The next group of promises Yahweh eloahi gives to Abram (Abraham) and his seed—being part of the Inheritance and coupled with the inheritance of land in his Covenant-Will—are found in Genesis 17 and 18.
When Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh appeared to him and gave him several promises which were also conditioned upon Abram’s conduct (Gen. 26:1-5, esp. v. 5). Moses tells us:
Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, I am el shaddai. Walk before me and be perfect. (Gen. 17:1)
The expression, “Walk before me and be perfect,” is more specifically defined in Genesis 26:5, when it reports that Abraham had qualified because he “obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Abraham was able to keep these conditions of the Will because “he trusted in Yahweh, and he (Yahweh) reckoned it to him for justification” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23).
Yahweh advised Abram that if he met these conditions, along with giving him and his single seed (the Messiah) the Promised Land as an olam (world-age lasting) Inheritance (Gen. 17:8), Yahweh also promised to give Abram the following things:
1. – And I will make my Covenant between me and you. (Gen. 17:2a)
By saying, “I will make my Covenant,” Yahweh has made a promise that at some point in the future, he will make an agreement with Abram. As we shall see below, this future Covenant is a Marriage Covenant between a deity and his people, a Covenant that is later referred to in Scriptures as the New Covenant. The reference to “you” is not isolated to Abram but includes his fleshly descendants who were within his body at the time of the promise (e.g., cf., Heb. 7:4-10; Deut. 29:15; Rom. 5:12).
2. – And I will multiply you very greatly. (Gen. 17:2b)
This promise must be connected with the two others given to Abraham by Yahweh. The first came after Lot was separated from Abraham, settling east of the Jordan River. At that time, Yahweh reassured Abraham that he would give him and his seed (the Messiah) the Promised Land as an ad olam (perpetual world-age lasting) possession. In conjunction with this, Yahweh said:
And I will make your seed (LXX sperma; plural seed as a group) as the dust of the earth, so that if a man were able to count the dust of the earth, also your seed (LXX sperma) would be counted. (LXX Gen. 13:16)
The second statement regarding this issue came after Abraham returned from saving his nephew Lot from the King of Elam and his allies. In response to Abraham’s statement about not having any seed (LXX sperma; plural seed as a group), we read:
And he (Yahweh) brought him outside and said, Look now at the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And he said to him, so will your seed (LXX sperma) be. And Abraham trusted Yahweh. And he counted it to him for justification. (LXX Gen. 15:5)
These promises of a great multitude to Abraham are connected with the next promise given in Genesis 17:3-5. At this point in the conversation, Abram falls upon his face before Yahweh. Eloahim then continued speaking to him by promising:
3. – I behold, my Covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations. And your name will be Abraham (father of nations), because I have made you a father of many nations. (Gen. 17:4-5)
The promise that Abraham himself would be an uncountable multitude by becoming the father of many nations proves to be a key point the apostle Saul (Paul) brought up in his apostleship to the nations. These many nations of this promise are not a reference to the fleshly descendants of Abraham but to his fatherhood over the elect from the nations of the world. Saul wrote the Romans:
For not by means of the Torah (of Moses) was the promise to Abraham or to his seed (spermati; the Messiah), that he should be the heir of the kosmos (universe), but by means of the justification of trust. For if those of the Torah (of Moses) are heirs, trust has been voided, and the promise made of no effect. For the Torah (of Moses) works out wrath (cf., Gal. 3:18-19), for where there is no Torah there is no transgression. For this reason, it is out of trust, so that it will be according to grace, so that the promise will be sure unto every seed, not only to one out of the Torah (of Moses), but also to the one out of the trust of Abraham, who is the father of us all (nations and Israelites). Accordingly, it has been written, Because I have made you the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4-5). He was standing opposite the deity whom he trusted, who quickens the dead, and calls the things not being as being; who (Abraham) against hope in hope trusted unto him to become a father of many nations, accordingly that which had been said, So will be your sperma (plural seed as a group) (Gen. 15:5). And not being weak in trust, he did not consider his own body as already being dead, being 100 years old, and the deadening of the womb of Sarah, (he) did not doubt by not trusting at the promise of the deity, and being fully assured that what he (Yahweh) had promised he was able to do; wherefore, it was reckoned to him unto justification. But it was not written on account of him only, that it was reckoned to him, but also on account of us, to whom it is about to be reckoned, to those who trust upon him (father Yahweh) who raised our sovereign Yahushua from out of the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised for the reason of our justification. (Rom. 4:12-25)
No Promises Yet Received
It is essential to recognize that none of the promises in the Eternal Inheritance have yet been received. Further, the Eternal Inheritance requires the eternal existence of those things promised. Therefore, the nations over which Abraham is to be a father must exist eternally. Herein lies the promise of eternal life to the nations. In another place, Saul writes:
Even as Abraham trusted the deity, and it was reckoned to him unto justification. Then know that those out of trust, these are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that out of trust the deity will justify the nations, previously announced the good news to Abraham, All nations will be blessed in you. So that those out of trust are being blessed with trusting Abraham. (Gal. 3:6-9)
Once more, since the blessing promised in the Eternal Inheritance must, by definition, be eternal, it requires the nations who are the children of Abraham—and thus heirs to the promises—to live eternally. Also, notice that all the nations are to be blessed WITH trusting Abraham. This blessing will come from the Messiah, the promised seed, and because neither Abraham nor the nations have yet received this blessing, it also points to this eternal blessing as a future event.
