Diamond Johnson
October 13, 2014
Paper One
Phil 204
Throughout the Bible Yahweh makes promises to His people. With those promises he expects man to trust and follow in them. Further, Yahweh expects that man would expect the blessings of His covenants. The book of Genesis identifies the first of men who had personal encounters with Yahweh. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are identifies as patriarchs or the father's of the human race. These few received Yahweh's promise that their descendants would be His people. First, Yahweh's promise to Noah came before the great flood of the earth. Yahweh promised to preserve Noah's life and the lives of his family. Noah received his promises, because he was Obedient to Yahweh. He was instructed in Genesis 6:14 to build an ark of cypress wood and to make rooms in it and coat it with pitch, a black glue like substance, inside and out to make it waterproof.
Next, there is Abraham, where Yahweh's initial promise to him was given at UR in Genesis 12:2-3. Abraham was promised three things in chapter twelve; the first promise was that he would become a great nation and a great name. This was Abraham's material promise. Second, Yahweh would bless those that blessed him and curse those that cursed him. The third promise was that through him eventually all nations would be blessed. This was Abraham's Messianic promise. In the seventh verse of Genesis Chapter 12, Yahweh gave Abraham another promise that he would have children/seed who would inherit the land.
A fifth promise to Abraham was revealed in chapter 13:14-17; after an example of his unselfish attitude, where he gave his nephew Lot the first choice over which land he could raise his cattle. Due to his unselfishness he was promised that him and...