Only those who have truly trusted in Jesus as their Savior and submitted to His lordship will experience God’s eternal blessing. Obedience brings blessing, not because it merits salvation but because it demonstrates the reality of our faith in the One who blesses His people.

Although it is rarely noted, the concept of blessing lies at the very heart of the gospel. The Apostle Paul highlights this in his letter to the Christian believers in Galatia. In vigorously defending the inclusion of Gentiles within the people of God, he writes, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’ “ (Gal. 3:8). As Paul goes on to emphasize, the blessing given to Abraham comes to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (v. 14).

Paul’s observations recall how the concepts of blessing and cursing are highly significant within the book of Genesis. At creation, God blesses humanity when He instructs them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28). Unfortunately, Adam and Eve’s subsequent disobedience of God brings them under His condemnation. Blessing gives way to cursing, as God pronounces the punishments that will blight the lives of Adam and Eve and their descendants (3:16-19). God’s curses upon humanity bring hardship for both man and woman, affecting the whole of creation.

Against this background, God summons Abraham to initiate a process by which blessing may be restored to people everywhere. The second half of God’s invitation to Abraham underscores the importance of blessing:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3)

The repetition of the verb bless in these verses highlights the significant role that God calls Abraham to undertake. With Abraham, the possibility is created that some people may once again experience God’s blessing.

Although the hope of blessing begins with Abraham, it continues through a select line of his descendants, who are themselves blessed by God. God’s oath to Abraham in Genesis 22 associates the blessing of the nations with one of Abraham’s descendants: “And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:17b-18).

The offspring mentioned here will come from a line that includes Isaac, Jacob, and, initially, Joseph, all of whom bring blessing to others. We see this especially with Joseph, who rescues from famine people from different countries. Significantly, this line of Abraham’s descendants is linked to royalty (Gen. 17:6, 16; 35:11; see Gen. 27:29; 37:8; 49:8-10). Thus, beginning with Abraham, the expectation exists that God’s blessing of the nations of the earth will come through a future king. In due course, this expectation is linked to the Davidic dynasty and ultimately to Jesus Christ (see Matt. 1:1-17).

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