Disclaimer: This transcription is provided for informational purposes, reference, and convenience. Please note that it may contain errors, omissions, or spelling mistakes due to the nature of live audio transcriptions. While we strive for accuracy, this document should not be considered a fully authoritative record of the sermon. For clarification, we recommend referring to the original source. Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

I'm once again struck with the amazing gift of music that God has given us. And I thank you musicians for leading us so well. It was Johann Sebastian Bach that said, “All music is given to us to bring glory to God." Sadly, most music today doesn't do that, but that's what we have here. And as I've reminded my musicians, and they know this very well, music is not meant to induce worship, but to express it. And thank you for that, musicians, thank you.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter one, we return to our verse-by-verse study of this gospel, and today we do so under the heading, "Anticipating the Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant." We're going to be looking at verses 72 through 75 just four verses. But I want to back up and get a running start, so you have the context here. So I want to begin at verse 67,

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

"'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

"'and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant -

"'as He spoke by the mouth of his Holy prophets, from of old -

"'Salvation from our enemies, all from the hand of all who hate us;

And then the text we will look at today,

"'To show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

"'To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear,

"In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.'"

I wish to take a few minutes and give you a contemporary context for what we can examine here in this passage of scripture this morning, one that will help us see how glorious it is; how encouraging it is to we as believers. I don't think I have to convince any of you that we live in an age of idolatry, of immorality. We live in an age of corruption and deception and frankly, uncertainty, as we look at all of the events in our country and around the world, and I might even add that we live in an age of insanity. It's impossible to explain why people think and do the things that they do; and certainly, we understand from scripture that that is a mark of wicked people being given over to a worthless or a depraved mind, as we read in Romans 1. I mean, all we have to do is look at the lunacy of the people in Minneapolis and other places, the irrationality of what's going on. And it reminds me of what Jesus said in John 12:31, and other passages, that Satan is the ruler of this world, temporarily so; but nonetheless, he is the ruler of this world. And I look at things going on in the world, and you just see that we're moving inexorably towards a day of judgment. Things aren't getting better and better. They're getting worse and worse.

I think of the advancements of this AI technology. And while it is so beneficial in so many ways, it is also frightening. I mean, look at the convincing text messages and images and the audio and the scams; the propaganda that AI is giving us, the enhanced cyber threats, the unprecedented surveillance that it is capable of doing for all of us; able to monitor and record everything we do and say. And the ethical issues in areas such as LAWS, and I don't mean laws that we enact, but what's called Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems. I was reading up on that. It's amazing AI can gauge targets without any human intervention through the use of drones and robots and vehicles. And so AI can be used to ultimately coerce a population to do everything the government demands. And then I look at other things that are going on, such as an article that I read about the Board of Peace that the Trump administration plans to announce. The article that I read said, "According to US and regional officials, the Trump administration plans to announce the Board of Peace as early as next week, positioning it as a global body, not only to guide post war Gaza, but eventually to assist in resolving conflicts worldwide." So far, I'm not convinced. It goes on to say, "Confirmed participants reportedly include Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, already a powerful and geographically diverse coalition. But perhaps most striking is the administration's consideration of filling remaining seats with the heads of major multinational institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Economic Forum." End quote. I mean, folks, that's frightening authority that can be given to this group of people. And I believe that the world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist according to Bible prophecy. I'm reminded of First Thessalonians five, beginning in verse three,

"While they are saying 'Peace and safety!'  then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, they will not escape.

"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;

"for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness,

"so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."

I believe that the Antichrist will ascend to power sometime after the church has been snatched away in the rapture, and he will rule throughout the seven-year tribulation until the Lord returns. In fact, in Revelation 13:4 we read that, "...they worship the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him?'" And I was thinking about that statement with artificial intelligence. No one would be able to wage war with him except the Lord Jesus, and He will prevail.

