Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“Yahweh said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, “Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for I will give all the land which you see to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted. Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.”“

(Genesis 13:14-17)

Abraham was given a promise. His seed (plural) would be numerous and his seed (singular) would bless all the nations of the Earth. The near fulfillment of this promise was Isaac and all of Isaac’s descendants which filled the land of Israel. The far fulfillment was Jesus, the seed who came to redeem all humanity and bless every nation of the Earth.

“So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.“

(Matthew 1:17)

Forty-two generations are listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus – focusing on the line of Joseph as it related to the line of kingship (instead of listing simply every generation that transpired between Abraham and Jesus’ day). It is undeniably a great multitude of people. A vast number who spread out and inhabited every corner of the Land promised to Abnraham.

Summary

The child of the promise. THE (singular) seed of Abraham by which all the nations of the world would be blessed was, and is, Jesus. The Israelites as a nation started with Abraham and spread to be an entire full nation of MANY people inhabiting all the portions of the Land of Promise – and they continue to grow today.