Abram had just won a great victory. His nephew, Lot, had been taken captive, along with his entire family, servants and goods, by four kings and their armies; and with 318 men, Abram had chased them down, defeated them, and brought back the hostages.
Then in a separate victory of sorts, Abram had refused to compromise with the king of Sodom, refusing to accept any material thing from him, and had turned and worshiped the Most High God in giving tithes to Melchizedek.
As we come to chapter 15, we find Abram in a fugue. It’s not uncommon. Any police officer, any soldier who has been in battle, anyone in competition sports will tell you that the day following a great victory over an enemy or an opponent will often be marked with a sense of depression. It’s the downer after an adrenaline rush.
Elijah experienced this after his victory over the priests of Baal on Carmel. He hid in a cave and felt sorry for himself.
So here, at the opening of chapter 15 of Genesis, we find God graciously offering words of encouragement to Abram.
Now we can’t be critical of Abram. He’s 500 miles away from home, having followed God’s leading to come to where he is. He is old, he has no children; no proper heir to inherit his wealth. He has just made himself an enemy of every political force in the region, and even though he saved Lot and his entire family, Lot has apparently moved right back into Sodom, as is made evident in chapter 19.
So Abram has a right to be a little discouraged. But friends, we can take great encouragement from the opening verses of this chapter today, as we realize that it is not our present circumstances that gauge the success of our life. It is whether we are making Godly choices as we go, and honoring Him with faith and obedience.
Because to the faithful and obedient child, His promise is the same as to Abram that night. “I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great”.
Now another symptom of Abram’s depression is evident here, we know, because in response to God’s words of encouragement Abram bemoans the fact that he has no heir.
God has already promised in chapter 13 that Abram’s descendants would inherit the land God had brought him to, and Abram had demonstrated his belief by building an altar there to the Lord.
So he is not expressing doubt here. He is seeking encouragement. So his Lord gives him encouragement. And here I’d like to quote C. H. MacKintosh:
“Here, the God of resurrection is presented ‘to us also’ as the object of faith and our faith in Him as the alone ground of our righteousness. If Abraham had looked up into heaven’s vault, spangled with innumerable stars, and then looked at ‘his own body now dead’, how could he ever grasp the idea of a seed as numerous as those stars? Impossible. But he did not look at his own body, but at the resurrection power of God; and inasmuch as that was the power which was to produce the seed, we can easily see that the stars of heaven and the sand on the sea-shore are but feeble figures indeed; for what natural object could possibly illustrate the effect of that power which can raise the dead?” Notes on Genesis - C.H. MacKintosh, Revell 1850, reprinted 1951
This brings us to our primary area of focus today. God has promised, Abram has believed, and as we’re told both here and in the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he has been declared right with God by his faith.
Now Abram asks a question in verse 8 in our text that on the surface could be seen as an expression of doubt. But not in the context of the culture of Abram’s day. He’s simply being a shrewd businessman, and he is asking for a contract. A covenant. Not because he believes God will change His mind at some later date, but so that Abram, as he waits, in his weaker moments, will have something to hold on to.
Something to look at or remember and encourage himself that the promise is true, even though it tarries.
Believer in Christ, by His own glory and excellence, “…He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises…” II Peter 1:4
And so that we might not lose hope, but be encouraged to hold on and wait patiently for them, He has made a covenant with us also. That is what we will see typified in these following verses today.
THE SACRIFICE
Let’s read these verses to have them fresh in our minds. (9,10)
“So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.”
Now there are instances in scripture of people performing rituals or carrying out certain acts in ways that seem strange to us, and yet they are not explained. We must depend on the Holy Spirit to help us understand their ultimate meaning in a spiritual sense; but when it comes to an historical sense, sometimes the answer can be found outside of the Bible, and sometimes we just have to surmise that what was being done was customary.
Just for an example, early in Genesis we see Cain and Able bringing their sacrifices to the Lord. There is no mention of God giving specific directives concerning sacrifice, but we can safely assume that He did; probably to Adam and Eve, very soon after they were expelled from the Garden; and then passed down by them to their sons. Therefore the precise method for sacrifice, and what each different kind of sacrifice meant, was probably all explained by God, otherwise we would not have the indication that both Cain and Able were conscious of the worthiness of their individual sacrifice.
