God's Covenants With IsraelSample

Day 2 – ‘I will make you into a great nation’

The Lord promised that Abram would become the father of a great nation. Abram was 75 years old when he received this promise. In those times it was extremely important to have children, to have descendants. So this was a wonderful promise from God. Yet, in the years that followed, nothing happened. When Abram still had not received a son after 14 years, he decided (in desperation) to have relations with his slave woman, Hagar. This resulted in the birth of Ishmael. And still, there was no son from his marriage to Sarah. When Abram was 99 years old, God made a new covenant with Abraham and said to him, “You will be a father of many nations.” But Abraham and Sarah were already too old to be able to have children.

The apostle Paul says in Romans 4 that both Abraham's body and Sarah’s womb were as good as dead. They had both become infertile, and humanly speaking, it had become impossible for them to have children. But when God says, “I will,” He will do it. Finally, despite everything, Isaac was born: the one we also call ‘the son of the promise.’ The Lord did it like this on purpose, to make it obvious to Abraham and the whole world that it was the work of God and not the result of human strength. Isn’t that the message of grace? That God does what we cannot do?

This is how Israel began: through a miracle from God. So the motto of this nation’s existence and life is, “Not by strength, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6). Throughout the entire history of Israel, this is the recurring theme that proves that God has bound Himself to this nation.

Give thanks that even now, God is bound to Israel and that He is faithful to His promises.