The Torah of Moses, which contains the works of the Torah, did not come into existence until 1439 B.C.E., 430 years after the Eternal Inheritance was confirmed with Jacob Israel (Gal. 3:17-18; Ps. 106:7-10; 1 Chron. 16:14-18). Because the Torah of Moses limited Yahweh’s association with mankind down to the Israelites, the nations of the world had been alienated from the promises until the Messiah came. Saul writes to the Ephesians:
Wherefore remember that you being once nations in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by those called circumcision in the flesh (Israel) made by hand, that you were at that time apart from the Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without the deity in the world. But now in the Messiah Yahushua, you who once were afar off (from the covenants of promise) have come near by the blood of the Messiah. (Eph. 2:11-13)
Luke adds to this point when he writes in Acts that the Messiah sent Saul to the nations, instructing him:
. . . to open their eyes, that they turn from darkness to light and (from) the authority of Satan (cf., Luke 4:5-6) to the deity, that they can receive a remission of sins and the INHERITANCE among those that have been sanctified by trust that is in me (Yahushua). (Acts 26:18)
Adoption
But how can people from all the nations of mankind be the children of Abraham as well as children of father Yahweh? Scriptures report that they become Abraham’s children by their “adoption” as children by Yahushua the Messiah, the son (descendant) of Abraham on his mother’s (Mariam’s) side (e.g., Luke 1:26-38, 19:9; Matt. 1:1, 16), Yahushua also being the son of father Yahweh (e.g., John 20:31; Acts 8:37, 9:20; 2 Cor. 1:19; Heb. 4:14; 1 John 4:15).
Saul, the apostle to the nations, writes:
But when came the fullness of the time, the deity sent forth his son (Yahushua the Messiah), coming out of a woman, coming under the Torah (of Moses), so that he could ransom those under the Torah (of Moses), so that we would receive the adoption. But because you are sons, the deity sent forth the ruach (spirit) of his son into your minds, crying, Abba (Father). So you are no longer bondman, but a son; and if a son, also an heir of the deity by means of the Messiah. (Gal. 4:4-7)
Blessed is the deity and father of our sovereign, Yahushua the Messiah, who blessed us with every ruach-type blessing in the heavenlies with the Messiah; according as he chose us in him before the foundation of the kosmos (universe), for us to be sacred and blameless before him in love, having predetermined us for adoption by means of Yahushua the Messiah to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of glory of his grace, wherein he made us objects of grace in the beloved (Yahushua). (Eph. 1:3-5)
So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to flesh; for if you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if you put to death by the ruach the deeds of the body, you will live; for as many as are led by the ruach of the deity, these are sons of the deity. For you do not receive a ruach of bondage again unto fear, but you receive a ruach of adoption, whereby we cry, “Abba (Father).” The ruach itself bears witness with our ruach that we are the children of the deity. And if children, also heirs, heirs indeed of the deity and joint-heirs with the Messiah; if indeed we suffer together, so that we will also be glorified together. (Rom. 8:12-17)
For we know that all the creation groans together and travails together until now. And not only that, but even ourselves having the first-fruit of the ruach, we also ourselves groan in ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body. (Rom. 8:22-23)
Since the preexistent Yahushua the Messiah (who appeared as Yahweh in the Old Testament) promised Abraham to be the father of many nations, it is clear that these saints must be part of the Inheritance left to the Messiah, who qualified to receive it. This point is confirmed in Psalms, where we read:
Arise, eloahim, judge the earth: for you will inherit all the nations. (Ps. 82:8)
How can someone from the body of eloahim beings inherit unless he is of the seed of Abraham? Once more, the requirement for the preexistent Yahushua the Messiah to become the descendant of Abraham and inherit is expressed. At the same time, Saul speaks of those saved as an inheritance set out by father Yahweh (i.e., by means of the Messiah who inherits and is akhad [united] with the father):
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his (father Yahweh’s) Inheritance in the sacred ones. (Eph. 1:18)
Eloahi of the Living
In turn, the promise that Abraham was to be the father of many nations forces Yahweh, the eloahi of the living and not the dead (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38), to save the people from the nations that follow in Abraham’s footsteps. Otherwise, his promise to Abraham and his seed is worthless.
