He could have just as easily said "Father."
At least three times in that chapter He calls this covenant "an everlasting covenant."
Now listen to the way that God puts this. What did He figure out about Abraham? And why did He establish a relationship with this particular man? Very interesting.
Do you catch what God said there? That is incredible! He chose this man for his childrearing practices, for his character, so that he could teach his children the way of God so that it would go on forever. It is the faithfulness of Abraham that has allowed us to come to know the truth, because God gave it to a man who was capable of doing it, of establishing his children in His way forever.
It says in the Ten Commandments that when somebody does good, it lasts for thousands of generations to those who love Him. That is what happened here with Abraham. We have not been thousands of generations yet. The good that Abraham did through his childrearing practices lives on to today. "I have known him , in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD."
What about that final clause there? This was also why He chose Abraham. "That the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
Is that not interesting? God chose Abraham so that the blessings would come—all the way to the Kingdom of God. Maybe that says a few good things about why parenting is important. God was hanging everything on the faithfulness of Abraham to pass on the knowledge of God to future generations so that eventually He could bring about His Kingdom. He could give him the promises of the everlasting covenant that He had made with him.
I do not think I am overstating this at all, because what is Abraham? What is the name we know Abraham by? He is called "the father of the faithful." Is that not interesting? Abraham is a human type of whom? God the Father. That is how important parenting is to God.
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.
The everlasting covenant part cannot be the Old Covenant, because it was never intended to be everlasting, and at this moment it is fading away, according to Hebrews 8:13. So there must be everlasting life to accommodate everlasting possession of the land. In Romans 11:26-29 He showed that the promise will be kept, and the salvation being spoken of there is the same salvation that we are involved in, except that it comes in the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment period. God is faithful, and He is thinking way ahead of time.
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.
That is a promise that God is going to be working with the descendants of Abraham right to the very end.
