We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Genesis 15 is effectively one extended, spirited conversation between God and Abram, punctuated by one crucial conclusion that forms one of the lynchpins of Bible theology when it comes to our salvation.
Movement 1: God Speaks in a Vision - :1
We rightfully get a bit suspicious when people suggest that they’ve had a vision from God, but this was a means God used to reveal Himself. Sometimes these visions took place in dreams, though there is a difference; often these visions were visual, though sometimes auditory; the settings were sometimes natural, and at other times supernatural; sometimes the one receiving the vision was a participant in the goings-on, but sometimes the person was merely a spectator. Wouldn’t it be great to get a vision from God? But stop for a moment and think: Abram is recorded as receiving a direct word from God eight times in about 100 years. We, on the other hand, have a Book at our fingertips for our entire lives that is the very Word of God given to us. Seems to me that maybe Abram would have much preferred what we have—but all too often ignore!
God’s initial words are three-fold:
• “Don’t be afraid” - Particularly poignant words to Abram who, as we saw last week, acted in fear rather than faith in passing his wife off as his sister when in Pharaoh’s court. But beyond this, we can think of some other reasons why Abram might have been fearful.
• Chapters 13 and 14 record his dealings with his nephew Lot, one of which involved Abram and his contingent conducting a military raid to rescue Lot from some marauding kings who’d gone out looking for trouble. Was payback imminent?
• Further, might he have feared that his sojourn away from his home was merely a waste of time, a wild goose chase, since God had yet to deliver on some of the promises that He’d made years previously.
• Finally, simply hearing the voice of God in a vision would be a thing of fear.
God assures Abram that he has nothing to fear, but further, He reveals Himself in two ways:
• “I am your shield” - God would be Abram’s protector against all enemies. God hadn’t brought Abram out here all this way to abandon him to his fate now.
• “Your reward will be great” - God hadn’t brought Abram all the way out here to leave him high and dry now, but rather to do something incredible in and through Abram’s life. And by the way, God doesn’t bring any of us to a point in our lives where He suddenly pulls the rug out from under us, or pushes us into the deep end and says, “fend for yourself; I’m outta here.”
At this point, though, all Abram had were words, the promises of God. He had God on His side, making him promises, but as far as much of anything to show for it, well, there wasn’t anything. God was all he had. Question: if God were all you had, would He be all you’d need? Don’t run past that question too quickly. The Sunday School answer is, “sure, all I really need in life is God”, but we live in rich, materialistic America, and I’m not so sure that that’s nearly as true for many of us as it ought be.
What a poverty it is to need anything more than God and His provision for us.
Movement 2: Abram Asks a Question - :2-3
One of the blessings and curses of modern communication is the Internet. On the one hand, we can with ease communicate with people around the world, at our convenience and theirs. People that I’ve had no communication with in years are now back in my life thanks to the Internet. On the other hand, sometimes it’s difficult to know what a person is driving at, because we often can’t really get a grip on the emotions and inflections attending speech. This is why someone invented “emoticons”, the “smilies” and “frownies” and the like that are formed by colons and semi-colons and parentheses and dashes, symbols that are supposed to communicate attitudes attending the emails. I hated emoticons for a long time, but I’ve been worn down to the point that I now use them myself. But the point is that communication can be a tricky thing, and sometimes, that’s the case with the Bible, the printed text, and it is in this case: we aren’t really sure what Abram’s attitude toward God is in this exchange.
• Is Abram challenging God?
• Is Abram doubting God?
• Is Abram merely confused and impatient?
Commentators are divided as to their speculations at this point, but let’s give Abram the benefit of the doubt, shall we? One reason we’ll do this is because Abram uses the term “Adonai” to speak of God, translated in our text, “Sovereign Lord”. This is a reverential term of recognition of Who God is (and of who Abram himself is by comparison). To say that God is sovereign is to do more than state a mere theological proposition; it is to assume the posture of one bowing down before this great, sovereign God of the universe as the humble servant. While Abram had questions, he had them, I believe, in a respectful tone that understood clearly his place in the equation. At least I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that that’s the case!