John the Divine, for example, was informed that the Messiah would lead many from the nations to a condition where father Yahweh would tabernacle with them:
After these things I saw, and behold, a great crowd which no one was able to number out of every nation and tribes, and peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb (the Messiah), clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and crying with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to him (father Yahweh) who sits upon the throne of our deity and of the lamb (Messiah). (Rev. 7:9-10)
John the Divine was then asked:
Who are these clothed with the white robes, who are they and from where do they come? And I said to him, Sovereign, you know. And he said to me, these are they who come out of the Great Tribulation, and they have washed their robes, and have made their robes white in the blood of the lamb. Because of this they are before the throne of the deity, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits upon the throne (father Yahweh) will tabernacle over them. They will not hunger any more, neither will they thirst any more, nor will the sun’s (heat) fall upon them, nor any heat, because the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will have shepherded them, and will have led them to living fountains of waters, and the deity will have wiped away every tear from their eyes. (Rev. 7:13-17, cf., Rev. 21:1-8)
But Yahweh does not stop with this promise. He provides still more:
4. – And I will make you very greatly fruitful. (Gen. 17:6a)
Being fruitful is a reference to the harvest of people at the end of the world-age, a harvest which will be abundant (Matt. 9:37-38, 13:30, 39; Mark 4:29; Luke 10:2; John 4:35; Rev. 14:15). These people are produced as the fruit of the ruach (Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9).
The next promise is separate from the one which grants Abraham to be the father of many nations. This time, Abraham is told that he himself would become nations:
5. – And I will give you for nations (or, I will make you become nations). (Gen. 17:6b)
James Moffatt translates this verse to read, “I will make nations out of you,” and the NIV similarly has, “I will make nations of you.” Since this promise is part of the Eternal Inheritance, none of which has been received yet, this is not a reference to the tribal nations of Israel, the Edomites, Ishmaelites, or other descendants of Abraham, who all die in our present age.
Herein lies the promise of the Elect, the descendants of Abraham who will be raised in the First Resurrection and will govern as the twelve nations of Israel during the 7th-millennial kingdom of Yahushua the Messiah, each with its own throne (Rev. 20:4-6), a throne indicating a nation. Upon them, the second death will have no authority (Rev. 20:6). Included among these are the 12 thrones over the 12 tribes of Israel belonging to the apostles (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30) and the thrones and crowns belonging to the 24 elders (Rev. 4:4, 10).
6. – And kings will come out of you. (Gen. 17:6c)
This promise is connected with item #5 above, “I will give you for nations.” The Messiah will be the “king of kings, sovereign of sovereigns” (Rev. 17:14, 19:11-16), and those inheriting are given thrones (Rev. 20:4). Since these promised kings are part of the Eternal Inheritance, they must be kings eternally, which again requires them to live eternally.
Kings require a kingdom and thrones. The Inheritance, therefore, includes an inheritance of the kingdom (e.g., 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 15:50; Gal. 5:19-21).
In a prophecy about the future salvation of the justified and the destruction of the wicked, for example, Yahushua states:
Come, the blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the kosmos. (Matt. 25:34)
We must add to the detail that kingship is part of the Inheritance, the additional fact that the Messiah became a high priest to father Yahweh after his resurrection (Heb. 2:9-3:1, 4:14-5:11, 6:20-10:22). Only the high priest among mankind was permitted to enter the holy of holies in the Temple of Yahweh (i.e., symbolic of being in the presence and seeing the face of father Yahweh).
