As I was reading Galatians 3 today, I came across the words "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed(v16). Then, I remembered from NT class that the word seed is very important here because later on it declares that "Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person who is Christ." The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his lineage that would lead to Christ! There is a law and a promise, but Scripture tells us it is not either/or, but rather "the law was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come" (v19).
This chapter found all the way in the NT is based on a pending promise all the way in Genesis. My prof once stated that he believed Genesis 12:1-3 is the "hinge of the Bible" because the New Covenant and promises fold out of this promise to Abraham: The descendants and the nations would be blessed. "All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you!" (Gen. 12:3) No wonder why! Christ is the seed. All people will be blessed for those that truly believe in Christ!
It is incredible to think that God planned this all along even in Genesis when we are just beginning to learn what happened from the beginning of humanity's time. Genesis 12 is right after Genesis 11, right? We all know that Genesis 11 is when the Tower of Babel incident occurred. They were trying to "fix things" on their own by "making a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4). Babel was a human initiative, the wrong way. Abraham's promise was a divine initiative, the right way and a significant moment of God's initiation.
Who would have thought that by Genesis 12, God was already proclaiming, "No, no, I have a better plan because Christ is coming soon! Christ is the Seed, and He is a part of Abraham's lineage!" What Good News found all the way in the Old Testament.
God truly was knowing and destining as Romans 8 says, all the way from the beginning.
