GOD'S COVENANT AND PROMISE

PROCLAMATION

“And God said unto him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy lions;  And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.’ ”  Genesis 35:11-12 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Jacob’s sons killed Hamor, and Shechem, and all of their men, for raping their sister Dinah, they took their wives and property. (Genesis 34:13-29)  The Lord God spoke to Jacob and told him to go to Bethel and dwell there.  Jacob told his family to get rid of all of their foreign gods and purify themselves.  He buried all of their idols and they went to Bethel in the land of Canaan. (Genesis 35:1-6)  There he built an alter and The Lord God Almighty appeared to him and made a promise to him.  God also changed his name from Jacob to Israel. (Genesis 35:7-12)  Then Jacob journeyed from Bethel to Ephrath.  Along the way, his wife Rachel gave birth to a second son, Benjamin, but she died during childbirth. (Genesis 35:16-20)  After burying Rachel, Israel continued on to Eder and then on to Hebron to see his father Isaac. (Genesis 35:21-27)  And it came to pass that, at the age of one hundred and eighty years old Isaac died and was buried by his sons Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 35:28-29)

 

APPLICATION

We are blessed by the grace of God in more ways that we can count.  Waking up is a blessing and so are living and breathing.  We also receive additional conditional blessing.  When we are obedient to The Word of God, He blesses us.  When He makes us a promise, He keeps His word.  As believers we are the seed of Abraham, and The God we serve is The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now called Israel.  We are heirs to the promise which God gave to Abraham.  We are His people and He will keep us and protect us, no matter how many storms in life we go through.  He will also provide for us.  We can stand on the promises of God knowing that His word will never fail. (Deuteronomy 31:8 and Matthew 24:35)  All we have to do is be obedient to His Holy Word.