Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK 33
GALATIANS 3:6-14 – PART 2
Galatians 3:14a
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;…”
Now I’m always teaching that this Book is progressive revelation. In other words God doesn’t always reveal everything exactly from the front. He’s going to keep adding revelations to revelations.
Galatians 3:14a
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;…” Now in your mind’s eye, through Whom was the blessing originally supposed to come? Turn to Isaiah 42 and find out.
Isaiah 42:1
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment (or rule) to the Gentiles.” Who are we talking about? The Messiah, the Christ! All right let’s follow this up by turning to Isaiah 49.
Isaiah 49:6-7
“And he said, (God did up in verse 5) It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, (He’s talking to Israel the nation) that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. 7. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.” So here we have Israel again as having been raised up by God to be a light to the Gentiles. Now let’s go all the way over to chapter 59 and drop in at verse 20.
Isaiah 59:20-21
“And the Redeemer (The Messiah, the Christ) shall come to Zion, (Jerusalem) and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 21. As for me this is my covenant with them, (Israel) saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever,”
Now that is in reality the new covenant of Jeremiah chapter 31:31. But as yet it hasn’t been kicked into gear, but it will. Right now it isn’t applicable but it’s in Israel’s future. Look at Isaiah 60:1.
Isaiah 60:1-3
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, (the prophet is talking to Israel, and the light is their Messiah) and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee, 2. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, (that is spiritual darkness) and gross darkness the people: (Israel) but the LORD shall arise upon thee, (Israel) and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Israel) 3. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, (The Jews, Israel’s) and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Now let’s go on to the Book of Zechariah chapter 8 for now. Now we’ve covered all these verses before when we studied the Abrahamic Covenant. But repetition is one of the main ways to learn. Now in light of everything that we’ve come through, that the Messiah would be the light of Israel, and Israel in turn would be the light of the Gentiles, then we find here –
Zechariah 8:20-23
“Thus saith, the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities; 21. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another,(city) saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: (they will be hungry for a knowledge of the Lord. They will say to their neighbor) I will go also. 22. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. (now to show the connection of Israel in this look at verse 23) 23. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days (when Israel would be the vehicle) it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations,now what does that mean? Anybody and everybody but Israel, and they) even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.”
Am I getting through? How was God going to reach the Gentiles? Through the Nation of Israel. But what did Israel do with that? They rejected it. They said thanks but no thanks.“We’ll not have that man to rule over us, crucify Him!” Now stop for a moment in the Book of Romans chapter 11 and put the top on this study.
Romans 11:11
“I say then, Have they (the Nation of Israel) stumbled that they should fall? (Israel completely out of God’s program?) God forbid: but rather through their fall (when did Israel experience this kind of a fall? When they crucified their Messiah, and rejected His offer of the King and the Kingdom, and the Old Testament promises, then through their fall)salvation is come unto the Gentiles,…” Now back to Galatians chapter 3. Looking at verse 14 again to see why we went back to Isaiah, Zechariah, and Romans.
Galatians 3:14a
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles though Jesus Christ;…”
It doesn’t say that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through the Nation of Israel like we just studied in Isaiah does it? What has happened? Israel fell out of the picture when she fell. When she rejected the Messiah she also rejected that glorious opportunity of being a kingdom of priests to the Gentile world. You remember Exodus chapter 19? As they were gathered around Sinai what did God tell them?
Exodus 19:5-6a
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,…”
Now I make a big deal of it, that every Jew could have been a go-between, between the Gentile world and their God. What a prospect they had, but they blew it, they dropped the ball, but it didn’t stop God, thank goodness. Because now Paul can write that the Gentiles have received the blessing of Abraham, not through Israel but how? Directly through the Lord Jesus Christ, immediately as soon as they believe! We don’t have to wait for Israel to get her act together. We don’t have to wait for a Jew to come to a particular community and give us the knowledge of their God. Oh God has done something totally different, and that is, “He went straight to the pagan world with the message of salvation through the apostle Paul without Israel as a go-between. Now another verse just comes to mind in the Book of Ephesians in chapter 1.
Ephesians 1:11
“In whom (speaking of Christ) also we have obtained an inheritance, (Paul is writing to Gentiles.) being predestinated, according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” Now, then, according to the eternal purpose of God. And here it even makes it more emphatic. Drop down again to verse 11.
