Pretribbers need to think and search out the Word before they repeat what they have been taught. The Gospel embracing the Gentiles was a revelation made before there was even an Israel, the 12 tribes or before there was a Jew. This was a revelation given to Abraham in the book of Genesis.
It has always been God's plan that His glory would be seen throughout the whole earth. Time after time in the Old Testament the ancient seers foresaw it, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. When God spoke about the nations it was always in regard to salvation and global influence not mere real estate in the Middle East. The Old Testament prophets prophesied for centuries about the new covenant period: that the Gentiles would be enlightenment through receiving the truth.
Abraham
Genesis 12:1-3: “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
God in His Sovereignty had specially chosen Abraham to be the spiritual father of the faith. Through his wife Sarah he would receive a seed that would be blessed of all nations.
Gen 13:16 declares: “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.”
Again in Genesis 17:5-6, God says, “a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.”
Genesis 18:18 says, “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?”
Genesis 22:17-18: “in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
The spiritual blessing of Abraham is only spiritually realized in a spiritual seed. That spiritual seed pertains to God’s redeemed – all those since Abraham that have experienced God’s grace through saving faith. Whilst the, elect were largely contained within the natural seed of Abraham in the Old Testament that was branched out through and since Christ to embrace all nations. All those from throughout the nations who get saved become the children of Abraham and consequently partake in his covenant blessing. To apply the blessing of Abraham to the unregenerate is not only unscriptural but ludicrous.
These were spiritual promises to a spiritual people of all nations. Abraham and the Old Testament saints looked for the heavenly land, not some real estate in Palestine. Hebrews 11:8-10 describes how our great father of the faith, the Patriarch, Abraham looked for that great heavenly city, saying, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
The Book says that "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country." This was talking about "the land of promise." The Greek word for “strange” here (as in “strange country") is allotrios which actually means another's, or not one's own; by extension foreign, not akin, hostile. The earthly Promised Land was not the true home of God’s Old Testament people. It was not the place of true peace and rest. Many enemies resided within those borders and much trouble and strife continued there even when Israel took her promised borders. It says here that Abraham: “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” That city was clearly the New Jerusalem.
The promise to Abraham and his seed was not merely a little strip of land in the Middle East, he and his Seed were promised the whole world, and all nations would be blessed by his Seed. Even when God made a covenant with Abraham it was not limited to one particular ethnic group or people but embraced all nations.
The references to the “nations” or “families of the earth” being “of” Abraham alludes to the global spread of the Gospel – post-Calvary. It is speaking of those of all nations who come to faith in Jesus Christ and enter His Church. It doesn’t in any way automatically indicate that every single person in every single nation be subjected to any specific blessing, but rather is used as a general term to describe a particular chosen people (the Church) from the many varying nations (all kindred’s and kinds) throughout the world.
His Wife
Genesis 17:15-21 records, “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 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 … but my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.”
Isaac
In Genesis 17:18-19 we learn, “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 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."
Whilst Abraham had eight sons by three different women, God revealed that it would be Sarah's son Isaac that the physical and spiritual covenant would be continued. In the physical covenant to Isaac, the land was promised to Isaac and his seed. In the spiritual covenant, the Gentiles would one day be blessed.
The everlasting covenant is expressly realized in Isaac. He is the promised child. The elder natural son Ishmael was not counted as the inheritance. The inheritance goes to Isaac through Abraham. Undoubtedly Ishmael gets his own blessing, but the everlasting covenant is in Isaac.
Contrary to what most Dispies imagine, the true seed of Abraham – those that enjoy the favour and blessing of God are all those (irrespective of nationality) that have entered into salvation through faith in Christ. That was revealed to Abraham right back in the book of Genesis. The true seed of Abraham was always international in make-up. Whilst it was kept to a singular nation – natural Israel – in the old economy, when Christ (the Messiah came) it was widened out to include all the nations of the world. This was the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham many thousands of years ago.
After Abraham’s death, the LORD appeared unto his son Isaac, in Genesis 26:2-5, and confirmed the great hope of the Promised Land: “And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
Jacob
Isaac had two sons and God chose to confirm the covenant with Jacob only (Genesis 28:13‑15). In the confirmation of the covenant to Jacob, one specific provision was made: The Land is promised to both Jacob and Jacob's seed (28:13, 15). After that, it was confirmed through all of Jacob's twelve sons who fathered the twelve Tribes of Israel (Gen. 49).
Genesis 27:29 declares, “Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.”
This blessing was given to the one carrying the birthright. It was a spiritual blessing and was not made with Esau. Therefore, it relates to a spiritual seed not a natural seed.
Genesis 28:14 says, “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
Genesis 35:10-11: “And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.”
