Ancestory.com is a big business and they are making recording setting sales. This tells me that there is a sense (and need) for a self-identity. Who are we? Where do we come from? This is also seen in the way that so many identify with various groups, which builds a tribalistic mentality. Well, the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1 actually has a very clear and powerful answer to that question. And it has something to do with a promise God made to Abraham a long time ago. Jesus is the true son of Abraham and fulfills the promise of a blessed son to that beloved patriarch. However, we cannot stop there. We, in union with Christ, are also the true children of Abraham. This is who we are through Christ. Therefore, we can claim the covenantal promises of the patriarchs for ourselves.
Innumerable Descendants
The Abrahamic Covenant has become an academic interest of mine for many years. The Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 7 (“Of God’s Covenant with Man”) describes an original covenant of works that God made with humanity in the garden. This covenant was broken, so “the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace” (7.3). Many Christians struggle with the reality of this “covenant of grace” because the term doesn’t appear in the Bible. After studying this for some time, I’m convinced that this covenant of grace can be best seen in the Abrahamic Covenant. One promise that God made to Abraham was regarding his “seed,” that is, his “descendants.” Specifically, God promises that He will bless Abraham with innumerable descendants. The Lord uses three metaphors to express this covenantal hope. Abraham’s descendants will be like the “dust of the earth” (Gen 13:16). They will also be like the “stars in the heavens” (Gen 15:5). Still, they will be like the “sand that is on the seashore” (Gen 22:17). The common denominator among those three images is the fact that dust, stars, and sand are so numerous they cannot be counted. Anyone who attempts to do so will find such a task to be futile. This is what God will do for Abraham, and these innumerable descendants will populate the “great nation” the Lord said He would make Abraham in Genesis 12:2.
Isaac as the son of Abraham
As wonderful as that promise may be, Abraham faced a more immediate and pressing issue. In order for Abraham to become a “great nation,” he has to have these innumerable descendants. In order to have innumerable descendants, he first must have descendants. In order for Abraham to have descendants, he first must have a son. But he can’t have a son because his wife, Sarah, is barren – something we are told right away in the intro section to the Abrahamic narratives (Gen 11:30). For Abraham, the hope that he will be endowed with descendants like the “stars of the heavens” will be manifested in a clear, concrete, and tangible way – he will have a son through Sarah. Praise God, that blessed birth comes in Gen 21! Isaac is born. The covenantal promise can now be realized! Isaac begets Jacob, and Jacob begets twelves sons who become the foundation for the twelve tribes of Israel. Abraham is on his way to becoming innumerable! God was true to His covenantal promise to Abraham.
Christ, the True Son of Abraham
Of course, we know that Isaac is only a shadowy type of a greater Son of Abraham. By saying Jesus is the “son of Abraham,” Matthew is saying that Greater Son of Abraham is here in Christ. Thus, God once again is true to His covenantal promise. In fact, in Galatians 3:16, Paul says that Abraham actually had only one Son, one singular “seed,” not “seeds referring to many but referring to one, who is Christ.” How is this possible? The Abrahamic narratives went out of its way to make it clear that Isaac is the blessed Son of Abraham. Plus, what about Jacob, the twelve patriarchal sons, Moses, even Israel as a nation?!! Aren’t they also “descendants” of Abraham? On the surface, it seems that Paul is simply wrong.
Union with Christ makes us the True Descendants
Remember that Isaac is merely a type of Christ. Although the type was meaningful in its OT context, in light of the true, eschatological Son, he pales so far by comparison, it is as if the type is nothing! In light of the majesty and powerful reality of Christ, that promise had never been fulfilled before! Yet, we can say even more. By faith in Christ, all believers are also the true children of Abraham!
According to Galatians 3:7, Paul says: “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” If that wasn’t clear enough, he says the same thing a few verses later in Galatians 3:29, “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” By faith in Christ, the true Son of Abraham, even Gentiles can also become the true children of Abraham and recipients of the covenantal promises. This tells us that the identity of the true children of Abraham is not (and never has been) ethnically defined! It is a matter of faith. The way in which the Lord would make Abraham innumerable, therefore, would be gathering the Gentiles also into the Abrahamic “tents of Shem” (Gen 9:27), thus fulfilling the mission of the messianic servant of the Lord who was to be “light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6; cf. 42:6). Thus, the true promised descendants will receive the true land promised to Abraham, namely the New Heavens and Earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22). This also means that the true descendants of Abraham will have their hearts circumcised by the Lord (Deut 30:6a) “so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 30:6b.” Thus, the Lord will “put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:27).
That old children’s Sunday School song was right all along when it said Father Abraham had many sons, had many sons did Father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. How are we sons of Abraham? We are so by the accomplished work of Christ and the bonding work of the Holy Spirit that forges us in union with He who is the true Son of Abraham. That is who we are in Christ.
Not a bad promise. Not a bad identity, if I ask me!
Redeeming Chillingworth 