So much of what happened in Genesis 22 pictured Jesus. I imagine Jesus referring to it on his walk with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:27, when “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

Like the story in Genesis 22 of God telling Abraham to “Take your son, your only son, whom you love,” clearly picturing Jesus as God’s only son whom he loved. And telling Abraham to “go to the region of Moriah” to sacrifice Isaac “as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about,” an obvious parallel with Jesus being crucified on Mount Moriah, where Jerusalem was built.  

And carrying right on with the parallels in verse 3, we have Abraham saddling up his donkey and taking two servants with himself and Isaac to the place where Isaac would be sacrificed – just as Jesus (in Matthew 21:1-2) sent two disciples to fetch a donkey for him to ride on his way to Jerusalem where he would be sacrificed. 

And in verse 4, it was “On the third day” that “Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.” That links to Jesus too, when he “began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem….to be killed but on the third day be raised to life again” (in Matthew 16:21). So Jesus knew on the third day he’d be raised back to life again, which is interesting because it was on the third day Abraham told his servants that “we will come back to you.” “WE will,” he said, meaning that both he and Isaac would be returning, so Abraham had grasped that if Isaac was to be sacrificed he would also be raised back to life again – and on the third day too. 

And then in verse 6, “Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac,” a direct parallel with Jesus having to carry his own wooden cross. And just like Jesus’ cross, the wood that Isaac had to carry was heavy too. For a burnt offering to totally consume a body (which it was meant to do) it took about 60 pounds of wood, which suggests Isaac was more than a youngster (“boy” in verse 5 can also mean young man). 

Which meant that Isaac was also strong enough to resist the very old Abraham sacrificing him, but like Jesus he willingly submitted (verses 8-10). 

So many parallels – and one more in the next blog too, in the statement to Abraham in verse 12: “Now I know that you fear God”…

Galatians 3:14 says that Jesus “redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.”

In other words, it’s because Jesus redeemed us that the promise God made to Abraham of blessing all peoples on earth was made possible. So did God help Abraham see Jesus in his role of Redeemer/Saviour too? 

Yes he did, and in the most dramatic way, by asking Abraham to “sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering” in Genesis 22:2, because a burnt offering pictured Jesus perfectly. It was totally burnt, with nothing left but ashes, picturing Jesus giving up his life in total, his body completely shattered to “obtain eternal redemption” for us (Hebrews 9:12).

Abraham knew what burnt offerings meant too, and especially what they meant to God – because four hundred years earlier in Genesis 8:20, Noah had done burnt offerings right after God had destroyed the known world because of how evil humans had become. But Noah’s burnt offerings in response to the Flood pleased God so much he determined there and then “never to destroy all living creatures” again (21). Not only did the burnt offerings represent an atoning for the sins of the world, then, they were also such a “pleasing aroma” to God (21) that he guaranteed the world would never end. 

Which, again, pictured Jesus perfectly, because when Jesus “gave himself up for us,” Ephesians 5:2, that was “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” too. So God was asking Abraham to go through a vivid enactment of the role Jesus would play – in Jesus not only offering up his body totally to atone for the world’s evil, but also to be so pleasing to God that God would guarantee our eternal redemption. 

And it was in Abraham that God made these points so vivid and clear, because his plan of salvation through Jesus began with Abraham. And the burnt offerings – that were already a familiar form of sacrifice by Abraham’s day – fit in with that. We see that in Isaac asking Abraham in Genesis 22:7, “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” So Isaac knew burnt offerings involved the sacrifice of a lamb, the lamb too picturing Jesus perfectly in his title as “the lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36). 

So much of what Jesus would later be as a burnt offering for the saving of the world was being played out here in Genesis 22, and Abraham clearly understood the significance of such an offering, because he never questioned God as to why he should sacrifice Isaac.  

