The Return of the King is a recently released movie about a king who reunites the world of elves, trolls, and humans to fight against the evil king of Mordor in a battle to the finish. It has grossed millions of dollars as people of the world came out in droves to see the third and final climax to this blockbuster movie. People packed theaters and waited in line anxiously to be entertained by this make believe story.
Isn’t it sad that at the same time, even though the admission was free, the world wasn’t half as excited to watch the coming of another King at Christmas? They didn’t wait in line, didn’t get excited about it, didn’t come to hear about this King. Why? Well, He didn’t bear a sword. He didn’t ride on a horse or fight a glorious battle to the finish with thousands of people by his side. He came in a cradle, surrounded only by regular animals and humans in a little stable. The story was not shown with surround sound and cinema lights or man’s imagination, but with the simple Word of God.
It’s that same simple Word of God that takes us back thousands of years - to the original plan - the screenplay if you will - for the coming of this King - to the establishing of the covenant - to the Christmas promise. Even though it might not seem as flashy as a motion picture, I hope and pray that it moves you nonetheless, as we look at
The Covenant of the King
I. Is given by God
The first thing that struck me as I read through this text was the age of Abraham. Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I literally started laughing at first, because it seemed funny to me that God would pick such a seemingly old man to establish a covenant with. After I looked at it longer, however, I remembered that Abraham lived to be 175 years old, so the seemingly old age wasn’t as big of an issue as I thought it may have been. In spite of that, you can still see that God is clearly the dominant figure in this text. As a matter of fact, throughout the whole interaction of Abraham and God, God is the one who creates and maintains the contact. If I’m counting correctly, this is actually the fifth time that God appeared to Abraham out of the blue. The first time, Abraham was still worshiping foreign gods in Ur of the Chaldeans, then God appears to him again in Haran, at Shechem, and again just south of Sodom and Gomorrah. Each time God was the one who came to Abraham, promising Abraham great things.
In today’s text again, for the fifth time, God appears, introducing Himself to Abraham as “God Almighty” - literally El Shaddai. Isaac used this same term for God as he was blessing Jacob - saying, May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. God also said to Jacob at Paddan Aram and said, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The Septuagint translates El Shaddai as pantokrator - meaning “all powerful.” The Vulgate uses omnipotens, which is like our word omnipotent. The word is probably connected with the Akkadian word - shadu - which means “mountain”. I find that interesting, because in the heathen religions found in Canaan, they established what they called “high spots” on the hills and mountains. On the top of these hills they would put up Asherah poles, where religious prostitutes would stand. This heathen religion somehow connected having sex with temple prostitutes on the hills with the fruitfulness of the land and the people. So when God called Himself “El Shaddai,” He very likely was making a contrast to these heathen gods and saying, “I am the true God of the hills - I control life and can give life.” So the Psalmist said, I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2).
After God reminded Abraham of WHO He was, He then told Abraham exactly what HE was going to do. Five times God says, “I WILL” do this, “I WILL” do that. The main point in today’s text, is that HE will establish the covenant with Abraham. He comes from the heavens and does the courting. He establishes the relationship. He lays down the rules for it. This is a picture - not of man coming to God - but God coming to man.
Isn’t this a refreshing picture of our God? The big catch phrase we’ve been hearing in religious circles for the past ten years now is how to “have a more personal relationship” with God. You can buy books from many Christian authors that lay out plans for you to develop a personal relationship with God. They’ll start by insinuating that you aren’t a true Christian if you haven’t personally done what they’ve done - like asking Christ into your heart or being re-baptized or having that “conversion experience.” “BUT,” they say, “if you follow our program, you can get that experience.” They’ll tell you how to treat your spouse, how to pray, how to worship in a “meaningful” way. They’ll tell you exactly what kind of prayer to pray to invite God into your heart. The picture they draw is that in order to have a relationship with God - we have to climb up the hill and make the first contact - to do the courting. Then once we get up there, then we need to meet his requirements - do what he asks - follow their program - in order to really have that meaningful relationship.