Abram had an entourage around him, extended family and servants and the like; undoubtedly, some of those servants had kids that tugged at the hem of Abram’s garments and played their children’s games all around him. He must have longed for the fulfillment of God’s promise, a fulfillment that would have brought him great pride and wonderful joy in his old age. Essentially, he’s saying this: “God, you told me that there’d be more—but nothing has really happened yet. If something doesn’t happen, then this Eliezer of Damascus will be my heir.” This was not an uncommon occurrence at all when no male heir was born; a servant could be adopted specifically for the purpose of inheritance as a last resort. We can even hear in Abram’s words an evidence of faith, because it had been some 25 years since God had first made the promise, and though Abram’s faith might be wavering, he still clings to the word and promise of Adonai, the Sovereign God.
This ought to teach us something about the ways of God, a theme that is reiterated elsewhere in Scripture: God’s not in a hurry; He doesn’t operate on our timetable; He doesn’t always match our expectations, and He’s not obligated to do so! But oh, aren’t we impatient people? The driver in front of us at the light has about 8/10 of a second to respond to the change in color of the light before we commence laying on the horn. We simply must have more RAM in our computers so as to be able to compute in nanoseconds, because whose got time to wait? Our election debates are frankly a joke, because there are few political issues that can be given their due in a two-minute answer. I’m old enough to remember the invention of the microwave oven, which stands as mute testimony to our impatience—it’s an appliance invented solely because we are impatient people! Wrap up the TV episode in a half-hour, thank you, and the sermon, if possible, in less time (and there are plenty of churches and pastors who’ll oblige you on that, present company excluded!). But the point is that God doesn’t operate on our timetable; He’s in no way obligated to. Abram might have liked for a quicker resolution to his concern, and thus he asks God, in whatever frame of mind he might have been in, for some insight into how God is going to resolve things.
Movement 3: God Answers - :4-5
And what an answer it was! Three times previously, God had promised Abram that his descendants would be numerous; now, God makes it clear that these will be natural descendants, that Abram would be the natural father of a son conceived by natural means through supernatural ability. And then, to accent the point in an unmistakeable way, God takes Abram outside and has him look up into the vast night sky. Talk about your spectacular visual effects! In the starry silence, Abram contemplated the enormity of the promise of God; would Abram ever again be able to look out across the sky at night without remembering that those stars held special significance for him, a promise made directly to him by a God Who masters in keeping His promises?
And of course we know the rest of the story as far as that is concerned; physically, the miraculous nation of Israel came into being through the birth of the child Isaac, but just as significantly, the sons of Abraham include you and me on a spiritual plane. Paul says in Romans 4:
“Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are made right with God by faith. Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
And in Galatians 3:29, he adds,
“And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.”
God answers in a manner that will entail the miraculous. You and I, in Christ, are a part of that answer, stars, as it were, in the constellation of promise. We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Movement 4: Abram Believes God - :6
Here is what Abram did with God’s answers; he believed God. This is the verse that is the star text, if you will, in our understanding of justification through faith alone. In building his defense of the doctrine in Romans 4 and again in Galatians 3, Paul refers to this verse, to the fact that God counted Abram as being right in His eyes because of Abram’s faith. Now, let’s be honest with the text here: it is extremely difficult to make the argument, as some might wish to, that what is in view here with Abram was his “moment of conversion”. Don’t get me wrong; of course I expect to see Abram in heaven. But the idea that what we have here was something that parallels our placing saving faith in Christ is a significant stretch. One sermon I read suggested that God preached the gospel to Abram, all about Jesus, His death on the cross and resurrection, and that Abram understood all of that and put His faith in Christ. Sorry, that’s just an unwarranted textual leap.
