GOD''S DEALINGS WITH MEN continued

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT continued

Gen. 15:18-21

In Gen. 12:1-3 we saw the Lord's electing and calling of Abraham.  We saw his call to separation.  We saw his promise to take him to the land of God's choice without telling him where it would be.  There God promised to make him a great nation.  His promise also included God's blessing, the making of his name great, the use of him to bless others, the blessing of his friends, and the cursing of his enemies.  God went a step farther and promised to bless all the nations of the world through him.

Abraham took Sarah, his wife and Lot, his nephew and made the journey from Iraq, the Ur of the Chaldees,  to Canaan.  Canaan was just east of the Mediterranean Sea, but there is where God took him.   This land that is promised to him is the same land that the rivers of Eden marked out as Eden.

Continuing in Gen 12:7  we read "And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. "  This was part of the covenant God made with Abraham.  There God promised to give him the land.  In our text here in Gen. 15:18 He continues with that covenant except here instead of saying I will give the land, He says, Unto thy seed have I given this land.  That is the covenant was so sure that what God had promised He spoke as if it was already done.  That is the way with God.  In Isaiah 46:10, 11 we see this truth stated.  "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.  Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country:  yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it."  What a wonderful God is this!  How comforting that God is immutable and will not change His mind.  What He has purposed, all Hell cannot stop.

Now here God says He has already given to Abraham's seed this land.  What land is it?  He describes it as going from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.  Who are the seed to which this refers?  After all he had two sons in particular.  There  was Ishmael.  Then there was Isaac.  If we had no more than what is here, we could say it was either.  In Gen. 17:19 God said to Abraham, "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:  and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed."  In Gen. 26:3, 4 God confirmed that covenant with Isaac.  Furthermore in Gen. 28:13, 14 God confirmed that covenant with Isaac's son Jacob.  With these passages then one can see that Israel (Jacob) is the only Divine covenant  owner of the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River.  This was an everlasting unconditional covenant, and thus it is still in effect.

What think ye?  Whether you are a dispensationalist or no, would you not agree that this is true?