Here we follow the development of God’s promises to Abraham. What we find is that God's promises to Abraham went from promise to an unbreakable promise. The promises are not without condition. 

While In Ur

Gen 12:1-3; Act 7:2

Significantly, there is here no mention of Abraham's Seed, just Abraham.

What is New?

1. God making Abraham a great nation [Gen 12:2]
2. God blessing Abraham [Gen 12:2]
3. God making Abraham’s name great [Gen 12:2]
4. God making Abraham a blessing [Gen 12:2]
5. God blessing those who bless Abraham and cursing those who curse him [Gen 12:3]
6. All peoples on earth being blessed through Abraham [Gen 12:3]
   1. The implication is that they will be under him, i.e., they will be his people/children
   2. The blessing that the whole world needs at this time is
      1. Freedom from condemnation which will give them access into the Garden and thus right to the Tree of Life
      2. Renewal of the earth
      3. Combining this with possessing the gates of the enemies, what we have is that the nations will be delivered from corruption, sin, death and hades.

Condition

1. Obedience to God—go to the land I will show you [Gen 12:1]

Arriving at the great tree of Moreh at Shechem

Gen 12:7

This is the first mention of Abraham’s Seed.

What is New?

1. God giving the land to Abraham’s seed [Gen 12:7]

Separation of Lot from Abraham

Gen 13:14-17

What is New?

1. That God is giving the land to Abraham [Gen 13:15]—certainly, Abraham can’t be a nation without land
2. That God’s gift of all the land to Abraham is to be forever [Gen 13:15]
3. That God’s gift of all the land to Abraham’s seed is to be forever [Gen 13:15]
4. Abraham’s seed being as numerous as the dust of the earth [Gen 13:16]—certainly, a great nation will need a great population

Condition

1. Walk through the length and breadth of the land

After Meeting with Melchizedek

Gen 15:1-21

What is New?

1. Righteousness being credited to Abraham [Gen 15:6]
2. The 400 year wait before Abraham’s children can inherit the land [Gen 15:13-16]
3. The sin of the Amorites reaching its fullness [Gen 15:16]
4. God gives the Land to Abraham’s seed in a Covenant [Gen 15:18-21 cf., Gal 3:16-17]
   1. The covenant makes the promise irrevocable as far as Abraham’s seed is concerned
   2. Significantly, although the covenant is made with Abraham, it is about his seed and not about him.

Condition

1. Faith [Gen 15:6]

The Covenant of Circumcision

Gen 17:1-14,15-22

What is New?

1. Abraham will be a father of many nations [Gen 17:4-5]—Abraham’s relationship to the nations is better laid out; this is how they will all be blessed through him
2. Abraham’s sons will be the kings of the nations [Gen 17:6]
3. God being the God of Abraham and his Seed [Gen 17:7,8].
   1. In other words, God and Abraham and his children are to live together. Abraham's children are to live before God [Gen 17:18], i.e., they are to live in His Presence.
   2. This is clearly the greatest blessing because, even though Ishmael was blessed [Gen 17:20], he was not given this blessing [Gen 17:21]
   3. This is adoption as sons. 
4. Circumcision as a sign of the Covenant between God and Abraham [Gen 17:10-14]
5. Sarah’s inclusion by name in the Covenant [Gen 17:15-16]
6. Mention of Isaac by name as inheritor of the Covenant [Gen 17:16,19]
7. God demonstrating his right to choose and reject who becomes Abraham’s heir by rejecting Ishmael and choosing Isaac as Abraham’s heir. [Gen 17:20-21]

Condition

1. Walking blamelessly before God [Gen 17:1-2]
   1. We see that though God had credited righteousness to Abraham, it did not mean his lifestyle did not matter any longer.
2. Circumcision [Gen 17:11,14; Col 2:11]

Visit before the Destruction of Sodom

Gen 18:1-33

What is New?

1. The fulfilment of the promise to Abraham requiring that Abraham’s children keep God’s ways by doing what is right and just [Gen 18:18-19]—Apparently, this went without saying and so had been taken for granted.
2. The importance of the righteous
3. The coming destruction of wicked cities and the role and possibility of the righteous saving them [Gen 18:20-33]

Condition

1. Keeping the way of God by doing what is right and just [Gen 18:19]

The Sacrifice of Isaac

Gen 22:1-19

What is New?

1. Confirmation of Abraham’s fear of God
2. The oath giving Abraham the promise [Heb 6:13-15,16]
   1. Abraham’s seed had received it earlier but now
   2. Abraham was receiving it
   3. The oath is later referenced, and so it is significant [Gen 26:3]
3. Abraham’s Seed possessing the gates of his/their enemies (humans, and more importantly, spiritual)
4. All nations being blessed through Abraham’s Seed
   1. From the record of Genesis up to this point in history, the blessing the nations are in need of is deliverance from the curse of Adam and all its consequences—corruption of the creation, loss of access to the Holy Place (due to condemnation) and death
   2. Combining this with possessing the gates of the enemies, what we have is that the nations will be delivered from corruption, death and hades

God’s Appearance to Isaac

Gen 26:1-5

1. Again, the importance of righteousness [Gen 26:5]

Spiritual Enemies of Abraham's Seed

All who oppose the primary Seed of Abraham, which is Christ, are his enemies. However, since the nations are Abraham's children, i.e., his seed as well, their enemies are to be subdued as well. This will be a blessing to the nations. The enemies of the nations are sin, the curse, death, hades and the rulers of darkness in heavenly places.

1. The serpent that deceived the Woman in the Garden is definitely our enemy [Gen 3:14-15]. This is sin. Sin was already an enemy, but through the Law, God made it obvious [Rom 7:13]. This really is the devil, he is the spirit behind sin [Eph 2:1-2; 1Jn 3:8; Rev 12:13; 20:3; 2Co 11:3]. As God told Cain, we are to rule over sin [Gen 4:7].
2. Death and Hades they have gates [Mat 16:18; Job 38:17; Psa 9:13; Isa 38:10]. They are obviously enemies to all mankind.
3. The spiritual forces of evil are in heavenly places [Eph 6:12] and heavenly places have gates [Gen 28:17; Psa 78:23]. These forces of evil are enemies of man [Psa 82] and are opposed to the ascension of the Seed [Mat 21:38; Mar 12:7; Luk 20:14] and to the possession of Creation by man [Gal 4:8,1-2,3; 1Co 2:7-8].
4. Possessing the gates of the enemies will include possessing the gates of Hades which means that there will be resurrection.
5. This agrees with Christ as the Seed to whom God said, “Sit… until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”. These enemies are all who are opposed to the joy of the Seed and to the blessedness of the nations.
6. The blessing, therefore, includes freedom from corruption [Rom 8:21]