Finally, as a fifth point (and this is not insignificant at all) God adds that Abraham will be the father of nations—note the plural—and also that he will be the ancestor of kings—again, plural.
As a fourth point, let us consider God's promise in the book of Genesis that "Kings shall come from [Abraham]" (Genesis 17:6). This promise, as well, preached the gospel of God's Kingdom to Abraham. Certainly, in type, God has fulfilled this promise literally hundreds of times, and I guess we could say thousands of times, in a national/physical sense. David's dynasty—ruling to this very day—descended ultimately from Abraham. If the traditional genealogies of Perez and Zerah are accurate, then most of the kings of Europe—Spain, Russia, Italy, France, and others—descended through Judah from Abraham.
But as impressive as the record of history is in this particular regard, the real kings of God's promise to Abraham do not appear in dusty genealogical tables. Rather, they are future kings—those spoken of in Revelation 5:10—those "kings and priests" who "shall reign on the earth," as rulers of five cities, ten cities, as Luke 19 mentions. Christ tells us in Matthew 19 that His disciples, who will "sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," are among these kings. Jeremiah 30:9 (we will not turn there) tells that God will "raise up" David to reign again as a king.
It will be the faithful—the sons of Abraham—who will rule with God as kings. The faithful in Christ, as we saw in Galatians 3:29, are Abraham's true seed. God's promise that Abraham will be the father of kings is a spiritual promise referring to Abraham's spiritual children—future kings and priests.
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.
God had already planned that there be kings. Now just in case you think that possibly God was not referring to the Israelites, I want you to turn with me to Deuteronomy 17. This is aimed right at Israel.
That is an oblique prophecy of the "King of kings," as well as the other kings that came from Him, not all of whom are of Judah.
That is a promise that God is going to be working with the descendants of Abraham right to the very end.
