ALL NATIONS ON EARTH WILL BE BLESSED 

Genesis 22:1-19 

Key Verse 22:18 

"...and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

This Christmas season we'd like to learn more deeply about the meaning of Jesus' birth according to the promises God gave regarding his person and work.  

We have begun studying Matthew's gospel from the Fall semester. Matthew introduced Jesus as "the son of David, the son of Abraham"; then he called him "Immanuel" (Mt 1:1, 23). For the next three lessons, we would like to follow Matthew's way of introducing the birth of Jesus to learn more about him. God made promises regarding Jesus to Abraham and to David. We'd like to begin now with God's promise to Abraham, as clearly mentioned in Genesis 22:18.  

Genesis 22 is the story of God's final test to Abraham more than 25 years after God first called him to live by faith. After Abraham passed God's test, God gave him a promise that spoke directly about Jesus. We can see in this passage that Jesus is the hope and the Savior of all nations, meaning, all people. We can also see that faith in Jesus, as Abraham had, produces change in the inner person to be molded in God's image. Eventually, faith produces the obedience demonstrated in today's passage. Jesus blesses all nations with salvation and shows us the way to grow as children of God. 

1. Consider the condition of "all nations" by the time of Abraham's day. What major conflicts, if any, had occurred between God and man in the following chapters throughout Genesis: 1) 1-2; 2) 3-4; 3) 6-9; 4) 11; 5) 18-19? What do these events show us about the condition of the relationship between God and man? What was the source of all the conflicts? Yet, which men in these chapters were commended by God? Why? How do our own times compare to these mentioned? (Luke 17:26)

**All nations on earth were suffering under the same condition of the curse of sin and deserving God's judgment.

**1) Genesis 1-2: No conflict. God created the world and man and said, "It was very good." He was very pleased with all his creation, including man.

2) Genesis 3-4: Man sinned against God and broke the relationship. He brought the curse of sin and death upon himself. Sin grew more and more, seen even as Cain killed his own brother and rejected God's help.

3) Genesis 6-9: The Flood of Noah's day. Man's wicked increased throughout all the earth and God was grieved he had made man. This is very different from God's pleasure in man, when he said, "It was very good." In these chapters, God brings a flood upon the earth and destroys all living things, except for eight people in the ark (Noah's family) and the pairs of animals God brought to him. God is clearly "contending" with man and his judgment is deserved.

4) Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel. Even after the Flood, God says, "...even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." The Flood did not solve the problem of evil in man's heart nor the relationship problem between God and man. The Tower of Babel incident shows this very well, as the Lord had to come down and disrupt the work in building the Tower.

5) Genesis 18-19: The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Another example of God's deserved judgment against sinful man, which also shows the condition of the relationship between God and man.

**The relationship is broken. Man is only worthy of God's judgment and God is at odds with sinful man. There is a big problem that needs to be taken care of.

**Sin is the problem.

**However, we do see a few men in Genesis who were saved or commended by God, such as Abel, Enoch and Noah. The common thing among them is righteousness. So we can see a clue as to who can be saved from God's judgment: those who are righteous. (But the question is: How can we get righteousness?)

**The relationship remains broken in our day as well by sin. Our days are just like Noah's and Abraham's.

2. Read verse 18. When did God first make this promise with Abraham? What was the condition of Abraham's relationship with God at that time? (Jos 24:2) What did God plan to do through calling Abram (Abraham)? What do you think “blessed” means in the phrase, "all nations on earth will blessed"?  

** See Genesis 12:1-3. God had called Abram (Abraham) probably 30-35+ years before the events in Genesis 22.

**Abraham has had a broken relationship with God. Before God called him out of his father's household and country, his family had worshiped idols in their homeland.

**In calling Abraham, God promised to "bless all nations on earth" through him.

**The meaning of "blessed" in this case most closely means to resolve the broken relationship problem between God and man. Except for Genesis 1-2, all events before Abraham's calling show God breaking out against sinful people, who justly deserve his judgment. Then, from Genesis 12, God began to make his salvation history clear and began working through one man named Abram, later changing him to Abraham. Sinful man is cursed. But God designed a plan to bless all nations rather than destroy them and leave them cursed. It leads to complete salvation and perfect redemption.

3. God promised to bless all nations on earth through Abraham's "offspring". To whom does Abraham's "offspring" refer? (Gal 3:16; John 8:56)  

**Abraham's "offspring" refers specifically to Jesus Christ. God provided one solution: Jesus Christ. Through learning of God's calling and work in the life of Abraham, which was based on the promise of sending Jesus, we can learn about how God designed in more detail to bless all nations through Jesus. He alone is the source of God's blessing and our salvation. In this way, God planted the seed of hope found in Jesus Christ for all peoples on earth. God planted this seed of hope a long time ago.

