You are confusing things a bit. The promise, the effect of the promise, and the fulfillment of the promise are all different things. The promise was given, period. The promise is composed of all the truth statements that God gave Abraham; descendants, nation, blessing, land, etc. When did it take effect? I say when God spoke it to Abraham the Abrahamic covenant took effect immediately in the sense that God gave the promises to Abraham and it was His trustworthiness that would guarantee all the promises in the covenant would eventually be brought to fulfillment.
Given the nature of the promises, doesn't it seem obvious that the fulfillment of the individual promises would occur at distinct points in time ... not all at once?
Obviously they did not possess the land while they were in Egypt right? Did they become a nation before they went into the promised land? Yes, they did. That aspect was certainly fulfilled; them becoming a nation. What about the descendants? That was continuously fulfilled as the nation multiplied ... are Abrahams descendants still multiplying? Yes ...
On to your passage
... But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Do you not see that the text you quoted merely hints that the part of the promise given to Abraham dealing with making him a great nation, descendants as the stars ... is mentioned in the passage as beginning to be fulfilled?
Does it not make sense that it would take lots of time for the nation of Israel to emerge from one man; yeah, it took 400+ years for those descendants to multiply lol? Did God not make Abraham a great nation BEFORE any of them even got to the promised land? Jewish history shows that the Abrahamic covenant would be fulfilled in eras ... not all at once. Even your view (all fulfilled in Christ, even the land promise) begs that fulfillment occurs in eras and ages.
My point is that there are AT LEAST two aspects to the Abrahamic covenant that have not been fulfilled completely to this day ... possession of all the land borders promised (we can genuinely argue about that) ... and the possession by Abraham himself (no argument there is possible, Abraham never possessed the land himself).
The Abrahamic covenant awaits its ultimate fulfillment in the future millennial kingdom (as does the Davidic covenant and the New Covenant). It is only the Mosaic covenant that has ceased permanently (Hebrews).
>>>You are confusing things a bit. The promise, the effect of the promise, and the fulfillment of the promise are all different things.<<<
I personally think you are reading way too much into the covenant (s.) The promise was to Abraham and his seed, as in singular: one seed. The new convenant (new testament) tells us that Jesus is that seed, and inherited all the promises. There is nothing you can add to that.
Christ fulfilled the convenant. He inherited all the promises, and all the nations have been blessed by him. Hebrews has a good discussion of the old testament (covenant) vs the new testament (covenant).
>>>Do you not see that the text you quoted merely hints that the part of the promise given to Abraham dealing with making him a great nation, descendants as the stars ... is mentioned in the passage as beginning to be fulfilled?<<<
It says, “…when the time of the promise drew nigh.” Thus the implication that Abraham personally had to take ownership of the land is not supported, biblically. I believe that was part of your question in an earlier post, and that is what I was disputing.
But, as stated earlier, I saw no way the promise could be fulfilled as long as it belonged to the Jews. But once it was given to Christ, and Christ only, then it was available to His children, both Jew and Gentile, and the promise could be fulfilled.
That fulfillment by Christ is also proof that God is no longer a respecter of persons. He was at one time, when the children of Israel were his chosen people. But once he divorced that race (my race,) he adopted all races as his children: those who accept Christ.
>>>My point is that there are AT LEAST two aspects to the Abrahamic covenant that have not been fulfilled completely to this day ... possession of all the land borders promised (we can genuinely argue about that) ... and the possession by Abraham himself (no argument there is possible, Abraham never possessed the land himself).<<<
I quoted Joshua and Nehemiah, who both stated the promises were fulfilled: but you seem to know something they don’t? Sorry, but I am going to have to go with them. I mean, their words are God’s Words.
By the way, your argument that “Abraham never possessed the land himself” seems to be an act of desperation. Both the old and new testaments indicate the promises to Abraham were fulfilled. Why you keep clinging to this Jewish fable in this day and age is most puzzling.
Philip