God didn’t give up on man after Adam fell in the garden of Eden; He continued to seek man and desired to gain man for His purpose. He gained Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah and his family, etc. until one day the God of glory appeared to Abraham in the Ur of Chaldea’s.
God’s appearing attracted Abraham and caused him to do what he has never done before: leave his home land and travel to a land that God has promised to give to him and to his seed. God promised Abraham a seed, in whom all the nations will be blessed, and this seed will be countless in number – as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore.
God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham believed God; this was counted to him as righteousness. Who is the seed of Abraham, and who fulfilled the promise made to Abraham? The seed of Abraham is firstly Christ, the Messiah, who is God incarnated to be a man in the genealogy of Abraham to fulfill the promise made to Abraham.
Christ was before Abraham (John 8:58) since He is God Himself, and He became a man to be the only One qualified to be the seed of Abraham.
On the one hand, Christ is the seed of Abraham; on the other hand, Christ is the One who fulfills the promise made by God to Abraham. None of us is qualified to fulfill God’s promise; only Christ Himself is qualified, and He not only fulfilled the promise: through death and resurrection, Christ as the transfigured seed of Abraham became the life-giving Spirit as the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham!
Christ Himself as the Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham (Gal. 3:14), and all we have to do today as believers in Christ is enjoy and receive this promised blessing!
We are the many sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, and for us to enjoy the promised blessing to Abraham we need to be in Christ and be one with Christ, even one spirit with Him (see Gal. 3:29; 1 Cor. 6:17).
In Christ, we enjoy the processed and consummated Triune God as the bountiful supply of the Spirit, even the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit whom Christ became after His resurrection. Hallelujah, we need to simply enjoy!
God Made a Promise to Abraham, and Christ came to Fulfill the Promise
In Gen. 12:7 and in many other places in Genesis we see that the God of glory appeared to Abraham and made him a promise: a seed! And this seed will enjoy the good land forever to be God’s expression on the earth! Abraham was infused with God through His appearing to him, and he simply believed God.
Even though Isaac was later born to Abraham in his old age through his wife Sarah, Isaac himself was not the complete fulfillment of the promise made to him by God. Christ Himself is the seed of Abraham, and He came to fulfill the promise. God didn’t Himself fulfill the promise; Christ came to fulfill the promise.
In fulfilling the promise, we have no part; only Christ is qualified to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham. Only Christ is qualified to die for us, redeem us from the curse of the law, and become the life-giving Spirit as the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham.
God didn’t promise Abraham merely a “physical land”; rather, the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham is the consummated Spirit (Gal. 3:14), the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit whom Christ became after His death and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45).
What Witness Lee said on this topic really helps us understand this matter,
The last Adam mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:45 is the seed of Abraham. This seed became not only our Redeemer and Savior but also the life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is a transfigured descendant of Abraham. The top blessing, the consummate blessing, to us sinners is God Himself as the life-giving Spirit. On the one hand, the life-giving Spirit is a transfigured descendant of Abraham, and on the other hand, He is the very Triune God. This life-giving Spirit is the consummated Spirit who is the consummation of the processed Triune God. This is the real blessing. (The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, pp. 87-88)
The Believers in Christ as the Corporate Seed of Abraham Enjoy the Blessings of the Promise
Gal. 3:7 Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham. Gal. 3:26 For you all are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:29 And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.
Through our faith in Christ, we have been organically joined to Him; since we are of Christ and in Christ, we are also the seed of Abraham, the descendants of Abraham, and we can and should enjoy the blessing of the promise God made to our father Abraham (Rom. 4:12; Gal. 3:29).
The believers in Christ today are Abraham’s seed, the heirs according to promise, those who inherit God’s promised blessing. Today we can exercise our spirit and enjoy the promised blessing – the life-giving Spirit! On His side, Christ came to fulfill the promise God made to Abraham; on our side, we believe into Christ, are joined to Him, and enjoy the blessing of the promise!
If I make a promise to you, I have to carry it out and, in general, I may not enjoy this promise as much as you would; rather, you enjoy the blessings of the promise.
God made the promise, Christ came to fulfill the promise, and now we enjoy the blessings of the promise. Christ is the unique seed of Abraham and He is the One who fulfills the promise made to Abraham; we are the many sons of Abraham who enjoy the promised blessing.
If we are outside of Christ, if we are not in our spirit joined to Him as one, we cannot enjoy the fulfillment of the promise given by God to Abraham. But whenever we are in our spirit, touching the Lord, being one with Him, and being in Him, we enjoy the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the promised blessing.
Here we see the two aspects of the seed of Abraham: in the matter of fulfilling the promise made to Abraham, only Christ is qualified to be the unique seed of Abraham, but in the matter of enjoying the fulfilled promise, the seed becomes the many sons of Abraham, the many believers in Christ (Gal. 3:7).
All those who believe in Christ are included in the seed of Abraham, and they are qualified and have the right to enjoy the promised blessing (John 3:15-16). Hallelujah, we today are simply enjoyers and partakers: everything has been accomplished, the Spirit has been consummated, and all we have to do is to enjoy this Spirit who is with our spirit.
This is our portion today, and this is our destiny for eternity; forever and ever we will enjoy the processed and consummated Triune God as the Spirit in and as the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth!
Lord Jesus, You are the unique seed of Abraham and the One who fulfills the promise made by God to Abraham. Thank You for dying for us, releasing us from the curse of the law, and for becoming the life-giving Spirit as the fulfillment of the promise. Hallelujah, as believers in Christ we now are sons of Abraham, inheritors of the promised blessing, and we can enjoy the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit! Thank You Father for Your promise! Thank You, Christ the Son, for fulfilling the promise! Thank You, God the Spirit, for becoming the blessing of God’s promise to us who believe! Hallelujah!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Central Line of the Divine Revelation (msgs. 8-9), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 3 / msg 3, The Seed for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
# ’Tis Jesus who confirms / The blessed work within, / By adding grace to welcomed grace, / Where reigned the power of sin. / And He the witness gives / To loyal hearts and free, / That every promise is fulfilled, / If faith but brings the plea. (Hymns #1051)
# “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. (Hymns #191)
# He’s the Spirit of Reality. / He’s the secret. He is one with me; / He’s in my spirit. God dispensed in me / From my spirit, soul and then, body, / Producing reality. (new song on, The Spirit of Reality)
# 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)
