Galatians 3

It is through the covenant of Abraham that all nations will be blessed. The covenant of Abraham is the system through which the gospel is taken to the nations of the earth in an orderly fashion. The covenant of Abraham is all the promises made by God to Abraham, that he would receive all things and through him, his posterity would also receive all things. He was promised that through his seed the Messiah would come. He was promised that he would be exalted and have his wife and family for eternity. The fact that each of you were born under the covenant because your parents were sealed in the temple means that you are heirs to the same promises. Because we are direct descendants of Abraham, you are also.

It was through Abraham that the House of Israel came into existence. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Israel (Jacob) had 12 sons and each of those sons stands at the head of his own tribe of descendants and they are called the 12 tribes of Israel. Judah was one of the 12 sons. At the time of Christ, the Jews were a mix of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They were the only descendants of Israel still living as a nation because the other ten tribe were scattered throughout all the nations of the earth by the Babylonian and Syrian occupations. This was because of their disobedience and their killing of the prophets. We are descendants of another son of Israel, Joseph through his son Ephraim, and it is through Joseph that the scriptures say the restoration of all things would come in the latter days . Those who are no direct descendants of any of the sons of Israel can be adopted into the house of Israel and receive the same promises of the covenants made to Abraham.

The 12 sons of Israel lived in Egypt with their families until they became a large nation, but they were kept in bondage by Israel. Moses led them to freedom and through Moses the Lord offered the fulness of the gospel to Israel but they rejected it. So Moses gave them a group of lesser laws to bring them back to a level of obedience that would enable them to enjoy the ordinances and blessings of the gospel. This became the Law of Moses. It did not contain the saving ordinances and that is why Paul is preaching in this chapter that doing the works of the Law of Moses cannot save them, only the gospel of Christ can.

In our own lives, we can live lesser laws that protect us and keep us out of harms way, that lead us to do good and treat our neighbors well. These can be laws set up by the government as well as moral laws that make sense and keep us living a high standard. But obedience to those laws will not help us in the life to come. Once we die, we have to rely on the promises that Christ has made that he will save us from death and lift us to exaltation. His is the only way, but it is a great way.