ABRAHAM AND THE GOSPEL

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:8)

THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED TO ABRAHAM, hundreds of years before the Law was given. This is a remarkable circumstance, and worthy of our consideration. It is as though God could not contain His intention – His determined objective! The nations of the world "shall be blessed." What a marvelous word! A message that does not announce and produce a blessing cannot be Gospel!

BEING BLESSED. Blessing involves both the condition and the awareness of the one being blessed. It speaks of a BENEFIT that itself brings JOY. It is an ADVANTAGE that brings great ELATION to the soul. It is something good FOR us and good TO us.THE WORD "blessing" also includes the idea of liberality or abundance. Men are not "blessed" with mere droplets of advantage, as it were, but "showers of blessing," as promised by Ezekiel (Ezek 34:26).

JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH. The Spirit is specific about the nature of the Abrahamic blessing. The Gospel preached to him, we are told, was spoken in Divine foreknowledge that the Lord would "would justify the heathen through faith." Not that the heathen COULD be justified through faith, but that they WOULD be justified through faith. This is something God Himself would do: "that GOD would justify the heathen through faith."

JUSTIFICATION IS an exceedingly large concept. It includes the complete removal of guilt – something the Law could not do. The law identified guilt, but could do nothing about it. As it is written, "And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39). In justification, the individual is rendered "holy and without blame" before God "in love" (Eph 1:4). Those who are justified have been "forgiven all trespasses" (Col 2:13), and "washed from their sins" (Rev 1:5). In this they have been richly "blessed." As it is written, "BLESSED are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. BLESSED is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Rom 4:7-8).

JUSTIFICATION ALSO INCLUDES the imputation of righteousness. God's own righteousness is given to us upon the basis of Christ's atoning death, and because of our faith. As it is written, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be MADE righteous" (Rom 5:19). This is the "righteousness of God" that is revealed in the Gospel (Rom 1:16-17). "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" NIV (Rom 3:21).

BLESSING, BLESSING, BLESSING! Truly, the Gospel is a proclamation of blessing – joyous benefit! It is no wonder Peter proclaimed, "Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to BLESS you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:26). In his first epistle, Peter tells believers they have been called to be blessed: "knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit A BLESSING" (1 Pet 3:9). Paul also affirmed the blessedness of the Gospel. "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). He even wrote of "the fulness of the BLESSING of the gospel of Christ" (Rom 15:29).

OUR TEXT AFFIRMS, God "preached before the gospel unto Abraham." It does NOT say He preached "A" gospel to Abraham, but THE gospel! The announcement involved a Divine initiative that would pervade the darkness that had enveloped the world. "In thee SHALL all nations be blessed." This promise was repeatedly given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the fathers. " . . . in thee shall all families of the earth BE BLESSED . . . all the nations of the earth shall BE BLESSED in him . . . and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth BE BLESSED . . . and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth BE BLESSED . . . in thy seed shall all the families of the earth BE BLESSED" (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). Peter announced that very blessing is realized in Christ Jesus, who is the focus of the Gospel (Acts 3:25-26).

IF IT BE COUNTERED that the promise was actually to Abraham, and not to us, allow me to state the case more clearly. "So then they which be of faith ARE BLESSED with faithful Abraham" (Gal 3:9).

WHAT A WONDERFUL MESSAGE – a message of blessing! In this case, the Gospel was given before the Law! "God preached the Gospel BEFORE unto Abraham." And, the New Covenant was actually announced before the Old Covenant: "And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed BEFORE of God in Christ, the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years AFTER, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect" (Gal 3:17). What the Gospel announces is superior, and has always been God's intention – from before creation.

– Given O. Blakely