The Abrahamic Covenant Part I

God rocks Abraham’s world one day, when his name was yet Abram, by calling him out of his idol-making family in the land of Ur, and making one of the mightiest promises made with any man. In Genesis 12:1-3 God promises old and yet childless Abram that he would be the father of nations and through him all the families of the earth would be blessed:

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Previously in the grand narrative of redemptive history, a people came together with a plan to do exactly the opposite of what God instructed. From the beginning God commanded humans, the one creation made in His image, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (with the reflection of His glorious attributes woven into the fabric of our beings). Essentially God commanded humans to go into all the world and fill it with His glory, which is the purpose for which we were created as evidenced in texts like Isaiah 43:6-11[i]. In Genesis 11 the text records a rebellious group of people who settled down in favor of spreading to the ends of the earth, founded a city, and built a tower for their namesake—not God’s. It a momentous act of grace God does not destroy them with fire, but rather confuses their language and forces them to spread out. The story of the Tower of Babel has great implications on the Greatest Story Ever Told, because the story documents how passionate God is about the spread of His glory.

Abram is the son of an idol-maker, and quite possibly an idol-maker himself. It is important to note here that Abram is like us, and any other human, in that he is born with a sinful nature. He did nothing meritorious of God visiting him and promising to make him a great nation. Genesis 12 is a powerful example of God’s grace in the Old Testament. Grace simply means unmerited favor. God’s favor was with Abram, even though his actions didn’t merit such favor. Without doing anything worthy of God’s favor, God makes a covenant (usually a two-sided promise, “if I do this, you do that,” but when God makes a covenant He fulfills both ends) with Abram—that he would be the father of a Great Nation, and through that nation all families of the earth would be blessed. That nation is Israel—God’s chosen people in the Old Testament—and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is a descendant of Israel in His humanity, and through Him all nations are blessed with salvation from death and Hell by His work on the cross. All of Redemptive History looks forward or backward to the cross. The cross is the great intersection of Redemptive History, and the glory of God its goal. Genesis 12:4-9:

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ⁸From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. ⁹And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abram is very old, but nevertheless he follows the LORD (whenever LORD is in all capitals it signifies God’s proper name as we understand it YHWH—Yahweh) to the land of Canaan and builds him an altar. God promises Abram that his offspring would inherit the land to which he traveled, without requiring anything from Abram in return. This is the first mention of the Promised Land, but that land will become a great focus of this great story. For now however, I simply want to turn your attention to the Eternal Promised Land, the New Creation promised at the return of Jesus the Christ:

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

⁵And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." ⁶And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. ⁸ But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."-Revelation 21:1-8

Amen.

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[i]I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
⁷everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made."

⁸Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
who are deaf, yet have ears!
⁹ All the nations gather together,
and the peoples assemble.
Who among them can declare this,
and show us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
and let them hear and say, It is true.
¹⁰ "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD,
"and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
¹¹ I, I am the LORD,
and besides me there is no savior. (Isaiah 43:6-11)