The requirement to fulfil the condition, in order to qualify for the inheritance, is called “works”. Romans 4:4 says “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” This is not biblical inheritance because it is not based on grace but on works. Any inheritance that is preceded by a condition is not biblical because it leaves room for the “heir” to fail. This is the difference between the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament the “promises” were preceded by conditions. In the New Testament there is no condition to the promise.
The word covenant is a biblical term. The world uses the term “covenant” to mean an agreement between two people. Biblical covenant and biblical inheritance are very different to earthly covenant and inheritance. Biblical inheritance is always unconditional, while earthly inheritance is often with a lot of conditions. When God cut the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17, it was about God making an eternally binding and unconditional commitment to bless Abraham and his descendants.
Most of the clients that I consult with on Wills and Estates often impose conditions for their beneficiaries. One client, who owns a number of properties, instructed me to draft a will to the effect that he bequeath his entire estate to his only son, but that I should include a condition that says that his son cannot sell the properties until he turns forty years old. My client had good intentions, but by imposing that condition he placed his son in a position where the inheritance was not guaranteed. What if the son dies at the age of 39? What if at some point in his life, before he turns 40, he finds himself in desperate need of money? Or if some unfortunate circumstances occur and leave him bankrupt? The condition creates a possibility for the boy to live in poverty while valuable properties have been bequeathed to him, which he could not benefit from because of the condition.
We thank God for the new covenant because there is no condition attached to it. With Abraham, he only had to keep the sign of circumcision. With us, once we belong to Christ by getting born-again, we become legally entitled to receive the inheritance. The sign of circumcision was pointing to Christ and now that the Christ has come, the only circumcision that is required is that of the heart. The circumcision was not even a prerequisite for the blessing to Abraham because the righteousness of God was accounted to him while he was still uncircumcised.
Romans 4:9-12
“Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.”
As the Seed of Abraham, we will never be able to understand covenant if we limit it to just an agreement between two parties, and we will never understand biblical inheritance from the perspective of the movies that we watch on television. Biblical covenant and inheritance can only be understood if based on God’s covenant of grace and how God blessed Abraham’s descendants apart from works. Isaac and Jacob’s inheritance was solely based on the covenant that God made with Abraham. Isaac and Jacob were blessed because of Abraham. The inheritance could not fail because the covenant was not dependent upon them. The covenant was the guarantee that their inheritance could not fail.
Before we deal with the inheritance of Isaac and Jacob, which is a picture of the inheritance that we have in Christ, let us first deal with the connection between Christ and Abraham. We must understand why Galatians 3:29 says that we must belong to Christ in order to qualify as heirs of Abraham. We must also understand why God didn’t leave out Abraham and just say, “If you belong to Christ you are heirs”? Why do we have to be heirs of Abraham and not just heirs of God, and why do we have to belong to Christ to be heirs of Abraham? What promise is the Apostle Paul talking about here? The answers to these questions will not only help us understand and receive our inheritance, but will also open the bible up for us and enable us to appropriate the grace of God.
In Genesis 17 God made a covenant with Abraham. The word “promise” in Galatians 3:29 refers to the terms of the covenant. The “promise” that we are talking about here was a spiritual and physical one. It was a promise of salvation and wealth transfer.
The Abrahamic Covenant And The Holy Land
It is of utmost importance that, as the heirs of Abraham, we understand the Abrahamic covenant for us to properly benefit from it. Let’s look at what God said to Abraham when the covenant was made.
When God told Abraham that He was going to make him a father of many nations, the promise was spiritual. God was not only talking about physical children of Abraham but also about us (the Gentiles). Romans 4:13 says, “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” This verse makes reference to “Abraham or his seed”. By “seed”, the Apostle Paul was referring to Jesus, meaning that the descendants of Abraham were not only going to be those who will come from his own loins, but also those who will come through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul also states in this verse that the inheritance was not going to be conferred through the law but through faith. In other words, what he is saying is that there are no conditions for the inheritance. Do you also see that the promise was that Abraham was going to inherit the world? That promise was not only to Abraham, but also to us through Jesus Christ.
In Romans 4:14 the Apostle Paul tells us that “if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise of no effect.” What this means, in simple terms, is that a promise cannot be a promise if it is preceded by a condition. Where there is a condition, there is no need for faith. Where there is a need to fulfil a requirement, faith does not apply. Faith only applies where there is a promise. Where there is a condition, only action is required. The Old Testament calls the action obedience.
In a case where there is a need to fulfil a requirement in order to accomplish something, the one who fulfils it is entitled to boast when the condition is fulfilled. In the case of a promise, there is no room for boasting because it is dependent entirely on faith. Each time we testify that we did something and then God did something in return, we are boasting about having complied with a requirement. For example, to say, “I am blessed because I tithe” means that I have done something to earn me the blessing. The blessing was not a free gift.
God made a covenant with Abraham that he would inherit the world. Abraham’s descendants did not make any covenant with God, they benefitted from the covenant because of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob received the blessing from God because of the covenant with Abraham. In this context, the covenant was not an agreement but a promise.
Genesis 17:4-8
“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
Notice from Genesis 17 that the promise was about God telling Abraham what He was going to do for him. Abraham, in turn, had to keep the sign of circumcision, which was a picture of Jesus because of the shedding of the blood in the foreskin of the male children. The male represents the carrier of the seed. The shedding of the blood was symbolic of the blood of Christ. Interestingly, God did not say that Abraham had to keep the sign of circumcision to qualify for the blessing. The blessing was unconditional,