Today, many solutions are being offered by different people. But none of them can solve the problem of sin and man's broken relationship with God. Thankfully God provided a way in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the anticipated hope of redemption for the whole world.

*Galatians 3:16 says clearly regarding this, "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ." The word "seed" is the same word translated "offspring" in Genesis 22:18.

*John 8:56 Jesus says, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

4. Read verses 13-14. Once Abraham passed God's test, God provided a ram to help him finish making the offering. What then did Abraham confess about God? How does his confession reflect his faith? (6-8) How does this passage foreshadow God's provision of Jesus Christ as the one who would bring blessings to all nations? 

**Verse 14 says, "So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.' " Abraham confessed that God is the God who provides perfectly.

**As Abraham took Isaac up the mountain, Isaac asked him, “[W]here is the lamb for the burnt offering?” At that time Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Abraham went up the mountain believing that God would provide the lamb. 

**To solve the problem of sin and our broken relationship with God, sin had to be paid for. To do this, God provided Jesus Christ, who paid the price of sin as the Lamb of God, when he was sacrificed by being crucified.  God spared us and provided the perfect solution in Jesus. In this way, Jesus opens up the way of true blessing to all nations, by coming to meet the provisions to give us new life, righteousness, and salvation through sin forgiveness. Therefore, we have the hope of eternal life with God through Jesus Christ because the problem of sin was fully met in his own perfect sacrifice. He could be sacrificed for us because he was without sin and innocent. He is God's Son and at the same time became a man for the express purpose of saving us who could not save ourselves.

*Hebrews 2:14-15 says, "14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

*Praise God for sending Jesus, the perfect provision for us to be truly blessed and forgiven.

5. Verse 18 ends with, "because you have obeyed me." What does this phrase tell us about the reason God tested Abraham in this chapter? (cf. 22:12) How is his obedience related to the blessing promised in Jesus?  

**God called Abraham to live by faith. He trained him and was with him in many ways for this purpose. This faith led to obedience to God, which is fully demonstrated in this chapter, to the point where Abraham proved to God that he feared God and did not withhold anything from God, even is one and only son Isaac, whom he loved.

It must have been extremely difficult for Abraham to obey God's command to sacrifice Isaac. But because of faith, he was able to obey. Faith enabled him to see God who keeps his promises absolutely, so he reasoned based on faith that God would provide--even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead. God was so pleased with Abraham's faith and obedience and he made this confession and promise to Abraham.

->In this we can see how faith changed Abraham's inner character. Abraham, when first called, was fatalistic, doubtful, and earthly. He had many troubles to obey God's direction. For example, he ran away from the Promised Land once because of a famine. He despaired when Lot left him. He laughed when God promised to send a son to him at 100 years old. But now, he can obey God fully, with confidence and heavenly peace. Through faith God molded him and was blessing him from the inside out. He became known as God's "friend" (James 2:23), rather than an object of grief or judgment in God's eyes. What a change in one man!

**His obedience came out of his faith. But this faith was pointing to something, Jesus Christ.

1) Further, it was through this faith that Abraham was credited righteousness from God. Now, through Abraham, the way of righteousness was revealed: by faith. And this faith points to Jesus Christ.

James 2:21-23: "21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend."

2) Just as Abraham sacrificed Isaac and was credited righteousness, God sacrificed his One and Only Son Jesus Christ to make all who believe in him righteous. Because of righteousness, we have the hope of being redeemed to the perfect, eternal relationship with God in his kingdom as his children.

6. How can we be blessed along with Abraham? (Gal 3:8-9) What does it mean to have faith like Abraham? What can you learn about God who sent Jesus to bless all nations? 

**Through having faith like Abraham.

**Abraham believed God's promise which pointed to Jesus. So:

1) It is to believe in Jesus according to God's promise as Abraham did.

2) It is to make that faith fully realized through our obedience to God. When God was pleased with Abraham in Genesis 22:12, he said, " 'Do not lay a hand on the boy’… 'Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.'

Notice the words, "you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." It means that we do not withhold anything from God, but live freely as pilgrims, journeying to God's kingdom according to the promise in Jesus who saves us and redeems us as God's children. We no longer live for the things of this world or hold on to them.

God helps to change us and mold us from the inside out when we live by faith like Abraham. But if we withhold something from God, we cannot fully experience this power.

->Who can follow in Abraham's footsteps? All nations, beginning with us. Faith and righteousness and salvation were provided for in Jesus, the Savior of the world.

**We see God's one-sided grace to save all nations and redeem us as his children. We don't deserve this, but God provided the perfect solution in Jesus Christ to all who have faith in like Abraham. God's love abounds and leads to our salvation. We praise and thank God for sending Jesus who loved us and laid his life down for us as the Lamb of God.