GENESIS 15: - God Confirms the Covenant with Abram

ABRAM QUESTIONS ALMIGHTY GOD....

Ever questioned Jesus?
Ever wanted signs from Jesus?

Okay LORD DID YOU MEAN YOU WANTED ME TO GO LEFT OR RIGHT?
DO I TAKE THIS JOB OR NOT?
DO I MARRY THIS PERSON OR NOT?
DO YOUR PROMISES IN THE BIBLE GIVEN TO MOSES, ABRAM, DANIEL, ESTHER, JOSEPH,….DO THEY STILL APPLY TO ME?

WILL YOU DO FOR ME WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR OTHERS IN THE BIBLE? OR IS THIS, AS THE WORLD SWEARS, A BRAVE NEW WORLD, WHERE WE AS CHRISTIANS ARE TO WING IT? ON OUR OWN?

AND IT HAS BEEN A LONGGGGGGGGGG TIME SINCE ABRAM’S DAYS ARE YOU SURE YOU REMEMBER ALL THOSE PROMISES?

HEY LORD JESUS….YOU SAY YOU CHANGE NOT… YOU SAY YOU CAN NOT LIE….BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED….WHAT ABOUT? WHAT ABOUT? ARE YOU SURE? CAN YOU STILL DO THIS?

I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU…BUT EVEN IF I HAVE NOT VOICED THESE THINGS ALOUD….MOST OF THEM…I HAVE ASKED…WONDERED…AND ALSO STARTED TO LOOK SKYWARD…WAITING FOR A BOLT FROM THE BLUE FOR EVEN THINKING TO QUESTION JESUS CHRIST….

BUT ABRAM FACED ALL THESE THINGS…WONDERED ALL ALL THESE THINGS TOO….


IN GENESIS 15...WE READ & ARE SHOWN FIRST HAND THAT ALMIGHTY GOD ACTUALLY DOES KNOW AND READS OUR HEARTS…OUR MINDS. HE KNOWS OUR FEARS, OUR DOUBTS AND OUR WORRIES.

HE SEES THEM IN ABRAM…AND ALMIGHTY GOD HEARS AND ANSWERS AND SPEAKS TO Abram’s fears and doubts with a PRECIOUS PROMISE.

AN UNSHAKEABLE AND UNBREAKABLE PROMISE TO ABRAM. A PROMISE THAT STANDS THE TEST OF TIME. A PROMISE MADE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO….THAT HE HAS NOT TO THIS DAY BROKEN.


Verse 1 tells us The word from The Lord comes to Abram in a vision.

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

How does the word of the Lord come to us?

THE BIBLE SHOWS US IT HAPPENS IN SEVEN DIFFERENT WAYS. REMEMBER 7 IS THE NUMBER OF COMPLETION….PERFECTION.


1. By a personal appearance of ALMIGHTY GOD/JESUS CHRIST
2. By an audible voice
3. By visions or dreams
4. By the ministry of angels
5. By the working of the Holy Spirit upon the mind
6. By the making alive of a passage of Scripture to our hearts
7. By the ministry of a prophet or preacher.

“Do not be afraid . . . I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward”…There was a good reason why God said this.

WHY?
Because Abram had just defeated an ENORMOUS army, from a confederation of FIVE KINGS told to us in GENESIS 14.

AND WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE ENORMITY OF THAT, we realize ABRAM HAD GOOD reason to be AFRAID FOR HIS SECURITY.

WHY?

ABRAM KNEW an attack of retribution was to be expected.

“Your shield . . . your reward”… Abram KNEW HE NEEDED a shield because he was expecting to be attacked. He KNEW HE NEEDED reward because he had just FORFEITED A LION’S SHARE reward offered from the king of Sodom.

SO WHAT IS ALMIGHTY GOD TELLING ABRAM?
SO WHAT IS JESUS CHRIST TELLING US THEN AND NOW?

