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The Lord Made a Covenant with Abram

October 23, 2022 Speaker: Brian Wilbur Series: The Book of Genesis

Topic: Biblical Theology Passage: Genesis 15:7–21

THE LORD MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM

An Exposition of Genesis 15:7-21

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: October 23, 2022

Series: The Book of Genesis

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:7-21)

INTRODUCTION: COVENANT-CUTTING SOLIDIFIES PROMISES!

Let’s begin by focusing our attention on verse 18: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram”. The Hebrew word translated “make” literally means ‘to cut off’ or to ‘cut down’. The Lord cut a covenant with Abram.

The cutting of a covenant goes beyond the simple declaration of a promise. The declaration of a promise is essential to covenant-making, but covenant-making solemnizes the promise in a special act that confirms and seals the promise.

When a man and woman enter into the covenant of marriage, they do not simply make promises to each other in private conversation. Instead there is a publicly recognizable act of covenant-making: under the direction of a wedding officiant, the intentions of groom and bride are made clear and their vows are exchanged in the presence of witnesses, followed by a pubic declaration that the groom and bride are now man and wife. After this pubic declaration and joyous celebration, the man and wife then give their own necessary confirmation to that public covenant-making by actually dwelling together and consummating their marriage. So, what covenant-making does is to take promises and solidify them into a form of a solemn pledge that actually creates a new relationship.

Making a covenant etches the promises in stone. Covenant-cutting sets the promises in concrete.

Further, covenant-cutting makes promises a matter of life and death, which is why the Lord’s covenant-making act in Genesis 15:7-21 involves a heifer, goat, and ram cut in two, bloody and dead. The Lord’s covenant with Abram is sealed with blood.

Remember: covenant-making doesn’t just involve promises, it solidifies those promises. So notice that the Lord has been making promises to Abram since Genesis 12:

  • “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
  • “To your offspring I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7)
  • “[All] the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.” (Genesis 13:15-16)
  • “[Your] very own son shall be your heir” (Genesis 15:4).
  • “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)

These promises are repeated or implied, with some additional detail, in Genesis 15:13-21. But it would be a mistake to think that the Lord is simply repeating the promises with additional detail. What is actually happening in these verses is that the Lord is stating His promises within the framework of a sacred life-and-death covenant-cutting act, which serves to solidify the promises and make it clear to Abram that the Lord’s words are not idle words.

We live in a world of idle words, forked tongues, flattering and deceptive speech, twisted meanings, broken promises, evasive and disingenuous answers, and manipulative verbal power plays. In contrast, the Lord takes His own words with absolute seriousness, and His will is that you take His words with absolute seriousness too:

“Thus says the LORD:

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool;

what is the house that you would build for me,

and what is the pace of my rest?

All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD.

But this is the one who to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2)

In order to help Abram tremble at God’s Word, God instructed Abram to bring a sacrifice of blood. In order to help us tremble at God’s Word, what God instructed Abram to do was written down for our benefit. Then, experiencing proper solemnity with the slain animals in clear view, we are to hear the promises of God and discern the presence of God passing in the midst of the sacrifice.

Let’s unpack this rich passage in four parts:

  • The Preamble to the Covenant (v. 7)
  • The Question that the Covenant Answers (v. 8)
  • The Sacrifice of the Covenant (v. 9-11)
  • The Ratification of the Covenant (v. 12-21)

THE PREAMBLE TO THE COVENANT (v. 7)

Let’s begin in verse 7, where the Lord speaks forth the preamble to the covenant:

“And he [the LORD] said to him [Abram], “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”” (v. 7)

This preamble to the Abrahamic Covenant is similar to the preamble to the Ten Commandments – and the preamble to the Ten Commandments is the first word that eventually leads to the covenant-ratification ceremony in Exodus 24. The preamble is in Exodus 20:

“And God spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:1-2)

The Lord is the One who brings His people out – He brought Abram “out from Ur of the Chaldeans”, He brought Israel “out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”. The Lord brings His people out from the land of idolatry, or out of the land of slavery and affliction, in order that we might serve Him in the place that He has appointed for us. The Lord is sovereign over our rescue, redemption, relocation, purpose, and destiny. This sovereign Lord is the One who enters into covenant with His people.

Our desire in life must not be to call our own shots. Instead, our desire in life ought to be to discern God’s call, to hear God calling us out of the darkness, to follow God who leads us into the light.

