For the fulfillment of God’s purpose, “the seed” is a very important matter. In the Bible we see that Christ is a threefold seed: He is the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), the seed of Abraham (Gen. 17:2), and the seed of David. The entire Scriptures is wrapped up with the seed in these three aspects.
This week we are enjoying a crystal in the Bible: the seed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. The seed of Abraham refers to the all-inclusive Christ, the One in whom all the nations are blessed.
What is very interesting is that God didn’t promise Abraham “a son” or “a descendant”; God promised Abraham a seed, in whom all the nations will be blessed. Vine in his expository dictionary of the Bible says that this word, “seed”, refers not mainly to Isaac as the son of Abraham but to “the seed”, which is the promised Messiah, Christ Himself.
The meaning of this word “seed” which was promised to Abraham is very rich; the seed refers both to Christ and to the Body of Christ, and this seed also has the meaning of a container of life for reproduction and multiplication.
When you think of a seed you think of something small (and not huge) and of life, something that has life in it and is ready to be sown into the earth to bring forth fruit. A seed is not supposed to be put on a chair or on the table; it is not big, and it is supposed to be sown into the earth so that it would issue in an outgrowth for the multiplication and propagation of life. Christ is the seed of Abraham, and He fell into the earth to die to produce much fruit in resurrection (John 12:24).
Now as the transfigured seed of Abraham, the life-giving Spirit, Christ comes into man to regenerate man and cause man to enjoy all the blessings of God, and this believing one also becomes himself part of the corporate seed of Abraham. For the fulfilment of His purpose, God must have the seed, which is Christ (the Head) and the Body of Christ – the corporate Christ!
The Seed of Abraham is First Christ and then the Corporate Christ, the Body of Christ
God has a purpose: He desires to gain a people who bear His image to express Him and represent Him with His dominion over all the earth (Gen. 1:26). For this, God needs a seed – someone who is both a container of life for the multiplication of life and who is a blessing to all the nations.
For the fulfilment of God’s purpose, He must have the seed (see Gen. 12:7; 13:15-16; 15:3, 5). What is the seed of Abraham? Who is the seed of Abraham? Is the seed of Abraham only Isaac or the people of Israel as the descendants of Abraham?
First of all, the seed of Abraham is the individual Christ, the wonderful person of Jesus Christ who is God becoming man to enter into man’s genealogy and be the blessing for all the nations.
In Gal. 3:16 Paul tells us that there is only ONE seed of Abraham, and this seed is Christ. In Christ all the nations are blessed, and He came to take upon Himself the curse of the law and deliver us from the curse (Gal. 3:13-14). In Gal. 3:29 we also see that we as believers in Christ who are of Christ are also the seed of Abraham.
The seed of Abraham is first the individual Christ as the Head and the corporate Christ as the Body. All the believers in Christ are members of Christ, and they are included in this seed, the seed of Abraham, to be the heirs of God’s promised blessing. Eventually, the eternal New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of the seed of Abraham (see Rev. 21:12-14).
Through death and resurrection, Christ as the seed of Abraham has been transfigured to become the life-giving Spirit, and He came into us to regenerate us with His divine life and make us a part of the corporate seed of Abraham. Today by faith we as believers in Christ are those who can receive and inherit the consummated Spirit as the blessing of Abraham (see Gal. 3:7, 17; 4:28).
On the one hand we are part of the seed of Abraham, and, on the other hand, we enjoy the promised blessing of Abraham, the all-inclusive life-giving consummated Spirit (see 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 3:14, 29; Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14a)!
Christ Became a Curse for us so that we might Receive the Promise of the Spirit
As the seed of Abraham, Christ in His humanity was crucified and became a curse on our behalf, being forsaken by God, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit as the greatest blessing.
How can we, Gentiles and pagan nations, receive the blessing of Abraham, who is of the called race of God? We are sinners, Gentiles, strangers from the promises of the covenant, alienated from the life of God, and we are not partakers of the promises given to the people of Israel.
But Christ as the unique seed of Abraham came and, in His humanity, He was crucified for our sins. As a result of the fall, the whole mankind fell under the curse, and the law given by God officiated the curse.
God gave the law as a portrait of Himself so that His people would be exposed of their inability of keeping the law, but we as fallen human beings tried to keep the law and thus entered under the curse. We cannot fulfill the law: only God can! But 435 years before the law came, God came in to make a promise to Abraham: He promised the seed and the blessing!
Christ as the seed of Abraham came in the flesh to remove the curse of the law; He Himself bore the curse on His body on the tree, and He became a curse for us so that we can be released from the curse of the law and enjoy the blessing of Abraham (Gal. 3:13-14).
When Christ was on the cross, He was forsaken economically by God and judged by Him on our behalf, bearing our sins and the curse, and He even became a curse for us. But Hallelujah, as soon as we believe in Christ and repent for our sins, we enter into the enjoyment and participation of the blessing of Abraham!
In His resurrection, Christ became the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit so that we, the believers in Christ – those who are Abraham’s seed by faith – may inherit the Spirit as our divine inheritance, our divine blessing for eternity (Gal. 3:14, 29; Eph. 1:14)!
Christ is the seed of Abraham and He is also the fulfilment of the promise; we are simply receivers and enjoyers of this wonderful blessing! Today in the age of grace we have the privilege to not only be released from the curse of the law but also be brought into the enjoyment of the consummated Spirit – the consummation of the processed Triune God – as our divine inheritance!
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, the seed of Abraham!
Lord Jesus, thank You for being crucified and becoming a curse on our behalf on the cross so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit as the greatest blessing! We love You, Jesus Christ – the Seed of Abraham! Thank You for becoming the transfigured seed of Abraham, the life-giving Spirit, to regenerate us and make us part of the corporate seed of Abraham! The curse of the law is no more! Now we are enjoyers of the consummated Spirit, our divine inheritance! Keep us enjoying You as the Spirit, the greatest blessing!
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 Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 327-328), 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:
# ”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 by Witness Lee)
# What made You, Lord, to die for me? / Why would You die for me, Your enemy? / You took my place to hang on a tree, / To be a curse, a curse for me. / What made You die for me? / I was Your enemy. / Lord, You became a curse for me. / Oh, what a mystery! / My God, You died for me! / You died for me, Your enemy. (Song by Howard Higashi, What made You, Lord, to die for me?)
# His Son, Jesus, is our Savior. / Once in human form He came. / Now as Spirit He can enter / As the breath of life to man. / As a seed within our spirit / Christ takes root and starts to grow, / Spreading in our inmost being / Till His life we come to know. (Hymns #1299)
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