There’s more too in “The parallels with Jesus in Genesis 22”…(next blog)

Abraham was given extraordinary insight into the part Jesus would play in the blessings God had promised him – when God told him in Genesis 22:2, “take your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah and sacrifice him there.”

Because if Abraham went through with sacrificing his son, God promised in verse 18 that “all nations on earth will be blessed because you obeyed me.” The result of this one act, then, would impact the whole world. But why this act of killing his son of all things? And especially since Abraham knew God’s promises were going to be fulfilled through his son Isaac too (Genesis 15:4, 17:19).

So what went through Abraham’s head to make him willing to go through with the sacrifice? 

Well, according to Hebrews 11:19, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead.” That was the direction of his thinking. It wasn’t questioning God’s promise, because Isaac’s miraculous birth had already proved God stuck to his promises. So God breaking a promise was out of the question. For God to be true to his promise, therefore, he’d have to raise Isaac back from the dead. A staggering proposition, but what other solution was there? 

But it still seemed like a strange thing God was asking him to do, unless the death of Isaac would somehow connect to the whole world being blessed as well. But how?   

Well, Genesis 22 showed him how. It was God asking Abraham to sacrifice “the son he loved” that clued him in (2). It would help Abraham see that for God to bless the whole world – that by his standards deserved to be dead forever – he, God himself, would be making the ultimate sacrifice of the son he loved too. Which was another staggering proposition, but this was the route God had decided to go, and in asking Abraham to go the same route it would make real the sacrifice that God himself was willing to make to rescue humanity from eternal death.  

It would also make real the willingness of Jesus to be the sacrifice. Which is what Abraham saw as he looked down at his son on the altar, already bound and knowing what was coming next, but utterly willing and trusting in what it was for too. It was in his own son, then, that Abraham was being given the chance to see Jesus and the part he was so willing to play as well.  

To the next blog, then: “Did Abraham know Jesus would be the Saviour?” 

Abraham knew Melchizedek as the “priest of the Most High God” (Genesis 14:18). Put that together with Hebrews 6:19-20 about Jesus entering the inner sanctuary on our behalf because he’s “a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek,” and we have Jesus being a priest of the Most High God too. 

It’s not surprising, then, that Hebrews 7:3 describes Melchizedek’s office and function as being “like that of the Son of God.” In which case, Abraham would learn a lot about Jesus’ function as a priest from Melchizedek. And from what Jesus tells us in John 8:56, what Abraham saw in Jesus from Melchizedek filled him with joy. But what did he see that created such joy in him? 

Well, curiosity asks why the priest of Most High God appeared in Genesis 14 at this specific moment in time. Abraham had just returned from an exhausting campaign defeating the tyrant king Kedorlaomer, who’d bullied the entire region for so long a rebellion had broken out, which he’d brutally crushed, stripping the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah of all their food and possessions, and carrying off Abraham’s nephew too. 

Abraham immediately gathered all his trained fighting men and they roared off in pursuit of Kedorlaomer, attacked his camp at night and defeated him so soundly that they recovered all the food and goods lost – and the people he’d carried off captive too.  

It was an exhausted Abraham, therefore, who was met on his return by Melchizedek, who “brought out bread and wine,” Genesis 14:18, the purpose of which was to announce the Most High God’s celebration of the victory. Because the victory had been God’s; he was the one who’d blessed Abraham by delivering his enemies into his hand (verses 19-20).  

So it was in this act by Melchizedek that Abraham was learning about the priesthood of Jesus, who one day would repeat the same process of bringing out bread and wine for his disciples to announce the victory over sin and evil the Most High God had accomplished for all humanity through Jesus’ death.

No wonder Abraham was filled with joy, seeing in Melchizedek what one day Jesus would be doing, as proof that the Most High God would be true to his promise of blessing all peoples by bringing about total victory over evil – just as he’d blessed Abraham with victory over evil too. 

