In our last post, we ventured to outline our intention in this series which is to examine the promises God has sworn to the nations, those contrasted with the nation of Israel. In the past, focuses on the studies of the nations in relation to the end-times, seem to consistently begin in the book of Genesis with a prominence upon the creation account and the fall of humanity, before and after the flood. There is an emphasis on the creation mandate to Adam to have dominion on this world and how the scriptures imply God is moving history towards the fulfillment of this decree. While these are certainly significant and related to the whole of humanity (including nations), we will begin in a different area fast-forwarding to the promises made to the patriarch Abraham and the centrality of this covenant as it relates to the blessings upon the nations. Any investigation on promises in the scriptures need to take this focal covenant into consideration whether we are of Jewish or Gentile descent.
The Promise
The story of Abraham begins with a command from God to “go” from his country, from his relatives and his father’s house to the land which God would show him. Of course, this wasn’t some random voyage that God sent him on. Yahweh’s intention was much bigger than the great patriarch realized. The Lord’s intent was to enter into a covenant with him. The Abrahamic covenant stipulated that God was going to bless Abraham in several ways. The first revelation of these blessings was spelled out for us as followed:
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
Through Abraham, God was going to create a great nation. His descendants would be a mighty people, and their numbers were going to be so numerous as to be called a nation. We know that this was accomplished through his son Isaac, grandson Jacob followed by the 12 tribes of Israel and their descendants. God further promised that Abraham’s name would be great or mighty, and that the standard for receiving blessings or curses would be based upon how they would treat him and his descendants. Those blessings, on the surface, were physical. God’s blessing is manifested most obviously in human prosperity and well-being; long life, wealth, peace, good harvest such as in 24:35-36; Lev 26:4-13; Deut 28:3-15[1].
The first line of verse 3 explains that the blessing and cursing is performed by God. God is on his side, and He is the agent who prospers these men.
The last line of this divine promise however extends further than to this one promised nation in the name of Abraham. In Abraham, All the families of the earth will be blessed. The term families is generally defined as clans and in this context could even be directly referring to the families of Noah who became nations (10:32). The text is later reiterated in Genesis and the term families is substituted with nations (Genesis 18:18; 22:18; 26:4). But the families who receive this blessing were not limited to a few pockets of people. God establishes in this foundational promise that all the families of the earth will bless Abraham. The scope of this promise is communicated with an expression of vastness. As Gordon Wenham rightly points out: not every individual is promised blessing in Abram but every major group in the world will be blessed[2]. This blessing will make its way throughout the earth in a sweeping way. All the families leave little room for any significant limitation or a large exclusion.
A Multitude of Nations
Further in the book of Genesis, God clarifies this promise to Abraham in the following verses:
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
“No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. (Genesis 17:4-6)
Earlier, it was said that all families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham; now, it’s stated that he will father many nations, not just one as in Genesis 15. Further, his name would be so great that even kings would descend from him. A similar promise is repeated in Genesis after Abraham obeyed God in faith by not withholding his son when God commanded Isaac to be sacrificed.
Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18)
To summarize, from the Abrahamic covenant, God’s blessing would not be entirely focused upon the direct descendants of Abraham but expanded to all the families of the earth/nations who would experience a covenantal blessing from God through him. We want to emphasize that it wasn’t merely a few people within a nation that would call him their patriarch, but it was entire nations lead by kings who would call him their father. This promise was later reiterated to Abraham’s physical descendants in Isaac (Genesis 24:60; 26:3-4) and his grandson Jacob (Genesis 35:10-12).
New Testament Fulfillment
Now that we’ve established the vastness of the recipients of the Abrahamic blessing and keeping in mind that these promises were yet future to Abraham, we are left to wonder when the time of these blessings upon all families/nations will occur. When and how will these nations receive the blessing? The New Testament does speak clearly on the initial phase of the fulfillment of this passage especially in the days of the apostle Paul. The great apostle to Jesus Christ wrote much about Abraham and the blessings of the nations. The fulfillment of these promise points to the person of Jesus Christ.
