pilgrim people

The One Who Fulfills the Promises

After a five month hiatus (yikes!), I plan to finish my series on "basic covenant theology." I figure it would be helpful for me to have this archived as a reference for others. The last post in this series was an attempt to explain the redemptive-historical fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant made in Genesis 15. God's promises to Abraham of an offspring and a land were fulfilled typologically in the nation of Israel and the land of Canaan. Yet, through the true offspring of Abraham (Gal 3.16), namely, Christ, those promises find greater fulfillment in believers (Gal 3.29) and the heavenly country yet to come (Heb 11.8-10, 13-16).

That is why the New Testament opens up with a reference to Christ as "the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matt 1.1) It is also why Luke, at the beginning of his Gospel account, records Mary and Zechariah rejoicing in the fact that God remembered his oath to Abraham by sending the Christ (Luke 1.54-55, 72-73).

Christ is the One who fulfills the promises for us. It is only through him and his suffering of the curse foreshadowed in the blood-oath of Genesis 15 that all the blessings of that covenant become ours. Christ not only had to walk between those severed animals, he had to become like one of them in order to open up the new and living way for us to have access to the Tree of Life and communion with the Father. His flesh was torn and his blood was shed upon the cross, as he drained the cup of God's unmitigated wrath against our sin.

Thus, God's blood-oath to Abraham in Genesis 15 was his commitment to the death of Christ His Son. The promises made to Abraham could be fulfilled in no other way. This is why we have a living hope and look to the glory of the age to come with uplifted heads throughout our journey as pilgrims: we know that Christ has met the conditions for us and fulfilled the promises. We need no further guarantee that the final fulfillment of the resurrection (of our bodies and the cosmos) will come to pass, for God has already given us the greatest guarantee by raising his Son from the dead and sending his Spirit into our hearts as a down payment.

Next up: Abe & Mo: what's the difference?