THE QUESTION THAT THE COVENANT ANSWERS (v. 8)

After the preamble, but before the sacrifice and ratification of the covenant, Abram asks a question:

“But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”” (v. 8)

One of the predominant themes in Genesis 12-15 is the promise of land. The Lord has made it clear that He is giving the land of Canaan to Abram and to Abram’s offspring (Genesis 12:1, 12:7, 13:14-15). This theme resurfaced in the preamble: “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (v. 7, italics added). The Lord’s intention and promise is clear: the King of heaven and earth is bestowing a land grant to Abram and to Abram’s descendants. But this promise is not yet realized. The promise will be fulfilled at some future time. So Abram, who in verses 5-6 believed the divine promise that he would have offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, now wants assurance that he will actually come to possess the land: “how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

Does Abram’s question remind you of a similar question that occurs later in the Scriptures? In Luke 1, God sent the angel Gabriel to tell Zechariah that he and his wife would have a son, even though they were quite old. After hearing the promise, Zechariah replied, “How shall I know this?” (Luke 1:18) In Zechariah’s case, the angel chided him for his unbelief. Even so, Zechariah did receive an answer to his question: he would “be unable to speak” (Luke 1:20) for the next ten months, until the promise was fulfilled. And indeed, when his son John was born, “his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God” (Luke 1:64). Our mouth exists to bless the Lord, not to question Him.

That said, the Lord is gracious to us:

“As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14)

The Lord doesn’t deal harshly with His frail people. The Lord doesn’t discount us because of our weakness. Instead, the Lord takes our fragility and immaturity into account, and He shows us great patience as He forms us into the people that He has called us to be, and as He unfolds His purposes in and through our lives.

One very sensible reply to Abram’s question would have been: Abram, you are to know that you shall possess the land in the very same way that you know that your offspring shall be as numerous as the stars of heaven – by simply believing the Lord’s word. That’s what Abram did in verse 6, right? “And he believed the LORD” (v. 6). Why shouldn’t Abram exercise the very same faith when he hears the Lord say “[I] brought you out… to give you this land to possess”? Nothing is more certain and reliable than God’s Word, and God’s Word is the solid basis of our knowledge about God and God’s work in the world.

For some reason, though, Abram wants something more than the words that the Lord has already spoken to him: Abram wants some proof or some sign that will function as a guarantee that what the Lord has promised will surely come to pass. Although Abram might well have been chided for his unbelief in the sufficiency of the promise already spoken to Him, nevertheless the Lord decided to address Abram’s question. The Lord answers the question in such a way that the sufficiency of His Word is reinforced.

This is what covenants do: they do not detract from the sufficiency of promises, but they solidify those promises – and in this case, the promises are solidified in blood.

THE SACRIFICE OF THE COVENANT (v. 9-11)

Abram’s question sets the stage for the covenant to be made. Sacrifice is key to the formation of this covenant.

The Lord addresses Abram’s question by first instructing him to bring a sacrifice:

“He [the LORD] said to him [Abram], “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”” (v. 9)

Three livestock and two birds. These animals cover the gamut of animals that were commonly sacrificed to the Lord in the Old Testament. For example, Leviticus 1 gives instructions about the burnt offerings: Israelites could bring a bull (a male cow) from the herd, or a sheep or goat from the flock, or a turtledove or pigeon from among the birds. Here in Genesis 15 all five animals are represented: a heifer (a female cow), a female goat, a ram (a male sheep or goat), a turtledove, and a pigeon. The fact that the Lord tells Abram to bring all five animals points to the fact that something especially important is about to take place.

In obedience to the Lord’s instruction, Abram “brought… all these” (v. 10) to the Lord. We may presume that the Lord gave additional instruction to Abram about what to do with these animals, but the text itself goes on to report what Abram did: Abram “cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.” (v. 10)

Do you get the picture? What we have here is a sacrifice that has been made in the presence of the Lord and placed before Him. So, there is a line of 15-20 feet – and on both sides of this line there are the dead animals. The heifer has been cut in two, with one half on the left side and one half on the right side. The female goat has been cut in two, with one half on the left side and one half on the right side. The ram has been cut in two, with one half on the left side and one half on the right side. The turtledove and pigeon have also been killed but not cut in half – probably one bird is on the left side and the other bird is on the right side. Thus you have two rows of five dead animals – two-and-a-half on one side of the line, two-and-a-half on the other side.

Another thing that makes this particular sacrifice stand out in terms of its importance is the fact that we are specifically told that God initiated it. Abel sacrificed “the firstborn of his flock” (Genesis 4:4) and Noah sacrificed animals and birds (Genesis 8:20) in order to worship the Lord – and the Lord was pleased with their sacrifices. The Lord might have given Abel and Noah very specific instructions, but ­– if so – those instructions weren’t written down. Abram was in the habit of building altars to the Lord (Genesis 12:7, 12:8, 13:18), and he probably offered animal sacrifices upon those altars. But what makes this sacrifice in Genesis 15:9-10 stand out is that the text specifically tells us that God initiated it. Whatever is about to happen is especially important for us to understand.