Coming back to chapter 15 then, although it may seem strange to us that Abraham took these animals, cut them in two pieces and laid the pieces opposite each other, we can safely surmise that this was not a new thing, but according to the custom of the day.
Henry Morris suggests that it was the way a contract was made, in that the two agreeing parties would meet between the rows ~ the portions of halved animals, and make their covenant with one another. The implication would be then, that if one of the parties reneged on his part of the agreement, the sacrifice of the animals would no longer have meaning, and the guilty party would lose his own property, or perhaps even his life.
So Abram, according to God’s instruction, takes one each of the five animals acceptable for sacrifice, cow, sheep, goat, pigeon, dove, and sacrifices them.
Let’s not let it escape our notice, whatever the human custom was for making a contract, that as these animals were divided in two, so our Sacrifice for sin was torn. The veil of flesh was rent, just as the veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom, and it was God’s grace that did it all for us.
“…in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ”, says Paul to the Colossians (2:11), referring not to His infant circumcision, but his death on the cross.
God was demonstrating His marvelous grace to Abram, in making this covenant with him. He could have said, “My word is enough” And certainly it is, from God who cannot lie.
But He bound Himself willingly to Abram by this covenant of blood.
Remember, God’s promise to Abram, as to us, concerns resurrection. Abram’s body was as good as dead. If it had not been, God would have had to kill it first, because in order to manifest resurrection power there must first be a death.
As C.S. Lewis put it so succinctly, “Nothing that has not died can be resurrected”.
Christ had to go to the cross and die, Christian, or He could not have been resurrected.
And since without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins, had He chosen not to go, there would be no resurrection for us.
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep” I Cor. 15:20 and He calls us to walk the same path, that we might be partakers of His resurrection.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” Lk 9:23 is His command.
The flesh will demand its own selfish life, and if it is not put down daily, it will continue to insist on its own, and will lead away from the path of the cross. But Christian, be encouraged in the way Abram encouraged himself. Because the way of the cross leads to resurrection. And God can only exercise His resurrection power in the dead.
Listen to the words of Jesse Brown Pounds, from the hymn The Way of the Cross Leads Home:
I must needs go home by the way of the cross,
There’s no other way but this;
I shall ne’er get sight of the gates of light,
If the way of the cross I miss.
I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way
The path that the Savior trod,
If I ever climb to the heights sublime
Where the soul is at home with God.
Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
To walk in it never more;
For the Lord says, "Come," and I seek my home,
Where He waits at the open door.
The flesh must be put to death, Believer, for God to exercise His resurrection power in us. But this is most certain, He is the God of resurrection, and He is ready to bring that power like lightning into any life or situation that is wholly yielded to Him.
THE WAIT
“And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him”
There is something about the narrative that hits us a little odd here. You almost get the feeling that some part has been left out, or that something is out of place.
God told Abram to bring Him these certain animals, and Abram has been faithful to do so. He has offered the animals up, cut them in half, laid them in place, but nothing happens.
We get this picture of him, sitting, perhaps in the shade of a nearby bush throughout the afternoon, staring at this bloody scene, and just waiting. And we’re told birds of prey came down on the carcasses and Abram had to drive them away.
Maybe this pause, this delay on God’s part, was to emphasize to Abram that he would have to exercise patience; that the promise would be fulfilled, but in God’s time, not man’s.
How often, throughout scripture, and even in our own lives, do we see this scene repeated? God has promised. In His word we have assurances of answer to prayer, deliverance from enemies, healing of diseases, even eternal life itself. And how often are we left like Abram, waiting, watching, wondering?
Morris supposes that the birds of prey symbolize all the times Satan has tried to thwart the purposes of God for His people; trying to steal the blessing, make the sacrifice as nothing.
And there would be attempts of the enemy in the very life of Abram to thwart God’s plan and steal the blessing.
