Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

12: 1-20 GENESIS
boon of his good-will is the earnest of what he will con-
tinue to bestow on those who continue to walk in his ways.
And as the present is the womb of the future, so is the
external the symbol of the internal, the material the shadow
of the spiritual, in the order of the divine blessing. And
as events unfold themselves in the history of man and
conceptions in his soul within, so are doctrines gradually
opened up in the Word of God, and progessively revealed
to the soul by the Spirit of God.” (Cf. ha. 28:9-10,
Mark 4:28, 1 Cor. 15:42-49, Heb. lO:l, Eph. 1:13-14,
Col. 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:5-11, 3:18).
The Abrahamic Covenant, which is mentioned several
times in Genesis (cf. 12:2, 3, 7; 13:14-17; chs. 15, 17;
ch. 18; 21:12-13; 22:9-18) was essentially a covertant of
promise; the only requirement was that Abram should
respond in faith and trust to God’s calling him away from
his land and his family. And, although subsequent ramifica-
tions of the covenant occur in Genesis, the two basic
features remain constant throughout. These are the Zand
and the descendants. “The progeny of Abraham was to
be a blessing to all and Abraham was guaranteed a son
through whom his line would be perpetuated.” This son,
Isaac, therefore, came to be known as the child of promise,
and the land to which Abram journeyed became designated
the. kand of promise (Exo. 12:25, Deut. 19:8-10, Josh.
2j:5, .Acts 7:4-5,. Gal. 4:22-31; Gen. 17:15-19; Heb.
1.1:9-12,. 17-19, etc.). Green (UBG, 163): “In the
original promise and in the renewal of it upon two occa-
sions of uncsual- solemnity, one when the Lord signified
his approval of Abraham’s unfaltering faith by coming as
his guest in human form, and again as a reward of his
most signal ‘act of obedience, the blessing is set before him
in its most ample sweep. But during all the intervening
period of long expectancy of his promised child the divine
comhunicationsd made to him from time to time were
designed to keep alive his faith in that particular promise,
56