God is telling Abram/ SHOWING US that though he/WE HAVE sacrificed for His sake, ABRAM NOR US WILL BE the loser for it.

God WILL more than make up what Abram has given up for the Lord.

JESUS CHRIST KNOWS PRECISELY HOW, WITH PINPOINT ACCURACY HOW, WHEN, AND WHERE HE WILL BECOME the answer to our need. When we NEED a shield or a reward, JESUS CHRIST BECOMES those things for us.

“Do not be afraid”….So God told Abram this because HE KNEW ABRAM was afraid, and AFRAID FOR GOOD REASON. But God will give ABRAM AND US a REASON AND A PROOF to put away OUR fears. God NEVER TELLS US DO NOT BE AFRAID without giving us a reason to put away our fears.

BUT ABRAM IS LIKE US IN MANY CASES.
WHY?
FIRST ANSWER ME THIS:

HAS ANY ONE HERE EVER DOUBTED WHAT ALMIGHTY GOD AND JESUS CHRIST HAVE PROMISED US IN THEIR WORD?

DOUBTED THAT JESUS LOVES AND PROTECTS AND PROVIDES EQUALLY TO THOSE WHO TRUST HIM?

ANYONE SAID….WELL YEAH SURE I BELIEVE IT WHEN THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT ALMIGHTY GOD PARTED THE RED SEA, SHUT THE STARVING LIONS MOUTH SHUT, TURNED AN ORPHAN JEW GIRL INTO THE QUEEN OF PERSIA, INSURED ABRAM DEFEATED AN ENORMOUS ARMY, THAT WAS OUTNUMBERED 100 TO 1.

BUT I AM NOT MOSES, NOT DANIEL, NOT ESTHER, AND NOT AN ABRAM.

THESE WERE SPECIAL MEN AND WOMEN.

I AM JUST…ME.
I AM A…NOBODY.
I AM NOT….SPECIAL, RIGHT?

BUT WHAT WE FORGET IS TO THE EYES OF THE WORLD AND TO THE EYES OF SATAN AND HIS DEMONS…SO WERE MOSES, DANIEL, ESTHER, AND ABRAM….UNTIL….AND NEVERTHELESS….JESUS CHRIST ENTERED THEIR LIVES.

SO ABRAM DID WHAT WE DO TO THIS DAY….HE DOUBTED.


Verses 2-3 tells us Abram HONESTLY expresses his doubts.

“But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

Though certainly Abram appreciated the promise from God, at the same time, there was a sense in which it seemed to ring hollow in Abram’s ears.

WHY?

BECAUSE ABRAM WAS TELLING ALMIGHTY GOD….THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REWARDS AND THE PROTECTIONS BUTTTTTTTTT…..UMMMMMM…What good is it that YOU ARE my shield and reward?

The only thing I’ve ever wanted with any passion in my life is a son! Here I am trying to do what you WANT me to do…go where YOU WANT me to go, but UMMMM LORD…did you FORGET ABOUT THE DESCENDANTS YOU PROMISED ME PART?

I AM NOW A HUNDRED YEARS OLD....AND SARAH...IS NOT FAR BEHIND ME.
YOU DO UNDERSTAND...UMMMMM AT THIS STAGE PROCREATING A SON...IS IMPOSSIBLE, RIGHT?

It is almost as if Abram meant, “Lord, You’ve given me lots of stuff, and you NOW promise to give me more, and to protect me. But what good is it if I don’t have a descendant to give it to? I want the son You promised me!”

AND ALSO, YOU ARE PROBABLY ASKING YOURSELF WHO IS Eliezer of Damascus?

ELIEZER was Abram’s chief assistant, his right-hand man. He was a good man, but NOT a son to Abram.

“Look, You have given me no offspring!”

Talk about cheeky….ABRAM IS SPEAKING TO THE GREAT I AM…I MEAN THE FIRST TIME I READ THIS YEARS AGO, I WAS THINKING…ABRAM IS TOAST…ABRAM IS A GONER.

