Whatever the mistakes and failings of ancient Israel, the Lord was not finished with the plan of creating a faithful people to serve Him. In fact, the Old Testament looked forward to a time when the Lord would create a spiritual Israel, a faithful body of believers, Jews and Gentiles, who would carry on the work of preaching the gospel to the world. Welcome to the early church.

 Read Galatians 3:26-29.

 1. What promise is Paul talking about in verse 29?

 2. What is the key element that makes a person an heir to these promises? (Gal. 3:26)

 3. Why is Paul breaking down distinctions of gender, nationality, and social status?

 4. What does it mean to be “one in Christ”?

 5. Read Romans 4:16-17. How do these verses help us understand what Paul is saying in Galatians 3:26-29?

 As a son of Abraham, Christ became, in a special sense, heir to the covenant promises. By baptism we acquire kinship to Christ and through Him acquire the right to participate in the promises made to Abraham. Thus, all that God promised Abraham is found in Christ, and the promises become ours, not because of nationality, race, or gender but through grace, which God bestows upon us through faith.

 “The gift to Abraham and his seed included not merely the land of Canaan, but the whole earth. So says the apostle, ‘The promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.’ Romans 4:13. And the Bible plainly teaches that the promises made to Abraham are to be fulfilled through Christ.... [Believers become] heirs to ‘an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away’ [1 Peter 1:4] — the earth freed from the curse of sin.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 170. This promise will be fulfilled literally when the saints live on the new earth forever and ever with Christ (Dan. 7:27).