Christ is the seed of Abraham Gal 3:16
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
I understand that. However, although Christ would come later the promised seed given to Abraham is Isaac, born of a free woman. Isaac embodied every promise God gave to Abraham, and when Abraham died Isaac inherited the promises God gave to Abraham. The birth of Jesus was not dissimilar to Isaac's. And from Isaac Jacob was born, a twin of Esau. When the promises were not fulfilled the inheritance fell on Jacob, then to his twelve sons when Jacob died. This inheritance from generation to generation continued until the birth of Jesus.
23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Luke 3:23.
until we come to Abraham, but it doesn't stop there.
34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, Luke 3:34.
Now Look Eph 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Col 3:13
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any:
even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Also Rom 3:24
Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
The word redemption is the greek word
apolytrōsis:
- a releasing effected by payment of ransom
- redemption, deliverance
- liberation procured by the payment of a ransom
everywhere in the N. T. metaphorically, viz. deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin:
This is all part of the Blessing of Abraham
I understand that. But There is no salvation promised in the Abraham Covenant. It is wrapped up in the Mosaic Covenant and the building of the Tabernacle, which was a representation of Messiah who was promised to come.
Saul in hindsight was able to connect Isaac as the Promised seed with Jesus who was the fulfillment seed, but there is nothing in the Abraham Covenant God promising atonement. Through study of Scripture Saul was able to make the connections, but with the Mosaic Covenant. This was the covenant Jesus fulfilled and when Isaac was born, he was the fulfillment of the promise of an heir. Isaac was an extension of Abraham's seed. He was the son promised by God, and shortly, in Abraham's day, symbolized on the altar when Abraham had the knife to slay him on the altar, only served to represent a future occurrence with Jesus. Nothing in the Abraham Covenant spoke of any forgiveness or atonement. It only presented a model that would find fulfillment in Jesus' day. Centuries would separate the two. Issac was type and shadow, not the reality. Just a shadow that was not understood until Saul studied the Scripture and saw
the type and shadow. But there was no forgiveness or atonement in the Abraham Covenant promises and that what Abraham understood it to be. One could look up to the nighttime stars and see stars. But the map of constellation was not part of the knowledge Abraham possessed concerning Isaac. His birth was only an event promised by God to Abraham.
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. Genesis 15:4.
When Isaac was born THAT promise was fulfilled.