BUT WHAT WE SEE RIGHT HERE IN TRUTH IS THAT Abram’s BOLD HONESTY before the Lord DOES NOT EARN HIM A LIGHTNING BOLT FROM ABOVE…THAT TURNS ABRAM INTO DUST.

ALMIGHTY GOD IS A PATIENT FATHER. ALMIGHTY GOD WANTS US TO EMULATE ABRAM…WHEN WE APPROACH ALMIGHTY GOD…WHEN WE TALK TO JESUS CHRIST.

WHY?

BECAUSE instead of bottling up his feelings, his confusion, his fears, worries, anger, and doubt….ABRAM RESPECTFULLY, YET BOLDLY lays them out before the Lord.

“No offspring”…

THAT IS PRETTY BLUNT.

Did Abram’s question mean he doubted God? YES IT DID.

But UNDERSTAND SOMETHING RIGHT HERE.

There IS A MAJOR difference between A DOUBT THAT DENIES JESUS’ PROMISES TO US AND a doubt which DESIRES AND EXPECTS God’s promises.

Abram WANTS TO BELIEVE and IS LOOKING FOR AND ASKING God to GIVE HIM A REASON TO STRENGTHEN HIS FAITH.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ALMIGHTY GOD DID?

ALMIGHTY GOD DID NOT SAY….LOOK LOWLY, PEA-BRAINED HUMAN BEING….WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO? DARE YOU TO QUESTION ME?!?!! DON’T YOU KNOW I AM THE GREAT I AM?!?!? ALMIGHTY GOD DID NOT SAY….ZIP YOUR LIPS…AND BE CONTENT.

NO ALMIGHTY GOD DID NOT….

Verses 4-5 tells us God speaks to Abram’s doubts with A PROMISE.

“And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

God, patient father that He is, REMINDS Abram of the promise originally recorded in Genesis 12:2 and 13:15-16.

AND JUST IN CASE ABRAM HAS DOUBTS, NEEDS A VISUAL CONFIRMATION TO JUST HOW GREAT THE PROMISE WILL BE….HE SAYS…LOOK UP AT THE STARS…YOU CAN NOT COUNT THEM BUT THAT IS HOW MANY DESCENDANTS I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU. AND DON’T YOU THINK, FROM THAT TIME FORWARD, EVERY TIME ABRAHAM LOOKED INTO THE STAR LADEN NIGHT DARK SKY…HE WAS REMINDED OF ALMIGHTY GOD’S PROMISE TO HIM.

DID YOU CATCH THAT….THAT IS THREE TIMES God REMINDS ABRAM. THE TRIUNE GOD IS IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT AND COVENANT PROMISE HERE. ALMIGHTY GOD SAID IT, JESUS CHRIST SAID IT, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID IT…. IT WAS UNANIMOUS CONFIRMATION.

WHY DID ALMIGHTY GOD DO IT?

Because OUR TRIUNE GOD KNOWS how much we need to be reminded & reassured in a world that is war filled, trial filled, trouble filled.

“One who will come from your own body shall be your heir”… God often states a SOLID, ROCK SOLID PROMISE TO US IN HIS WORD ALSO…our mistake, as with ABRAM, is that we BELIEVE AND EXPECT it will be fulfilled right away, but the fulfillment of THIS PROMISE OF AN HEIR, AT THIS POINT, IS STILL 15 years away.

BUT REMEMBER TO….EACH PASSING NIGHT OF THOSE 15 YEARS TO COME….ABRAM LOOKED UP INTO THE STAR FILLED NIGHT….AND REMEMBERED GOD’S PROMISE AND WAS COMFORTED, AMEN?

No wonder WE ARE REMINDED IN HEBREWS 6:11-12, which says, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

AND BY THE “FROM YOUR OWN BODY”…ALMIGHTY GOD WANTED NO CONFUSION, SO HE EXPLAINED EXACTLY what He meant in His promise to Abram.

