Reiterated in Genesis 17:7-8 as an everlasting Covenant.
Gen 17:1 And
when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I
am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Gen 17:2 And
I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
Gen 17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
Gen 17:4 As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Gen 17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for
a father of many nations have I made thee.
Gen 17:6 And
I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
Gen 17:7 And
I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
The word everlasting means forever. Nothing in this sin-cursed world lasts forever.
Therefore the everlasting part of the covenant would produce the Seed through which all of the nations will be blessed, which is Jesus Christ. He is the Seed of Gen. 3:15, John 3:16, and Gal. 3:16.
Gen 17:8 And
I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
When the New Heavens and the New Earth come in, we will share it with Abraham and all of the Old Testament believers. It will last forever.
(
Heb_11:16 But
now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
for he hath prepared for them a city. )
Gen 17:9 And God said unto Abraham,
Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
God told Abraham he and his descendants were to circumcise the male children.
Gen 17:10 This
is my covenant,
which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee;
Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:11 And
ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
Gen 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which
is not of thy seed.
Gen 17:13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised:
and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
Gen 17:14 And
the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
This part of the covenant was conditional.
Gen 17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah
shall her name
be.
Gen 17:16 And
I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Sarah produced Isaac through a miracle from God, which provided the One Seed, through which all the nations would be blessed. Gal. 3:16
This part of the covenant was unconditional. Nobody could stop it, since it was of God.
Gen 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart,
Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
Gen 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Gen 17:19 And God said,
Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
This is the everlasting part of the covenant, which produced the One Seed of Gal. 3:16.
Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 But
my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
There were two parts of the Abrahamic Covenant.
One part was conditional upon the descendants of Abraham, doing as God commanded.
The second part would produce the Messiah, and was unconditional.
Many confuse the unconditional part of the promise which would produce the Messiah, with the conditional part of the covenant, which was to depend on the behavior of Abraham's seed.
When viewed in context, these two aspects of the Abrahamic covenant become clear.
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Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
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Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
We are Abraham's seed and inheritors of the everlasting promise.
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