In the last lesson God reiterated His promise to Abram that he would have a son of his own lineage, and through that son all nations of the earth would be blessed. He also reiterates that Abram’s nation would ultimately inherit the land in which he currently dwelt, a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, and the Scriptures say, “He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” We know that no one is righteous, no one born of Adam is without sin, and Abram was no exception; however, Jesus’ righteousness was counted to Abram by God’s grace (unmerited favor) through his faith. God called Abram by grace, just like he does with us, calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light. God counted Abram righteous by passing over his sin until He poured out His just wrath on Christ on the cross, and before we were even born He poured out His just wrath for our sin on Christ, so that by grace we could be saved by faith. This is the great story of God. But Abram’s story takes an unexpected turn in Genesis 15:7-21:
7And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess." 8But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?" 9He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
17When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites."
God announced Himself as the Almighty YHWY who brought Abram out of Ur, out of the darkness of idol worship, where his eternal destination was Hell, and brought Abram into fellowship with Him. It was this great God who, based entirely on grace, brought Abram out of Egypt that promised to give Abram the land. But in verse eight the man who was in verse six justified by his faith doubts the God who called him out of the darkness of idol worship into the marvelous light of salvation. Lest we prematurely judge Abram; how often do we doubt the God who by His grace alone called us out of darkness into His marvelous light? The root of all sin is doubt. It is the doubt that God is better. That God is better than our will, better than our flesh, better than lust, better than popularity, better than money, better than things, better than friends, better than video games, that He is better than anything in the Universe. That is why we neglect studying His Word, beseeching His will in prayer, witnessing to our friends and foes—we doubt that He is better that what we in our flesh desire. Doubt is on the same plane as pride, in that it makes us the ultimate in deciding what is best for ourselves instead of God.
In spite of all that God has promised Abram still has his doubts, but God does not give up on him and throw in the towel, rather He demonstrates one of His greatest attributes—his patience. Paul writes about God’s kindness and patience in Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” God is not kind and patient with you because you in some way deserve it, but he is patient and kind so that you will turn from your rebellion to His perfect love. God is not merely patient with Abram, but He shows Himself faithful by culturally signing the covenant that He made verbally.
God makes His covenant on His own terms. He arranges a practice foreign to us, but quite familiar to Abram. He has Abram bring all these animals, cut them in half, and make a walkway between them. The blood was to show the gravity of the covenant. Each party would bring some of their choice animals and they each would walk through between the carcasses. Walking through the carcasses was essentially like signing a contract that said, “If I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, may bloodshed befall my animals and me.” It’s a little more intense than a pinkie-promise. Abram then waits for the Lord to pass through the carcasses, but He tarries to the point that Abram must beat away the Buzzards until he eventually falls into a deep sleep. While asleep God tells Abram that he can know for certain that his descendants will dwell in a land for a time as slaves, but God will deliver them to the very land in which he dwelt. Why? God plans to exact judgment on a people, but only when their iniquity is complete. Later we will see that the Exodus from Egypt is for God’s glory, and also the conquering of this land is for God’s glory and renown to spread in the earth. You can know for certain that if you have been justified by faith like Abram that your affliction is temporary. You may be sick, you may be tired, you may be broke, your family might be a pain, you might serve Christ in a land where you could be tortured, you might have all sorts of physical afflictions, you might be troubled, but do not lose heart for your trials are temporary. The longest your pain can last, if you have faith in Jesus, is for your physical life; but then you have all of eternity to live with completely joy free of all the afflictions of this fallen world.
In the meantime we live in a fallen world. Earthquakes, floods, and all sorts of natural disasters will continue. Some people say things like, “The Haitian people serve the devil; therefore, the afflictions they are getting what they deserve.” There is a small extent to which I agree, but only to the extent that we are all servants of the devil lest God intervene in our lives and awaken our hearts to faith in Christ. If blame should be assigned for God’s judgment it is to be assigned to all mankind! Our sin is every bit as responsible as theirs for the disaster that befell them, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! That is why Christ, after hearing about the Galileans killed by Pilate in Luke 13, cited the 18 dead at the Tower of Salome as a call to repentance and said, “4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Where people have gone wrong is to say that Haiti is particularly cursed because of a particular pact with the devil, for we are called curses lest Christ save us, “13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”-Galatians 3:13-14. Prosperity is not a sign of righteousness; otherwise we would all be poor. Poverty is not a specific sign of wickedness; lest we would all be impoverished. Many times the wicked have flourished while Christians have suffered, in fact Jesus said, “Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man (Jesus) has no place to lay His head.” How about the Macedonian believers who found great joy in giving abundantly out of their extreme poverty, “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints”-2 Corinthians 8:1-4
There is a false teaching called the Health, Wealth, and Prosperity gospel—it says that if you have faith in Christ you will inevitably be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous. The Bible says in Romans 8:16-18, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The point: You will suffer, Christian or not you will suffer pain and strife in this world because of sin. If you are a Christian you are likely to experience even more suffering than you would experience otherwise. Abram suffered wandering around in a foreign land, but God said he would know for certain that his descendents would inherit the Promised Land. The Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt for 400 years! But they inherited the Land! You will suffer. Peter and John praised God in Acts 4 for being counted worthy to suffer on behalf of Christ. The promise for the Christian is that the suffering is temporary and not worth being compared to the glory that will be revealed to us!
Here is the proof that you can be certain: At night fire and smoke pass between the dead animals. You can trust in that why? It is this fire and smoke that guide Israel through the wilderness after the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. It is significant because this fire and smoke is the means by which God Himself led Israel’s paths. Whether or not Abram is still asleep, God does not require or so much as allow him to pass between the dead animals. Why? Man is not capable of good on his own. But God alone is capable of keeping both ends of the covenant. God alone is capable of accomplishing the salvation of His people. Hebrews says that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. God would not leave the salvation of His people in jeopardy by letting it be in the hands of Abram. He does not leave your own salvation in your hands either, for there are no works with which we can earn God’s favor. Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” There is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor, to accomplish our own salvation, but God alone accomplished salvation in Christ. That is what Redemptive History is all about, God saving a rebellious people for His purpose for His glory. Who gets the glory if God alone saves? God.
The rest of that passage in Ephesians says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to walk in good works. You are part of God’s story, and if you have faith your end is eternity with God. I implore you therefore, if you are not sure that you have in faith repented from your sin and turned to Christ do not waste any more time. Get involved in God’s story and live! If you know that you have turn to Christ in faith, and like Abraham have been justified by faith in Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection from the grave, then I implore you to seek out the good works Christ has created you for—not as a means of earning favor, because you have His favor by grace, but as a means of aligning your life with God’s global mission of making His name famous, so that you might live abundantly joyfully like the Macedonians who willingly suffered financially for the sake of Christ Amen. Life’s short. Preach Christ.
I apologize for the length of this post, but I did not know how to cut it down to size. Life’s short. Preach Christ