So we can be thankful that God reigns in invincible sovereignty, and he has ordained the end from the beginning. And it's important to remember that he has revealed his plan in the pages of Scripture, in the Bible; and I'm so thankful for the truth of the Word of God that shines so brightly in the darkness of this evil age that is ruled by Satan. That's why, often, in my head, I sing "On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground sinking sand." And once again, we have an opportunity to come together and to examine the Word of God, which, according to Second Timothy 3:16 is

"...profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

"so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

And may I remind you that spiritual maturity is directly proportional to one's knowledge of the Word of God and one's application, or I should say obedience to it. You have to understand it before you can obey it. But just understanding it isn't enough. You must obey it. Some people know a lot, but they obey little. Some know little, but they obey a lot, and the Lord blesses that some know very little and obey even less. So my goal, my responsibility, is to help you know much and obey much. In fact, may I remind you of Ephesians four, he tells us, actually, in verse 11, that the role of the pastor/teacher, which would be me is,

"...for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the Body of Christ;

"until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

"As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming;

"but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ."

Beloved, please understand that every passage in scripture, even every word, every phrase, every historical narrative, is another thread in the glorious tapestry of biblical knowledge that animates and instructs our obedience to the Lord. It gives us discernment so that we won't be duped by those that would try to deceive us. And may I remind you in Second Peter 1:3, we are told that his divine power, "...has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him..." which speaks of an intimate, not a superficial, knowledge of Christ; not a mere awareness of who he is, but who he really is and how he has revealed himself in His Word. So remember these things as you approach of every passage of Scripture, including those that we tend to overlook, like the one that we have before us today. I would venture to say, if we were to ask you to raise your hand, most of you have probably never thought much about the passage that I just read. Never really studied it that much, but every word in it is another piece of the puzzle, right? It's like putting this magnificent, what do you call them? Jigsaw puzzles together. It's good to have all of the pieces, and you keep getting the pieces and it begins to take shape. Or you could use another analogy. You can think of it as as more beautiful threads in the tapestry of Christianity, another shade of color in the masterpiece of maturity in Christ. So listen very carefully and be like newborn babies according to First Peter 2:2 who "...long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted of the kindness of the Lord." And that newborn baby has to has Mama's milk, it's a matter of life and death for that child, and this is a matter of life and death for you as a believer if you are ever going to grow into maturity.

Now, last week, we examined Zacharias' outburst of praise, remember, and he was largely focusing on God's redemptive purposes as they related to God's irrevocable, unconditional covenant promise to David, to the household of David, known as the Davidic Covenant. And certainly, he's excited, because his son John now - that became John the Baptist - is going to announce the coming Messiah. And we see the details of the Davidic Covenant described in many, many Old Testament passages. We read one of them; we see some of the details in Isaiah 65 that I just read. You can see some in like Psalm 89 where it talks just about our Lord Jesus' eternal rule over the earth.

But now, as we continue to look into his anthem of praise here in verses 72 through 75 we're going to see that he's focusing not on the Davidic Covenant, but on the Abrahamic Covenant - the covenant, the promise, the oath - that God gave to Abraham. And this is more national than it is universal, as in the case of the Davidic Covenant. It reveals God's promises to ethnic, national, territorial Israel and their role in the millennial kingdom. And this is what really animated Zacharias' excitement. So let's back up again and just look at this as a whole. We see, I'm not going to read it all that I just read in verse 67... Zacharias is filled with the Holy Spirit. And he's saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. He talks about things with respect to the Davidic Covenant, and what the what the prophets have said. And last time we were together, I gave you some examples, for example, from the prophet Daniel.

But now we come to verse 72 and following the Abrahamic covenant,

"to show mercy toward our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,

"the oath which He swore to Abraham our father,

"to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear

"in holiness and righteousness. Is before him all our days."