Which explains why Melchizedek appears at this specific point in time. Abraham had just been given a great victory of his own over evil, the perfect timing, therefore, for giving him extraordinary insight into what the future would hold with Jesus as priest of the Most High God too.

Expanding on this then: “What part did Jesus play in the promises to Abraham?” 

But how could Abraham have even known if Jesus was included in the promises to him? And yet Jesus told some Jews claiming “Abraham is our father” in John 8:39, that “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad,” verse 56.  

You mean, Abraham actually knew about the life and ministry of Jesus 1900 years ahead of time? Well, yes, but not surprisingly, because it sounds like Abraham actually knew him, or at least someone in human form who pictured Jesus perfectly.  

This “someone in human form” first appears in Genesis 14:18. Abraham has just returned victorious from his battle with four invading kings, rescuing his nephew Lot in the process, to be met by “Melchizedek king of Salem – and also priest of the Most High God – who brought out bread and wine.” So whoever this great priest king was, Abraham knew him personally. 

King David also knew who this Melchizedek was, because in Psalm 110:4-6 David sees the appearing of a future Melchizedek lifted up at the right hand of God to “judge the nations” and “crush the rulers of the whole earth.” The author of Hebrews tells us who he is too, because in Hebrews 1:1-3 the one seated at the right hand of God is God’s Son. And in verse 13 his Father says to him, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” So the one seated at God’s right hand and crushing all enemies is Melchizedek in Psalms, and Jesus in Hebrews. 

So they’re both great kings. Melchizedek was a great king in physical form in Genesis, and Jesus is the great king, stationed at God’s right hand picturing the time when all enemies of God will be dealt with and crushed. 

And according to Jesus in John 8:56 Abraham “saw” this. He was given a clear picture of Jesus as king of kings with enormous power. No wonder he “was glad.” It was thrilling, knowing that one day all evil would be eradicated as part and parcel of God’s great promise in Genesis 12:3 to bless all peoples on earth. 

But that wasn’t all that Abraham saw in the life and ministry of Jesus pictured by the life and ministry of Melchizedek, because back in Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek “was also priest of the Most High God.” 

Next blog, then: “Did Abraham know about Jesus’ priesthood?”

God promised “The whole land of Canaan” as an “everlasting possession to you (Abram) and your descendants after you,” Genesis 17:8. And to Moses he promised, “I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage,” Exodus 6:8. Which God fulfilled, Joshua 21:43 – “the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers….not one of all the good promises the Lord God gave you has failed” (also Psalm 105:7-11, 42-45).

And in 1 Kings 8:55-56, Solomon yelled out to “the whole assembly of Israel….‘Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers….so that (verse 60) all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and there is no other.’”

And therein lies the purpose of Israel being established forever in the land of Canaan. They were meant to be the showroom of God, the one place on the planet where “all peoples on earth” could visibly see the greatness of God, his utter faithfulness to his promises, his incredible blessings of peace and wisdom, and what happens to people who obey and trust him. It was all there for the world to see in Solomon’s day. And it could’ve happened in Eden too. Because that’s how God operates, showing through humans in a localized piece of land what he’s like and what he’s up to, so that people from all over can observe and visit, and in so doing come to trust God like Abraham did. 

So how is God fulfilling that same promise and same purpose today? Well, true to God’s promise of choosing Israel to be a showroom in the land of Canaan, Jesus also chose “men of Galilee” (Acts 1:11) living in the land of Canaan to be a showroom to him – or as he phrased it, to be “my witnesses,” not only to the surrounding area but “to the ends of the earth,” Acts 1:8. The land of Canaan in Jesus’ day, therefore, was still fulfilling its purpose, as the jumping off point for “all peoples of the earth” coming to know God.  

And in the “new heaven and new earth” of Revelation 21 and 22, Jerusalem is the showroom of “the glory of God” (21:10-11). So even in the future of this planet, Jerusalem is the location chosen “for the healing of the nations” (22:2) and all the peoples of the earth being blessed, just as God promised Abraham. 

