As we noted in the previous article on Abraham’s belief in the promised seed, the identity of “seed of Abraham” includes, with absolute biblical authority, several fulfillments. The birth of Isaac represented the proximate fulfillment, but even then Sarah exclaimed, “Who would have said that Sarah would suckle children? (Gen. 21:7). The plural “children” indicates Abraham and Sarah knew the Lord’s plan went beyond the birth of Isaac.
Also in the previous article, we noted that God led Abraham progressively to the revelation of the birth of Isaac. First God promised a seed, then specified it would come from Abraham’s own loins, then, finally, from the union of Abraham and Sarah. Along with this revelation of some 30-year’s duration came another progressive revelation concerning the nature of Abraham’s descendant Using idiomatic figures of speech, the Lord God revealed to Abraham the nature and work of the ultimate fulfillment of the promises, Jesus the Messiah.
Three revelations
On three occasions, the Lord God used idiomatic expressions that would represent “a great multitude” to teach Abraham about his seed. In Genesis 13:16 he says: “I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your seed can also be counted.”
Later, at the point where scripture records that God counted Abraham’s faith as righteousness, he used the simile “stars of heaven.” “Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your seed be. And he believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6).
The third occasion came after the offering of Isaac. Having tried and proven Abraham’s faith, the Almighty gave the ultimate pronouncement concerning the seed, using a double simile. “I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore” (Gen. 22:17). Considering the three proclamations over a period of many years, each using a different simile, what would Abraham understand from this?
A preliminary issue
We must grapple with some epistemological questions before attempting to determine what Abraham believed concerning his seed. Did Paul know something about Abraham’s seed which Abraham himself didn’t know? If we can accept Paul’s inspired declaration, “the seed is singular” (Gal. 3:16), should we also accept that Abraham knew this as well? What God revealed directly but symbolically to Abraham did He also explain? Each of God’s proclamations came after a great victory of Abraham’s faith. How did Abraham connect each event and succeeding promise? Abraham had no “scripture” with which to compare God’s word; how would he know the meaning of an idiom? We must answer these and other similar questions before we can assume Abraham knew intuitively or by revelation the symbols that we today must interpret by comparing scripture with scripture.
Three lines of thought tell us Abraham knew far better than we about his own seed. First, we have the declaration of the Lord Jesus himself: “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day, he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56 RSV). Abraham knew of Messiah 2,000 years before his birth. Secondly, it is Abraham’s faith that we are to emulate, not vice versa. We must not have the hubris to think that the great men and women of faith were somehow inferior to us in knowledge of God’s plan. Thirdly, the word of God primarily refers to the mind and character of God Himself, then to His spoken revelation, then to the recording of His spoken word. We read translations of copies of the recorded word and call it the Word of God. Are we to assume that our cross references, concordances and commentaries give us a better understanding than those men and women with whom the Almighty conversed directly? As Abraham held personal, verbal discourse with the Creator, we can safely assume he knew what God meant!
Singular, many or innumerable?
Returning to the issue at hand, our first consideration goes to the concept of “multitudinous seed.” God appointed a singular seed for Abraham (Gal. 3:8); yet in the same letter where Paul declared the seed singular, he also wrote, “you are all one in Christ, and if you are Christ’s, then Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (vv. 28,29). So a multitude can still be one. While Paul identifies the one seed as Christ, he goes on to say we are all one in Christ. The seed of Abraham is one – Jesus, and all those who belong to him.
However, though we have a good explanation for a plural seed when Paul says it is singular, we still must deal with the vast numbers indicated by each simile. While it is fair to make a plural singular and say “many believers become one in Christ,” the difficulty comes in the promise of innumerable quantity. It is one matter to speak of “many,” but it is quite another to speak of “infinite.” Dust, stars and sand are, to the mortal mind, infinite. Nowhere does scripture teach that God’s people will be so vast in number so as to need an infinite symbol; quite the opposite is true, both naturally and spiritually. As the Israelite nation, the descendants of Isaac through Jacob were “the fewest of peoples” (Deut. 7:7). As a spiritual nation, Jesus cautions us (Matt. 7:14) that “few there be” who walk the road of eternal life. God is interested in quality, not quantity. Neither natural nor spiritual Israel was characterized by great population. So what could God mean by promising innumerable descendants to Abraham?