So, the sacrificed animals and birds have been brought to the Lord, but the carcasses came to the attention of some predatorial birds. Abram’s job was to drive them away: “And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.” (v. 11) Whenever predators threaten the integrity of our worship, our job is to drive those predators away. Whenever the equivalent of vultures or wolves or snakes threaten the purity of our worship, our job is to drive them away.

With the sacrifice thus made and guarded, the time has finally come for the covenant to be cut.

THE RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT (v. 12-21)

The Lord is the Active Covenant Maker

Remember the words of verse 18: “the LORD made a covenant with Abram”. Verse 18 doesn’t say that Abram made a covenant with the Lord. Verse 18 doesn’t say that the Lord and Abram made a covenant with each other. What verse 18 says is that the Lord made a covenant with Abram. The sovereign Lord is the One making this covenant. The Lord is the covenant-maker. And thus it is fitting that the Lord made this covenant with Abram while Abram was asleep:

“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.” (v. 12)

Do you remember the other time in the early chapters of Genesis when a deep sleep fell upon a man? Genesis 2: “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man” (Genesis 2:21). Adam slept, that a woman might be made for him. Abram slept, that a covenant might be made with him. The Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4), and He does very important work while man sleeps. Abram fell into a deep sleep, so that it might be evident that the covenant is the Lord’s doing. The Lord is the active covenant doer, while Abram is the passive covenant receiver.

Dreadful and Great Darkness Fell Upon Abram

As it turns out, “deep sleep” wasn’t the only thing that “fell on Abram.” “[Dreadful] and great darkness” also “fell upon him”. What does this mean?

It is important for us to realize that when the Bible describes what human beings experience when they have direct encounters with the Lord, it typically does not say things like ‘a gentle afternoon breeze and a delightful sense of sunlight illuminating the foliaged forest across the valley came so wonderfully upon him’ – as if meeting with God is like going on a walk with a familiar friend. Meeting with God isn’t like that, for the simple reason that God isn’t like a familiar friend. He is the Holy One, great and mighty, majestic in holiness, exalted in the heavens.

In Genesis 15:12, Abram is being drawn into an encounter with the Lord, and right off the bat we learn that this encounter is characterized by that which is overwhelming, mysterious, unnerving, fearful, and disorienting: “dreadful and great darkness fell upon him”.

This “dreadful and great darkness” is a precursor to the Lord revealing the light of knowledge to Abram in verses 13-21 and, just as important, revealing His divine presence as “a flaming torch” in verse 17. At the same time, this “dreadful and great darkness” befits the subject matter: “affliction” (v. 13), “judgment” (v. 14), “iniquity” (v. 16), and the divine presence passing between the broken pieces of the animal and bird sacrifices (v. 17). The subject matter is heavy, serious, and consequential – and God is setting the proper mood for Abram.

The Lord Speaks to Abram

Into this “dreadful and great darkness” the Lord speaks: “Then the LORD said to Abram” (v. 13).

  • “Know for certain” (v. 13) – this speaks directly to Abram’s question “how am I to know that I shall possess it [this land]?” We haven’t gotten to the “how” yet, but God intends for Abram to have certain knowledge and full persuasion that God’s promises will surely come to pass.
  • “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.” (v. 13) God sees into the future that He Himself has orchestrated, and He tells Abram that his offspring will reside in a foreign land (which we learn later is Egypt), and will experience servitude and suffer affliction in that foreign land, for four centuries. But this servitude and affliction will eventually give way to a great reversal.
  • “But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (v. 14) God brings well-deserved judgment wherever and whenever He wills, and this same God brings undeserved salvation wherever and whenever He chooses. The nation that will enslave and afflict Abram’s offspring will be ruined, in keeping with the Lord’s earlier promise to curse anyone who dishonors Abram (Genesis 12:3). By contrast, Abram’s offspring – though enslaved and afflicted – will be released from their captivity and abundantly supplied by God’s free and sovereign grace.
  • “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.” (v. 15) Abram will not live to see the many days of suffering that will afflict his descendants. Abram will enjoy peace in his lifetime, and then he will depart from this present world. But long after Abram’s body has been laid to rest, God’s promise will remain effective and alive.
  • “And they [Abram’s offspring] shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (v. 16) In this context, “generation” probably doesn’t carry a narrow meaning like ‘forty years’ but probably refers to a more general time frame that correlates with the “four hundred years” of verse 13. In any case, Abram’s offspring will eventually come back to the land of Canaan and occupy the land that God has promised to give to Abram and to his offspring forever (Genesis 13:15).