Now, an appropriate question would be, "What on earth does this have to do with my life today?" Well, as I hope you will see, everything. This is so exciting when you understand the implications of what the Holy Spirit has inspired the prophet to say; and although the Abrahamic covenant includes national blessings and promises to to Israel in the millennial kingdom, we're going to see that these blessings extend to everyone, to Gentiles, because we are also the recipients of those blessings through faith in Christ. In fact, the Abrahamic covenant is sometimes called the "covenant of mercy," because it's mercy to all who come to faith in Christ. A great illustration of this is in Genesis 22. You remember the story we read of Abraham, who is willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, which would have abrogated God's covenant promise to him, but God stopped him there, right at the final moment. And according to Hebrews 11:19, we see that Abraham believed that even if he had killed his son, the Lord would have raised Him from the dead. So there's faith in motion. And this demonstrates the principle that although the Abrahamic covenant was ratified unilaterally by God and is therefore unconditional and irrevocable, one cannot enjoy the fullness of its blessings, apart from faith in Christ. And although the Abrahamic Covenant includes these national promises of blessings to Israel during the kingdom age, in a spiritual sense, all believers share in the blessings of both the Davidic as well as the Abrahamic covenants. So in that sense, we are even called children of Abraham. Gor example, in Galatians three beginning in verse eight,

"The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'All the nations will be blessed in you.'

"So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer."

We can read more of the same in Romans four, beginning in verse 11, "...he received," referring to Abraham, "the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised." So bear in mind that all of these great truths, and we're going to examine them a little more deeply here this morning, all these things are animating Zacharias' praise, because he knows that if his son is about to be born - and he's the forerunner of the Messiah - he knows that the Messiah is about to come, and in his mind, he understands these great covenant promises that God has made, "...as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets of old," verse 70 and he goes on now to talk about, as we see in verse 73, "...the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father."

Now let me give you some historical background, so you have a better understanding of this oath that he swore to Abraham. I want to back up to the flood. You know, after the global flood, Noah's sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth, became the heads of various people groups, and they were dispersed over the whole earth. You read about that in Genesis nine and verse 19. And I want to give you a footnote here too. In Genesis 9:18-27 there is a curse on Canaan, which some have misunderstood and misinterpreted to be a curse on Noah's son, Ham. Now bear with me, some believe it was a prediction that Ham's dark-skinned descendants would be slaves to other groups. That is patently false. Instead, it was a prediction of Israel's eventual victory over the wicked inhabitants of the Promised Land, known as the Canaanites. So just a little aside there, so you have Shem, Ham and Japheth. They're the head now, of various peoples. They're dispersed over the whole earth. And in Genesis 10 and 11, you have God revealing to us the table of nations, describing different ethnic groups. And of course, the catalyst for that diversity was the Tower of Babel that you read about in the first nine verses of Genesis. 11. You remember that God judged them because they were trying to make a great name for themselves, and they wanted to remain in one place rather than obeying God's command to fill the whole earth. And so God confused their language. And that event really was the origin of multiple languages, and it caused people then to scatter over the earth.

And then you come to Genesis 11, verse 27, through chapter 12 and verse three, and what you see happening is God narrows his focus, and he's looking primarily now at Israel, and reveals how he is going to use Abraham. At that time, he was still called Abram; but Abraham to bless all peoples - Genesis 11:27, through verse three of chapter 12. We'll look more at that in a moment.

Now, a little background on Abraham. Abraham was a native of a very powerful and prominent Chaldean city called Ur that was in ancient Mesopotamia, and according to Joshua 24 and verse two, he originally was an idolater, like most people of that day, but God set his love upon him, called him out of that land. And we read about that in Genesis 12, beginning in verse one.

"Now the Lord said to Abram,

"'Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you;

"'and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing.

"'And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.'"

