The Son of Abraham

Jesus is the Son of Abraham, the heir of the promises, and the Messiah who implements the inheritance of his people.

The Gospel of Matthew begins by declaring that Jesus is “the son of David, the son of Abraham.” He is the descendant who fulfills the promises made to the Patriarch. This identification introduces the theme of fulfilment that characterizes Matthew. Through Jesus of Nazareth, the covenant promises become concrete realities.

The Book of Genesis traces Abraham’s genealogy to the first man, Adam, a line that included many righteous men. Yet rather than Adam, the starting point of the Gospel of Matthew is Abraham, and his lineage culminates with the arrival of the Messiah of Israel - (Matthew 1:17).

[River Source - Photo by Javier Sobrado Ortega (Peru) on Unsplash]

Not only is Abraham important to the history of Israel, but the appearance of Jesus, the ‘seed of Abraham’, was and remains the climax of the covenant and the redemption of humanity. He is the Savior and Messiah who brings the promises of the God of Abraham to their intended goals:

• “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He says not, ‘and to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, AND TO YOUR SEED, which is Christ” - (Galatians 3:16. Compare Genesis 12:3, 13:15).

God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants. Nations and kings would come from him. In him, all the nations of the Earth would be blessed. The inclusion of the Gentiles was envisioned from the beginning. The covenant was never limited to the small nation of Israel, the territory of Palestine, or the biological descendants of the Patriarch:

• “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. <…> And kings will come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant” - (Genesis 17:4-7).

• “And in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you obeyed my voice” - (Genesis 22:18).

• “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles from faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, IN YOU, ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED. So then, they who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham” - (Galatians 3:8-9).

In the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel announced that God was about to fulfill His covenant promises:

• “You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great and be called the Son of the Most-High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, AND OF HIS KINGDOM, THERE WILL BE NO END” - (Luke 1:31-33. Compare Psalm 2:6-9, Daniel 7:14).

Jesus is also the Son of David, the king who will reign forever on the Messianic Throne, not only over Israel, but also over the nations and kings of the Earth- (Psalm 2:7-9, Revelation 1:4-6).

In her song celebrating what God did, Mary invoked the covenant of Abraham and linked it to the miraculous child in her womb:

• “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For he has looked upon the low estate of his handmaid. <…> AND HIS MERCY IS UNTO GENERATIONS AND GENERATIONS. <…> He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever” - (Luke 1:47-55. Note the verbal allusion to Genesis 17:7).

God sent his Son as promised. He now rules over the nations of the Earth. As Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, confirmed in Luke’s account:

• “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; For he has visited and accomplished redemption for his people and raised a HORN OF SALVATION for us IN THE HOUSE OF HIS SERVANT DAVID, as he said by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. <…> To show mercy to our fathers and remember his holy covenant, THE OATH THAT HE SWORE to Abraham our father” - (Luke 1:68-73. Note the allusions to 2 Samual 7:26, Psalm 18:2, Genesis 22:16).

BIOLOGICAL DESCENT DOES NOT MATTER

Physical descent from Abraham does not qualify anyone for membership in the covenant community or justify him or her before God. Jacob was accepted, but God rejected his brother, Esau, though he was also of the Patriarch’s blood.

John the Baptist warned the leaders of Israel not to appeal to their biological connection to Abraham for confirmation of their covenant status, as the Gospel of Matthew informs us:

• “And they were being baptized in the Jordan River by him, openly confessing their sins. But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Broods of vipers! Who suggested to you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. I say to you, God is able out of these stones to raise up children to Abraham” - (Matthew 3:7-9).

Repentance and submission to the Messiah are mandatory for entrance to the Kingdom. In the declaration of the Baptist, the term “stones” is metaphorical and refers to the Gentiles who will be brought into the covenant, just as God promised. Compare the following words of Jesus with those of God to Abraham:

• “But the (Roman) centurion said, Lord! I am of no consideration that under my roof you should enter, but only say with a word, and my servant will be healed. <…> Now Jesus, hearing, was astonished. And he said to those who were following him: Truly, I say to you, with no one in Israel such faith as this have I found. But I say to you, MANY FROM EAST AND WEST will come and recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens, but the sons of the kingdom will be cast into the darkness outside” - (Matthew 8:8-12).

• “And the Lord said to Abram: Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are; northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land which you are beholding, I will give to you, and to your seed to times everlasting. And I will make your seed as the dust of the Earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the Earth, your seed also may be numbered” - (Genesis 13:14-16).

In both Hebrew and Greek, the term translated as “land” can refer to the entire earth. And so, the covenant anticipated a territory larger than Palestine and a people more numerous and diverse than the immediate descendants of the Patriarch - (Genesis 12:3, 13:14).

The conclusion of Matthew recalls the covenant with Abraham and the messianic promises to the House of David:

• “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying: All authority has been given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Go, therefore, AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL THE NATIONS” - (Matthew 28:18-19. The highlighted statement echoes Psalm 2:8).

The departing command of Jesus echoes the promise of the Second Psalm. God promised to grant His anointed son the “nations as your inheritance, and as your possession, the ends of the earth.”

The promise that all the nations would be blessed through Abraham resonates in the words of Christ as he commissions his Church to proclaim the Gospel throughout the inhabited earth. The nations are blessed in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the seed of Abraham.

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[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (see the links here and here). Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

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SEE ALSO:

• The Salvation of the Lord - (‘Jesus’ means “Yahweh saves.” In the man of Nazareth, the salvation promised by the God of Abraham has arrived)

• Salvation for the Nations - (God sent Jesus to provide salvation for men, women, and children of all nations, and everlasting life in the age to come)

• The Son of Man - (The figure of the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel is the source of Christ’s self-designation, the Son of Man)

• The Living Word - (Jesus is the Word made flesh through whom the glory of God is revealed, the same Word by which God created all things)