That said, Abram’s faith is effectively used by Paul as analogous to our taking Christ as Savior through faith. It has always been via faith that men have been made right with God. Abram’s was a personal faith, in the Lord; it was a propositional faith, taking God at His Word; it was a performing faith, akin to the emphasis of James who also quotes this passage, in that Abram’s faith motivated him to action. Abram’s was a faith that looked forward; ours is a faith that rests in the already-accomplished work of Jesus. But faith has always been that which makes people right with God.
There were those in Israel, even after the time of Christ, that wanted to make salvation an entity based upon obedience to the Law, or upon circumcision. But it was some 14 years later that the covenant of circumcision was introduced by God to Abram, and the Law wasn’t given until over 400 years later. No, Abram was accounted right before God because he took God at His Word.
This is the one essential thing, that we trust God, that we have faith in Him, that we take God at His Word. Absent this, nothing else really matters, not our religious observance nor our good deeds nor anything else. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Again, the ringing question comes back, do you live by faith in God? We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Movement 5: God Reveals Himself - :7
God reveals Himself by appealing to His acts in past history. Notice that God’s actions are unilateral (God accomplished the work, as a matter of His own choosing); irrevocable; and grace-based. Listen to the words of Moses, speaking to the people of Israel as recorded in Deuteronomy 7:
“...you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. "The Lord did not choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! It was simply because the Lord loves you, and because he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such amazing power from your slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and constantly loves those who love him and obey his commands.”
And that God said, “Abram, you will have this land.” I brought you here in order to give you the land. God reveals Himself as the One around Whom the story revolves (not Abram). And the same is true today: the story revolves, not around me, or around how much God loves me (true as that is), but around God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s all for Jesus; it’s all about Jesus. We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Movement 6: Abram Asks Another Question - :8
“How can I know that this is really going to happen, Sovereign Lord?” Again, we don’t know what was going on in Abram’s mind; was it all too unbelievable, that he, a wayfaring man, would have as his possession a vast land as well as a vast heritage? We can almost hear him saying, with the man who brought his demon-possessed child to Jesus, “Lord, I do believe, but help my unbelief; help me not to doubt!” We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Movement 7: God Responds with His Covenant
God’s answer takes the form of an unusual ceremony. God has graciously given Abram insight into some of the other details of exactly how and why He will act as He does. Then, he enacts the ceremony of which we read. Ceremonies similar to this were used in antiquity to bind two parties into a covenant. An animal or animals were killed; their parts were cut into two; they were placed down the sides of a path that both parties would walk, with the oath being something to the effect of, “may the same happen to us if we break our word!” We pinky swear, or we say, “cross my heart, hope to die”, or we place our hands on the Bible or over our hearts as we pledge our fidelity to our oaths, but the point is the same: this is a solemn pledge that will not be broken.
The animals used here were five animals that would all be used in the sacrificial system that God instituted, animals who would stand in the place of the people, foreshadowing Christ, our own sacrificial Lamb of God, Who would once-for-all die in our places. But notice that only God, represented in the purifying smoke of a smoking firepot and the blazing light of a torch, walks down between the pieces; this is a unilateral promise made by God to Abram. God will solemnly perform what He has promised.
And sometimes we question God, because we don’t understand His plan, or we don’t like His timing. Abram did. And sometimes, as was true in the case of Abram, there is silence; God doesn’t seem to make plain to us His answer, at least not to our satisfaction. But while we may not know all of the specifics, God has given us in His Word all that He deems necessary for us to know. But the one essential thing is that we trust God, that we take that sure Word that He has given and we act in obedience to it. Whether we understand or not. Whether we will live to see the final outcome of it or not. Whether we like it or not, or whether it makes sense or not, or whether it is popular or not. The one essential thing is that we take God at His Word.
We have questions. God has answers. It is what we do with the answers God gives that makes the difference in our lives.
Without a Net In Your Life
1. God rarely, if ever, speaks in visions today. But He has spoken to us in His Word. Do you recognize the superiority of God’s way of speaking to you today, and if so, what do you do about it?
2. As a Christ-follower, you have believed on Christ. But when God speaks, do you believe Him?
3. Are you willing to trust God, even when He doesn’t operate on your timetable?