Body of Messiah
At the same time, those who inherit will be part of the body of the Messiah (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 10:16, 12:12, 27; Eph. 5:23). Even those of the nations, along with the Israelites, form the same body (Eph. 3:5-6; Rom. 11:1-22). Diverse positions and types of service are given to different members in this one body, for which reason Saul writes:
And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, with a view to the perfecting of the sacred ones; unto the work of deaconship unto the building up of the body of the Messiah; until we will ALL arrive unto the unity of the trust and of the knowledge of the son of the deity, as a full-grown MAN unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of THE MESSIAH. (Eph. 4:11-13)
Those who inherit will form the body of the high priest, Yahushua the Messiah. Accordingly, this single, unified body of the Messiah is a body of priests that can enter into the presence of father Yahweh. For this reason, Yahweh prophesied to the Israelites before he made the Covenant with them at Mount Sinai:
And you will be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a sacred nation. (Exod. 19:6)
As John the Divine reports, Yahushua the Messiah makes his heirs both kings and priests:
The trustworthy witness, the firstborn from out of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us, and will wash us from our sins in his blood (death), and makes us kings and priests to his deity and father, to whom is the glory and the might to the world-ages of world-ages. Amen. (Rev. 1:5-6)
In still another place, John the Divine quotes the words of the 24 elders regarding the Messiah, saying:
. . . because you were slain, and did purchase us to the deity by your blood (i.e., by his death to pass on the Inheritance), out of every tribe and language and people and nation, and makes us kings and priests; and we will reign over the land. (Rev. 5:10).
The next promise returns us to the issue of the promised Covenant:
7. – And I will establish my Covenant between me and you and your seed (LXX spermatos, plural seed) in their generations, for an olam (world-age lasting) Covenant, to be to you for eloahim and to your seed (LXX spermatos) after you. (LXX Gen. 17:7)
Unlike the Old Covenant (in the Torah of Moses) made at Mount Sinai, this promised Covenant is an Eternal Covenant established upon better promises (in the plural), i.e., the promises given in the Will to Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant). In Hebrews, we are told:
But now he (the Messiah) has obtained a more excellent public service, by how much also he is the mediator of a better Covenant, which was established upon better promises. (Heb. 8:6)
The key phrase in the passage from the promise in Genesis 17:7 states, “to be to you for eloahim and to your seed (LXX spermatos) after you.” This Covenant, accordingly, can be identified with the New Covenant, which is a Marriage Covenant between the deity and his people. This promised Eternal Covenant, like the Old Covenant made at Mount Sinai, is a Marriage Covenant with the Israelites. But unlike the Old Covenant, it is eternal and will later be extended to the nations.
A New Covenant
Yahweh informs us in Jeremiah:
Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, and I will cut a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. Not like the Covenant that I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, which my Covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the Covenant that I will cut with the House of Israel. After those days, says Yahweh, I will put my laws in their inward parts and upon the mind I will write it. And I will be to them for eloahim, and they will be to me for a people. And they will no longer each man teach his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh. For all of them will know me, from their least and until their greatest, says Yahweh, because I will forgive their iniquity and I will not again remember their sins. (Jer. 31:31-34)
Old Covenant Near Disappearing
Hebrews quotes this passage from Jeremiah and then adds,
In saying New, he has made the first one Old; but that which grows old and aged is near disappearing. (see Heb. 8:6-13)
That is, the Old Covenant marriage made at Mount Sinai, by which Yahweh became the husband of Israel, and which as of this date is “near disappearing,” will disappear at the arrival of the New Covenant marriage. The New Covenant marriage will occur when the Messiah returns and raises from the dead those of the House of Israel and the House of Judah (the Elect of the 12 tribes of Israel) and then enters into his rest in the Promised Land with them.
