God entered into a covenant with Abraham whereby he promised to do certain things for him and for his posterity. He renewed this covenant to Isaac, Jacob, and Israel (Ex. 2:23,24; 6:1-8; Ps. 105:8-10). He promised them a great inheritance. He promised to make his people great. He promised them wisdom. He promised them victory over their foes. He promised them peace. In short, he promised them all kinds of blessings (Deut. 28:1-13).

Centuries later (about A.D. 50) a little company of Jews were huddled together on the Sabbath day in a strange city. They were still waiting for God to fulfill his promise (or promises) which he had made to their fathers. They were not a great people. They had no victory over their foes, for the iron heel of Rome was heavy upon them. They had no peace. They had no king and no kingdom. They had none of the things that their Scriptures promised God would do for them.

There were a couple of visitors in the synagogue that day, apparently visitors from the home country who might bring them some encouraging news. When invited to speak, Paul stood up and said... (Are you listening? The news he brought to these people must have been the most astounding thing any congregation had ever heard. Listen!):

"...we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus [from the dead]..." Acts 13:32, 33, RSV

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead was declared to be the fulfillment of what God had promised to Abraham, Israel, and David. Here were these people still waiting for the fulfillment of

what God had promised Israel, and the apostle came and told them the absolutely startling news that it had already been fulfilled.

Did God promise Israel victory over all her foes? The good news was that Jesus had obtained the victory for them. Did God promise he would give them peace... and wisdom? Jesus was their peace (Eph. 2:15) and their wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30). Did God promise to make Israel great? All power in heaven had been given to the King of the Jews, Jesus Christ ( Matt. 28:18). Did God promise them land - an inheritance? Christ had been resurrected and on their behalf had become "heir of the world" and "heir of all things." Rom. 4:13; Heb. 1:2. God, who fulfills his word in surprising ways, had fulfilled what he had promised to the fathers far abundantly above what any Jew had ever asked or thought.

If those Jews are to be considered backward for not realizing this about twenty years after Calvary, what might be said of Christians who are still waiting for God to fulfill his promises to Israel two thousand years later? Yes, Christians who say they meet once a week in honor of the resurrection are denying what God really did when he raised Jesus from the dead - namely, he fulfilled 'what he had promised to Israel. It took the Holy Spirit's illumination to see it when Paul preached to the gathering at Antioch, and it takes the Holy Spirit's illumination to see it now! The gift of Jesus and his resurrection from the dead was a finished work. In it God fulfilled what he had promised to the fathers. More than that, Christ was Heaven's gift to the Gentiles - to the whole human race. In Christ, God answered every true prayer, every worthy aspiration of every heart, as it is written, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ..." Eph. 1:3.

Fulfillment Only in Christ

The blessings which God had promised to Israel were all given on condition - the condition of obedience:

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine..." Ex. 19:5.

"And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them..." Deut. 28:13 (see also vs 1 & 2).

"Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doetii righteousness at all times." Ps. 106:3 (cf. Isa. 1:19).

At Sinai Israel had pledged obedience, saying, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Ex. 19:8. Israel could inherit all the promised blessings only if she rendered obedience to all the commandments of God. But the history of the nation was one sad record of falling short of the mark. At best she fell far short of perfect obedience, and at worst she fell disgracefully short.

At last the mysterious voice was heard in heaven, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God." Heb. 10:7. This was the prophesied "Servant of Yahweh," the One in whom all Israel was represented. He was the Messenger of the covenant (Mai. 3:1), the Surety of the covenant (Heb.7:22), the Mediator of the covenant (Heb. 9:15), the One given "for a covenant of the people." Isa. 42:6. That is to say, he would not only be the One through whom God would fulfill all his promises to Israel, but he would be the One through whom Israel could fulfill all her promises to God.

We will say this again: God had entered into a covenant with Israel - he had promised to do certain things for them. On the other hand, the people had entered into covenant contract with God - they promised to do certain things for him. Now we must see that Christ was not only the means of God fulfilling his word to Israel; he was also the means of Israel fulfilling her contract to God.

Standing as "a covenant of the people," Christ fulfilled the promise of the people, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." This obedient, suffering Servant stood before God as Israel. In Israel's name and on Israel's behalf, he would do for Israel that which she was utterly unable to do for herself. "Then said he, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God." Heb. 10:9. He did the will of God when it was the delight of his heart, his daily meat and drink. He did the will of God when that will was an exceedingly bitter cup. Though confronted by apparent failure, defeat and, at the end, the darkness and blackness of eternal night, He plodded on. He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 2:8. Finally, with the full consciousness that he had drunk the cup of suffering on behalf of his people and had finished his work, he addressed his Father, saying, "It is finished." He had kept covenant faith. In him Israel had carried out all that the law (the terms of the covenant) demanded. In Christ's life Israel had kept all the precepts of the law, and in his death Israel had born all the curses of the law (Gal. 3:10-13).

