SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
Question (1). In view of the fact that our Lord Jesus is no longer a man, but highly exalted far above angels, principalities and powers, and every name that is named, and partaker of the divine nature, is it proper for us to consider him now to be the Seed of Abraham? Or should we think of him as having been the Seed of Abraham merely according to the flesh?
(2). If the above question be answered affirmatively, what are we to do with the Scriptures teaching that our Lord's sacrifice of himself became the basis of his high exaltation to power and authority to bless all the families of the earth as the seed of Abraham? Is it not the seed of Abraham that is to do the blessing, and would not this seem to indicate that the glorified Christ, and not the man Christ Jesus, is the Seed meant in the Scriptures?
(3). You point out in the DAWN that Melchisedec, who had neither father nor mother in the priesthood, and the beginning and ending of whose priesthood is not recorded, was a type of the risen, glorified Christ—"a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Would not this seem to indicate that our Lord as a man, in the flesh, as the son of Mary, was not the heir of the Abrahamic promise, and that he did not reach this position until begotten of the holy Spirit and ultimately born of the holy Spirit?
Answer. The Apostle Paul settles the matter respecting our Lord's relationship to Abraham according to the flesh. He declares that when Jesus left the glory with the Father, and humbled himself, he took not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. (Heb. 2:16.) This evidently refers to his birth of the flesh, as the son of Mary. Another message of similar import (Rom. 1:3) declares him to have been "of the seed of David according to the flesh," and hence of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. This, however, does not conflict with the thought that he is still the Seed of Abraham, though highly exalted and now of a totally different nature—of the divine nature.
In this connection we must remember our Lord's own statement, "I am he that was dead, and behold I am alive forever more." He who is alive is thus declared by himself to be the same who left the heavenly courts, who took the nature of men and who died on our behalf. At no time was our Lord's life forfeited. He declared, "No man taketh it from me. I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and to receive it again." He is the same soul or being who, in response to the Father's plan laid aside his glory and became a man, the same soul or being who, as the man Christ Jesus, gave himself into death for our sins, his sacrifice being accepted of the Father, even unto death, and the same soul or being who was restored again, only on the higher plane of being, on the spirit plane, of the divine nature.
As our Lord forfeited nothing, as he merely tendered all to the Father, and as the Father accepted the sacrifice, and returned to him all the rights and privileges on a new plane of being, he has to distribute to them the lost life and also the lost Kingdom, but he does not propose to give to men his share in the Abrahamic promise. It is to their advantage that he shall retain this title of Seed of Abraham, and exercise it to the full during the Millennial age, in the interest of all, whom he purchased with his precious blood, and whom he then will bless by setting them free from the bondage of Sin and Death, and give them all the needed assistances, that they may, if they will, return to full fellowship with the Father and to all that man lost in Adam, and more.
This question is not at all affected by the Melchisedec type, which merely is used by the Apostle to show how the Lord's priestly office came to him without his being a member of the priestly tribe of Levi. That type has no bearing whatever upon the covenant promise made to the seed of Abraham, except that it shows us that our Lord can be the mediatorial priest on behalf of the world during the Millennial age, without in any sense of the word being connected with the Aaronic family. As the seed of Abraham he obtains his title to the throne of earth through the typical kings of Israel, as it was written respecting the last king, Zedekiah, "O thou profane and wicked prince, whose time is come that iniquity should have an end: take off the diadem, remove the crown. This shall no more be the same. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he come, whose right it is, and I will give it unto him." Christ is the king, the heir of David's throne. His priestly line and authority came not through the house of Levi and Aaron, but according to another line, viz., that of Melchisedec. Our Lord, as the seed of Abraham, will exercise both the kingly and priestly office in his great work mentioned in the oath-bound covenant—the blessing of all the families of the earth, during the Millennial reign.
THE CHURCH'S RELATIONSHIP TO ABRAHAM.
Question. How can the Gospel Church be recognized as the Seed of Abraham, since only comparatively few of its members are actually members of the Jewish nation?
Answer. The Apostle gives two lines of argument; the one is represented in his words, "Ye, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." (Gal. 4:28.) In this argument our Lord Jesus is represented as being the actual seed of Abraham, and as granting to all those who become united to him through faith, and through the spirit of adoption a joint-heirship with him, as members of his body, under him as their Head.
The other argument the Apostle uses is, "If ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:29.) Here the Apostle's thought is that of a wife who experienced the same honors and privileges as her Head, her Husband, by becoming vitally associated with him as his wife. Thus we Gentiles are permitted to come into relationship with this oath-bound covenant by union with Christ, and similarly the Jews, who could not claim relationship to this promise because banned by their law, are made free from their union with Moses, that they also might be united to Christ, and through union with him who is the heir of all, become with the Gentiles of the same class "fellow heirs of the same promise."