Children of the Promise

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I [your God] will make with you an everlasting promise, my steadfast, sure love for David.

Behold, you, [the son of David] shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel for he has glorified you.

Not all are counted children of Abraham because they are his offspring according to the flesh, only the Children of the Promise. For though Jacob and Esau were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might continue – not because of works but because of him who calls – Rebekah was told, “the older will serve the younger.” In a similar reversal of expectations God opened the door to the receipt of the Gospel first to the Gentiles, while permitting a temporary spiritual blindness to harden much of Israel.