But for us there is a message too, Christian. We are not called to an armchair Christianity. A religion of comfort and ease and sloth and self-indulgence.
We are warned that Satan prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. And we’re told to be on the alert.
We wait. The promises are sure, but in faith we wait, and in the meantime we are to be on the alert, watching over our own souls and the souls of others with prayer.
And sometimes we are filled with the sense of darkness and dread. Because we live in a dark, sin filled world, my friends. And sometimes we feel like we’re alone in a dark wood, and God is silent as we wait, and the enemy would have us believe we’ve been abandoned.
But just remember that it’s always darkest just before the dawn. And the Light that Christ brings to us shines brighter by virtue of the blackness that He saves us from.
God came to Abram in his vision of terror and great darkness, and shed light on his situation to give him assurance and hope.
He told him that his descendants would have moments of great darkness also. But that they would be brought from that darkness into greater light.
Christians, when God talks about your future as though the events are a certainty, shouldn’t that give you assurance that He’s going to see you through?
Abram’s body was dead, insofar as the human ability to reproduce is concerned, but God was telling him the entire future of his many descendants!
What are you going through? What do you wait for? What kinds of things do you need assurances from God for?
Believer. Go read the last three chapters of the book of Revelation. They talk of your certain future. Let them give you courage to wait, and let them inspire you to stay alert.
THE INHERITANCE
Well finally God acts. He comes to Abram and accepts the sacrifice.
Please note that whereas in a human contract, the two parties stood together between the pieces, here, God was alone.
It was a covenant of grace, and did not call for man to play a part. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God.
Remember, Abram was as good as dead. He could play no role. It all had to be of God. And we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but He made us alive together with Christ.
Resurrection power.
God passed through the sacrifice Himself to establish His eternal covenant of grace with Abram, and with us.
The oven and the torch no doubt spoke to Abram concerning the information he had just been given about his descendants. The oven representing times of darkness and testing. But the torch would have assured him that on the other hand there would be times of light and blessing.
The history of the nation of Israel, Abram’s descendants, typified the condition of fallen man and the salvation offered through the sacrifice of Christ.
They were ‘dead’, so to speak, under the power of the Pharaoh and held in bondage and toil. And later they were taken away to Babylon. Later still, they were dispersed throughout the world, a nation without a home.
But they were brought back by God’s grace, and in the end they will be saved as a nation.
There is a message there for us too, Christian. In the midst of the sacrifice Christ suffered the fire of the Father’s wrath against sin. He passed through the oven of darkness for us.
“For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” Romans 8:3
But in the other hand was the torch. The lamp. The light. And through the sacrifice of God’s only Son, Light has come into the world that cannot be extinguished; and light has come into our lives to shine in us and reveal God’s glory in and through us.
Verse 18 says, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram”
Blessed assurance, Christian! On that day. There was a day in history, an actual day in time, that God came down to a real man in history, and made him a promise. Signed a contract. Made a covenant of grace. And promised him an inheritance that would be given his descendants.
A covenant made with him while he was yet dead. But God was about to exercise resurrection power. And it was all His to give.
There was another day in history. An actual day in time, when a real Man in history passed through the sacrifice, all by Himself, by grace, and made a covenant with us.
Even when we were dead. He promised us an inheritance. And then he exercised His resurrection power and gave us life!
So we exercise faith and patience, believer, just like Abram. Stay on the alert, watch over your soul and the souls of others with prayer and vigilance. Because the God of grace has passed through the sacrifice for you and given you life.
And He has granted you the blessing of sharing in His sufferings as you wait and live for Him here. And there are moments of darkness and terror; and times when the woods are silent and His promises seem far off. Those times are for our refining. Our sanctification. Because it is only when we are most aware of our need for Him, and reckon ourselves dead and powerless, that He can bring His resurrection power into our lives.
But exercise the patience and faith of Abram. Because God has made a covenant of grace with you, Christian, and when the time is full, and all things are made ready, He will, with the speed of lightning, exercise His resurrection power to bring you into your full inheritance.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’ And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’.” Rev. 21:3-5
It is a covenant of grace and it cannot fail.