But Abraham knew that too. He knew that the promise of the land of Canaan being an everlasting possession would one day find its fulfillment in the city of Jerusalem (Hebrews 11:8, 10).

No mention yet, though, as to what part Jesus played in the promises to Abraham. So next blog: “Was Jesus a promise to Abraham too?”

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be too many to count, just like “the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore,” Genesis 22:17.

And God fulfilled that promise in the days of king Solomon, when “The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore,” 1 Kings 4:20 – which Solomon himself confirmed in 2 Chronicles 1:9 when he said to God, “you have made me king over a people who are numerous as the dust of the earth.” 

How numerous? Well, a count of just the fighting men in his father David’s day recorded “one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah,” 1 Chronicles 21:5 – which did not include the available men from Levi and Benjamin either (verse 6). Add in the women and children and non-fighting men to that number, and the population in Israel around 1000 BC was well over three million. Abraham’s descendants in Solomon’s time, therefore, were very much “like the stars in the sky.”

Is there evidence, then, that God has continued to fulfill his promise of numerous descendants for Abraham in our day and age as well?

Well, yes, if we’re defining “descendants of Abraham” like Paul defines them in Galatians 3:7, when he writes, “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham,” and in verse 9, “those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” And in verse 29, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  

By Paul’s definition, therefore, anyone belonging to Christ because of faith in him is a child of Abraham – which today would be called a “Christian.” So, to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham today, are Christians as “numerous as the dust of the earth” too? Well, in 2021 there were nearly 2.4 billion Christians worldwide, which increased to 2.6 billion by mid-2023, and by 2050 the projected number is 3.3 billion. A Muslim report told of six million Muslims a year converting to Christianity, including one recent report of a million Muslims becoming Christian believers in Iran alone. 

All these people can claim that Abraham is their father (Romans 4:16), based simply on what Jesus said in John 8:39, that they “do the things that Abraham did.” Which by Jesus’ definition was “hearing what God says,” verse 47, and believing it – like billions of people are doing today, just as God promised Abraham they would.  

To the next promise, then: “The whole land as an everlasting possession” 

When God promised Abraham that a great nation would emerge from him in Genesis 12:2, it did. His great grandson became an Egyptian prince (Genesis 41:41-43), and the Israelite nation that began with Joseph in Egypt grew in such numbers that the mighty power of Egypt even considered Israel a threat. Israel then became a powerful nation in its own right and in its own land with its own kings.

So God certainly stuck to his promise to Israel in Exodus 19:5-6, that “you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples…and you shall be to to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Because people would say of Israel in Deuteronomy 4:6, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” And as Moses declared in verse 7, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near to them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” 

So God being near to them meant Israel would have a major impact on other nations too, which it did in Solomon’s day (2 Chronicles 9:22-24). And imagine Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, “falling prostrate before Daniel,” and telling him, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings,” and then making Daniel “ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placing him in charge of all its wise men,” Daniel 2:46-48. So even in exile the descendants of Abraham were held in high esteem. 

But where is that “great nation” God promised to Abraham on earth today?  

Peter answers that for us 1 Peter 2:9, because he describes God’s “chosen people” in the New Testament as a “royal priesthood, a holy nation” – the very same titles used of Israel back in Exodus 19:6. And the purpose of that holy nation on earth today is the same as that of Israel of old too. In Peter’s words it’s being “God’s own precious possession” for the purpose of demonstrating the greatness and goodness of God – exactly what God meant for Israel of old to do too. 

The great nation God created from Abraham’s descendants, therefore, continues today. And like Israel of old it’s set apart from and different to all the other nations in the world, taking up an entirely unique place in our world too. And with God just as near it means God’s holy nation today will have an impact on others too, just as it had a huge impact on Nebuchadnezzar. 

To the next promise, then: “Like the stars in the sky”

In Galatians 3:9, Paul wrote that “those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham.” So, yes, according to Paul, all the blessings God promised to Abraham continue today. 

