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The Abrahamic calling

Over the years, I have observed that both Christians and Jews have failed to understand the nature of the Abrahamic calling. Jews claim to be biologically descended from Abraham, but most of them do not even make the attempt to bless all nations. Those Christians who side with the Jews also fail, perhaps because they believe that as gentiles they do not have this responsibility. Many Christians have even failed to understand Paul’s teaching that the children of Abraham are those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

What is the Abrahamic Calling?

When God first called Abraham, He told him: “I will bless you… you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2) and again, “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This implies that God was to bless Abraham, along with his children, but that they were to pass on this blessing to everyone else. The blessing was never meant to be exclusive to his biological descendants—nor even limited to his spiritual descendants.

Acts 3:25, 26 interprets the blessing this way:

²⁵ It is to you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” ²⁶ For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

The primary purpose of God’s blessing is to turn people from their wicked ways. In other words, it is to bring people to the place of repentance so that they may conform to the nature of God and the image of Christ. This takes place over thousands of years, a few at first and increasing from age to age, until in the end every knee bows and every tongue confesses (or professes) Christ (Philippians 2:10, 11). This is the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).

The Abrahamic blessing, however, covers far more than repentance and faith in Christ. There is also a practical side to this. Repentance and faith represent a change of lifestyle and a new thought process, which Paul calls “the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). A new outlook and Kingdom culture as a whole brings further blessings. As the Kingdom way of life spreads, men and nations no longer need to spend their resources preparing for costly wars that kill many and impoverish even more people.

Today, under the “beast” systems that oppress the people of the earth, debts suffocate all nations and the majority of mankind. Prosperity is limited to the few, many of whom profit immensely by wars. When men have a vested interest in war, they tend to promote it at the expense of the rest of the nations. Such men ought to repent and prosper by investing in peace.

Fleshly minded people think that the Abrahamic calling entitles them to rule the world, and so they think of themselves as being above the common people. Such people do not understand the purpose of authority, and so they misuse it as a way of life. Jesus gave us the divine perspective in Mark 10:42-45,

⁴² Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. ⁴³ But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; ⁴⁴ and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

The world’s idea of the proper exercise of authority is the opposite of how God sees it. True authority is not about obtaining servants but of being a servant to others. The more one serves, the greater he is in the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ Himself came as the greatest servant of all, even to the point where He was willing to give His life for those under His authority.

In other words, authority is not motivated by greed and self-interest but by love.

One cannot be a blessing without love. Rulers are to bless, not to spend all their energy figuring out ways to be blessed. The sons of God are those who reflect the image of Father God. The children of Abraham are those whose faith is of the same quality as Father Abraham. So Jesus said in John 8:39, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.”

The Hebrew language spoke of “sons” and “children” in more than one way. The terms referred to either a biological son or to one who had the same character or who imitated his father. Paul made it clear in Galatians 3 that the children of Abraham were those who had genuine faith. Biological children of Abraham were mere children of the flesh who did not necessarily reflect the character or faith of Abraham.

So God is more interested in one’s faith than in one’s biology. Furthermore, the Abrahamic covenant applies primarily to those who are of faith, which, in the New Testament, refers to those who recognized Jesus as the Christ and who have faith in Him.

The Progression of Ages

In the big picture, the Kingdom of God emerges very slowly over the ages. No one can truly fulfill the Abrahamic calling apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit has been dispensed only over the ages a little at a time. The three main feast days, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, can be applied to these ages.

The Passover Age began under Moses when Israel left Egypt on Passover, and it reached its culmination on the day of Passover when Jesus was crucified to fulfill that feast. Then there was a short interval of about seven weeks until the day of Pentecost. This began a Pentecostal Age. When the sons of God are brought to full birth and presented to the Father on the eighth day of Tabernacles (as I have shown in other studies), a Tabernacles Age will begin. I believe it will last for a thousand years, after which time the Age of Judgment will begin.

During the Passover Age from Moses to Christ, there was a great move of the Holy Spirit which brought about many miracles. The Israelites were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God parted the Red Sea for them. He brought healing at Marah. Later, in the days of Elijah and Elisha, we even see the dead raised. Yet the Holy Spirit was still limited.

