In Genesis 17 appears the next promise—and I really should say, the next recitation of the same promise, because as I said before all of these promises dove-tail. All of these promises kind of have common threads and we will isolate those common threads as we go through. This chapter, Genesis 17, also records a covenant—this time it is the covenant of circumcision. Abraham is now 99 years old and still without an heir through Sarah. We will start with verse 2 of Genesis 17.
There are a number of points which stand out here. "I will be their God." In all these promises that we have looked at, but especially here, God is not just interested in Abraham, but is interested in Abraham's descendants; it comes through in this passage just as clear as a bell. This promise is not just to Abraham, but to those after him.
Secondly, note that this is the second promise that involves a covenant. We looked at the first one there briefly in Genesis 15. As many of you know, the transference of land through a deed often involves covenants—in fact, even to this very day, these covenants exist. They are, as it were, attached to the deed. God is handing over a sizable chunk of real estate to Abraham and in a few minutes we will see exactly how much land that really is. He is doing so through a group of covenants. There a lot of covenants involved in this transference of land.
Third, is the promise of Genesis 17; God reiterates His promise to multiply Abraham's descendants. Fourth, God restates the promise of "an everlasting possession" of land.
Finally, as a fifth point (and this is not insignificant at all) God adds that Abraham will be the father of many nations—note the plural—and also that he will be the ancestor of kings—again, plural.
Does that sound like a New Covenant? Think about that.
Did you hear that? "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations." They were already included within the covenant God made with Abraham! Even though they did not exist yet, they were included in that covenant.
This almost sounds like the New Covenant. It involves eternity.
"And I will be a God unto you, and you shall know Me."—Hebrews 8.
Here is the starting point and the foundation that Paul is referring to in the book of Galatians. Consider what happened to Israel in Egypt, because that is what precipitated the making of the Old Covenant. They learned the way of the heathen so well that it was almost permanently ingrained in their national character and therefore their conduct. They had apparently completely lost the Sabbath, and God had to reveal it to them (in Exodus 16) before they even got to Mt. Sinai.
It's interesting to notice something here—and that is God's foresight. And, I might add here, also His plan. Remember that Abraham didn't have a child yet. But already God is planning a discipline that He is going to put the descendants of Abraham [through], in which they would be subject to others. But also planned was their release from that subjugation, the destruction of the Amorites under Joshua, and the inheritance of the Land. What God is showing is that the events of the exodus were part of a much larger plan, which God inaugurated through Abraham and then continued through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. So let's go to chapter 17, where the real covenant was made with Abram.
