Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you did this thing, and for My sake did not spare your beloved son, I will certainly bless you, and assuredly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall inherit the cities of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you obeyed My voice.” (Gen 22:15–18)
Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14–15)
But if you wish to learn more clearly in the words of Scripture that Christ is the seed of Abraham and the son of Abraham, hear how it is written in the Gospel: “The book,” it says, “of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” In this, therefore, is fulfilled also that word regarding which Scripture says: “Your seed shall take possession of the cities of their enemies for an inheritance.” How has Christ taken possession of “the cities of his enemies for an inheritance?” Doubtless in this way, that “the sound” of the apostles “has gone forth into all the earth,” and “their words into the whole world.” … The seed of Abraham, therefore, that is, the seed of the Word, which is the preaching of the Gospel and faith in Christ, has occupied “the cities of their enemies.” …
But what does it profit me, if the seed of Abraham, “which is Christ” should possess “the cities of his enemies for an inheritance,” and should not possess my city? If in my city, that is in my soul, which is “the city of the great king,” neither His laws nor His ordinances should be observed? What does it profit me, that He has subjected the whole world and possesses the cities of His enemies if He should not also conquer His enemies in me, if He should not destroy “the law which is in my members fighting against the law of my mind and which leads me captive in the law of sin?”
So, therefore, let each one of us do what is necessary that Christ may also conquer the enemies in his soul and in his body, and, subjecting and triumphing over them, may possess the city even of his soul. For in this way we are made to belong to His portion, the better portion, which is “as the stars of heaven in glory,” that also we might be able to receive the blessing of Abraham through Christ our Lord, “to whom belongs glory and sovereignty forever and ever. Amen.”
Origen, Homilies on Genesis 9.3
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