Text verse: Genesis 17:6

“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.” (Genesis 17:6)

When God gives you an internal witness that you – yes, you – were included in His Everlasting Covenant, then you bow before Him and confess Him as Lord and Savior. You now realize you have been given a new name, from barren to fruitful; and have been included in God’s Covenant – then you are to walk before Him “perfect.”

This walk reveals that you are a changed man. You are a new creature with a new nature, “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Then the Apostle Paul said (in Ephesians 4:25), “Wherefore…” And he listed the change that should occur in a man who has been given a new nature (verses 26-33).

In this devotion, the Second Detail of the Everlasting Covenant is revealed.

1. First came Perception (verses 2-5);
2. Second comes Prophecy (verse 6);
3. Then comes Personal (verse 7);
4. Fourth comes Possession (verse 8);
5. Finally comes the Picture (verses 10-14).

Genesis 17:6 says:

“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and (even) I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.”

In this Detail of the Covenant, God prophesies of the future of Abraham and his posterity (not only his physical posterity, but also his spiritual posterity).

In viewing this physically, God was revealing to Abraham the lineage, the spiritual lineage through Isaac, to King David, even to King Jesus. (See Matthew 1:1-21.) It spanned 42 generations from Abraham to Christ, the Seed Himself; to whom the Promise was made; and who ratified it in His own Atonement for His seed, the Chosen of God, the Children of God.

The line to Christ was not through Ishmael, but through Isaac; then to Jacob, to Judah, and to Christ.

There is a great difference in Abraham’s posterity. See Romans 9:7-8:

“Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” (Romans 9:7)

“That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Romans 9:8)

Note there are two lines of Abraham’s posterity:

1. The Children of the Flesh – Ishmael and his descendants; Esau and his descendants;
2. The Children of the Promise – Isaac and his descendants; Jacob and his descendants, the Twelve Tribes, especially the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:8-11).

The Apostle Paul describes the difference in the two lines. The first line typed out Old Testament Israel, Jerusalem, and the Law. (See Galatians 4; Hagar and Sarah.) These were types of the unprofitable servants.

However, the second line, the Children of the Promise (the Promise of the Benefits of the Covenant God made to Abraham) are the vessels of mercy, opposite of the vessels of wrath. (Paul describes them in Romans 9:9 – 10 – 11.)

“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:” (Romans 9:22)

“And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,” (Romans 9:23)

“Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:24)

The “vessels of mercy” (or the Remnant according to the Election of Grace) were “afore prepared unto glory,” were made known “the riches of his glory” (as was Abraham in prophecy; see Hebrews 11:8-17; especially verses 10-14); that is the Riches of God’s Glory in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6-7).

These vessels of mercy were not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles; as Paul writes in Romans 9, 10, and 11. Paul had previously written (in Romans 2:25-29) the definition of a spiritual Jew, one circumcised in the heart and not in the flesh; or one that is regenerated by the Spirit of God. (See also Acts 13:46-48.)

The Promise of the Spirit of God coming on the Jews and Gentiles is explained by Paul in Galatians 3:14. Here he calls it “the promise”; and he calls it “the inheritance” in Galatians 3:18.

Therefore, this Detail of the Covenant, as given to Abraham by God in Genesis 17:6, pointed to the Election according to Grace, both Jew and Gentile, who would receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit and be baptized into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), even the Bride of Christ, even the Church. All of this is explained in Romans 9, 10, and 11; Galatians 3; also in Ephesians 3; and Revelation 21 and 22 – even the Holy City of God, New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and New Earth.

What a glorious revelation to the Regenerated that those included in the Covenant would be in the Church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the heir of God and (even) joint-heir of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17); which means the answer to Jesus’ prayer of John 17:21-24, for the vessels of mercy.

When this Second Clause of the Covenant becomes a reality in your spirit, it allows you to rejoice and praise God of your Eternal Position in Christ and to Christ. Hallelujah! To know that you are a seed of Abraham by Faith is a glorious truth.