How amazing it is to realize that in His humanity as the seed of Abraham, Christ was crucified and became a curse on our behalf to redeem us out of the curse of the law so that we may enjoy God’s promised blessing! Hallelujah!
In Galatians the Apostle Paul skilfully and wonderfully brought in these matters and connected them: Moses’ ordinance concerning the one hanging on the tree and being cursed, Christ dying on the cross for us, Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law, and Christ as the Spirit being the blessing of the gospel – the blessing of Abraham – which we can inherit by faith. Wow!
The one who was hanging on a tree was a cursed person; this applies to the crucified Christ. Christ was crucified and bore the curse; He even became a curse, and He took the curse to redeem us from the curse of the law.
Even more, Christ as the seed of Abraham brought in God’s blessing so that all who believe into Him and are saved by Him would enjoy!
God made a promise to Abraham that in his seed all the nations will be blessed; this promised blessing took place 430 years before the law was given.
Then, God gave the law, and through the law the curse was made official; now all men are not only born in sin and commit sin, but they are under the curse of the law.
But praise the Lord, Christ in His humanity came to take away our sins, bear the curse, and even become a curse for us so that He may redeem us out of the curse of the law through His redemption, with the result that we may enjoy the blessing of Abraham!
This is marvelous! This is tremendous!
How amazing it is to see that Abraham, Moses, and Christ are connected, and Christ fulfilled the type of the one hanging on the tree to be cursed, Christ bore the curse and became a curse, He redeemed us from the curse of the law, and He became for us the blessing of Abraham for us to enjoy and partake of! Hallelujah!
What God promised to Abraham was the seed and the land; the seed was a type of Christ as the seed of Abraham, and the land is a type of Christ as the all-inclusive good land.
Christ, the wonderful and unique God-man, came as God incarnated to be a man, and He in His humanity was the seed of Abraham.
He died on the cross, He took away our sins, and He set us free from the curse of the law so that we may enjoy the blessing of Abraham!
Christ in His Humanity is the Seed of Abraham for the Blessing of all the Nations!
In Gal. 3:1-22 we see that Christ is the seed of Abraham. In Gen. 22:17-18 God promised Abraham that He will bless him and greatly multiply his seed, and in his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
There is one seed – a type of Christ – and in this seed all the nations are blessed; all the nations of the earth are blessed in Christ as the seed of Abraham.
This prophecy was repeated to Isaac (Gen. 26:4) and to Jacob (Gen. 28:14), thus assuring them that in the seed of Abraham God will bless all the nations.
The fulfillment of this promise and prophetic word was, on one hand, in Matt. 1:1 (where we see that Christ is the son of Abraham, a descendent of Abraham), and in particular in Gal. 3:16, where the seed is Christ.
To Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed; it’s not “to his seeds” but to his seed, that is, one seed, which seed is Christ.
How does Christ bless all the nations, and how are all the nations blessed in Christ? As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity blesses all the nations with the gospel of Christ (Gal. 3:8-12, 16).
Through the gospel all men can come to God and God can come to them for their enjoyment of God’s blessing.
Most of the spiritual people of God who enjoy the blessing of Abraham are not of Jewish descent; rather, they are Gentiles, those who are not inheritors of the promises or the law of God in Israel.
But praise the Lord, when we believe into the Lord Jesus, God is brought to us and we are brought to God for us to enjoy God’s blessing!
Whether Jews or Gentiles, whether those of the Jewish descent or people from the nations, we all can be blessed in Christ by receiving Him as the blessing of all the nations!
In Christ all the nations are blessed with nothing else but God Himself, for by believing into the Lord Jesus we are, on one hand, forgiven of our sins and redeemed from the curse of the law, and, on the other hand, we enjoy the blessing of God!
Through our faith in Christ we received the Spirit; this Spirit is the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29).
When we enjoy God in Christ, we enjoy the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God to be our blessing, to be our grace.
Christ now is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17); He is not only the seed who inherits the promises but He is also the blessing of the promises to be inherited by us.
On one hand Christ is the One who inherits and enjoys all that God is; on the other hand, He is the blessing of the promises to us, and He brings us into the enjoyment of all that God is to us as grace!
Praise the Lord, we today can be redeemed from the curse of the law to enter into the enjoyment of Christ as the blessing of Abraham!
In Christ in His humanity as the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth are blessed.
He has come as the God-man to redeem us out of the curse of the law by becoming a curse on our behalf, and He has become a life -giving Spirit to impart all that God is into our being as grace.
