This was another
reference to the mystery; but that promise was not understood in its
proper light. Abraham believed God would bless the human race, but he
did not understand just the manner in which it would be done. At the
time of this promise Abraham had no children. Several years more passed
and then Isaac, Abraham's first legitimate son, was born. Abraham
believed that his natural seed, his son, would be the ruler through whom
the blessing would come to the people; but his son Isaac was merely a
type of the mystery, God using him to foreshadow the greater one. This
promise was renewed to Isaac and to Jacob, and at the death of Jacob his
descendants, who of course were descendants of Abraham, were organized
into twelve tribes, forming the nation of Israel, and were thereafter
recognized as God's chosen nation. (Genesis 49:28; Deuteronomy 26:5)
Then it was that the faithful believed that God's promised blessings
would come through this nation, his chosen people. But in time they
became slaves to the Egyptians and their hopes were almost blasted. They
were sorely oppressed in Egypt when God sent Moses to be their
deliverer and to lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage.
Moses was also a type foreshadowing the great One. (Acts 3:22) Moses
died and the promised blessing had not yet come. The prophetic statement
made by Moses that God would raise up unto Israel one like unto himself
led the prophets to understand that there would be a great one raised up
from the nation of Israel who would be the deliverer and blesser of
mankind.
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