In this Genesis series, we can see that one of the themes running through the book is “blessing.” One of the meanings of the Hebrew word for blessing is “deep fulfillment.” When God created Adam and Eve they were in a blessed state - they were deeply fulfilled. However, as soon as they were exiled for turning away from God, they left this state of blessedness.
Having been deeply fulfilled by God and then leaving this state of blessedness, they were left with a vacuum. Now they and everyone after them were trying to “bless themselves” in order to have that same sense of deep fulfillment. This would explain why the world before the flood became exceedingly wicked in thought and action. It was the result of attempting to fill the incredible void that could only be filled by God Himself. This is why the people built the tower of Babel because in their quest for fulfillment they looked to build a name and reputation for themselves. This is why people today desire to achieve goals, create a legacy, accomplish great things, have bucket lists - all to find a measure of fulfillment.
Even Jacob wrestled with God and wouldn’t let go of Him until he blessed Him. I think Abram and those in his family realized, what you and I need to realize, that the deep fulfillment we have been looking for through work, relationships, accomplishments, in making money, being successful, can only be found when we put these desires into the hands of the Lord. In fact, we see that all these physical blessings (family and land) that will come through God’s covenant with Abram will be a catalyst for the New Covenant - the ultimate blessing (the coming of the Messiah), through whom all the families of the world would be blessed (Gen 12:2-3).
Please read Gen 15:1-21
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
[a]Your reward shall be very great.”
2 But Abram said, “Lord [b]God, what will You give me, since I [c]am childless, and the [d]heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram also said, “[e]Since You have given me no [f]son, [g]one who has been born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own [h]body shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your [i]descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He [j]credited it to him as righteousness. 7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to [k]possess it.” 8 But he said, “Lord [l]God, how may I know that I will [m]possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “[n]Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he [o]brought all these to Him and cut them [p]in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 And birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, [q]terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your [r]descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, [s]where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with [t]many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17 Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, 20 the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”
There are three things we can see that God does in this chapter. He…
Reassures Abram about who He is
Reiterates the Promise
Ratifies the Covenant
Let’s look at the first thing God did:
Reassures Abram about who He is:
The first thing we read in verse 1 was, “After these things” - after what things? After the victory over the armies and Abram’s victory over the test of prosperity God speaks to Abram in a vision. God says, “Do not fear Abram.” What was he afraid of? Maybe he was afraid of the kings from the north he had defeated and who might be planning to get revenge. Maybe God was alleviating Abram’s fear of being in His presence? Could it be that Abram realized that his great victory had not brought him any nearer to his promised inheritance.
Then God reassured Abram, “I am a shield to you.” In other words, “I’m Your protector and deliverer. I will defend and deliver you and your future generations.” Then He reassured him, “Your reward will be very great.” What reward? At this point Abram went back to Hebron without an heir or any land. God was teaching Abram to be satisfied with Himself alone. God knows the motives and expectations we have for following Him and sometimes those motives and expectations skew our understanding of who God is.
God will send tests and trials our way to purify our motives, to refine us, and to free us from the things that so easily get us down.
1 Peter 1:7 says,
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
As our faith is being refined, God entrusts us with more blessings. How did Abram deal with delays and disappointment? Every disappointment is an appointment with God. This is what Abram came to understand.
In v. 2 in this passage in Genesis, Abram is asking “Lord God, what will you give me…?” The Hebrew text uses the word, “Sovereign Lord.” Abram recognizes that despite the fact that he’s getting older and running out of time and even though it seems that God is not answering his prayers, Sovereign Lord means no matter what - You are God, Your plans are perfect and You will always be first in my life. At this point only his servant Eliezer will receive his inheritance. So in verse 4, God…
Reiterates the Promise
God told Abram, “This man (didn’t say his name) is not your heir. The one who actually comes from your body will be your heir.” God wasn’t arguing with Abram or rebuking him. He was reiterating His promise. God then took Abram outside and said, “look up at the stars - count them if you are able - as numerous as these stars are, so shall your descendants be.” Standing in the dark silence with God Almighty, Abram was humbled as he looked up at the stars. He was speechless. In that moment, he believed in the Lord and in the promise.