New Jerusalem
At the end of the Millennial Judgment Day, this body of the messiah will, in turn, be married with the elect from all the nations of the world—the bride of the messiah being prophetically defined as the city of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9-10, cf., Eph. 5:23). Having risen into the air to meet father Yahweh at his coming (1 Thess. 4:17; cf., Rev. 1:4, 21:1-3), Revelation informs us:
And I, John, saw the sacred city, New Jerusalem, coming down from the deity out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:2; cf., Rev. 21:9, 22:17)
Previously, the Messiah stated straightforwardly that there is only one gate (door) to salvation, through which anyone must enter (John 10:7, 9). Yet we also are told that in the future, the Elect of the 12 tribes of Israel, those of the First Resurrection who have partaken in the Inheritance and enter into the Rest with Yahushua upon his return—then being a formal part of the Messiah’s body—represent 12 gates to the city of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12-13):
And its gates will not be shut by day; for there will be no night. And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it (the city). (Rev. 21:26)
The one gate (one body) is now subdivided into 12 gates. For this reason, as we read in Isaiah about the Elect of Israel, who will be married to Yahweh but have not yet borne children for him (Isa. 54:1):
For you (Israel) will break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your seed (LXX sperma) (i.e., the Elect) will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. (Isa 54:3)
The Marriage Covenant
Finally, that the Marriage Covenant will extend to all the saved of mankind is confirmed when John the Divine reports that at the time when the renewed heaven and earth are placed, and New Jerusalem is present on the earth:
Behold, the tabernacle of the deity is with mankind, and he (father Yahweh) will tabernacle with them, AND THEY WILL BE HIS PEOPLES AND THE DEITY HIMSELF WILL BE THEIR DEITY. (Rev. 21:1-3)
And again:
He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his deity, and he will be my son. (Rev. 21:7)
Therefore, those of the First Resurrection will inherit the nations by being part of the body of the Messiah. Then they will eventually become the gateways through which the saved of the rest of the nations, who are raised in the Second Resurrection, will enter into the Inheritance and the promises, including into the eternal Marriage Covenant with the deity.
The above promise is followed by the previously discussed promise to give the land of Kanaan (the royal portion of the Promised Land) as an olam (world-age lasting) possession to Abraham and his single seed.
8. – And I will give to you and to your seed (LXX spermati) after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Kanaan, for an olam (world-age lasting) possession. (LXX Gen. 17:8a)
This promise, in turn, is followed by another:
9. – And I will be for them for eloahim. (Gen. 17:8b)
Once more, there is a reaffirmation of the marriage agreement of the New Covenant.
All nine of these promises are part of the same package, connected with the land of Kanaan (the royal portion which is assigned to the Messiah, the Elect of Israel, and the 24 elders) and the entire Promised Land, from the Nile River to the Euphrates River, which according to the other statements, is to be obtained as an ad olam (perpetual age) possession by inheritance. These are plural promises that we are to inherit (Heb. 6:12).
The olam Covenant mentioned above in item #1, which Yahweh promised to make with Abraham (Gen. 17:2a), is then expanded upon in Gen. 17:9-14.
And eloahim said to Abraham. And you will keep my Covenant, you and your seed (LXX sperma, seed as a group) after you in their generations. (LXX Gen. 17:9)
This statement clearly refers to a time in the future when both Abraham and his sperma (seed as a group) will keep the Covenant that Yahweh will then make with them—a Covenant specifically mentioned above in items #1, 3, and 7. Yahweh further defines this Covenant with the following:
Circumcision of the Innermost Self
This is my Covenant which you will keep between me and between you and your seed (LXX spermatos, plural seed) after you. Every male (= ruler) among you will be circumcised. (Gen. 17:10)
The reference here is to a circumcision of the innermost self by Yahweh and not to a circumcision of the flesh made by men. In a speech to the Israelites (within whom the Elect of Israel were counted), Moses writes:
And Yahweh your eloahi will circumcise your innermost self, and the innermost self of your seed (LXX spermatos), to love Yahweh your eloahi with all your innermost self, and with all your person, so that you will live. (Deut. 30:6)
The LXX translates “circumcise” in this verse to read that Yahweh will “purge your heart, and the heart of your spermatos” to love Yahweh (reflecting a deity-type marriage with his people). In this statement, Moses refers to the Elect of Israel, those of the First Resurrection, and their seed, the nations, those coming from the Second Resurrection who will enter in through their gates.
