Have Unshakable Faith in the Kingdom - A COVENANT IDENTIFIES THE OFFSPRING

About 2,000 years after the Edenic promise was made, Jehovah told Abraham to leave his  home in the city  of Ur and go to the land of Canaan.  (Acts 7:2, 3)  God told him: "God our from your land and away from your relatives and from the house of your father to the land that I will show you .  I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will become a blessing.  I will bless you,  and I will curse him who calls down evil on you, and all the families of the ground will certainly be blessed by means of you." (Genesis 12:1-3)  God's promise to Abraham is called the Abrahamic covenant.   we do not know when  Jehovah first made the covenant  with Abraham.  But we do know that the covenant became valid in the year 1943 before Christ, when Abraham, was 75 years old, left Haran and  crossed the Euphrates River.

Jehovah repeated his promise to Abraham several times and each time added more details. (Genesis 13:15, 17; 17:1-8, 16)  Abraham's faith in God's promise was so strong that he was even willing to sacrifice his precious son.  So Jehovah was moved to strengthen the covenant by guaranteeing that his promise would come true.  (Genesis 22:15-18; Hebrews 11:17, 18.) After the Abrahamic covenant became valid, Jehovah gradually revealed important details about the offspring of the woman.  The offspring would come from Abraham's family, would include many people, would serve as kings, would destroy all of God's enemies, and would be a blessing for many humans.

The promise of the Abrahamic covenant first came true when Abraham's  descendants inherited the Promised Land. Yet, the Bible reveals that this covenant would bring far greater benefits.  (Galatians 4:22-25) The apostle Paul explained that the primary, or main, part of Abraham's offspring is Jesus Christ.  The secondary, or additional, part refers to the 144,000 anointed Christians.  (Galatians 3:16, 29; Revelation 5:9, 10; 14:1, 4) The woman in the Edenic promise is the heavenly part of God's organization. This woman is called "the Jerusalem above"  and is made up of loyal spirit creatures.  (Galatians 4:26, 31) As the Abrahamic covenant promised the offspring of the woman would bring lasting benefits to mankind. 

Next time: Have Unshakable Faith in the Kingdom - Conclusion of  A COVENANT IDENTIFIES THE OFFSPRING

From the jw.org publications