What are the three promises in the Abrahamic covenant?
The Abrahamic covenant contained three promises: out of Abraham would come a nation of people, Israel; God would place that nation in its own geographical area of land, the promised land; and God would come as their King, Messiah, Redeemer, and Savior, providing salvation and government.
Les explains that the Abrahamic covenant was basically three promises, and within those three promises all the other covenants are involved. The first promise was that out of Abraham would come a nation of people, the nation of Israel. The second was that when they became a nation of people, God would put them in their own geographical area of land, the promised land as understood in Scripture, or today again the nation of Israel. The third part was that when you have people in a geographical area, they have to have a government, so God Himself in the person of the Messiah would come and be their King and their Messiah, and also their Redeemer, their Savior; it had to be a salvation as well. Les notes that you cannot have a viable kingdom without a king, and a king is of no earthly use unless he has a kingdom, so the two have to come together. When Jesus came and John the Baptist presented Him as Israel's King, the kingdom was in the long view.