And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 12:2-3
Unlike the covenant of the law, the Abrahamic covenant is not a work-based covenant. It was not received on account of any good thing which was done, neither is it sustained by any good thing done. It is entirely predicated upon the benevolence of God, the promise maker, and the faith in the receiver. The Abrahamic covenant is the foundation of our Christian faith. In it, God promised to bless the nations of the world through Abraham.
One may then ask, why would the whole world need to be blessed if they had no problem? The nations have all gone astray and were in need of a Saviour who would deliver them from sin and death that had crippled all of humanity. The founding of the nation of Israel has its origin in this covenant.
One of the terms of the covenant is that God will curse those who curse Israel, and bless those who bless her. But why would God make such a promise to Israel? The reason is to protect the nation from destruction. This covenant sealed the faith of the devil whose head will be bruised by the seed of the woman promised in Genesis 3:16. By this covenant, God revealed the family through which the Saviour of the world would come. Obviously, this family would come under the fiercest attack from the devil who will imagine that if he succeeds in destroying the nation the Messiah was to come from, then, he can abort God's judgment upon him.
True to type, the devil, using every world empire from the time of Egypt to date, has tried to destroy Israel as a nation, but like the hammer and anvil, each of them has passed away, and Israel has remained and will remain a nation forever. This is because of the promise of God to Abraham that He will curse those who curse him. There's consequence for whatever one does with the nation of Israel: curse or blessing, the choice is yours.
Toni