Abram is to know these things “for certain” – Abram is to have complete confidence that his offspring will possess the land. If someone replies that Abram’s question wasn’t about his offspring possessing the land but actually about him possessing the land, I would simply say that in Genesis 12, 13, and 15, a sharp line is not drawn between Abram possessing the land and Abram’s offspring possessing the land. The concepts are presented interchangeably. Therefore, Abram’s question about him possessing the land and the Lord’s answer about his offspring possessing the land should not be played off against each other, as if they are two different things. They comprise one promise – and Abram is to be fully convinced that the promise stands and shall come to fruition.

The Covenant-Making Moment

But how? How is Abram to know that this promise concerning land will indeed come to pass? This brings us to verse 17:

“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” (v. 17)

Everything else in this passage now comes to a culminating, decisive, covenant-making moment. Only after verse 17, and immediately after verse 17, is the covenant language used: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” (v. 18).

“[The] sun was going down” in verse 12; now in verse 17 the sun is down. “[Great] darkness fell upon [Abram]” in verse 12; now the darkness that had descended upon Abram’s soul is accompanied by physical darkness all around. In verse 10, the sacrificed, bloody, “cut… in half” animals – along with the slain birds – were set in the Lord’s presence as a 15-20 foot walkway, two-and-a-half on one side, two-and-a-half on the other side. Now in verse 17 the Lord passes through the pieces of torn animal and bird flesh.

There is a strong connection between Genesis 15:17 and Exodus 19-20. I already drew a connection between Genesis 15:7 (the preamble to the Abrahamic Covenant) and Exodus 20:2 (the preamble to the Ten Commandments). This other connection with Exodus 19-20 sheds important light on our passage. On that holy day when Israel met with God at Mount Sinai, before God spoke forth the Ten Commandments, God made Himself known in dreadful splendor. Exodus 19:18 says,

“Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.” (Exodus 19:16-18)

In Exodus 19:18 the word “smoke” occurs three times, and it echoes the “smoking fire pot” in Genesis 15:17. In Exodus 19:18 the ascending smoke was “like the smoke of a kiln”. ‘Fire pot’ and ‘kiln’ are similar concepts, pointing to a smoking oven of one sort or another.

Of course, smoke is often associated with fire. In Exodus 19:18 “the LORD had descended on it [Mount Sinai] in fire”, and this echoes the “flaming torch” (with emphasis on the adjective flaming or fiery or burning) in Genesis 15:17.

Finally, after God spoke forth the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:18 says,

“Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off” (Exodus 20:18).

Interestingly, the Hebrew word rendered “the flashes of lightning” in Exodus 20:18 is the same word that is rendered “torch” in Genesis 15:17.

It would be worth exploring the significance of these connections between Genesis 15 and Exodus 19-20, but my point at the moment is only to make clear that the “smoking fire pot” and the “flaming torch” do, in fact, represent the presence of God. In Exodus 19-20, the God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob drew near to the children of Israel. But long before that ever happened, and yet in a way that would serve as a point of reference for the future experience at Mount Sinai, the Lord drew near to Abram and revealed Himself as the One who passes between sacrificial animals. Now we need to ask: what is the significance of the fact that the Lord “passed between these pieces” (v. 17).

The Lord alone passed through the sacrificial animals

In order to answer this question, we need to be clear: it is not enough to say that the Lord “passed between these pieces”. We must also say two other things. First, only the Lord “passed between these pieces”. And second, Abram did not pass between these pieces. This gets to the heart of the Abrahamic Covenant.

In a mutual covenant-making act between two parties, the standard protocol would have been for both parties to pass through the pieces of the sacrificed animals. And when two parties to a solemn agreement both passed through the pieces and met in the middle, each party would be saying to the other: ‘If I do not fulfill my covenant obligations, then I accept in advance the penalty of being cut in half just like this heifer, this female goat, and this ram; I accept the penalty of being slain just like this turtledove and young pigeon.’ When two parties cut a blood covenant in this manner, each party is expressing utter seriousness about forming and keeping the covenant. Each party is saying, ‘I would rather die than break this covenant. I would rather be crushed to death than to violate my oath or renege on my promise.’ Each party is saying, ‘Let me be accursed if I ever prove to be unfaithful to this covenant.’