ALMIGHTY GOD WAS telling ABRAM…that it WAS NOT a spiritual descendant who would inherit the promise (such as Eliezer), but an actual flesh-and-blood descendant. This was necessary, because we sometimes misunderstand God’s promises.

OR SATAN IS QUICK TO TWIST AND CONFUSE AND BRING DOUBT INTO OUR HEARTS AND MINDS….JUST AS HE DID IN THE BEGINNING WITH EVE…WE SEE HERE THAT SATAN DOES NOT CHANGE…

“Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them”…God not only tells Abram the promise again, but He confirms it with an illustration: the stars in the sky show how vast the number of Abram’s descendants would be.

We KNOW by education teaching experts…that a human LEARNS BY at least ONE OF THREE WAYS. THEY HEAR IT, THEY SEE IT, AND OR THEY TOUCH IT…WHICH MEANS THEY ARE GIVEN TANGIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS.

ALMIGHTY GOD TELLS ABRAM & HE SHOWS ABRAM.

AND BETTER YET…USING THE STARS TO SHOW ABRAM HAS ANOTHER PURPOSE…ANOTHER WINK FROM ALMIGHTY GOD, ANOTHER PROMISE, ANOTHER SNEAK PEEK, THAT IS CONFIRMED IN REVELATION 22:16, which tells us ONE OF THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAM WOULD BE…….The Bright and Morning Star, who is JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.

Verse 6 tells us…Abram’s response of faith to God’s promise.

“And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

When Abram put his trust in God, specifically in God’s promise to him (descendants who would also produce the Messiah), God credited this belief to Abram’s account as righteousness.

WHY?

There are essentially TWO TYPES of righteousness:

Righteousness we accomplish by OUR OWN efforts, and righteousness ACCOUNTED TO US by the work of God when we believe.

Since NONE, NO NOT ONE of us can be good enough to accomplish PERFECT righteousness, we must have God’s righteousness accounted to us by doing just what Abram did: he believed in the Lord.

God’s accounting is NOT pretending.
God does NOT account to us a pretended righteousness, but a real PERFECT, PRECIOUS, AND PRICELESS RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH AND IN Jesus Christ.

“And He accounted it to him for righteousness”….This is one of the CLEAREST EXPRESSIONS in the Bible of the truth of salvation by grace, through faith.

This is the FIRST TIME “BELIEVE” is used in the Bible; this is the FIRST TIME “RIGHTEOUSNESS” is used in the Bible.

HERE IS “THE GOSPEL” TAUGHT BY GOD AND SPOKEN BY ALMIGHTY GOD in the Old Testament, which is QUOTED 4 times in the New Testament.

ROMANS 4:1-3 CONFIRMS THIS. “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

ROMANS 4:9-10 SAYS ALSO, “Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.”

ROMANS 4:19-24 SAYS, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

GALATIANS 3:5-7 CONFIRMS IT AGAIN, “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?; just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”

He accounted it to him for righteousness: Romans 4:9-10 makes much of the fact this righteousness was ACCOUNTED TO Abram BEFORE he was circumcised in Genesis 17.

No one could say Abram was MADE RIGHTEOUS because of his obedience or fulfillment of religious law or ritual.

It WAS FAITH AND FAITH ALONE that caused God to account Abram AS righteous in His eyes.

The faith making Abram righteous wasn’t so much believing in God (as we usually speak of believing IN God), as it was believing God.

Those ONLY believing IN GOD (in the sense of believing He DOES REALLY EXIST are merely qualified to be demons by what we are told in James 2:19.

What do I it mean by that?

There are people who say…Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah…Of COURSE, I believe there is a god…a supreme being out there….somewhere.

That is not a sign of anything.

Satan and his demons KNOW GOD EXISTS TOO. MORE BIZARRELY THEY HAVE SEEN THE TRIUNE GOD TOO. BUT THEY DO NOT BELIEVE, TRUST, LOVE, HONOR THE TRIUNE GOD.