So we read in verses four and five that he obeyed the Lord's commands. It says, "Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him," and it says that he came to the land of Canaan. Now next, what we see is that Israel, having originated from the loins of Abraham, and then through Isaac and Jacob, gradually grew larger and larger as a people group. They became known as the Hebrews, and eventually they became the nation of Israel. And what's fascinating, if we look all the way to the end of the Bible in Revelation 5:9, we see that salvation is going to extend to all people groups; to every tribe and language and people and nation. But isn't it interesting that Jesus also said in John 4:22, that "salvation is from the Jews." And so that would be part of the spiritual fulfillment of Genesis, 12:3, "...and in you, all of the families of the earth, will be blessed." Another example of that is when you look at the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit inspired Jewish men to write the scriptures, a profound blessing to all of us. In fact, we read in Romans 3:2 that the Jewish people, quote, "were entrusted with the oracles of God." Romans 9:4 they received the "adoption as sons," meaning that God sovereignly ordained and called Israel to be his special witness nation. And therefore, the text goes on to say that to receive, quote, "...the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises." And of course, the greatest blessing that came from Abraham through the Hebrews, through Israel, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Romans one beginning in verse three, speaks of, "His son," referring to the Lord, "...was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh." He was, "declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord." And Romans 9:5 says, from Israel, "...the Christ according to the flesh."

So when we get back and we look at the big picture of the Old Testament, we can see that from Genesis 12 actually, all the way through Malachi, Israel is the primary emphasis.  That is just undeniable. Now with this background, let's go back to Zacharias' outburst of praise, because again, he understands these things. He's taught these things. These priests were brilliant scholars. They understood the Old Testament, and he knew that these promises to David and to Abraham were were about to be fulfilled in some way. He didn't know to what extent, but that's what animating his praise. Again, verse 72 he's excited because he's going to see that how God is going to "show mercy toward our fathers, and remember His holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father."

Now, what is this Abrahamic covenant? What does it contain? What is it all about? What's the substance of that oath? What did God promise? And it's interesting, it is a covenant that is repeated eight times in the book of Genesis. It's repeated in chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 15, chapter 17, chapter 22, chapter 26 and 35. And first we see that God announces the terms of the Covenant in chapter 12, but it really wasn't set or ratified until later. In fact, in chapter 15, verse 18, we read, "On that day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants, I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.'" And then what we read is that God ratified that covenant in a remarkable way, one that's way beyond anything that we have in our culture, but one that was consistent with the ancient Near Eastern customs. And the way he did it was to somehow underscore the fact that this covenant is going to be a unilateral, irreversible, irrevocable, unconditional, everlasting covenant. That's the nature of it. So we read in Genesis 15, beginning in verse seven, what the Lord said; let me read this to you.

"And He said to him, 'I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it.'

"He said, 'O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?'

"So he said to him, 'Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat,  and a three year old ram, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.'

"Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.

"The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

"Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon them.

"God said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years.

"'But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

"'As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

"'Then in the fourth generation, they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.'

"It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces."

So evidently, in some supernatural way, God anesthetized Abraham, causing a deep sleep to fall upon him. And you must understand in the ancient near east that the killing of the animals, when they made a covenant, was basically a way of symbolizing, this is what's going to happen to you if you somehow violate the covenant. And then walking between the two halves just symbolized, shall we say, that the gravity of the covenant - the commitment to the covenant. And as we look at this text, the smoking oven and the flaming torch that passed between the two pieces represented the presence of God. Now bear in mind the whole scenario demonstrated again, the unilateral - in other words, God is the one making the covenant by himself - and the irrevocable nature of the oath. Abraham nothing had nothing to do with it. So God alone ratified the promise. And in ancient days when both parties would walk between the two halves of slaughtered animals, it was a way for both of them to basically have, shall we say, a pledge of self- malediction, that this is what I deserve if I violate the covenant. In other words, a self-imposed curse. But here we have God alone walking through the pieces, demonstrating that the fulfillment of the covenant was not dependent upon the faithfulness of Abram or of his descendants, but on God alone.

You may recall in our study of the Book of Zechariah, in Zechariah nine and verse 11, Zechariah made the statement speaking of quote, "the blood of my covenant with You."  speaking of what God had said, and this hearkened back to that promise, but it also looked forward to the blood sacrifice of the final Lamb of God; His blood being the seal of the New Covenant, as you read about in Hebrews 9:13, and following. So the Abrahamic Covenant, here, is an inviolable promise. It's sealed by the very blood of Christ. When we have communion, we speak about this, or I will speak about this, coming out of First Corinthians 11:25, where it says that the Lord speaking here, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood." So it's all linked to this Abrahamic covenant. So this is what fuel is fueling Zacharias' praise to God, "...for the way He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets," in verse 70, and how he's now going to, "show mercy toward our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father." This was the basis of his hope. And again, he knows that his son John is going to be the forerunner of the Messiah, who would eventually fulfill what God had promised to the nation Israel, nationally, but to all who bow the knee to Christ spiritually.