Initially, this sounds good to us - we like the sounds of that philosophy - because it gives us the power and gives us something to do. It even has Biblical words and quotes. But God describes as being born DEAD and sin and still as WEAK even as Christians. (Mark 14:38) The more programs that are prescribed, the more depressed you can get as you think to yourself, “I haven’t been sorrowful enough. I haven’t experienced that burning in my heart. I haven’t asked God into my heart. I haven’t prayed the way they are telling me. I haven’t used their kind of worship!” The problem always comes down to a feeling or a certain loop that I inevitably haven’t jumped through yet to get to that “personal relationship”.
That’s what makes this picture of God so much more comforting. God - the pantokrator - El Shaddai - doesn’t ask Abraham to climb up a mountain to find Him. He comes down to Abraham - the old man - establishes the relationship with HIM at five different times - and says, “this is what I’M going to do for you!” It puts the focus on God - the all-powerful God and what HE will do - not on what WE do. That’s the way God works. That’s the God I take comfort in. God doesn’t ask me to climb a mountain before He’ll come to me. El Shaddai comes to me - as old, weak, or sinful as I may be. He seeks the relationship and establishes it. He uses His power to come to ME through the Word of God - through baptism - and through the Lord’s Supper.
II. Is centered on the King
When God came to Abram earlier in his life and promised to be with Abram, he responded - “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Since he was now in his eighties and his wife was in her seventies, he had great doubts that God would really be able to do much for them. This was now over ten years later - Abram was now ninety-nine and his wife ten years younger. Thirteen years earlier, Sarah and Abram messed up by having Hagar, Sarah’s slave sleep with Abram - thinking that God’s promise was just for Abram, and not for Sarah also. The problem was that Abram limited God’s power to man’s abilities. So God appeared to Abram again today, with a reaffirmation of His covenant. This portion is filled with the promises - both physical and spiritual - of what God would do - how He would work His power beyond Abram’s weaknesses. This is what God said to Abram -
You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
First of all, God reiterated the physical blessing that he promised to Abram - stating that it would miraculously come through SARAH - NOT HAGAR. As a sign to Abram, God wanted to call himself Abraham, “the father of multitudes.” He wanted Abraham to be reminded of God’s promise and to proclaim his faith in that promise every time his name was called.
But the key to this physical promise is found in WHY God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Kings will come from you. David, Solomon, Saul, and many other kings came from Abraham. Yet if Abraham had lived to see these kings, he probably would have been depressed. Saul killed himself and fell from the faith, David committed adultery and murder, and Solomon let his 700 wives lead him to worship other gods. The key to this promise is in THE KING that came from Abraham - the one that bring blessings to ALL NATIONS - Jesus Christ. The coming of this King - Jesus Christ - shows the ultimate way that God works. He is not only the writer of the story, He is also the main player in the story line. That’s why we call history HIS STORY. God gets intimately involved in it - and places Himself in the middle of it. This is the kind of God we have. He is not an impersonal God - one who merely gets things started, sets a course and then waits for us to follow it. He doesn’t limit history to what WE can do. He actively influences it and gets involved in it.
Just as God suspended nature and made a fool of it by giving Sarah a birth at age 90, so God suspended nature as the King was born through the Virgin Mary. He didn’t ask us to climb up to Him, but He descended to us - being born in a cattle stall. God sent His Son to leave the heavenly realms and be born under the Law - to free us from the confines of the Law. Everything that God demanded of us, God gave to us when He came down to us. That’s the key to Christmas. It isn’t in trying to fulfill all of God’s requirements so that He loves us. It’s found in seeing God love us so much that He would come down to us - live and die in our place. The way Peter said in in 1 Peter 3 was, Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
God promises Abraham and his descendants wonderful things - both physically and spiritually. Under the covenant of Christ, that’s what God does for us as well. El Shaddai comes down from the mountains, and promises us forgiveness of sins, love, and eternal happiness in Christ. He says, “I’ll do all the work. I’ll live and die for you! I’ll enter your heart through the Gospel! I’ll keep you in the faith through the Word!” What a wonderful God we have!