THAT IS WHAT JAMES MEANS.

AND Satan must have REALLY BEEN OPPRESSING ABRAM, BECAUSE VERSES 7-8, TELLS US ABRAM DOUBTS AGAIN, SO GOD SPEAKS TO ABRAM’S DOUBT AGAIN WITH A COVENANT.

“Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

Some have said…After God makes such a dramatic and solemn statement like I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it, how could Abram answer God by essentially saying, “prove it”?

But ABRAM DID.

Some have said…How could Abram ask “How shall I know that I will inherit it,” when God had just accounted him righteous?

But ABRAM DID.

WHY?

Abram is experiencing what many of those who are accounted righteous experience. It is as if he says, “I believe when I hear God say it, but five minutes later, I’m not sure!”

BUT REMEMBER TOO, Abram had no title deed to the land, nothing to make anyone else believe he actually owned the land. All he had was the promise of God. So you can BET Satan was RIGHT THERE TO REMIND ABRAM OF ALL THIS.

WHY?

TO CREATE DOUBT…FEAR…AND WORRY IN ABRAM’S HEART.

BUT NEVERTHELESS…. IN VERSES 9-11 Abram STILL PRESSES IN, IN SPITE OF HIS DOUBTS, FEARS, AND WORRIES…AND prepares to make a covenant with God.

“So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT THE FIRST TIME I READ verse 9... It sounded MORE like some pagan ritual list for a witch doctor ceremony than something the Lord would ask for.

So WHAT IS ALMIGHTY GOD DOING HERE…concocting some strange potion that will remove all doubt from Abram?

NO…what Abram THEN KNEW, AND DID WAS cut them in two . . . and placed each piece opposite the other.

WHY?

Abram understood God was telling him to get a contract ready for signing.

WAITAMINNIT HERE FAITH…WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

WHAT DID ABRAM INSTANTLY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND WITH THAT LIST OF ANIMALS?

HERE IS THE WHY!

In those days, contracts were made by the sacrificial cutting of animals, with the split carcasses of the animals lying on the ground. Then both parties to the covenant would walk through the animal parts together, repeating the terms of the covenant. The Lord made a covenant in Genesis 15:18 is literally, “the Lord cut a covenant.”

AND THERE IS ANOTHER REFERENCE TO THIS IN Jeremiah 34:18-20 makes reference to this same practice of a covenant made by cutting animals and repeating the oath of the covenant as one walks through the animal parts.

HA! I MEAN THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS…I WONDER HOW MANY BANKS, BUSINESSES, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WOULD THINK LONGGGGG AND HARD BEFORE MAKING A COMMITMENT….SIGNING A PROMISSORY CONTRACT…IF THEY KNEW THEY HAD TO WALK THROUGH ANIMAL GUTS WHILE THEY REPEATED THE PROMISE…THE OATH?

BET THEY WOULD BE MORE DETERMINED TO KEEP IT…OR NOT MAKE PROMISES THEY HAD NO INTENTION OF KEEPING….AMEN?

BUT THE BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM IS VERY CLEAR….

FIRST…this is a covenant so serious it is sealed WITH blood; SECOND…if I break this covenant, let this same bloodshed be poured out on my animals and me!

There is no mistake about it: when Abram has his doubts, and wants assurance from the Lord, God says to him plainly, “let’s sign a contract and settle this once for all.”

As Abram waits for the Lord to appear and walk through the carcasses with him (to sign the covenant), God doesn’t come right away, but the vultures do.

Abram FULLY expects God to come down and walk through the animal parts with him IMMEDIATELY, because God had previously appeared to him IMMEDIATELY IN Genesis 12:7.

