The document discusses God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 to make him a great nation and bless all people through him. It explains how this promise is fulfilled through Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham and David, who redeems humanity from sin. The promise is shown to encompass all nations and people groups throughout the world. The document encourages remembering that Jesus came not to start a new religion but to fulfill the old promise of blessing through Abraham's offspring.

1. Genesis 12:1-4
The Promise of
Christmas Blessing

2. The Hopes & Fears
of All the Years
New City Church of Calgary
Advent 2016

3. “The book of the
genealogy of Jesus
Christ, the son of
David, the son of
Abraham.”
~ The Gospel of Matthew 1:1

4. Long before the person of
Jesus arrived on the scene,
there was the promise of Jesus.

5. Genesis 12:1-4
The Promise of
Christmas Blessing

6. It may be said without exaggeration that
not only the rest of the Old Testament but
the whole of the New Testament are an
outworking of these promises of God.
~ John Stott in
Understanding the Bible
“

7. 1
The Background Story
The Creation: Genesis 1-2

8. 1
The Rebellion: Genesis 32
The Background Story
The Creation: Genesis 1-2

9. 1
The Rebellion: Genesis 32
The Corruption: Genesis 6
The Background Story
3
The Creation: Genesis 1-2

10. 1
The Rebellion: Genesis 32
The Corruption: Genesis 6
The Background Story
3
The Scattering: Genesis 114
The Creation: Genesis 1-2

11. “Genesis 1-11 poses
a cosmic question
to which God must provide
a cosmic answer…
What can God do next?”

12. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go
Genesis 12:1
from your country and your kindred
and your father’s house to the land
that I will show you….”

13. “And I will make of you a great
Genesis 12:2
great nation, and I will bless you
and make your name great, so that
you will be a blessing….

14. “I will bless those who bless you,
Genesis 12:3
and him who dishonors you I will
curse, and in you all the families of
the earth will be blessed.”

15. Genesis 1-11
“curse / cursed” = 5x
Genesis 12 :1-3
“bless / blessing” = 5x

16. “What can God do next?
Something that only God
could have thought of. He
sees an elderly, childless
couple in the land of Babel
and decides to make them
the fountainhead, the launch
pad of his whole mission
of cosmic redemption…

17. “The call of Abraham is the
beginning of God’s
answer to the evil of human
hearts, the strife of the
nations and the groaning
brokenness of his whole
creation. A new world,
ultimately a new creation,
begins in this text.”

18. “…through your offspring
all nations on earth
will be blessed.”
~ God’s promise to Abraham
in Genesis 22:18

19. “And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God
would justify the nations
by faith, preached the
gospel beforehand to
Abraham saying, “In you
shall all the nations be
blessed.” ~ The Apostle Paul
in Galatians 3:8

20. “Now the promises were
made to Abraham and to his
offspring. It does not say,
“And to offsprings’ referring
to many, but referring to
one, “And to your offspring,”
who is Christ….”
~ The Apostle Paul
in Galatians 3:16

21. “
”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of
the law by becoming a curse for us—
for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone
who is hanged on a tree’—so that in
Christ Jesus the blessing of
Abraham might come to the
nations….
~ The Apostle Paul
in Galatians 3:13-14
image: Christopher Brown

22. You are the sons…of
the covenant that God
made with your fathers,
saying to Abraham,
“And in you shall all the
families of the earth be
blessed.”
~ The Apostle Peter
in Acts 3:25-26

23. God, having raised up
his servant, sent him
to you first, to bless
you by turning every
one of you from your
wickedness.
~ The Apostle Peter
in Acts 3:25-26

24. So Abram went, as the Lord had
Genesis 12:4
told him, and Lot with him. Abram
was seventy-five years old when he
departed from Haran….

25. “The book of the
genealogy of Jesus
Christ, the son of
David, the son of
Abraham.”
~ The Gospel of Matthew 1:1

26. Jesus did not come
to start a new religion,
but to fulfill an old promise.

27. Rejoice that
God keeps
his promises.

28. Creation Rebellion Redemption Restoration
The “Four Chapter” Gospel
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4
1st Advent 2nd Advent

29. And they sang a new
song, saying, “Worthy
are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals, for
you were slain, and by
your blood you
ransomed people for
God from every tribe
and language and
people and nation…”
~ The Apostle John
in Revelation 5:9

30. After this I looked, and
behold, a great multitude
that no one could number,
from every nation, from
all tribes and peoples and
languages, standing before
the throne and before the
Lamb…crying out with a loud
voice, “Salvation belongs to
our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb.”
~ The Apostle John
in Revelation 7:9-10

31. Remember, we
have been swept up
in the promise
of Christmas.

32. “And if you are
Christ’s, then you are
Abraham’s offspring,
heirs according to the
promise.”
~ The Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:29

33. I am blessed
to be a blessing.

34. Joy to the world the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare him room
and heaven and nature sing

35. No more let sins and sorrows grow
nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse if found

36. May you relish deeply the fact
that Jesus did not come
to start a new religion,
but to fulfill an old promise.

37. flickr images courtesy of:
Shutterstock
ShutterStock Image ID: 234554776
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Image Credit: Christopher Brown
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7853490@N07/3531948937/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/