To achieve Heaven’s plans to redeem humans from the eternal curse of our sins, The Lord selected a people lineage through whom He would be born as a man to sacrifice Himself, physically and spiritually, and thus pay our unpayable price. That lineage is Jews, born through Jacob, whose name The Lord changed to Israel. From Heaven’s perspective, their selection, first hinted in Genesis 3:15 and later in Genesis 12:3, was intended as an incredible blessing! An eventual righteous remnant of that lineage will be appointed to serve Him as immortal priests in the global capital city of a promised, new, MASSIVE, eternal Earth. (Exodus 19:6) How exciting! Yet...sadly, their, and our collective sinfulness has flipped many aspects of this script.
Many Christians might be conflicted about Genesis 12:3, possibly thinking it narrowly means: ‘Bless Israel, or The Lord will curse you.’ If only we would s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and perceive the Biblical, historical and spiritual contexts of this verse, we might comprehend it in a much wider, sharper, and more ‘unsettling ‘light’ than our religious mindsets may allow. 1
1. Ishmael Omitted. When The Lord pronounced these blessings upon Abram, Ishmael was ‘in Abram’s loins’. Yet Christians today likely exclude him and his descendants from their thinking about this verse. Thus, they may not apportion such blessings upon him who is regarded as the father of Arab nations. To pretend Genesis 12:3 excludes Ishmael and his extensive lines of descendants, is not only short-sighted, but it diminishes distinct blessings The Lord had pre-planned, and later in Genesis 17, pronounced upon Ishmael and his descendants. The Lord’s blessings upon Ishmael were not an after-thought!
Ponder this: Since Ishmael was Abram’s first son, why isn’t it just and righteous to think of him first, whenever we think of, or mention Genesis 12:3?? Another reason to do this is to recognize and respect the significance and timing of The Lord’s act of name changing as His way of activating His previously pronounced blessings. Note that Abram’s name was not changed until Genesis 17:5, a full 5 chapters after Genesis 12:3.
2. Arab Nations Richly Blessed. Historically, in His Grace, The Lord apparently allowed Arab nations (Ishmael’s descendants) to settle across the majority of the land He had promised to Abram and his descendants! 2 Thus, throughout history, Arab peoples and nations have been blessed, not only with vast lands and natural resources, but also with profitable trade routes, rich cultural heritages, and pivotal, global influences. Deuteronomy 8:18 reminds us that it’s The Lord Who gives nations the power to produce wealth. Why deny His hand in blessing Arab nations—or any other nation—just because of their peoples’ religions?? To do so is quite myopic.
Ponder this: By contrast, ancient Israel and Judah were tiny, land-strapped city states, whose people (a) were often exiled and scattered as a result of their rebelliousness and gross sinfulness against The Lord’s righteous requirements, spurred on by their wicked kings, and (b) were always far fewer in number than populations in many Arab nations.
I wonder whether most Christians correlate these facts with Genesis 12:3. When we strictly measure ‘blessings’ in spiritual terms, we miss the larger story The Lord is conveying to us, throughout history. Remember, history is essentially …His-story.
3. From Universal Blessings, to Universal Curses. The greatest blessing from Abraham’s seed was Jesus Christ, Himself, The Lord God Almighty. He transformed Himself from Heaven’s Glory, to be born as a man, to pay the price for every human sin that would ever be committed. Yet, in rejecting Him, Jews in Judea became the first, and effective leaders of all peoples, worldwide, who would reject Him and His conditional offer of salvation. 3
Ponder this: As a result of our collective choices across the ages of history, in a very real sense, The Lord’s promise to bless ALL peoples of the world through Abram, is well on track to become the BIGGEST, ETERNAL CURSE for the overwhelming majority of humans who will ever live! Imagine that!! Here’s why: The Bible affirms the price of their rejecting His offer of salvation by Grace, through faith, will be eternity as ALIVE, immortal beings, in The Lord’s brimstone-lit lake of fire! Thus, we are daily transforming Genesis 12:3 from a GREAT promise of blessing, to a GREATER curse of pending damnation when Revelation 20:11-15 will be activated at the end of the 6th age of our history. How awfully sad…
Brace yourselves for Part 2!
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1 Unsettling light infers to insight that shake us out of a somewhat safe, oversimplified mindset, and confronts us with truths we may not want to face, and have to deal with.
2 The region between the two river boundaries The Lord mentioned in Genesis 15:18, is vast, encompassing all or parts of Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Have you ever noticed how Christians seem to focus narrowly on Palestinian parts of Palestine whenever the topic of ‘dividing The Lord’s land’ (Joel 3:2) arises, as if to signal a rationale for Jewish settlers to steal Palestinian lands? Is it ‘spiritual myopia’ to do this while failing to perceive The Lord, Himself, may have divided the land as part of His pronounced blessings on Ishmael’s descendants? Let’s try to think much broader, and more strategically on this and all other Biblical topics.
3 Though The Lord’s offer of salvation is free, it is designed to begin an internship program, intended to last until we die or are raptured. Please know the notion, ‘once saved, always saved’, is not supported in Scripture. Rather, Paul labored to teach us about the conditions that come with the free gift of salvation. Moreover, in His letter to the Church at Laodicea, The Lord personally noted what would happen to believers who failed to meet His conditions. Please see: Revelation 3:14-22, Salvation, An Internship! (Poem), and Laodicean Lackadaisicalness (Series).
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