III. Is for generations to come
I would imagine now, that if you’ve carefully looked at these verses, you may feel that I’ve somewhat misrepresented the text. Why? Because God does ask Abraham to do something. (Remembering that this is now the fifth time that God comes to Abraham), He says to Abraham, walk before me and be blameless. God was basically saying to Abraham, “remember that you are always in my presence - and live your life as if you were at the foot of my throne. Don’t live your life just doing what you want, but make sure that your coming and going is done in the light of my presence.” God also told Abraham to be “blameless.” In the Hebrew the word is tamim - meaning complete, whole, entire, sound - without blemish. David explained blamelessness in Psalm 101 in this way - 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. 4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil. In other words, by “blameless”, he wasn’t claiming that he would be holy, but that he would disclaim all fellowship with the wicked. In keeping with this, Noah was said to be tamim in Genesis 6:9, but in Genesis 9:21 he got drunk. Job was also called tamam - a finished product - well rounded and balanced. Yet even Job admitted he was a sinner in 7:21. In other words, God DID ask Abraham to do something. He expected Abraham to live his life to the glory of God and be a well rounded individual - to live his life out of thanks to God. Later on God also expected Abraham to keep the covenant of circumcision.
But how did Abraham respond in this text? When God told Abraham to walk, God’s Word says that Abram fell face down. When God told him to walk before him and be blameless, all Abraham could initially do in the presence of God was to fall face down. He was overwhelmed with such a thought of living before God! That’s when God reiterated what HE would do first. Notice what God ultimately promised Abraham then. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. Wow! Think about what God was saying about Himself - how that comes off to most people today! God was saying, “I’m going to be your God and your descendants God!” Imagine if someone came up to you today and just said, “I’m going to be your spouse!” We’d take it as arrogant! Most of us would probably be turned off at someone being so forward with us. But if we found out that person was really nice looking, rich, powerful, would give us everything we need, and promise us an eternity of happiness, that wouldn’t be so bad now would it! As a matter of fact, we’d probably say “I do” on the spot! That’s how Abraham responded. He loved to be God’s chosen one. Instead of taking his relationship with God for granted and doing nothing, he responded. When God asked him to sacrifice his only son, he was willing to do so. When God told him to send Hagar and Ishmael off into the desert, Abraham did it. When God told him and his household to be circumcised, he did. Although he wasn’t perfect, he still lived a life of faith - trusting that God would send a Savior to save him from his and his descendants sins.
When God asks us to walk before Him and be blameless, we too fall on our faces. We realize that such a task is impossible in and of ourselves. But when God says, “I’m going to be your God! I’ve sent you a King who lived and died for you! I love with a gracious love that’s based on what that King did for you!” Those messages of comfort and forgiveness - what else do they do for us but make us say - “yes, I love having you as my El Shaddai - my God over the hills who comes down to live and die for me!” When we realize all that El Shaddai has done for us, it makes us fall on our faces - not in terror - but in praise and worship of God! It naturally produces fruit in us - fruits of thankfulness and praise. It makes us want to live complete lives, remembering that everything we say and do is done as if we were walking in front of God - to the glory of his name. It makes us say, “whatever you ask of me, I’m willing to do!”
In the movie - the Return of the King - there were two separate stories going on. One of a king fighting a battle with swords and axes, and another of a seemingly powerless little hobbit carrying a powerful ring into a flaming abyss - to be destroyed forever. With a combination of the two working together, evil is destroyed.
In God’s original coming of the King, the battle was fought by only one man - Jesus Christ. He fought with His words and wisdom, brandished a cross, and defeated an enemy far more powerful than anything in creation - He had to face God’s wrath on mankind. As we went to this mighty hill called Golgotha, he also faced foes uglier than any ogre - the devil and death itself. Our King fought this war - and died a gruesome death. But in death our King won a wonderful victory. For three days later our King then returned to glory though His resurrection from the dead. We have seen His story. He now promises a complete and total victory through faith in Him. What is more, is that this King calls us on the battle fields to continue the fight against a wounded and dying enemy. Like Abraham, we are apt to fall on our faces. But God promises us He’s already come down to us and won the war. The King’s covenant to us is that through faith in Him He’ll keep us in the faith and give us the strength to fight. With that covenant in your heart, God will move you to stay in the fight - even to the death - not with swords and spears - but with the Word of God. Amen.