Symbols qualitative, not quantitative
The most likely explanation comes from appreciating the idiomatic nature of these similes. The grammatical constructions also support viewing these similes as descriptive, not numerative. In other words, the similes represent qualities of the seed, rather than numerous descendants. Dust, stars and sand each represent an aspect of the life of God’s promised seed. The Lord God gave them in the same progressive revelation that He used to ultimately specify Abraham and Sarah as the biological parents of Isaac. It behooves us to examine these figures of speech figuratively. In so doing, we learn how God revealed the Messiah to Abraham, so that Jesus could say, “Abraham saw my day.”
The meanings of the first two similes come readily as we are familiar with the Bible usage of “dust” to represent the natural, or mortal and “stars” to represent the spiritual or immortal. Mankind, of course, has been associated with the dust of the earth ever since God made Adam out of the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). We naturally associate the stars with the “heavenlies” or “things above;” they obviously represent the realm of God and those things pertaining to God and eternal life (cp. Col. 3:1-2). Paul uses these together in I Cor. 15:47-49 to represent the contrast between Adam/ mortality and Christ/immortality. The perfect faith and righteousness of the “man from heaven” (Jesus the Messiah) overcame the results of sin as exemplified by the “man of the earth” (Adam). The resurrection to eternal life changes us from the first condition (earthy) to the second (heavenly)’.
The third phrase, “the sand which is on the seashore,” may not ring as familiar to us as the first pair, yet it also has a specific connotation. We can look at a few passages to determine its meaning:
- Jeremiah noted the sand’s authority and dominion over the sea (Jer. 5:22):
“I placed the sand as a bound for the sea,
a perpetual bound which it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail
though they roar they cannot pass over it.
- Solomon’s prayer for knowledge to govern Israel was answered with a bequest of largeness of mind like the “sand which is upon the seashore” (I Kgs. 4:29).
- Sand on the seashore frequently describes powerful armies, Israelite and Gentile. For example, the Philistines (I Sam. 13:5), Midianites and Amalekites (Jdg. 7:12), Israelites (II Sam. 17:11), and a Canaanite alliance (Josh. 11:5). Scripture never uses the similes of “dust” or “stars” in connection with armies.
Thus we see that the idiom “sand which is on the seashore” (or similar phrasing) conveys the idea of authority, might, control and governance. There is also ironic usage in Jeremiah 15:8.
Chronological symbols
Assembling our information, we find that these three promises of God revealed to Abraham the chronology and biography of Messiah. Remember, we are dealing with a progressive revelation, as God displayed in the promised birth of Isaac. The three similes correlate precisely with the chronology of the Lord Jesus’ mission, as shown in the table below.
| Promise | Aspect of Jesus Life |
| I make your seed as the dust of the earth (Gen 13:16.) | Mortal on earth born of a woman (Gal 4:4); a partaker of condemned human flesh and blood and its sin nature. (Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2:11-14) |
| Look now toward heaven and number the stars. . .so shall your seed be (Gen. 15:5) | Immortal in heaven resurrected to immortality, exalted to the right hand of God as high priest, awaiting his return to earth (Eph 1:20; Phil. 3:20; 1 Peter 3:22; Acts 3:21) |
| I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and the sand which is upon the seashore (Gen. 22:7) | Immortal on earth after the second advent; ruling over the sea of people (Isa. 57:20; Rev. 17:1,15) in his kingdom (Psa. 2; Psa. 89:25; Dan. 2:44-45) |
The three promises describing Abraham’s seed correlate precisely with the three “stages” of Messiah’s mission. We cannot imagine that this correspondence is coincidental. Of particular interest is the final promise, coming immediately after the figurative death and resurrection of Isaac, the proximal seed. The coupling of the “stars” and “sand” similes combines immortality and power. The New Testament confirms this relationship between resurrection and power. For example, it was in a post-resurrectional appearance of Jesus to his disciples when he said, “all authority1 in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). Paul wrote that Jesus was “designated Son of God in power2 …by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). Paul also told the Athenians, “He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31 NKJV). True power is contingent upon resurrection to immortality.
God used symbolic language – similes, as we call this form – when He taught Abraham about Messiah. The meanings of these three similes, while requiring scriptural investigation in our day to determine, would have immediate meaning to Abraham as revelation from God Almighty.
God instructed Abraham that his own inheritance would be from his seed. He concurrently taught him that this seed, known to us as the Lord Jesus Christ, would be born of woman, in bondage to mortality. God would raise him from the dead to immortal life, and ultimately he would rule the entire earth as the immortal and omnipotent king. This is the Jesus we preach and the Jesus of whom Genesis speaks. Abraham’s hope of inheritance lay in the culmination of Messiah’s glorification. We apprehend the same hope when we pursue the same belief and trust in Him who gave the promises.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One