Our Covenant God - Genesis 15:7-21

While this story isn’t as well known as some of the others that involve Abraham it is one of the most touching and significant stories in all of Scripture.

It may not be well known because for much of the important action Abraham is asleep. It is also not well known because we haven’t placed as much importance on the concept it teaches as we should.

The theme of this passage is the covenant God made with Abraham. As spelled out in the text it was a covenant to give Abraham’s descendents the land to in which he was but a foreigner. The theme and issue of covenant is significant because it is by covenants that God relates to His people and creation. Simply put a covenant is a solemnly bonded relationship that is sealed in blood.

Covenants are the way God relates to humanity. Thus your relation to God is defined and determined by the terms of the covenant He set for you and Himself.
The covenants of Scripture are entered into by God’s grace. He’s not obligated to relate to sinful humanity.
The terms are initiated and spelled out by God. The creation does not dictate terms to the living God.
The covenant specifies what each party is responsible for. In this way a covenant is similar to a contract in that each party to the covenant has certain responsibilities he must fulfill or maintain to keep the covenant in force.
Biblical covenants were made with people and their children.
Covenants spell out the benefits and blessings granted to each party.
Covenants have penalties and consequences for those who break them.
Covenants are in force and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Covenant always have signs that illustrate the truth behind the covenant.
Covenants highlight, emphasize, demonstrate, embody and display God’s grace, consistent love and absolute faithfulness.

The story begins with God reaffirming His call to make Abraham into a great nation and give the land of Canaan to his descendents. Abraham ask God how could he know that this was going to happen. The Lord responds by entering into a covenant with him in much the way an ancient king would enter into a covenant with another king or one of his subjects. This is why Abraham knew what to do with the animals that God asked him to get. In this society people entered into covenants to define their relationship to one another. A standard covenant would state the responsibilities of each party, the benefits each would receive and the consequences that each would suffer should they not hold up their end of the covenant. Once they agreed on the terms of the covenant each party would pass through the slain animals repeating the terms of the covenant and calling down the covenant curse upon themselves should they fail to fulfill their covenantal responsibilities.


What do covenant teach us concerning being God’s people?

We are a people of God’s call.
God called that is He divinely summoned Abraham from his life in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. This call was to leave his the country he lived in, his tribe, his father’s household and the idols he worshiped to go to the land of Canaan and become a follower and worshiper of the true and living God. The call was to be answered by faith. Abraham was to no longer live by his own wits, cunning or conniving. He would not gain the land of Canaan through conquest, bargaining or even because he was more righteous than the Canaanites.
Abraham’s lack of power to gain the land for himself was reinforced each year that he and Sarah went childless. Either God was going to bring to pass the promise He made to Abraham or it just wasn’t going to happen.
From our point of view our life in the Lord begins when through the gospel He calls us out of our sin and into a worshiping relationship with Himself. Like His call to Abraham God initiates His call to us. Abraham wasn’t searching for or seeking the Lord. From what we know of his life before God Abraham seemed to be seeking to make his fortune while at the same time worshiping idols. And like Abraham we too are called to enjoy the full blessings and benefits of knowing, worshiping, serving and delighting in God forever.

Once God reminds him of his calling Abraham asks a question based on the reality that he doesn’t have any children. Abraham is aware of his own advanced years, the weakness of his body and the truth that he doesn’t have any children.

Have you responded to the call of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you question God’s call based on your inability to live up to all the implications of that call? Do you feel that God may one day rescind His call? Do you wish that you could know for sure that God will follow through completely on His call of salvation to you?

We are a people of the covenant. God responds to Abraham’s request for full assurance of his call by cutting a covenant. We use the phrase cut a covenant because God told Abraham to get animals that would be cut into so that He and Abraham could enter into a standard covenantal arrangement. The covenant begins with God specifying the specific terms of the covenant.
Abraham will have a people descended from his own body. God promises that Abraham’s heirs will live for a time in a land that it not their own. In this land they will be mistreated, abused and enslaved. God however will not forget this people but through His miraculous power will rescue them from the power of their oppressors. God will protect and preserve Abraham so that he will live to a good old age and die in peace in the land his offspring will one day possess.
When God is ready He will bring Abraham’s people from the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan and empower them to dispossess those who live in the land who are presently filling the land with sin, deviance and debauchery.

One important point of biblical interpretation. This was an actual covenant that was made with Abraham and his physical descendents who at one time would occupy and possess the land of Canaan. While this covenant certainly has implications for all of God’s people now we do not view it as an example for us to believe God for our own private physical blessing or inheritance. Abraham’s call and covenant was intimately connected to God’s eternal plan to redeem a people for Himself. God’s use of Abraham, his descendents and the land of Canaan were all crucial aspects of that plan, but not the culmination of that plan.
We do not read and interpret the Old Testament as primarily a series of stories that are examples of what we must do and how we must live in order to get God to bless us and give us the good life. Instead we read the Old Testament primarily to see how God has unfolded His eternal plan of salvation that culminates in the Person and work of Jesus Christ.

This especially makes sense in light of the fact that in one of the most important episodes in his life that is the cutting of the covenant Abraham is sleep.

By now may have noticed that this covenant is somewhat unilateral. God is the one declaring all the things He’ll do in the covenant while Abraham is sleeping. In this way this particular covenant is different from standard ancient near eastern covenants in which both parties would be awake for the recital of the covenant terms, both would declare their covenantal responsibilities and then both would proceed to pass between the animals reciting the terms of the covenant while demonstrating what would happen to them should they fail to live up to the covenantal obligations.
What makes this covenant unique and this story special is what happens once the sun goes down it becomes very dark. What’s about to happen will impact Abraham, his descendents, the human race and the entire universe. What’s even more precious is that the most profound and meaningful thing that will ever happen to Abraham is about to occur and he’s asleep!

God in the form of a smoking firepot and blazing torch passes through the animal pieces and recites the terms of the covenant. God is saying that He will most certainly empower Abraham to have a son, that this son will grow into a nation, that this nation will survive slavery and oppression and then in God’s time this nation will take possession of the land of Canaan. Furthermore, this nation will survive intact for the thousands of years it will take so that through them Abraham’s great descendent namely Jesus Christ will be born so that the world can indeed be blessed with full, complete and eternal salvation so that God’s’ promise to Abraham recorded in Genesis 12 will be fulfilled. In passing through the animals while reciting the terms of the covenant God in effect says that if He’s not able to do all that He’s promised, send a savior and rescue the world from sin, secure a people for Himself and restore the creation to its perfect beauty, function and order that He Himself will cease to exist.

And that’s why we’re a people of the cross. We are a people of the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is God’s guarantee that all the things relating to our salvation will happen.
The cross is our guarantee that God will never, ever revoke His call of salvation to us. God doesn’t have to change His mind or rethink His call because the cross demonstrates that those whom God has called have had their sins atoned for. The cross demonstrates that despite the most severe trial and trouble that our Covenant Lord is always with us, will never abandon us and will bring us to Himself. Furthermore the cross is our guarantee that our troubles will never separate us from the redemptive love of our Covenant Lord. Finally, the cross is our guarantee that we will indeed receive our full and final salvation in Christ. The cross is God’s guarantee that despite our weakness, shortcomings and present sin that God has forgiven us and will preserve us to the end until He takes us to Himself.

To Him Who Loves Us..

Pastor Lance