Passage: Genesis 15:7-21
Rosee was an elderly lady who always sat in front of our family in church. She was a kindly lady and I remember as a child one occasion in particular where she gave me a butterscotch candy just before church. My understanding was that any time I asked her for one, she would give me one, what greater hope is there for a young boy? I said I remember one occasion in particular, because to my knowledge it only happened once. I remembered hearing my parents mention that afternoon that Rosee was rather poor and as a young boy I felt stricken in my conscience that I had no right to take this woman’s candy.
The result? Even though I know now that Rosee would have given me another piece, I never asked her again, because I wasn’t sure she could afford to give it to me.
Faith is sometimes a struggle; and sometimes we feel the very same way about God’s promises to us, as I felt about Rosee’s promised candy. Sometimes Satan comes and whispers into our ear telling us perhaps that God won’t be able to fulfill the deal, and so, we simply don’t ask him too; or worse, we secretly struggle in fear that he won’t.
Abram Struggled in the midst of his faith.
Turn with me to Genesis 15:7-21 and read with me starting in verse 6 the rest of this chapter.
< Read Gen 15:6ff >
Let’s step through this passage event by event, moment by moment.
V7: The very first thing God does after Abram’s faith experience in verse 6 is to remind Abram of his identity and his call on Abram’s life. Abram believed God in verse 6, and God counted it as righteousness. Now God wants to take Abram to the next level, he does so by going back to the start. At first call it wasn’t about having children, it was about the land Abram would possess.
V8: When confronted by the promise Abram asks a question, and this is important, he asks a question in faith! We know that this is a question asked in faith because it’s so close in proximity to v6 which is Focused on faith. When he says, "How may I KNOW that I’ll possess it?" He isn’t questioning God so much as he’s questioning his circumstance. He’s asking this question and searching for reassurance. The very same thing that so often we do.
Beginning in verse 9 then we have the ancient equivalent of going to the courthouse and signing a contract in front of the Notary Public.
V9-10 Perhaps you remember hearing this before, perhaps not. When a covenant was made, the process and the meaning were equally powerful. First the parties would take some animals and kill them, slice them in ½. Then they would each state the responsibilities and rights of the covenant and then hand in hand they would both walk together through the midst of the animals.
It was an incredibly sacred moment, and that for two very good reasons.
Number 1, Walking together through the bodies of the animals communicated a bond saying, we are closer now than the left and the right part of the animal. It was a FAMILY relationship being established. The idea being, "if you can’t trust family, who can you trust."
Number 2, walking together through the blood of the animals was a way of communicating the severity of the promises made. The idea being, "If I fail to live up to my end of the bargain, may I be torn in two even as this animal was torn in two.
Making a covenant in this matter was not done lightly, because it was considered rock solid. This is way beyond "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." When a covenant was made in this manner it was as good a guarantee as a guarantee gets.
I want you to consider also that when Abram asks, God condescends, He stoops down to help Abram understand. he wasn’t bound to signing on the dotted line as it were, but he was committed to making sure that Abram understood in Abram’s terms, even if that meant God had to sign a human contract.
V11: In the Bible, birds of prey are typically used to speak of the enemies of Judah, When Jesus talked about the crows devouring the seeds that fell on the path in the parable of the sower, he identified the birds as Satan himself. I don’t think we can afford to lose the imagery here either. These birds of prey were doing what every vulture or raven or whatever else kind of bird who scavenges does. They saw dead animals and they descended to devour the meat.
Abram however stood and shooed them all away, perhaps more than once. Abram could have sat back and watched saying, "If God wants to make this covenant, then why is he allowing these birds to attack?" Abram could have wondered if God was really all that dedicated to making this covenant, but we have no indication of that, Abram took his staff in hand and whacked a few birds on the side and drove them away.
V12-16: Now Abram has been sitting for quite some time and he’s waiting, and now the sun starts to set. But before that can happen, he goes to sleep. The Hebrew word used in describing this deep sleep is the same one used of God putting Adam to sleep when He created Eve. This wasn’t Abram getting tired, this was a supernatural sleep, and in that sleep he dreamed a terrifying dream. The text says "Terror and great darkness fell upon him."
The darkness was representative of the prophecy that God was making concerning the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt. It’s given in relation to the time, to prove that this was supernaturally from God and not from Abram.
The promise to Abram now, isn’t perhaps what you’d expect but it was certainly an answer to Abram’s question. Abram wanted to know how he would inherit the land, and God told him. The land would change hands, when it’s current inhabitants had sinned beyond hope of redemption. (v16 "the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete") Even there God displays his grace; as he continually holds out his hands to those who snub him. Even the Amorite’s.
V17: Now that the vision is complete the sun sets and natural darkness falls. The Firepot symbolized God’s judgment, the blazing torch symbolizes God’s righteousness. Jesus is called the light of the world in the gospel of John, and to Jesus all the right to Judgment has been given.
When The Firepot and torch passed through, it was symbolic of both God’s Judgment (firepot) and also God’s revelation and righteousness (torch) Together God was promising that all of who he was would be put forth into making the promises stand, and Abram by his sleep was prevented from walking through, showing that the covenant was unconditional. Abram had nothing to do, it is to be all of God
V18-21 repeat the promise given earlier.
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Now the question, how does all of this apply to you?
God has made to you promises, indeed he has even promised you a share in the "promised land" of eternity. Heaven lays before you. But let’s face it, far to often heaven seems a long way off. And if we were honest with each other when the questions were asked. We’d hear more struggles than victories in many a dear saints life.
Sometimes, we begin to wonder, even though we’ve been saved by faith, we begin to wonder. Is God’s gift really for me? Maybe I’m just deceived, maybe I’ve misunderstood something. Maybe after all, God’s salvation works for those people, (Whomever they may be) but God’s salvation doesn’t work for me.
And sometimes in our struggle to believe we look up to God in whatever weakened prayer we can offer and we say to him, "But God, you’ve promised these things, how will I know that they will happen just as you say?"
That’s when God tells you to look to the cross. At the cross; Jesus’ body was torn. The spikes, the Spear the crown and the whip, all of them broke the body of Christ. Isaiah tells us the punishment was so severe that Jesus would have been unrecognizable as having been a man at all.
As the blood ran down the cross and dripped on the ground. The Smoldering firepot of God’s justice met side by side with the flaming torch of his holiness and righteousness, and together God’s justice and Righteousness passed through Jesus.
Where were you? You were in the same place Abram was. He was off to the side, watching the event. He didn’t walk through the bodies, because the covenant didn’t depend on him. God wasn’t making an "I will do this if you’ll do that" type covenant. He was saying to Abram the very words he says to you today.... "If I should fail to keep my end of the promise, may this be done to me."
You see, when Satan descends in your life and threatens your peace by whispering lies into your ear. Chase him away! Resist the devil and he will flee we are promised. Make no mistake about it, If you belong to Christ, if you’ve been bought by his blood, and then you begin to wonder, if the promise will actually come to you, that’s the devil in your ear. Chase him away!
The Promise is yours to keep. Know for certain, that when the time is full God will judge the ungodly and then he’ll carry you into the land he’s promised you. I know it’s true, because God has made a covenant. A covenant he will keep.
