Today’s Passage: Genesis 12:1-4
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. — Genesis 12:2-3
Genesis 1-11 is full of disappointments. God creates Adam and Eve in His image, and they disobey Him. Cain murders his brother Abel. Sin becomes so rampant in the world that God decided to purge it. Men become prideful and build a tower, so God scattered them through confusion. By the time the reader gets to chapter 12, it is hard to see how God’s plan can continue. But in Genesis 12:1, God chose a random man named Abram (later Abraham) to begin His rescue plan. God’s ultimate plan is to reconcile the world to Himself through Jesus. During Advent, we celebrate the truth that at a particular time in history, in a particular town, God the Son become incarnate. He was born to a particular family. That family’s story begins here in Genesis 12. God chose Abraham to be the patriarch of Jesus’s family. God tells Abraham that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This blessing finds its fulfillment through Advent, the first coming of Christ. Jesus came to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found!
Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the entire world is blessed. No longer do people have to be slaves to sin! Jesus sets us free. Through Jesus, we all are able to be partakers of Abraham’s blessing. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). Each week I get to minister to kids, and one song they are all familiar with is “Father Abraham.” (Are you singing it in your head?) This song is filled with theological truth! If you are in Christ, then you are one of Abraham’s sons and daughters! You get to take part in the blessing that was promised to him in Genesis 12! So let’s all praise the Lord!
This Advent season, be grateful for what is yours through Christ! Jesus is the blessing promised to Abraham, and we get to be a part of that!
Prayer
Father God, thank You for all the blessings we have through Your Son, Jesus Christ, amen.