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. (Galatians 3:7-9)
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:26, 28-29)
Paul is writing to believers in Galatia that consisted mostly of Gentiles and in these passages, he applies the heirship of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant to them because they received these promises by faith and not by the law. The Jews in this vicinity were attempting to place the Gentiles under the demands of the law by insisting they receive the Old Testament sign of the covenant, that of circumcision. In this chapter, Paul is contrasting two covenants, the covenant of promise and the covenant of the law. It was Christ who received the blessings of Abraham because He was the true seed of Abraham. By extension, a Gentile who was from nations outside Israel could receive the covenant promises made to Abraham and in return the blessings to those nations in the Abrahamic covenant. But this was only the beginning!
The argument being presented is that the blessing of the nations began to be fulfilled during the time of the apostle Paul. Paul’s defense of justification by faith (and not by the law) is the primary concern of the Galatian epistle. This chapter in Galatians is specifically answering the question: Who are the sons of Abraham and how does one become an heir of the promises to Abraham? The answer throughout Paul’s writings and especially in this portion is that it is by faith in Jesus Christ and not the works of the law. This is how we identify the descendants of this great patriarch! Abraham’s heirs are not such through a physical lineage or by attempting to fulfil the demands of the Mosaic covenant, but by placing their faith in Jesus. One of the arguments presented by the apostle Paul to further this stance is the justification of the Gentiles. Paul argues that when God made His promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 & 17, the promise that all the families of the earth would be blessed, He was “foreseeing” the coming in of the Gentiles by faith. It is important to note that Paul was convinced these events were occurring during his own time. God’s intention all along was that the Gentiles would become sons of Abraham and share in the blessings. The promises that were made to Abraham concerning these blessings were, according to Paul, redemptive in nature and being received in his time. Genesis suggests that God chose faith as the way to bless the Gentiles.
Becoming a Curse to Bless
As we previously reiterated, the passage in Genesis 12 not only relates to blessing but to the curse that was to be executed by God upon those who cursed Abraham. This curse, however, was lifted because Jesus became the curse for them. By Jesus bearing the curse upon the tree, He took that curse away, and showered those, whether Jew or Gentile, with the blessings of Abraham (Galatians 3:10,13). So, the descendant of Abraham who would bring blessings to all the families of the earth was none other than Jesus Himself. This is why it was so important to Paul to identify the true descendant of Abraham as Jesus. The great descendant of Abraham who would fulfill the covenantal promises was not the nation of Israel, but the One seed Jesus. So, when we think that through Abraham and his direct posterity would come the blessings of all the nations, we must look to Jesus as the fulfiller of that promise.
The Gospel to Abraham
But how do the words “all the nations will be blessed in you” become a sort of gospel message? The content of Galatians 3:28-29 demonstrates the good news of the vastness of the blessing of Abraham. In Genesis, the categories of family and nation describe the scope of the blessing. Paul expands on this by referencing Jews and Greeks (national identities), slaves and freemen (social status), and male and female (sex). These references indicate that the blessing of Abraham was intended without restriction based on identity or social group. All could become heirs of Abraham according to the promise in Christ, the true descendant of Abraham to whom the promises found their fulfillment (Galatians 3:16).
It is important to note that while the blessing described in Genesis 12 anticipated the blessing of the nations, and Paul asserted that this promise was being fulfilled in his time, even as of 2025, not all nations—nor the majority—have received the blessing of Abraham. Paul’s experiences during his era represented merely the initial phase of the promises’ fulfillment—the early development of the mustard seed—anticipating its eventual growth into a substantial tree. One day, with the going forth of the gospel, the redemptive blessings promised to the patriarch Abraham will finally be fulfilled.
A Summary
To summarize, Paul argues that the fulfillment of that promise to all the families of the earth in receiving a blessing through the patriarch are being fulfilled in his day. This blessing wouldn’t be extended to merely one nation, but Jews, Greeks, Barbarians, and prolonged to various social classes including slaves or free, and both male or female. The original blessing of Abraham was undoubtedly redemptive in nature and in return were meant for both Jews and Gentiles. But what we especially don’t want to miss is that, in the days of the apostle, not all the families were blessed. Only a minority of the population believed. While today there are many believers in many nations, the numbers do not warrant the language indicated by both Genesis and Galatians. In our next segment, we will be examining the state of the nations prior to and during the coming of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ.
[1] Genesis: Word Bible Commentary, Gordon Wenham, Page 275
[2] IBID P.278
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