That’s because, verse 7, “those who believe are children of Abraham.” To have faith like Abraham makes us into Abraham’s children, so whatever he was promised is ours as well. 

Which would include the promise God made to Abraham that he would be a “great nation” (Genesis 12:2) fathering many nations and kings (17:4-6).  And Abraham’s own family shows God fulfilling that promise, first in his son Isaac and the great nation of Israel that came from him – but also in the many nations and kings that descended from other members of his family. Like Ishmael his other son, for instance, from whom came “12 princes” (Genesis 17:20, 25:13-18). And from Keturah, Abraham’s second wife, came several more nations (Genesis 25:1-4), and from his grandson, Esau, came the Edomites. “Many nations” – and all traceable to Abraham.

But if this promise to Abraham is still in operation, where is that great nation and the fathering of many nations today? 

Paul explains in Galatians 3:7. “Understand, then,” he writes, “that those who believe are children of Abraham.” Yes, we’ve got that point understood, but then Paul writes in verse 8 that “Scripture also foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.” Included, therefore, in the “children of Abraham” are people who aren’t directly traceable to him and aren’t in his family tree. But for their faith they’re still his children.

So in Abraham “fathering many nations” we can look among Gentiles today for that promise still being in operation. Which makes it easy to prove, because many Gentile nations today have a Judeo-Christian heritage. They were built on Christian principles and belief in God, deeply affecting how they governed, with their clear emphasis on justice, education, family, human rights, care for the poor, the homeless, the sick and the dying. 

Abraham’s faith in God, therefore, has grown into many nations having a belief in God too. So that’s the “fathering of many nations” promise being continued today. But to answer the question in the title, “Are all God’s promises to Abraham continuing today?” – where is the evidence of God’s promise to make Abraham a “great nation” today as well?

To the next blog, then: “God’s great nation on earth today”

God made a global changing promise to Abraham, that “all peoples on earth” would be “blessed through him” (Genesis 12:3). Is there any evidence, therefore, that God began that process through Abraham – and that he’s continuing it today?  

God provided at least four points of evidence: the first that he’d make Abraham into “a great nation” (12:2) fathering many nations and kings (17:4-6); the second, that despite being childless into his old age Abraham would have a child and a family of his own (15:2, 4); the third that he’d have so many descendants it would be hard to count them all (15:5, 16:10); and the fourth a promise of “an everlasting possession of land” in which he and his descendants would live and God would be with them (15:18-21, 17:8). 

And there’s plenty of evidence in the Old Testament that God fulfilled those promises in Abraham’s personal life and in the nation of Israel that grew from him. But if all those promises are meant for today as well, as continuing evidence of God blessing the whole world, where is the family God promised Abraham now? And where is the great nation fathering many nations? Who and where are all Abraham’s uncountable descendants too? And what land are they in where God is present with them?

It’s Paul in the New Testament who sets about answering all those questions for us, and in so doing he confirms that all those blessings God promised Abraham are for today as well. Like the first question about Abraham being promised a family and where that family is today. Paul answers that in Romans 4:16, that all those with faith like Abraham’s are “Abraham’s offspring” too.

In the original promise, Isaac was Abraham’s offspring, but from Paul we find out that God extended that promise into our day, and expanded it hugely too, to give Abraham many offspring. It’s why Paul describes Abraham as “the father of us all” in verse 16. Because it’s through Abraham that God got things started, and through Abraham’s growing family that he’s continuing to fulfill his global blessing promise in those who believe as Abraham did.

Abraham’s belief, therefore, not only got him a physical son, it got him a whole raft of offspring piling up in the future as well, as proof that God really is being true to his promise of blessing the whole world through him.

But being Abraham’s offspring is just one of the four promises God made to Abraham. To the next blog, then: “Are all God’s promises to Abraham continuing today?”