All the Families of the Earth

Series Index

1. All the Families of the Earth
2. Israel Crosses the Jordan
3. Solomon Dedicates the Temple
4. Let the Coastlands Rejoice!
5. Jesus Dies on the Cross
6. Peter and Cornelius
7. The Diverse Multitude

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Part 1 of a 7 part series. View series intro and index.

Since eternity past, it has been God’s design to make a people for himself.  This people would not be bound by race, nationality, gender, age, socio-economic status, or any other physical limitation.  This people group would be a spiritual family that is united together under God as their Father.  This is taught all throughout Scripture, and over the next few weeks, we’ll take glances at God’s big story and how it unfolds from Genesis to Revelation.

To find the first chapter in this story, we have to go all the way back to Genesis 12 and the call of Abram.  God tells Abram to leave his country and go to a land that God will provide.  In verses 2-3, God says to Abram,

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Notice that God doesn’t just say that Jews will be blessed, or Arabs (who derive from Abram), or Abram’s own personal family.  God tells Abram that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” through him.  That means every kind of person in every kind of race in every nation for all time.

There is a problem in Genesis 12, however.  There are still racial and ethnic and national issues that are keeping all the families from being blessed.  Abram soon becomes “Abraham” (Gen. 17), and the Jewish line is started with the covenant of circumcision.  The issue is that not everyone is Jewish.  Not everyone follows or knows about Jehovah God.  Not everyone is part of this special promise.  This is a huge problem.

If the story ended here, all the families of the earth would be doomed, not blessed.  It would not be a happy ending.  But the story doesn’t end here.  God does provide a solution.  The solution is that something greater than Abraham and this first covenant is coming.

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