Genesis 25
One day a man holidaying in the Bahamas noticed a big crowd gathered at the end of the pier. As he got closer he observed someone preparing for a solo journey around the world in a tiny homemade boat. Without exception everybody was telling him all the things that could go wrong. Suddenly the man felt an IRRESISTABLE URGE to offer some encouragement. So as the little boat drifted toward the horizon he began jumping up and down shouting, “Go for it! You can make it! We’re proud of you!” Just a few needed words of encouragement for someone undertaking a monumental task.
In Genesis 15 Abram is in the midst of a monumental task. God has called him to be the father of a nation that would bless the entire world. And even though Abram is a man of faith, we find him needing some assurance from the Lord that everything was going to be alright. So we find Abram getting lots of assurance from the Lord that He would take care of him and would accomplish the promises that He had set forth for his life. The first thing we see is:
1. God assures Abram of His protection.
Now remember, Abram had just won a great military victory over the four eastern kings. Would they eventually come after him in retaliation? Not only that, he turned down the wicked king of Sodom’s offer of an alliance. Out of embarrassment would Bera and his allies come after Abram as well. Would his life now be more concerned with war than God?
[Read Genesis 15:1.]
So what we see here is the beginning of a conversation between the Lord and Abram which gives him some much needed encouragement. He tells Abram to not worry and to not fear, He would be His shield. He would be his protection. He would fight his battles for him.
But God didn’t stop with just assuring Abram of his protection. He also reminded him of His promise to make Abram into a great nation and a blessing to all. And it’s as if the Lord was trying to help Abram with his doubts that God could actually pull this off through him. I mean, it had been ten years and still Abram and his wife had no son through which this nation could be built. Unfortunately, this would be an issue that Abram and Sarah would continue to struggle with as we’ll see next week. But they sure didn’t doubt because of a lack of encouragement.
2. God assures Abram that he will have a son.
[Read Genesis 15:2-5.]
In the ancient world it was common for couples that couldn’t bear children to adopt one of your servant’s kids so that there would be a legal heir of your possessions. Abram already had someone in mind for this and might have even started making the arrangements. It seems that he’d given up on the idea of Sarah bearing children.
So God lets him know that he would have a son that the nation, a huge nation, would come through. This promise was dependant on God, not him, to perform. Some how and some way God would give them a child and the earth would be blessed.
Abram’s initial response was an affirmation of His faith in God.
[Read Genesis 15:6.]
The Hebrew word for believe here is ‘aman’ which means to build up, to support, to believe. Used here is gives the idea that Abram had confidence and trust in God. Not that this was his salvation experience – for we know Abram was already a man of faith. But that after hearing from God he vocalized his resolve that he believed in God. And through this, God gives us some assurance as well.
3. God assures us that salvation is by faith alone.
[Read Genesis 15:6.]
Abram was a man who lived before the Bible had been written, before the Law had been given, before the Temple had been built, before Jesus had come and died and rose again, and before there were any churches on the scene – yet he was just as much of a believer as you and I. Simply because the mode of salvation has never changed and never will. Redemption is attributed to those who believe in God.
God revealed Himself to Abram and Abram responded in belief. He believed that the God speaking to him was the creator God of the universe and the One, True God to be worshipped. So Abram is called righteous because he believed.
The New Testament teaches this truth over and over again that salvation is by simple faith in God. We can’t earn it, we can’t buy it and we sure don’t deserve it. It’s a gift of grace for those who choose to believe.
[Read Galatians 3:6-9, Ephesians 2:8-9.]
Having this assurance is a great comfort to those who believe. If salvation was as a result of works we’d never know if we’d done enough to satisfy the debt of our sin. We’d always be wondering if we were in or out of God’s good graces. But we don’t have to wonder. If we believe, truly believe in God, we will be with Him in Heaven one day.
He reminds Abram of this Truth later in their conversation.
[Read Genesis 15:15.]
One day Abram you will enter into eternity and this eternity will be a peaceful one. It will be with those whom like you have believed. You and I have that same assurance of our salvation as well.
