The cross hidden in God's third promise to Abraham

As touched on in the first post, our main goal when spending time in the Word is to search for Jesus. He is the hidden Treasure of Life. When we find Him, we find Life. In the book of John, Jesus tells the Pharisees plainly, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me." (John 5:39 NLT) This shows us that there are many ways of approaching the Scriptures. We can approach God's Word with the objective of learning do's and don't's as the Pharisees did to try and obtain eternal life. We can also study with the goal of increasing our own knowledge as the scribes of Herod had done (see Matthew 2:4) which resulted in providing information for a king that wanted to stop the Messiah from being born! It is clear that there is a right way and a wrong way to approach the Scriptures. Knowing the Scriptures is meaningless without knowing Him!

It is also important to note that at this point in time, the Scriptures that Jesus is speaking of did not have the New Testament that we have today. So when Jesus states, "...These are the very Scriptures that testify about me", He is saying that even the Old Testament is all about Him. And this is also confirmed from the book of Luke in the story of Jesus walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. As He walked along with them He spoke to them about the Messiah which Luke records: "Then beginning with Moses and [throughout] all the [writings of the] prophets, He explained and interpreted for them the things referring to Himself [found] in all the Scriptures." (Luke 13:27 AMP) With this confirmation, let's jump into an amazing revelation of Jesus in God's promise to Abraham.

In Genesis 13, Abraham (at the time still called Abram) and Lot decide to part ways as both of their respective camps were getting too large to dwell together. Lot was given the first choice of land by Abraham and Lot chose the plains of the Jordan, towards Sodom (see Genesis 13:10-12). Abraham then settles in Canaan and we pick up from verse 14 which contains God's third promise that He made to Abraham.

14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 And 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. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee." (Genesis 13:14-17 KJV)

Included in this promise of God to Abraham is the promised land as well as future descendants. Literally everything that comprises natural Israel - the land and the people - is promised here. What I want to bring to attention here is the order of what God tells Abraham.

1. God first tells Abraham to "lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward..."

2. God then makes His promise, "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And 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."

3. Finally, God commands Abraham, "Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee."

The order of God is crucial. And the details are very much significant. It is easy for the small details to easily pass us by which is why we need to rely on the Holy Spirit when spending time in the Word. It was from this order and detail of how God tells Abraham to look around that opened up an amazing revelation for me. When God tells Abraham to look "northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward", I thought it strange that Abraham didn't just look forward and then make a turn to the right (or the left) and just scan in a continuous circle as I would think natural to do. So, I just got up from my chair and looked forward (north), backward (south), right (east), and left (west) just as Abraham would have done. And right then, it hit me that looking forward and backward, then right to left made up the pattern of the cross! Hallelujah! God was telling Abraham to see the finished work of Jesus Christ! The extra revelation I received was that looking forward (north) and looking back (south) is symbolic of our future and past, respectively. Whether it is our sins and failures of the past, present, or future, it is all contained within the cross of Jesus! And the right to left is symbolic of sins, no matter how wide, also being swallowed up in the cross of Jesus! Through the cross, we are completely and utterly forgiven! Hallelujah!!

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence]. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12, AMP)

Again, when we get back to God's order of His promise to Abraham, we see that it is only after Abraham sees the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross that God makes His promise. This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 1:20.

20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (NIV)

It is through Christ, and Christ alone, that we are able to become joint heirs of God and partakers of the heavenly calling. It is only by believing in His perfect work at the cross that we can have faith to receive all of the wonderful promises of God in our lives.

Finally, God tells Abraham to walk the land. This is a picture of believing which results in the promises manifesting in our lives. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "for we walk by faith, not by sight." For us who have put our trust in Christ, believing is the same as the physical walking in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 11:24 says, "Every place where you set your foot will be yours." How we walk is directly impacted by what we believe in our hearts. And so it is only after we see all of our sins finished by Jesus that we can walk out the promises of God in our lives. God's order of being blessed is clear:

1. He wants us to first see the cross for every situation of our life

2. He then wants us to hear about all of His promises to us that are available because of the cross

3. He wants us to believe Him and the promises He makes to us

Our outward and visible walk as believers is not where God wants to put our focus. His desire is for our heart to believe in what He has done for us. Living an overcoming and holy life unto God cannot begin with our focus on our own efforts. That will always fail. That is man's way and it is walking after the flesh, which is to put merit on anything other than Jesus' finished work. Man will not believe until they see. God's way is to believe first and you will see! Hallelujah! An overcoming and holy life is the result of believing the Gospel truth! It is about believing His promise to us that He will remember our sins no more (see Hebrews 10:17). And if that is not enough, here is a clear promise that the Holy Spirit has Paul write in 1 Corinthians 1:30.

30 But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, [revealed to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God], and our Consecration [making us pure and holy], and our Redemption [providing our ransom from eternal penalty for sin] (AMP)

This verse is an amazing truth and I hope this provides as much assurance and rest to you as it provides to me. When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we can claim this as a promise from God with a bold "Yes!" and "Amen!" God will never see our lives apart from Jesus. Have the bold faith to declare that His Righteousness, His Consecration, and His Redemption is how God sees you today! Take your eyes off self and see yourself in Christ, always! With this truth and promise, how could we not live an overcoming life!

How amazing the Scriptures are when Jesus is revealed! It is simply divine how the Holy Spirit hides the Gospel and the cross in this promise to Abraham, our father of faith. Abraham was justified by faith which means that he was justified by believing the Gospel. He was justified and made righteous because he believed in Jesus Christ!

8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” Galatians 3:8 (NKJV)

6 And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. (Genesis 15:6 NLT)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not only our way into salvation and eternal life but it is the way for all blessings and promises of God into our lives. The Gospel of being justified by faith is what truly gives us the faith to claim and obtain the promises of God. There is an enemy in this world that is the accuser of the brethren. He will never cease to accuse. When we bring our merits and works into the picture, we will never be able to withstand him. But when we bring the cross of Jesus Christ in, the devil will be reminded that he has already been crushed at Calvary and will have no choice but to concede his case of accusation against us. Hallelujah! Live boldly and confidently in faith because it is not dependent on us but it is dependent on Him! All we need to do is continually keep our eye on the cross!