We simply need to repent, believe into Him, and receive Him and enjoy Him as the unique blessing!
Hallelujah, Christ in His humanity is the seed of Abraham to be the blessing to all the nations! Lord Jesus, we repent and believe into You, firmly believing that by faith in You we are redeemed from the curse of the law, we are forgiven of our sins, and we are brought into the enjoyment of all that God is! Thank You Lord Jesus, in You we are blessed with the blessing of the Spirit to be our enjoyment! We are not poor sinners but glorious inheritors of the promised blessing together with all the saints of God! Praise the Lord!
Being one with Christ and in Christ to Enjoy the All-inclusive Spirit as the Promised Blessing
The seed of Abraham is something wonderful; on one hand this seed inherits all the promises and all the blessings, and on the other, this seed becomes the blessing to all the nations, and in this seed all the nations are blessed.
The seed of Abraham is not just Isaac or Jacob or the people of Israel; in the physical and human sense, they are the seed of Abraham, but the real seed of Abraham is Christ.
Christ is both divine and human; as a Man, Christ in His humanity is the seed of Abraham, and He inherits the promised blessing and all that God is.
As a God-man, Christ not only enjoys the blessing of God but also, by becoming the Spirit, He Himself has become the blessing to all then nations!
In God’s eyes there’s only one seed of Abraham, which is Christ; if we want to enjoy the promised blessing, we must be one with Christ and even in Christ.
According to Gal. 3:14, the promise given to Abraham was that God Himself would come to be the seed of Abraham, and this seed would be a blessing to all the nations.
By becoming the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit, Christ as the seed of Abraham has become the blessing to all the nations; now in Christ all the nations are blessed!
Hallelujah, God’s blessing of Abraham eventually issued in Christ as the unique seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed (Acts 3:25-26; Gal. 3:16).
We the believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ, the Christ (the corporate Christ – see 1 Cor. 12:12), and we are included in this seed of Abraham as the heirs of God’s promised blessing (Gal. 3:7, 29).
Christ as the seed of Abraham has brought to us the blessing of the gospel; this blessing is nothing else but the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, which is given freely as the bountiful supply to all those who believe into the Lord Jesus!
What is the Spirit as the blessing of the gospel?
The all-inclusive Spirit is the Spirit (which was there in the beginning with God) compounded with all that Christ is, has, has done, and has accomplished.
The all-inclusive Spirit is the Spirit compounded with Christ’s divinity, His humanity, His human living, His all-inclusive death with its effectiveness, His powerful resurrection with its life power, and His ascension.
This Spirit was not yet at the time the Lord was speaking of it in John 7:39, but through death and resurrection the Lord became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
He has been glorified by being crucified and resurrected (Luke 24:26), and He has become a life-giving Spirit, a compound Spirit, as the consummation of the processed Triune God. Wow!
Now what we enjoy as the blessing of the gospel is not a historical figure that one time lived a life and did a work that changed the course of humanity,
Jesus Christ, but a life-giving, compound, all-inclusive Spirit who can be our portion, our supply, and our everything!
Lord Jesus, we want to be one with You and even in You to enjoy the promised blessing of God! Hallelujah, it is of God that we are in Christ Jesus, for by faith in Christ we can be organically joined to Him and even be in Him! Amen, in Christ we enjoy all that God is, all that He has, and all that He has done and accomplished in Christ, for everything is in the all-inclusive Spirit as the blessing of Abraham! Amen, Lord Jesus, today we believe into You, we want to remain in the organic union with You, and we want to just enjoy the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound Spirit as the unique blessing of the gospel!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3285-3286, 3290-3291 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 8, Christ — the One Cursed and Hanged on a Tree.
- Hymns on this topic:
– ”Seed of Abraham,” Thou art, Lord, / By God’s promise Thou hast come, / That the blessing He hath promised / On all people thus might come. / Abraham Thou hast preceded, / For Thou art the great “I AM,” / Yet Thou cam’st to be his offspring / And become God’s promised “Lamb.” (Hymns #191)
– In the spirit Christ is life and all to me, / Strengthening and blessing all-inclusively; / Living in the spirit, holiness I prove, / And the triune God within my heart doth move. (Hymns #593)
– From the Glorified in heaven / The inclusive Spirit came; / All of Jesus’ work and Person / Doth this Spirit here proclaim. / With the Glorified in heaven / Is the Church identified; / By the Spirit of this Jesus / Are His members edified. (Hymns #132)