In his life and death, Christ had fulfilled Israel's promises to God. His great work accomplished, he rested in Joseph's tomb, waiting for God to fulfill his side of the covenant. In raising Christ from the dead and giving him power and glory, God fulfilled his covenant promise. To the Jews Paul positively declared "that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus." Acts 13:32, 33, RSV. In his great Pentecostal discourse the apostle Peter declared that God raised Christ from the dead and gave to him "the promise of the Holy Ghost." Acts 2:33. Just as Jesus gave a life of obedience to God on behalf of his people, so in his resurrection he received the promise of the Holy Spirit on behalf of his people. Peter declared to Israel, "...the promise is to you * and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him." Acts 2:39, RSV.

Thus, Christ is the Mediator of the covenant. Through him and in him Israel fulfilled all her promises to God. All this was completed by Christ's death on the cross. Also, through him and in him God fulfilled all his promises to Israel. All this was accomplished in Christ's resurrection from the dead.

God's promise to Abraham not only included Jews of physical descent, for Abraham was plainly told, "...in thy Seed [Christ - Gal. 3:16] shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Gen. 28:14; cf. 12:3. "... Gentiles... being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise... should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel..." Eph. 2:11, 12; 3:6. Thus, Paul declared to the Corinthians, "...all the promises of God find their Yes in him." 2 Cor. 1:20, RSV. That is to say, when God raised Christ from the dead, he fulfilled not only his promises to Israel but every promise which he ever made to the human family since time began. In Christ he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).

By now it should be very clear that the substance of every promise was Jesus Christ. When God promised Abraham a seed, he was really promising him Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16). When he promised peace, wisdom, and power, He was really promising Jesus Christ (see Acts 3:25, 26).

Beginning with Abraham, Christ was promised to the Hebrew nation, and it was their great privilege and responsibility to keep that hope alive in the waiting centuries.

Four hundred and thirty years after God confirmed the promise of Christ to Abraham, another great event took place. God gave the Law to Israel. Since it was given through Moses, the Law is sometimes simply called "Moses." Moses (or the Law) embraced the whole body of instruction givenfor the existence arid governance of Israel as God's special nation. It included^ laws that were ceremonial, judicial, hygienic, and moral.

It is important that we correctly relate these two great events -the giving of the promise to Abraham and the giving of the Law to Moses. St. Paul says that the Law (Moses) added nothing to the promise (Gal. 3:17). TheLaw was given "because of transgressions, tillthe Seed should come." Gal. 3:19. Without the Law, Israel would have degenerated into a pagan state and lost the hope of Christ's coming. The Law was therefore necessary to help Israel nurture and keep alive the hope of the coming Messiah. How did the Law do that? In two ways:

1. Its stern, unbending moral requirements served as a constant reminder of sin and kept God's people sensitive to their need of redemption.

2. Its ceremonial aspects foreshadowed that needed redemption. Every offering at the tabernacle served to be a shadow of the one great offering of the body of Christ (Heb. 10:10-14). The giving of manna, the water from the rock, the healing by a look at the brazen serpent, and many other things which took place under Moses were a type of the coming Seed. They were a "shadow of good things to come." Heb. 10:1. These shadows and types of the coming Seed were what the writer to the Hebrews calls the "first covenant." The things under the first covenant could not be the reality or the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Aaron, the high priest, was only a.shadow of Christ. The earthly tabernacle was only a figure of the heavenly reality (Heb. 8:1-5). The land of Canaan was only a type of that "better country, that is, an heavenly," which true believers looked forward to (Heb. 11:16). Jerusalem and the kingdom of David were at best only a. shadow, of the "city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Heb 11:10.

We say again: That which God gave to Israel in the Law and under the Law (tabernacle, Canaan, Jerusalem, kings, etc.) was the first covenant, and at best it could only point to something better. It was not .the reality of what God promised Abraham. The Jews in Christ's day tried to turn the shadow into the reality, and many are still trying to do this today/Since the Seed has come, how can we go back to a temple ritual, blood of animals,Paiestinepr old Jerusalem? These things areno longer any part of reality.! Now that the full light of the gospel has come, we must see that real circumcision is of the heart (Rom. 2:29), the real Jerusalem is "above";(Gal. 4:26), the real Mount Zion is heavenly (Heb. 12:22), the real:tabernacle is in heaven (Heb. 8:1-5), the real country promised to Abraham is not any part of "this present evil world" (Heb. 11:10-16), and:me real children of Abraham (Jews) are .those who believe in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:29; Rom. 2:28).

In Summary

Christ was the promise given to Abraham. The Law (Moses or first covenant) was given to help Israel keep the hope of Christ's coming alive. The Law was not the fulfillment of the promise but a shadow that pointed forward to its realization. To take anything of the Law (including Jerusalem and the land of Palestine) and call that the promise made to Abraham is to utterly miss the purpose of the Law.

When Christ finally came, the dispensation of the Law (Moses, or the first covenant) had fulfilled its function in history. The blood of animals, feast days, the Jewish temple, Jerusalem and the "holy land" had fulfilled their function, and any return to those things now is a denial of the reality brought to us by Jesus Christ. It is to exchange substance for shadows. .

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