It's an important clarification here, from my perspective, although all who trust in Christ become Abraham's children spiritually, that does not mean that the church now is the new Israel. I do not see that. It does not mean, now, that all of the promises - the material, physical promises that God gave to Israel, to ethnic, national, territorial Israel - that somehow all of those things are canceled, that all of those things are abrogated. Nor do I believe that they are just merely fulfilled spiritually in some way. In Romans 11:29, we read, "...the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." And for this reason, the unconditional, unilateral, irreversible, eternal Old Testament promises God gave to Israel are reiterated in the New Testament. So God, I don't believe, has changed his mind, nor has he, from my perspective, preserved and protected Israel, the Jewish people, down through history for no reason, for no purpose; and to say God has permanently disenfranchised Israel would have been unthinkable to the Apostle Paul. He said in Romans 11, beginning in verse one, "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. "God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew..." referring to foreloving them in eternity past.

Now have they acted wickedly? Did they reject the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Are they not some of the most exceedingly wicked people on Earth, like we have in every culture? Absolutely. That exists in every ethnic group. But you must remember, God is faithful to his covenant promises. Romans 11:11, "I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous." And we also read in Romans 11, how that we, as Gentiles, are depicted as the "wild olive branch" that has been grafted into the glorious root of Abrahamic blessing that we read in, I think it's verse 17. And the Jewish people, who are currently God's beloved enemy, are depicted in verse 21 as, "the natural branches," it says, "And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." Then he went on to say in verse 25 and following,

"I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery - so that you will not be wise in your own estimation - that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

"and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION. HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'"

John MacArthur said this, and I wanted to read the quote,

 "While Israel has been the channel through which God's revelation and blessings have flowed to the world, the nation has rarely shared in those blessings. Disobedience, idolatry, empty ritualistic outward worship, and most heinous of all, rejecting the Messiah have led to chastening from God instead of blessing. But despite the rebellion and resulting punishment, God has protected the Jewish people. They have survived exile to Babylon, the attempt by Antiochus Epiphanes during the intertestamental period to eradicate their religion and culture, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, being dispersed from Palestine and forced to live in Gentile lands, and centuries of pogroms and persecution, culminating in the 20th century with the madness of the Holocaust. Yet, Israel still exists as a nation occupying part of the land God promised Abraham."

I think of Hitler's what he called "Final Solution," where, in the Holocaust, he killed approximately 6 million Jews; an evil that is without parallel. And of course, it was designed to destroy all Jews and the Jewish civilization in Europe. And yet think about this folks, despite all of those barbaric attempts to cleanse the world of this ethnic group, they still exist. They're still here. The Amalekites, the Kenites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Canaanites, and all the rest of the "ites." They're all gone. But the Israelites are still here. They remain. Tiny, little Israel, about the size of the state of New Jersey, about 9000 square miles, with a population of 9.7 3 million people. 75% of them are Jewish, and they're surrounded by 22 Arab countries encompassing 5 million square miles. All you have to do is look at the map. That's populated by approximately 600 million people who are aligned with the entirety of the Muslim world, consisting of over 1.8 billion people, or about 24% of the population of the world; and virtually all of those Arab Muslim countries are either committed to wiping Israel off the face of the earth, or they're complicit with others who would like to do so, but they're still here because God is protecting them. Because God has made a covenant and God will not violate his promise. We also must understand in Genesis 17:18-21 you can read how God revealed the geographical boundaries of the promised land that they were to possess. But it's never happened, and it won't happen. It will only be fulfilled when Christ returns and establishes his earthly kingdom.