This wasn’t the first time Abram put his faith in God’s word. He had believed for over a decade (cf. 12:1). But this was the first time he was having a conversation with the sovereign God and in that moment he believed that God was trustworthy and reliable and would fulfill His promise. He was saying “Amen,” not “may it be so” but “It shall be so,” or “It is so.” God credited his faith as righteousness.”
Righteousness is a guarantee of salvation, of acquittal on the day of judgment.” Abram’s faith is compared with our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom 4:3, 22-23; Gal 3:6; James 2:23). Abram received God’s words and believed Him for what He would accomplish in the future. We receive God’s word and believe Him for what He accomplished through His son Jesus Christ in the past. We receive that gift of salvation, and God sees us righteous in Christ.
Are you trusting in your good works to save or have you believed and trusted Him alone for your salvation? If you answer, “I am trusting Christ alone,” the second question is: Is your faith such that it has changed your life and the way you live? Is it transforming the way you handle things and how we make decisions?
Once again God reiterates to Abram in v. 7,
“I am” the Lord that brought you out from Ur to give you the land for an inheritance.
This is an amazing picture of redemption - I delivered you out of Ur - took you out of your comfortable setting, delivered you from your past, and from your life of idol worship. I have been preparing you through a series of tests for something far greater and you have been learning to trust Me along the way. One of the observations Jon made in the sermon prep time was that Abram was learning that there are a lot of “-ings” in the growth process: waiting, praying, trusting, walking with God. Abram then asks God, “what is the guarantee that I will inherit this land?” God had been promising Abram the land and an heir for years but now He…
Ratifies the Covenant
In vv. 9-11, God ratifies the covenant by asking Abram to take a bull, goat, ram, dove, and pigeon and cut them in two (except for the birds). Abram understood exactly what God was doing because this was a common covenantal formulation from Near Eastern customs of that time. They would cut the animals in two because this covenant involves the shedding of blood and the blood represents the life of the one making the covenant.
God wasn’t making a conditional treaty with Abram, you do your part and I will do mine but God was implementing a Suzerain grant. This was a unilateral act of a superior (king) to an inferior and guaranteed by the superior. The king’s royal grant of lands and houses were given to reward the loyalty of the servant or heir. As long as the king lived, this royal grant of land was enforced. It was a perpetual guarantee from the king to the servant and to all their household and family line. No matter what, God would keep his covenant concerning Abram’s posterity and land. Abram’s obedience was not the basis for the covenant but the ground for God, the Creator, to pour out an extra blessing upon Abram, his family, and land. God gave Abram an opportunity to upgrade that level of blessing to a greater level by his obedience (as we can see in Gen 26:24). Obedience and blessing go hand in hand.
After Abram believed, God entered into a covenant with him and through this covenant God would relate to Abram and his family line. And in the same way, after we place our faith in Christ, we enter into a new covenant with Christ and this is how the Lord will relate to us for the rest of our lives.
Then we see that Abram fell into a deep sleep and terror and great darkness fell on him. God told him that this was the darkness and despair the Israelites would experience when they were enslaved in Egypt. It would be a dark time for them spiritually and physically, yet in that darkness they would cry out to the Lord. God was letting Abram know that before the fulfillment there will be suffering, yet all that will happen to his descendants couldn’t threaten God’s covenant. He promised Abram that with that knowledge, he would grow old and die in peace. Abram believed God but realized that the promise was meant for a far off, future generation.
Hebrews 11 says, All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance” (Heb 11:13).
When we see in these last two verses in this passage is that God’s presence (the smoking oven and flaming torch) passed between the offerings. Abram hadn’t been asked to join in the process—to pass with God between the carcasses because this was an unconditional, unilateral covenant. It was an unconditional promise that He alone would keep. If God were to break this covenant it would mean the forfeiture of His life. But we know that God cannot die so there was no way this covenant could be broken. God also affirmed to Abram that Israel would one day inhabit all the land He promised. What is interesting is the borders of the land appear to coincide with those of the garden of Eden (Gen 2:10–14). God is bringing us back to the Garden, the new Jerusalem - the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God - the place of deep fulfillment in every sense. This was the home Abram was looking towards by faith. We who have believed we are the spiritual children of Abram and we look forward to living in that city forever, whose architect and builder is God.
