Gospel Announced to Abraham
Galatians 3:8
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
Jesus told the disciples, after His resurrection from the grave: “As you go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to everyone.”(Mark 16:15) The gospel is the good news that anyone can receive all the blessings of Abraham according to Paul in the verse above and Galatians 3:13-14. The covenant God made with Abraham delivered Abraham from the effects of the curse of Adam. One of the effects of the curse was: “Adam had to provide for himself” (Genesis 3:18-20). Because of the covenant with Abraham, God became the provider for Abraham and his descendants as He was for Adam before the curse. The gospel (all nations blessed through Abraham) was made available to all nations by Jesus sacrificing himself as the final Lamb sacrifice for the Jews.
This good news gospel was brought first to the house of Israel, to let them know they had been redeemed from the curse of the Law of Moses through Jesus and could receive the Spirit of God as children of God. By believing in Jesus they became children of God, were no longer under the bondage of the Law and could receive blessings from God as children and joint heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:15). In the Old Testament God gave the Law through Moses to govern the conduct of the Jews only. When Paul was writing to the churches in Galatia he said “redeemed us… from law” in Galatians 3:13. He was writing in the present tense about his race the Jews saying: “Christ redeemed us (the Jews) from the curse of the law.” This was to explain the next statement in Galatians 3:14 allowing the gentile Christians to be grafted in to the tree of Abraham to receive the gospel (blessing God has promised Abraham and his children) saying: “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham (the gospel) might come to the Gentiles”. When gentiles receive the blessings of Abraham by faith they receive the spirit of adoption, the gift of righteousness, son-ship with God and the Spirit of God to attest to that son-ship.
The Gospel is Good News
Let your thoughts go to the good news of the gospel. What would be good news for you? For me it is peace, all my desires/needs met, protection from danger, pardon for all my mistakes, turning the mistakes into blessings. All these good news blessings I mentioned God gave to Abraham and now has made these same blessings (the gospel) available to the entire world through Jesus. The gospel comes to us by the grace of God, received by faith in Jesus’ finished works, without any performance of works on the part of the receiver.
The Gospel; Received by Faith
Romans 4:16
Therefore, the promise (the gospel) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
The gospel is receiving the blessings of Abraham by faith in God giving his one and only Son Jesus to reverse the curse of the world by receiving undeserved punishment. By faith in Jesus we receive the Spirit of God adopting us as children and joint heirs with Jesus and we receive the righteousness of Jesus as a free gift thereby deserving the blessings of Abraham. The Jews and the Gentiles are both saved by faith to receive the promise of the gospel (Abraham’s blessings). The Jews salvation is simplified, no longer obeying rules of the Law of Moses and the Gentiles are grafted into the lineage of Abraham to receive the same blessings. Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share the same body, and are partakers of the same promise in Christ Jesus known as the gospel (Galatians 3:13-14, Ephesians 3:6). The gentiles were never under the Law of Moses and through these promises the Jews are no longer under the Law of Moses. God had purposed that salvation should be through faith, and never expected that any soul of man should be justified by the works of the law; and gave the Law of Moses that the sinfulness of sin might appear.
Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
Genesis 22:18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
Jeremiah 4:2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him and in him they will boast.”
Romans 3:30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Beloved, the blessings of Abraham (the gospel) comes upon the gentiles and Jews by faith in Jesus; believe the gospel and receive all the good news God has for you today (Galatians 3:14).
Additional Links:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16:15&version=NLT
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal%203:14&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3:18-20&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%203:6&version=NIV
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%208:15&version=KJV
http://bible.cc/genesis/12-3.htm
http://bible.cc/genesis/18-18.htm
http://bible.cc/genesis/22-18.htm
http://bible.cc/genesis/26-4.htm
http://bible.cc/jeremiah/4-2.htm
http://bible.cc/romans/3-30.htm
