember our sins! He only remembers our faithfulness. It takes Holy-Spirit-revelation to grasp that!

In Galatians 4, Paul said that Sarah represents grace and that grace is the mother of us all, and we are children of promise, just like Isaac, and our children are also children of promise! Just like Jacob.

In Romans 4, calls Abraham the father of our faith. With Grace as our mother and Faith as our father, there are no limits to what God can do in our families. Nothing is impossible with yahweh, the covenant keeping God!!

Abraham and Isaac – a picture of “For God so loved the world”

And then in chapter 20, before Sarah became pregnant with the promised child, they are traveling, and once again Abraham lied to another king and said that Sarah was his sister because she was so beautiful. Same story! But now she is 89! Grace renews our youth!! Amen?!

In Genesis 21, a year later Isaac was born, just as the Lord had said. And then In Genesis 22, years later, God told his Abraham to do something unthinkable: to sacrifice his son.

But what God was really doing was painting a picture for Abraham of what He Himself would one day do: give His own Son for all of us.

Genesis 22:2 – [God said to Abraham] “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

This is the first mention of love in the Bible. The first mention of love is not about our love for God. It’s about God’s love for us! It’s John 3:16 –  

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,….”

Why did God send Abraham to Mount Moriah? Because the highest peak of Mount Moriah is Calvary, also called Golgotha where Jesus was crucified! 

Genesis 22:6-7, 14 – So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and [just like the cross was laid upon Jesus’s back to carry (John 19:17)] laid it on Isaac his son; and he [Abraham] took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. [Father and Son went together – a picture of the intrinsic covenant made within the Godhead on our behalf] 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” [And we know that God provided the ram in the thicket so that Isaac would not have to die, proving this is all a picture of God’s faithful love for us in sending Jesus.] 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, [The Angel of the Lord said] “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, [Jehovah Jireh] as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

On Mount Calvary it was all provided! What did God provide? The Ram – the Substitute! And what did God provide through the Substitute? Everything that Abraham would have lost if Isaac had been sacrificed – it’s everything that we would have lost if we had to bear our own sin. 

In the broadest sense, we can say that because of the Seed of Abraham, because of Jesus, all the families of the earth are blessed – including ours.

• Jesus became sin that every member of our families would become righteous. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• Jesus was rejected that every member of our families might be accepted. (Matthew 27:46; Ephesians 1:6)
• Jesus was cursed that every member of our families might be blessed. (Galatians 3:13-14)
• Jesus bore all our diseases and pains, that by His stripes every member of our families might be healed. (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:5)
• Jesus, Because of His grace, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that through His poverty every member of our families might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Genesis 22:15-18 – Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed [which is Jesus] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Now we can look at God and say, “Now I know, Father, that You love me because You “have done this thing” – you have not withheld Your Son, Your only Son, the Son that You love from me!” We’ll never know how much God loves us until we know how much He loves His Son because He gave his Son for us.

Romans 8:32- He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with [Jesus] Him also freely give us all things?

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NLT) Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
• (CSB) The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.