God did not but the VULTURES DID. ISN’T THAT JUST LIKE SATAN AND THE WORLD TODAY…WE HAVE A PROMISE FROM JESUS…WE ARE EXPECTING AN INSTANT RESPONSE…BUT WHAT HAPPENS? SATAN AND THE WORLD SEEK TO INTRUDE, SEEK TO DESTROY THE PROMISE, SEEK TO STOP THE HOPED FOR PROMISES ANSWERS, AMEN?

BUT YOU NOTICE ABRAM CHASED THE VULTURES AWAY. HE DID NOT LET THEM DESTROY HIS COVENANT CONTRACT.

Verses 12-16 tells us prologue to the covenant.

“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

At the end of the day, God has still NOT appeared to walk through the animal parts with Abram. Instead, God causes a deep sleep to fall upon Abram. Apparently, at least part of what follows came to Abram in a dream while he was under this deep sleep.

Know certainly….Abram wanted concrete proof from God, and God will sign the covenant; but Abram should also know he will have land and descendants, but all will not go well with them at all times. Now he knows some dreadful news for certain.

I READ THIS…AND SHUDDERED…ABRAM WANTED TO KNOW…SO ALMIGHTY GOD TOLD HIM. IT BRINGS TO MIND MOMENTS IN MY LIFE WHEN I HAVE SAID JESUS YOU HAVE PROMISED ME THIS OR THAT IN YOUR WORD…NOW PROVE IT. TELL ME NOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN…GIVE ME A VISION…GIVE ME FORESIGHT SO I CAN PREPARE AND GUARD AGAINST IT.

AND LOOKING BACK OVER MY LIFE…IF JESUS HAD TOLD ME WHAT I WOULD FACE IN ADVANCE…WHAT HURTS, TRIALS, AND TRIBULATIONS, AND DEEP SORROWS, AND LOSSES I WOULD FACE…ALONG WITH THE BLESSINGS AND GIFTS…I FEAR I WOULD HAVE RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION AS FAST AS I COULD. DURING THOSE TIMES OF INTROSPECTION WITH JESUS, I AM GLAD THAT HE DID NOT TELL ME.

THINK ABOUT THE DISCIPLES, AS THEY WATCHED JESUS ASCEND IN THE CLOUDS BACK TO HEAVEN…THEY THOUGHT HE WOULD BE BACK IN A FEW WEEKS, A FEW YEARS AT MOST…SO THEY GOT BUSY SEEKING THE LOST, SHINING AND SHARING AND SHOWING JESUS TO ALL THEY MET…WHAT WOULD THEY HAVE DONE, IF THEY KNEW THAT THEIR JESUS WOULD NOT BE RETURNING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER?

BUT HERE….ALMIGHTY GOD, WHO KNOWS ALL, KNEW THAT IN SPITE OF THE HORRIFICS HE GAVE ABRAM…HE KNEW ABRAM WOULD STAND…

BECAUSE THINK ABOUT IT….After God told him some of the hardship that would befall his descendants, Abram might have said, “WELL LORD…If that is what is going to happen TO THEM IN THE FUTURE, JUST FORGET ABOUT KIDS OKAY! I HAVE CHANGED MY MIND…I don’t want any children!”

And we who have studied THE BIBLE, KNOW God IS TELLING ABRAM IN ADVANCE of the slavery and hardship Israel will endure in Egypt in Exodus 1:1-14, yet they would, after four generations, come back into the Promised Land.

And we KNOW THAT IS PRECISELY AND EXACTLY WHAT HAPPEN TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.

ALMIGHTY GOD DOES NOT LIE.
AND WHAT HE SAYS HE WILL DO AND WHAT HE SAYS WILL HAPPEN………ALWAYSSSSSSSS DOES, AMEN?

Verses 17-21 tells us the covenant is made.

“And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates; the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

As Abram is either asleep or perhaps still groggy from the deep sleep he had been under, he sees God do an amazing thing: pass through the animal parts all by Himself, while Abram watches on the sidelines.