In response to the Judahites, he interpreted the name Yahudai (Jew) as a true believer. Saul writes:
But he is a Yahudai (Jew), who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the innermost self, in the ruach, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of the deity. (Rom. 2:29)
Also, see Deut. 10:16, which has “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your innermost self, and no more be stiffnecked,” and Jer. 4:4 stating, “Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your innermost self, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury will come forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
The Token of Fleshly Circumcision
That Yahweh’s future olam Covenant is one wherein he will circumcise the innermost self of those saved is further demonstrated by what Yahweh next stated to Abraham. Abraham was to make a “token” or sign (a term which refers to an expression as a prophecy) of this Covenant of circumcision. The next verse begins with the critical word “AND,” signifying an additional item beyond the mentioning of the Covenant:
AND you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it will be A TOKEN OF THE COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND YOU. And a son of eight days will be circumcised among you, every male in your generation, he that is born in the house, or bought with silver from any son of a foreigner who is not your seed (LXX spermatos). Surely the child of your house and the purchase of your silver must be circumcised (of flesh). And my Covenant will be in your flesh for an olam Covenant. And an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, his nephesh (person) will be cut off from his people. He has broken my Covenant. (Gen. 17:11-14)
Fleshly circumcision, which is kept now as a token of the Covenant, by its very definition, cannot be the same thing as the circumcision promised in the Covenant itself. Accordingly, circumcision of the flesh is a token of the Covenant of circumcision of the innermost self (i.e., the removal of sin and the making of one clean or sinless by the ruach).
Those living in Abraham’s house (symbolically denoting the house of Yahweh) must be circumcised of the flesh (itself a parable of the circumcision of the innermost self), both those born of his house (the Elect of Israel) and of the foreigners (the nations). If the boy is a newborn child, he is to be circumcised on the 8th day (equaling the Millennial Judgment Day (8th Millennium), when the “born from above” are presented to father Yahweh in the symbolic sense of a newborn son, i.e., ruler).
Also of interest is the fact that in Scriptures, a male child was given his name immediately after he was circumcised (e.g., Luke 1:59-63, 2:21). Our inherited name will be Yahweh. Therefore, Yahweh is foretelling us that if that male (the Messiah, the body of kings, the body of the son of the deity) is not circumcised of its innermost self, i.e., not made clean (sinless), he will be cut off from Yahweh’s house. He has broken Yahweh’s Covenant.
Inherited Promises
Another expression of the inherited promises comes in Genesis 18:16-19. In this passage, Yahweh states, “Will I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?” Yahweh will not hide from Abraham what he is doing because Abraham obeyed Yahweh, and Yahweh knew Abraham would do what he asked (Gen. 18:19).
Indeed, we are told that Abraham kept Yahweh’s charge, his commandments, statutes, and laws (Gen. 26:5). Accordingly, Abraham was counted as a friend of the preexistent Yahushua the Messiah. Yahweh refers to Abraham as “my friend” (Isa. 41:8; also see 2 Chron. 20:7), and James writes:
And the scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham trusted the deity (Yahweh), and it was imputed unto him for justification (Gen. 15:6). And he was called the friend of the deity. (James 2:23)
Because of Friendship
Yahushua reminded his followers it was for the cause of friendship that he gave up his life to pass on the Inheritance:
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I will not call you servants; for the servant does not know what his sovereign does. But I will call you friends, for all the things that I have heard from my father I have made known unto you. (John 15:13-14)
Notice that his disciples qualified as friends because they obeyed Yahushua and kept his commandments. Friendship opens communication. One knows his friends and what kind of people they are. For that reason, the apostle John writes: For that reason, the apostle John writes:
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (1 John 2:3-4)
Yahweh then points out that he does not doubt that Abraham would keep the conditions of the Covenant-Will, stating:
For I have known him, so that whatever he will command his sons and his house after him, then they will keep the road of Yahweh, to do justification and judgments in order that Yahweh will bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken upon him. (Gen. 18:19)
Summation
Note that the above passage demonstrates that the Inheritance is conditional upon the heirs keeping the road of Yahweh. It confirms that Yahweh has not yet brought upon Abraham that which he had spoken to him. Within this context, Yahweh reaffirms two of the promises he has already made to Abraham, stating:
• And Abraham will become a great and powerful nation. (Gen. 18:18a)
• And all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him. (Gen. 18:18b)
These two promises lay out the sequence that unfolds upon the First Resurrection, which brings up the heirs: Abraham, the other elders, and the Elect of Israel, all who will be blessed by the Messiah “with Abraham.”
The promises will first be given to Abraham’s single seed (the Messiah) and then, by means of the Messiah, to the 24 elders (including Abraham) and the kings (the Elect of Israel).
Later, after the Second Resurrection (which encompasses everyone else who has ever lived) and at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day (the 8th Millennial Day), the promises will be extended to those saved from among the nations of the world. On the other hand, the wicked will not inherit but will eternally perish in the second death, the so-called Gehenna Fire.