But look back at verse six again. It seems that even though Abram was a believer in God, he still had some questions.
[Read Genesis 15:6-8.]
Abram declares his faith, God reminds him of the covenant, but Abram still wants to know how is this going to happen. “I mean, what assurance can you give me to squelch my doubting heart?” So:
4. God assures Abram by formalizing the covenant.
“Alright Abram. You want assurance, you got assurance.” But be careful what you ask for – you just might get it.
[Complaining parent coming to me about another leader story.]
Abram wants a guarantee that God will actually do what He says He will do. So God creates a dramatic scene to assure Abram that everything was under control. He has Abram set up the ceremony that had been used in those days to signify a covenant between two parties. Animals would be cut in half and the two parties would walk in between the halves signifying their allegiance to the covenant. If one of the parties broke their end of the agreement, they would be cut in half like the animals they had walked through. Brutal – but effective.
[Read Jeremiah 34:18-20.]
[Read Genesis 15:9-11, 17-21.]
The smoking pot and the flaming torch signified the presence of the Lord much like the pillar of smoke and fire that led the Jews through the wilderness. When God passed through the animals alone He was letting Abram know that He alone would be the One responsible for the fulfillment of the covenant.
What an encouragement that must have been for Abram. To know that the fate of the world didn’t rest upon his shoulders. To know that this amazing promise of an innumerable nation that would bless the entire world was God’s responsibility and not His must have brought great relief to Abram. God would fulfill His promise, His way, according to His purpose.
But along with this assurance came a difficult Truth – enslavement was coming to the chosen people. Kind of a good news, bad news situation here.
God said, “Yes, I will bring forth a nation. But there will be some difficult times ahead for the people of that nation.” So God puts Abram in a deep sleep and teaches him through an almost nightmarish situation.
[Read Genesis 15:12-16.]
Basically, God is referring to the 430 years that that Jews were enslaved to the Egyptians. Those years when they were strangers in a strange land. But at the end of those four generations God would judge the nation of Egypt, set His people free, they would return to the promised land and through them God would carry out judgment upon the Amorites who were still in the land of Canaan.
And as you know, that’s exactly what happened. Amazing!
But we can look back and see how God’s plan played out. Abram is looking ahead and the thought of his descendants being slaves for hundreds of years after his own death is horrifying. Maybe that’s why God out him in a deep sleep to receive this news. Maybe that helped him cope with it a little better.
But bottom line, this was an assuring but hard truth to receive. Yes, God would bring forth His promised nation to bless the entire world by His strength – but He was going to do it His way. And His way always has perfect purpose and perfect execution even if it doesn’t make sense to us humans.
You see, God could see into the future and know how the Jews would be disobedient to Him. He could see how they would need to learn and grow to appreciate His leadership over them. He knew they’d turn away, yet He went forward with His plan any way.
Would we do that?
- Would we trust someone with our car if we knew they were going to wreck it?
- Would we let someone stay in our house if we knew they were going to throw a wild party in it?
- Would we let someone borrow our phone if we knew they were going to ‘secretly’ run up a huge bill on it?
[Changing teen’s phone languages to French story.]
God, even though He knew the Jews would struggle to consistently follow Him through the generations, still decided that they would be His chosen people. Chosen to show the world that He exists. And chosen to bring forth the Messiah. Why would He do that?
For that matter, why go forward with creation in the first place if He knew we would turn away and allow sin into the world?
Closer to home, why would He save you and I even though He knows we’re serious ‘works-in-progress’?
Because He loves us and wants to have relationship with us.
Yes, He uses the simple to confound the wise. Yes, He uses the weak to defeat the strong. Yes, He uses the broken to heal the hurting. But the motivation behind it all is that He simply loves us. He wants us all to have a chance to experience Him and life to the full. He simply loves us.
[Peter loving and losing his turtle story.]
Abram should have gotten this message through the Lord’s many assurances here. And maybe he did in some areas of his life. But one area he really struggled with and that was the infertility of his wife. Next week we’re going to see how he uses a really ‘old-school’ type of fertility clinic to have a child. And the name of that clinic was Hagar.
