The Bible message is unlike any other –
it is totally reliable
We have seen that the Bible message is unique in the way it was given. We have also looked at the
way some of the message is repeated through the books of the Bible. We shall now look in a little
more detail at the Bible message to you personally and how it can help you.
a) God’s promises
A promise is a statement that someone will do something in the future. We all make promises of
various kinds, but often we don’t or can’t keep them. The other booklets in this series show that we
can trust God’s message. This gives us confidence to trust the promises to us that we read in His
message.
b
) God’s message to the world
Early on in the Bible we read of promises that God made to a man called Abraham.
We shall now look at some of the cross references we saw on page 9. We find that, although Abraham
was the father of both the Arabs and Jews, the promises that God made to him involve all nations.
The first recorded promise that God gave to Abraham makes it
clear that all nations are involved. (Emphasis ours.):
Now the Lord had said to Abram [Abraham]: ‘I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
Genesis 12 v 1 to 3
God makes it clear right at the start that everyone can be involved in the blessings on Abraham’s
descendants. The rest of the Bible is the account of how God worked out this promise.
God made similar promises to Abraham’s son Isaac:
Then the Lord appeared to him [Isaac] and said … ‘Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you … I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed’
Genesis 26 v 2 to 4
“Seed” means a person’s descendants, so Isaac is being told that the blessings to come on all nations
would be through his descendants.
The same promise was also given to Isaac’s son Jacob (who had his name changed to “Israel”):
Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Genesis 28 v 14
God has promised to bless Abraham’s descendants
Through them all nations can be blessed
His plan is to give blessings to all nations
c) God’s plan through the Jews
We now want to look at how the Bible tells us that
all nations can be blessed through Abraham’s
descendants.
We find the answer in the New Testament in the
letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the believers
in Galatia, an area of modern Turkey. (This is
another of the cross-references from earlier.) He
explains who the descendant was who would
bring blessings on all nations:
God’s plan for all nations is through the Jews
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.
Galatians 3 v 16
So it would seem that it is through Jesus Christ that all nations can be involved in the promises made
to Abraham.
Both Jesus and the apostle Paul confirmed the Jewish connection with God’s plan:
Jesus: Salvation is of the Jews John 4 v 22
Paul: for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain Acts 28 v 20
Paul again emphasises this in a speech at one of his trials:
And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain.
Acts 26 v 6 and 7
The record in Acts also brings out the fact that Paul’s New Testament message is based on the Old
Testament:
So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets …
Acts 28 v 23
God’s plan with the Jews has extended to all people
of all nations through Jesus Christ
This plan is in both the Old and New Testaments
d) God’s plan for planet earth
We shall now look at some of the details of this plan for
our world, through the Jewish nation, which God has given
to us.
The Old Testament prophets make it clear that part of
God’s plan involves making our earth a much better place
to live in.
God plans to make our earth a
better place in which to live
Again using the cross-references from earlier, we see that Psalm 72 gives a summary of God’s plan:
Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king's Son.
He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice …
In His days the righteous shall flourish,
And abundance of peace …
There will be an abundance of grain in the earth,
On the top of the mountains …
His name shall endure forever;
His name shall continue as long as the sun.
And men shall be blessed in Him;
All nations shall call Him blessed.
Psalm 72 v 1 and 2, 7, 16 and 17
From this we see:
God is to send a king to rule the earth
The rule will be just and fair
War will be a thing of the past
There will be an abundance of food
Read the whole Psalm through and you will see that it is a picture of our earth ruled by a just and fair
king who has managed to solve the problems that face us today.
God’s plan for our world involves:
A just and fair world ruler
An end to the problems in our world
e) Your involvement in God’s plan
In Galatians chapter 3, which we looked at earlier, Paul also
explains how we can be involved in God’s plan:
[God] … preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Galatians 3 v 8 and 9
It is those who believe and have faith in what God has
communicated to us who will be involved in His plan.
God’s plans for our lives are better
than any plans we may have
Paul then explains what we should do to demonstrate our belief:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3 v 27 to 29
A young man about to be baptized
So by being baptized, people from all nations can be
involved in the things that God promised to Abraham and
his descendants the Jews.
People from all nations can become involved in the wonderful
promises God made to Abraham by:
Believing that God will do what He has promised
Being baptized
Read the Bible yourself and you will find out more about this wonderfully consistent message. The
other booklets in this series give more reasons why you should look at this message.
Have a look here to find ways of helping you learn more about this
message.