Ephesians 3:11
“According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:”
Was God caught off base when Israel crucified the Messiah? No, because it was all in the eternal purposes. Now flip on over to II Timothy chapter 1, and oh this is so beautiful, and I hope you can see it. Do you remember how I’m always using verse 23 in Acts chapter 2, that according to the determinate counsel of God all these things had happened. All right now look at verses 8 and 9.
II Timothy 1:8-9
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 9. Who(God) hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works (does that ring a bell? What have I been screaming the past 3 lessons? Not by works, not by keeping the Law. So not according to our works) but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us (not through Israel, but rather) in Christ Jesus before the world began,”
Oh that’s his eternal purpose. Yes, God made a valid offer to the Nation of Israel. He wasn’t playing games with them, those were valid offers that he made the nation. Even when they could have gone into the promised land of milk and honey at Kadesh Barnea. God told them to go in and take the land and I’ll drive the Canaanites out with hornets. The land is laying there ready it in production, all you have to do is take it over. I’ll drive them out slow so that the weeds won’t take over before you get there. Israel didn’t do it. But was it a valid offer? Absolutely they could have, but what did God know? That they wouldn’t.
So the whole divine purpose of the 40 year wilderness wondering was all in the divine plan. But if wasn’t because God didn’t give them a valid offer. And that’s what I use as my argument, that when Christ came and presented Himself as the King of Israel it was a valid offer. He came to His own for what purposes? To be their Redeemer and King! But as a valid offer the Nation of Israel rejected it, and that fulfilled the eternal purposes, and that was, “Salvation to the whole human race, without Israel, without the Law, without the Temple, without proselytizing, it was salvation by faith and faith alone.” Glorious? Man I think it’s something that we should be more excited about.
You know I’m sort of in the middle. I don’t go along with wild emotionalism, but I also don’t go along with this staid religionism either. My, if anybody has a reason to be happy and joyful I think it’s the believer. But on the other hand we have to do that which is in order. Now back to Galatians chapter 3, and let’s look at verse 14 again. I hope we have time to go beyond this verse but I doubt it. Now remember Christ became a curse, hung on a stake, as it were, like Deuteronomy’s wayward rebel son. All of that for this.
Galatians 3:14
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; (and for what purpose?) that we (as Gentiles) might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
So all the purposes of God are coming to fruition in this glorious age of Grace. Not only do we not have to keep the Law, but as a result of our salvation experience, God gives us something 10,000 times better than the Ten Commandments and what is it? The Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit becomes our guideline, not the Ten Commandments. So when I say we’re not under the Law, that doesn’t mean that you chuck the fact that it’s wrong to kill and steal, because the Holy Spirit is going to show us that, and that’s the whole difference. In fact come back for a moment to Romans chapter 7, and this says it so beautifully.
Romans chapter 7:6
“But now (Paul lays it out how it has been, and then he uses the flip side, but now) we are delivered from the law, (as Grace age believers) that being dead (spiritually) wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, (What’s the newness of the spirit? The Holy Spirit that guides and directs us, and remember the Holy Spirit never instructs someone to do something that is contrary to the Law. The Holy Spirit will never tell someone to go commit adultery, or steal, or kill, or covet, or do anything wrong.) and not in the oldness of the letter.” The oldness of the letter was the Law. We’re no longer under the Law, but rather Grace, and the Holy Spirit takes the place of the Law. Now back to our text in Galatians.
Galatians 3:14a
“That the blessing of Abraham…”
Has there ever been a man more blessed than Abraham? I doubt it, unless it would be the apostle Paul, but you see the apostle Paul didn’t get through it as easy as Abraham did. Paul suffered so much just like the scriptures says he would. As we were traveling that Mediterranean Sea last week and here we were on a big ship, and poor old Paul was bouncing around on a little boat that wasn’t much bigger than a cork. And yet he suffered so for the sake of the Gospel to get it out to the ends of the Roman Empire. What a lesson, when you see all the immoral remains of that Roman Empire, and to think that that man was in the midst of it constantly, and yet never letting it turn his mind aside, he just preached the Gospel. It was quite a revelation believe me. Now finishing verse 14.
Galatians 3:14
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit (how?) through faith.”
Without any works of the Law, that’s a gift of God that was all part and parcel of that whole plan of redemption that yes we have eternal salvation, but we also have the indwelling Holy Spirit.