The thing that stands out about this particular covenant in Genesis 15 is that only the Lord forms the covenant, only the Lord stands in the midst of the carcasses, only the Lord makes promises, only the Lord declares a solemn oath, only the Lord puts His character on the line. The Lord’s decision to walk alone in the midst of the sacrifices effectively communicates to Abram and to us, ‘The fulfillment of my promises depend on Me. I don’t make these promises lightly. The only promises I make are the ones I intend to keep, and the ones that I intend to keep I make and declare under pain of death. I would rather die than break my covenant promises. I would rather be crushed to death than to violate my oath or renege on my commitment. If I fail to fulfill my covenant obligations, then let me be accursed and torn asunder. I will carry this covenant to completion because of my faithfulness, not yours.’

God is completely trustworthy

The point of all this is to show Abram and to show us that God is completely trustworthy; God’s words are utterly reliable; God’s promises are entirely dependable; God’s gracious covenant is a firm foundation upon which to believe and hope and live.

So the real question is: Do you trust Him? Do you trust the One who would rather die than speak an idle word, an empty word, or a faithless word? Do you trust the One who would rather be broken than break His promise?

How is Abram to know that he and his descendants shall possess the land? By coming to grips with the fact that God is not like men. God doesn’t speak out of two sides of His mouth. God isn’t fickle and subject to change. God means business, and His words should be trusted. The covenant-making ritual involving sacrifice communicates to Abram, ‘This is how seriously God takes His own words. For God, God’s words are a matter of life and death. Trust the Lord! You sleep, but He remains alert to make and keep His covenant. Only trust Him! You are weak and subject to death, but He remains alive to watch over and perform His covenant promises.

Our passage concludes, fittingly enough, in the same way that it began. In the preamble of verse 7 the Lord had declared His intent to give Abram the land of Canaan. Now in verses 18-21, in conjunction with the ratification of the covenant, God reiterates His promise to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring.

LESSON FROM GENESIS 15:7-21

Here’s the lesson we should take away from this passage: God is all in when it comes to keeping His promises.

The thing we have to keep in mind is that God’s promise-keeping often doesn’t unfold and take the shape that we would expect it to take if we were just operating in our own human wisdom. For example: why did God plan for Israel to sojourn in a foreign land and to experience servitude and face affliction there for centuries? Why did God plan to wait four hundred years before fulfilling His promise? Why did God allow Egypt to sin against His people? Why does God allow the Amorites to continue on and pile up their sins? Why not destroy them now? Why wait for a few centuries before lowering the bar of judgment? We want quick and easy. God doesn’t do quick and easy. Do you trust Him?

God works out His promises over a long and windy path that spans centuries. Do you trust Him?

God brings judgment and deliverance on His timetable, not ours. Do you trust Him?

God carries the covenant, not you. Do you trust Him? Or do you act like you are the one who is carrying the covenant?

God is always faithful to His covenant, which means that He is not under any curse for covenant-breaking. Do you complain or charge Him with wrongdoing? Or do you trust Him? Do you wait patiently for Him to bring His good promises to fruition?

God is all in, and His character is the firm foundation and guarantee of all His words.

Now as we come to the New Testament, the covenant in Genesis 15 is a powerful backdrop to the formation of the new covenant. As the faithful and trustworthy Lord, the Lord was under no obligation to become like the slain ram that was cut in half and set down in Genesis 15. The Lord kept His word. The Lord is always full of steadfast love and faithfulness. We are the weak link, the sinful link, the blameworthy link. We are the ones who ought to be crushed to pieces because of our rebellion and unfaithfulness.

And yet, the Lord stands alone in the midst of the carcasses, declaring that He takes full responsibility for the fulfillment of the covenant. What this means is that He takes responsibility for our covenant-breaking. In Genesis 15, the Lord passes through the sacrifice. In the New Testament, the Lord becomes the sacrifice – not because He failed to keep His words, but because we often and regularly failed to keep His words. In great mercy, the Lord took upon Himself the consequences of our unfaithfulness.

Scripture says,

“And he [Jesus] took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”” (Matthew 26:27-28)

The promises of God – the promise of forgiveness, the promise of reconciliation with God, the promise of a new heart, the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise of eternal life that will never end – the promises of God are sealed with the blood of Christ!

Brothers and sisters, God still ordains a long and windy path for us. We still suffer affliction, suffering, persecution, injustice, loss, pain, death, and heartache. How do we know that the Lord will keep His promises? How do we know that the Lord will bring us home and that one day we will be with Him and with all of His redeemed people forever in a new heaven and a new earth? How do we know that? Because the Lord sealed every promise with the shedding of His own blood.

God means business. He is all in. You can trust Him.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Book of Genesis (Ariel’s Bible Commentary). Fourth Edition. San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2020.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019.

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