Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: Jesus said if we know the truth, the truth will make us free. On this edition of Messianic Perspectives, Dr. Gary Hedrick shows us one truth in particular that enables us to walk in real freedom. Stay with us as we discuss the Christian's greatest discovery.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello. Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the Christian's greatest discovery.

I'll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today's installment, here's Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: We welcome you, listening friend, to this edition of the program. It's good to have you on board today as we continue our series of studies from the life of Abraham, which we've entitled "The Christian's Greatest Discovery." Of course, the discovery we're talking about is the assurance of salvation.

We've been looking at the life of Abraham, and we've seen that even Abraham, the great patriarch, the father of the Jewish nation, even Abraham needed assurance. Because over a period of about 10 years, from the first mention of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, over the next 10 years, Abraham had times when he really wondered if God was going to be able to keep his promise.

So over and over again, God confirms and reconfirms his covenant with Abraham. You know the thing that impresses me the most about all this is how patient God was with Abraham. Because technically, God only has to say something one time for it to be true. He was under no obligation to repeat himself over and over and over again like he did.

Look at how patient he was with Abraham. He establishes the Abrahamic covenant in chapter 12 of Genesis, then he confirms it in chapter 15, and we spent several days on that chapter. Then he confirms it again in chapter 17, then he confirms it yet again in chapter 22. You see how patient he was?

"Abraham, I'm going to do it. You can count on it. I'm going to give you a son and through that son I will make your descendants as numerous as the sand of the sea." That was the promise. But you know, Abraham wasn't the only one of God's people whose faith wavered from time to time or who needed assurance.

Apparently, there were people in the early church who wavered and were unstable in their faith because the book of James talks about it. Some of us today have that same problem, but God is patient with us just like he was with Abraham. There are answers. There is victory. There is assurance.

We know Abraham came out victorious after struggling with doubts for so many years because his name shows up in God's list of the great heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11. Now, let's turn to Genesis chapter 17 and read two verses here beginning in verse 7, where God says to Abraham, "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."

Verse 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." Now, that's a very interesting couple of verses. What it is, basically, is a restatement of the Abrahamic covenant.

For those of our listeners who may be new to the program, let me just say that the Abrahamic covenant is a series of promises that God made to Abraham in the Old Testament. The Abrahamic covenant is given in several passages of scripture. When you put it all together, you find that there are 13 specific promises given by God as part of this remarkable covenant.

Here in Genesis chapter 17, we have the covenant confirmed. Notice again what it says in verse 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." That's verse 7.

By the way, that's where the amillennialists and others who spiritualize these promises, this is where they stop at the end of verse 7. You see, people who believe God is finished with the Jews and that the promises God made to Israel in the Old Testament, these people like to quote verse 7. But what they should do is go on and read verse 8 along with it, and you never hear them do that.

Didn't the Lord say what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder? Well, then we ought not to separate verse 7 from verse 8. Look what it says. Verse 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."

Well, so much for spiritualizing the Abrahamic covenant. What he's talking about here is a physical seed and a physical land, a land which is to be their possession forever and ever. Again, let me emphasize the importance of keeping those two verses together and of interpreting them in their proper context.

Notice this covenant God made with Abraham centers around two things: a land and a seed. Over and over again, we have the Lord mentioning this covenant land. First, he says the land that I will show thee. And then in the 15th chapter, he says a land which I have given to thee.

But in each instance where God speaks of the land, he always associates with it the seed to whom the land is promised because, as far as God is concerned, the land and the seed are inseparable. By the way, we've got all this turmoil in the Middle East right now. Do you know what it's really all about? It's about separating the land from the seed.

The PLO wants to drive the Jews into the sea and turn Israel into a Palestinian state. You can talk about the oil issue all you want to, my friend, but what really unites the Arab world against Israel is the fact that they want the Jews separated from their land. Most Arab states don't even acknowledge Israel's right to exist.

But God says the land and the seed belong together. Have you noticed that every time the Arabs attack Israel, the Jews end up with more land? You know, the promised land is actually a chunk of Palestine about the size of the state of Texas. But what the Jews occupy now is just a little sliver of that area, only about 7,000 square miles or 8,000 square miles, something like that.

Every time the Jews and Arabs go to war, the Jews get a little more land. In fact, the day after the state of Israel was established back in 1948, Jordan and Egypt attacked. By the time a ceasefire was called in 1949, Israel had expanded her territory by 50%. In 1956, Israel took the Gaza Strip and most of the Sinai Peninsula.

Then in the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel took the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the old city of Jerusalem, the Sinai, and the east bank to the Suez Canal. You see, there's an affinity between the seed and the land. The Jews call it Eretz Yisrael, the land of Israel.

You see, after the nations of the world had failed way back in the early chapters of Genesis, God called Abraham to be the father of a peculiar nation. It would be through this nation, Israel, that God would carry on his program for the world. From that point on, God's prophetic plan has always revolved around Abraham's seed.

The entire Bible, with scarcely an exception, was written by his descendants. The first 11 chapters of the Bible deal with the world in general, but then from Genesis chapter 12 on, the subject is Abraham and his seed. Then comes the New Testament and, again, it has to do almost exclusively with the physical seed of Abraham.

Just look at it. The writers of the New Testament are Jewish. The genealogies are Jewish. The characters are Jewish. The customs are Jewish. And of course, the Messiah is Jewish. So that's the physical seed of Abraham. Then there is a spiritual seed of Abraham in the New Testament and that's the church, which we'll see later was included in the covenant God made with Abraham.

Let me show you something. This book, the Bible, records first of all the history of the seed of Abraham, not only a physical seed as the sands of the seashore but also his heavenly seed, called the stars of the heaven. And then there's a third seed of Abraham which the Bible says should be as the dust of the earth.

So there are three symbols, three symbols used to describe the seed of Abraham: sand, stars, and dust. We're going to get into a tremendous truth here on the next program because the sand, the stars, and the dust actually describe three different kinds of seed. Do you know what they are? Join us next time and we'll discover some very interesting things about the seed of Abraham.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It's always good to have you with us as we look into God's word together. Now, let me tell you about our special offer. It's the compact disc which includes all of the programs in this current series of studies on "The Christian's Greatest Discovery."

Of course, the discovery we're talking about is the truth of the believer's security. When we understand that salvation depends on Christ and his merits rather than on ourselves and our merits, then we've taken the first step toward walking in true freedom. It's unfortunate that so many of us don't fully appreciate our security in Christ.

We get bogged down in our spiritual lives because we never know from one minute to the next how we stand with God. That's why this teaching is so important. We need to know that our standing before God doesn't fluctuate depending on how well we perform. All of our sins, past, present, and future, have been forgiven through the shed blood of the Messiah.

His righteousness has been imputed to us, so we can know that we're saved. And that's what this series is all about. The title once again is "The Christian's Greatest Discovery," and it can be yours for a gift of just $6 or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order.

If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, PO Box 345, San Antonio, Texas 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Have you enjoyed this edition of Messianic Perspectives? Why not continue to learn about the Jewish roots of your Christian faith by inviting a speaker from CJF Ministries?

Call our toll-free number, 1-800-926-5397, and we'll be happy to handle all of the details. And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on "The Christian's Greatest Discovery" right here on Messianic Perspectives.