Now back to the Abrahamic covenant. There are some other components that are really interesting, especially this idea that he's going to be the father of many nations, which includes the Arabs. Do you realize Abraham is the father of the Arabs as well? In Genesis, 17:2 God says, "'I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.'" And it says,

"Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

"'No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.'"

Let me pause here. We see this in the historical narrative of Sarah. Remember she was barren, and you will recall how she told Abraham to go in and impregnate their Egyptian handmaid, Hagar; in which he did. And Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, the ancestor of the Arab people. And then later in Genesis 17, beginning in verse 15, we read, 

"Then God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

"'I will bless her, and indeed, I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.'"

Sarai, by the way, means "my princess," and Sarah just means "princess." And so what God is doing is he's removing the limiting nature of the personal pronoun my, and he's broadening her name "princess," because she is going to be the ancestress of the promised nations and kings. She's going to be the mother of nations, "...kings of peoples will come from her." But then the promise goes on in verse 17 of Genesis, 17, and we read that,

"Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man 100 years old? And will Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?'

"And Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!'

"But God said, 'No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

"'As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

"But My covenant, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.'"

I want you to understand that the phrase "everlasting covenant" is used three times here in chapter 17. That means it's an everlasting covenant, all right? Which means it's never going to be rescinded, it's never going to be abrogated; and I believe it will ultimately be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom.

Now I want to digress for a moment. You get some idea, now, of what the Abrahamic covenant is about, but I want you to help you understand a little bit of what's going on with all of the Islamic chaos that we see in our world today, because it ties into what we've been studying here. The Arab Islamic jihadists hate the Jews because the Arabs believe that God's covenant with Abraham was a promise between Abraham and Ishmael, not Abraham and Isaac. That's where the big rub is. By the way, you're not going to hear this on the news media. They do not understand the Bible. They think it's a joke, and so on and so forth, but that's what's going on. They believe it was Ishmael who was to be offered on Mount Moriah, not Isaac. In fact, the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast commemorates Abraham's offering of Ishmael. They have a whole feast to do that, to recognize that, and of course, that's a lie. But therefore, the blessings in the land all belong to the Arabs from the loins of Ishmael, not to the Jews from the loins of Isaac.

Moreover, they believe Moses was referring to Muhammad in Deuteronomy 18:15 where we read, "The LORD your God, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him." Now that maybe helps you understand the theological distortion that Satan has created and perpetrates. And the Arab Islamic jihadists also hate Israel because they believe that Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East is a direct insult to the teachings of the Quran, that it undermines what the Quran says. You see Jewish presence in what they perceive to be Arab Muslim land, undermines the validity of Islam and elevates Yahweh over Allah, which is a supreme insult to them. And also bear in mind that Muhammad hated both Jews and Christians because they refused to recognize him as the quote, "prophet," the prophet, the only prophet. In fact, he said, quote, "You will surely find that the most hostile to the believers are the Jews and the idolaters. While those who have the greatest affection to them are the ones who say 'we are Christians.'" And after Muhammad's death - who supposedly ascended into heaven on his horse from the side of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem; you see that big golden dome - the Muslims became a world power after his death, and it spread to northern Spain, to India, and Satan just caused it to continue to grow. And during that time, their hatred of Jews and Christians just increased, and much of their hatred was justified by the words of the Quran in 929. It says, "Fight against those who do not believe in God, or in the last day, who do not forbid what god and his Prophet have forbidden or practice the true religion." Of course, God for them is is Allah; and Islam means "submission to the will of Allah." And Muslims mean "those who submit." And Jihad means "striving" or "exertion to the path of God." So that's what so many of them are doing. They seek to establish an Islamic caliphate to govern society according to Islamic law that's derived from the Quran and the Hadith, which is the traditions and the sayings of Muhammad. And you might also need to understand that the Ayatollah Khomeini, or however you pronounce his name, over in Iran, Ayatollah, by the way, means "sign of God." He's supposed to be a sign of God. He believes in the supremacy of Islamic law, which is Sharia. And therefore, the government's role is to implement and enforce Sharia law. And it's so sad to see how God has given these people over to just a depraved mind believe these things. But what's also interesting is how so many woke leftist Marxists, like the lunatics that oppose ICE removing criminal aliens, illegal aliens and all those types of things, the Somali fraud that helps, frankly, fund so much of Democrat campaigns and so forth. It's amazing how they're both in a kind of in agreement against conservatism. Both awoke Marxists in our country, as well as the Islamic jihadists, hate Western civilization. They despise it. And whether you're looking at the social justice Marxist like we had in the whole BLM thing, or the hysterical feminists that are foaming at the mouth with the pro-Palestinian protests or the brainwashed leftists with this whole ICE thing going on, whether it's the diversity, equity and inclusion snowflakes that are complaining any of those people, one thing they all have in common is that they believe that we must absolutely eradicate all white Judeo Christian ethics and influence. Down with colonization, down with capitalism - which is code for deconstruction of the West. And I must add that the Islamic jihadists, which are kind of religious Nazis today, they all agree, and they have this added twist that you must appreciate, they prefer tribalism over nationalism. They're a tribal people. They do not want a Jeffersonian democracy. They are a tribal people, and they do not think and act in the best interest of any nation, but only in terms of their own tribe, and that's why the Somalis, for example, in Minnesota and Ohio and other places; I mean, this scam with all of the stuff that you read, I mean, it's all over the country. And the reason they're comfortable with that is that's part of their tribe; and they hate us, and they think it's perfectly good to rip us off. That's just their mindset. And of course, a lot of the leftists are fine with that too, because, hey, we'll turn our head look the other way, as long as you help donate to our campaign to keep us in power so that you too can have your cake and eat it too. That's just the stuff that's going on in the world in which we live.