In the second chapter of Acts we see the start of the Pentecostal Age, in which there was a much greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit. New possibilities emerged for those who believed. Again, we see many miracles recorded in the book of Acts. In my view, the feast of Tabernacles will see even greater miracles that will bless the nations.

Miracles, however, are not the main purpose of these feasts. The real purpose is to bring all mankind into the image of God. This is the original purpose of creation, which is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Israel was called to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6). Israel was called to be the example of righteousness to the other nations, causing them to repent of their wicked ways. Repentance was not to be based on coercion but upon a genuine change of heart. But Israel failed to fulfill this Abrahamic calling. In fact, in Isaiah 52:5 God says, “My name is continually blasphemed all day long.”

Paul affirms this in Romans 2:23, 24, saying,

²³ You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

The very fact that God sent both Israel and Judah into captivity shows their failure to fulfill the Abrahamic calling—in spite of the first-level manifestation of the Holy Spirit through Passover. It would require more than the fulfillment of Passover to complete the divine plan. So God sent His Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2, empowering the church to reach a higher level of spiritual maturity. For a generation this appeared to work quite well, although even in the days of the apostles cracks had begun to appear. The book of Galatians gives evidence of this.

The Pentecostal Age was a period of 40 Jubilees. The prophetic type was established by Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness and again by King Saul’s 40-year reign. Saul, in fact, was crowned on the day of “wheat harvest” (1 Samuel 12:17), which was the day that the priests offered up a new first fruits offering of wheat (Exodus 34:22). This offering sent the signal that the people could then harvest their wheat and eat the new crop.

The 40 Jubilees of the Pentecostal Age extended from 33 to 1993 A.D. (40 x 49 years). Since then, we have been in another transition into the Tabernacles Age. The Age of Pentecost is often called “the Church age,” but it is actually the age of the second church. The first church was Israel, called in Acts 7:38 KJV, “the church in the wilderness.” The main difference is that whereas the Passover Church was called out of Egypt, the Pentecostal Church was called out of Judaism.

The third and final Church is called out of the Pentecostal Church. This is the Tabernacles Church, the overcomers, the sons of God, who are destined to be manifested in the earth at the start of the Tabernacles Age.

The Passover Church was good; the Pentecostal Church was better; the Tabernacles Church is the best.

Failure in the Pentecostal Age

In terms of bringing righteousness to the earth, the Passover Church failed miserably; the Pentecostal Church had more success; but only the Tabernacles Church will succeed fully. The Pentecost Church in the past 2,000 years, has failed to bring righteousness to the earth. In fact, a large portion of these believers have simply given up on this task. They await the great escape which they refer to as the Rapture.

The overcomers, on the other hand, will do the greatest work in bringing righteousness into the earth to fulfill the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10,

¹⁰ Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The calling of Abraham is to bring the will of God from heaven to earth, so that the earth conforms to the image of Christ. God’s will is always done in heaven; the problem has been the rejection of His will in the earth. A believer’s calling is to be the conduit of righteousness, so that the purpose of creation may be fulfilled.

If the Pentecostal Church had fulfilled the Abrahamic calling, the world would now be a very different place. But because of the leaven in the church, and because so many believers refused the baptism of fire that would have destroyed that leaven, the world remains largely in darkness. The beast systems continued to dominate. The Church ruled according to the world’s definition of authority. A relatively small number of people brought the light of Christ to the nations.

A simple study of Church history tells a story of failure, broken up here and there by various revivals and outbreaks of the Holy Spirit. In the 20^th century, the Church has prioritized power and prosperity over righteousness. The gifts of the Spirit empower the church, and these are good. However, Paul sets forth love as the better focus.

Love speaks of one’s character. There is no righteous character apart from love. Love also requires forgiveness. Forgiveness is set forth in the law of Jubilee. Therefore, the Jubilee principle describes the heart of an overcomer, a son of God, who fulfills the Abrahamic calling.