Abraham, Heir of...the World?

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.        Romans 4:13

Abraham's Journey to Canaan

Pieter Lastman, 1640

           Paul claims that the Most High God promised Abraham that his descendants would be heir of the world. The world?  Wait a minute…isn’t Paul overstating this? The Lord promised Abraham the Promised Land, which at its largest point covered an area roughly the size of New Jersey. Modern jets can fly across it in a couple minutes. So what do we make of this Scripture?  I vividly remember my old prof, Edmund P. Clowney, explaining, “God has not reneged on his promise if he gives more than what he promised.” In the unfolding journey of redemptive history, that plot of ground where Abraham landed, which later became the glorious kingdom of David and Solomon, is like a seedy pitstop in comparison to our final destination—the New Heavens and the New Earth! 

           Christ Jesus inherits the whole world, because he alone is the true Descendant of Abraham, the only faithful one, who is risen and reigning over the entire cosmos. If you’re united to him by faith, someday you’ll join him in the New Creation. But what about now, this side of glory? People are coming to him from every nation, tribe, and language, every economic background, every station in life, with every skin tone. We needy sinners come, we who despair of our own personal merit and rely solely on the righteousness of faith—that is, Christ’s own righteousness credited to us and received through faith alone. No sinner has ever been justified and blessed in any other way.