God represents Himself by two emblems: a smoking oven and a burning torch.

WHY?

The smoking oven reminds us of the pillar of cloud representing the presence of God in Exodus 13:21-22, & the smoke on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:18, and the cloud of God’s Shekinah glory in 1 Kings 8:10-12.

JUST AS the burning torch reminds us of the pillar of fire representing the presence of God in Exodus 13:21-22, of the burning bush displaying the presence of God before Moses in Exodus 3:4, and of the fire from heaven which sometimes consumed sacrifices God was well pleased with in 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chronicles 21:26; 2 Chronicles 7:1.

AND DID YOU CATCH THAT…God, represented by the smoking oven and the burning torch, passed through the animal parts by Himself; as Abram watched, God showed this was a unilateral covenant. Abram NEVER “signed” the covenant, because God “signed” it for BOTH of them.

Therefore, the certainty of the covenant God makes with Abram is based on WHO God IS,……NOT on who Abram is or what Abram does.

This covenant CANNOT fail, because God CANNOT fail.
In a sense, the Father walked through the broken and bloody body of Jesus to establish His covenant with us, and God signed it for both of us. We merely enter into the covenant by faith; we don’t make the covenant with God.

AND by entering into this contract, there is a sense in which God was saying, “If I don’t keep My word, let Me be put asunder.” God was putting His Deity on the line as a confirmation of His oath to Abram.

This covenant God signed alone; Abram did not haggle with God over the terms. God established and Abram accepted. Abram cannot break a contract he has never signed!

By quoting the specific lands Abram’s descendants will inherit, God makes it plain this is not a “pie in the sky” spiritual promise. It is real, and through it, Israel WILL inherit THROUGH HIM REAL land.

AND WHAT IS AN INTERESTING BIBLE HISTORY FOOTNOTE….For a very brief time, under Solomon in 1 Kings 8:65 and possibly again under Jeroboam II in 2 Kings 14:25, the children of Israel RULED ALL THIS TERRITORY, as a token of the final and permanent possession they will have in the future after JESUS RETURNS TO SAVE ISRAEL FROM THE WORLD AND THE ANTI-CHRIST AND BEGINS HIS 1000 YEAR RULE AND REIGN OF THE EARTH FROM WITHIN JERUSALEM.


SOOOOO WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM GENESIS 15?

IN GENESIS 15, ALMIGHTY GOD HAS LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE REDEEMING GRACE COVENANT THAT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST WILL COMPLETE AND FULFILL. HIS RIGHTEOUS BY OUR FAITH…AND OUR FAITH IN HIM ALONE.

GENESIS 15 TEACHES US THAT ALMIGHTY GOD IS A PATIENT FATHER…WHO LOVES.

A PATIENT FATHER THAT IS READY FOR, AND ACCEPTING OF THE WHY WHY WHY WHYS OF HIS CHILDREN.

A LOVING TEACHING FATHER THAT IS NOT BOTHERED BY EARNEST, HONEST, RESPECTFUL ARE YOU SURE? ARE YOU SURE?

AND A FATHER WHO KNOWS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US AND GIVES US COVENANT VISUALS THAT WE CAN SEE, UNDERSTAND, AND REMEMBER…

HE GIVES ABRAM THE STAR FILLED NIGHT TO REMIND HIM OF HIS PROMISE…HIS COVENANT.

HE WILL GIVE NOAH THE RAINBOW TO REMIND HIM THAT HE IS A PROMISE KEEPER.

GENESIS 15 TELLS US, SHOWS US, AND GIVES US VISUAL PROOFS THAT OUR JESUS CHRIST IS A PROMISE KEEPER.

WHAT HE HAS PROMISED US IN HIS WORD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT…HE HAS PROMISED AND KEPT FOR US THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT AS WELL.

TRUST OUR JESUS CHRIST…HE WILL NEVER FAIL US.

BE BLESSED…STAY BLESSED IN OUR JESUS!