But dear Christian, be assured that all of the attempts to thwart the purposes of God, through false religion, political ideology, through violence, through war, all of those things are utterly powerless and utterly meaningless when it comes to God accomplishing His purposes. It's like trying to extinguish the sun with a squirt gun. It's futile. And I rejoice in that.

I think of Psalm 2 beginning in verse two, "The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His anointed," (referring to Christ) saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!'" I love this statement. "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them." Job said this in 42 verse two," I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." Boy, I find comfort in that, don't you?

And Isaiah said in chapter 14, verse 27, "'For the LORD of hosts has planned, who can frustrate it? And as far and as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?'" Obviously, no one. Well, Zacharias understood this. This is what animated his anthem of praise, "the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father." And why did the God of Israel bring about redemption for us through that oath? Verse 74, "To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days." When it says, "in holiness," it's speaking of not doing what God forbids. And righteousness, speaks of doing what God commands. We would be powerless to those ends, were it not for what Christ has done for us in his redeeming grace. Zacharias rejoices in this, and as we see, and we will continue to see, he rejoices in this even more than the fact that he's going to have a son who's going to be the forerunner. I mean, that's all nice, but that's tertiary compared to the glorious truth of the Messiah coming.

Well, I trust you rejoice in these things as well, dear friends. I pray that you celebrate his redeeming grace, and I pray that you are anticipating his coming. I pray that you are, as the Scriptures say, hastening his coming, longing for him to return. And I challenge you to live your life in view of the fact that the Lord has set his love upon you, and that one day you will stand before Him as your Savior and as your King. Let's all pray together that he will come quickly, Amen? Maranatha, even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. Let's pray,

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you that you are faithful to your covenant promises. And while we can never fully understand all of the implications of what you have revealed to us, we know that ultimately, you are a sovereign God who has indeed ordained the end from the beginning, and you have set your love upon us that we might be participants in this plan, that we might be instruments of righteousness, that as together, we would be able to proclaim the gospel, to live it out, that many will be saved. So Lord, we long for that day when you return. And finally, I would ask again, Lord, for those that do not know you as Savior, for those that may pretend, for those that may have some mental understanding of the gospel, but who have never truly come to you in brokenness and humble, repentant faith, O Lord, break their heart today, make them miserable until they cry out to you for your saving grace. We ask all of these things in the precious name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.