|
God’s
Covenant with Abraham Continued
from The
Essence of Covenant “Keeping in mind this procedure for making a
covenant, we'll turn to Genesis 15:7‑18, which describes how the
Lord entered into a covenant with Abram (his name had not yet become
Abraham): 7 And He said to him, "I am the
LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to
possess it." 8 And he said, “0 Lord GOD, how may I
know that I shall possess it?" 9 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." 10 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. 11 And the birds of prey came down
upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a
deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon
him. 13 And God said to Abram, "Know
for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not
theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 "But I Will also judge the
nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many
possessions. 15 "And as for you, you shall go
to your fathers in peace, you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in the fourth generation
they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet
complete." 17 And it came about when the sun had
set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a
flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant
with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land..."
(Genesis 15.7‑18) The passage opens with the Lord making a promise to
Abram that He will give him the land of Canaan for his possession. Abram
responds with a question: "How may
I know... ?" In reply, the Lord proceeds to
make a covenant with Abram. In other words, God's final commitment to do
anything is in a covenant. When God has entered into a covenant, there is no
more that He can do to commit Himself. Covenant represents final, irrevocable commitment.
Once God has made the covenant with Abram, He no longer speaks in the future
tense He does not say, "I will give," He says, "I have given." The covenant has settled it—finally and
forever. The procedure by which the Lord entered into the
covenant with Abram corresponds exactly to that described in Jeremiah 34:18‑20.
Abram had to take the sacrificial animals, kill them, and divide them into
two pieces. Then it appears that, in due course, the Lord and Abram passed
between the pieces of the sacrifice. By that strange act, the Lord entered
into a covenant commitment with Abram. Now let us look at some of the details of this
transaction. Every one of them is illuminating. Verse 11 reads. "And the birds of prey came down upon
the carcasses, and Abram drove them away." These words bring back
very vivid memories to me. During World War II, while serving with the British
forces in Egypt, I lay for one full year sick and in hospital, with a
condition which apparently the doctors were not able to heal. In desperation,
I turned to the Bible to see what it had to say. Ultimately, after reading
the whole Bible through, I came to the conclusion that God had provided
healing for me through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross,
that it was a part of the covenant God had made with me through
Christ. But as I sought to lay hold of this truth, my mind was continually
assailed with all sorts of fits of depression, doubt, and darkness. As I lay there, wrestling to appropriate my covenant
benefits in Christ and fighting off these moods of depression and doubt, I
happened to read this passage in Genesis chapter 15, and I saw that it was
Abram's job to drive the birds of prey away. God ordained the sacrificial
objects, but to keep them intact was Abram's job. Likewise, I saw that God
had provided the sacrifice in Christ for me, but it was my job to keep those
satanic birds from preying on the sacrifice and robbing me of my benefits. So
I saw there was a period in which I would have to keep driving the birds away.
No matter how many times doubt or unbelief or fear would attack me, it was my
privilege and my responsibility to keep those sacrificial objects intact.
They were not to be desecrated by the satanic birds of prey that wanted to
feed on them and take away from my inheritance. Then it says in verse 12: “Now when the sun was going down, a deep steep fell upon Abram; and
behold, terror and darkness fell upon him.” This was a very profound
spiritual experience in which Abram as a mature, committed believer went
through “terror and great darkness.”
Does your theology make room for that? Do you know that some of the greatest
saints of God go through periods of spiritual darkness? It is not necessarily
a mark of immaturity or weakness to go through darkness. In fact, God cannot
trust the immature and weak with that kind of experience. He knows just how much each of us can
endure. Abram did not go through the darkness because he was weak or
uncommitted, but he went through it because it was part of his total spiritual
experience. His darkness was a preview of what his descendants were to suffer
in Egypt. As their father, he had share a measure of their suffering. In verses 13 through 16, the Lord explains to Abram
what is going to happen to his descendants in Egypt, and how ultimately He
will intervene and deliver them and bring them back to the land of
Canaan. Then verse 17, a new dimension
is added to Abram’s experience: “And it
came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there
appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these
pieces." To the normal darkness of night is added the blackness of
smoke belching from an oven. Frequently in Scripture, an oven or a furnace
typifies intense suffering. In Isaiah 48:10, God says to Israel: "Behold, I have refined you, but not
as silver: I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." (By the
way, it is worth noting that word “affliction”
in the Hebrew does not mean health
issues, or disease, etc. but “misery,” or “trouble.” For a clear example, see 2 Cor. 11:23-30; see also
God’s Covenant of Healing) This applies at times to all of God's people. If you
should ever find yourself in the furnace, remember that is where God refines
you and tests you. How you react in the furnace will determine your destiny.
You are not necessarily in the furnace because you are weak or backslidden or
because you have failed God. You are in the furnace because the furnace does
things for you that nothing else can do. In Malachi 3:3, God warns the sons
of Levi, His priests, that He will refine them as gold and silver are
refined. Precious metals are never purified without intense heat. In the midst of this overwhelming darkness to which
Abram was subjected—a darkness that was both natural and supernatural—there
was "a flaming torch which passed
between these pieces" (v. 17). What a depth of meaning there is in
that! The flaming torch was a manifestation of the Spirit of God,
corresponding to "the seven lamps
of fire...which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 4:5) that John
saw before the throne in heaven. It was at this moment—the moment of deepest
darkness—that the Lord, in the appearance of the flaming torch, made His
commitment to Abram. He passed between the pieces and, in so doing, He
entered into the covenant. Let me return again for a moment to my experience in
the hospital in Egypt. It was at that time of darkness in my life that the
truth of this incident in Genesis chapter 15 became so vivid to me. I learned
that there are times of utter darkness when the Holy Spirit will illuminate
only one thing, the emblems of the sacrifice, because that is all we need to
see. The sacrifice is the emblem of the covenant, and the covenant is God’s
final irrevocable commitment. You may pass through a time when you can see nothing
but the one fact that Jesus died for you. That is all you need to know.
Everything is included in that. Romans 8:32 tells us, “He who did not spare
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him
freely give us all things?” There are times when that is all you hold on to.
It is the covenant made in the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how the Lord and Abram entered into covenant.
As I understand it, each passed in turn between the pieces of the sacrifices.
Isn't it amazing that Almighty God would do that with a man? It staggers my
mind that, in a certain sense, God would come all the way down from heaven to
pass between those pieces of slain animals to make His commitment to Abram. I
am overwhelmed to realize that God would go to such lengths to make His
personal commitment to a man. Valid
Only Through Death But
why was a sacrifice necessary? Why was that the only way to enter into a
covenant? The
answer is that the sacrifice symbolized the death of each party to the
covenant. As each party walked between the pieces of the slain animal, he was
saying, in effect, "That is my death. That animal died as my
representative. He died in my place. As I enter into this covenant, I enter
into my death. Now that I am in covenant I have no right to live.“ That explains why both Hebrew and Greek make no
distinction between covenant and testament. The
necessity of death to make a covenant valid is emphasized in Hebrews: “For where a covenant is, there must of
necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant
is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who
made it lives.” (Hebrews 9:16-17) These
words leave no room for misunderstanding. The one who enters into a covenant
enters into it by death. As long as a person remains alive, he is not in
covenant. It is impossible to be in covenant and remain alive. The death of
the sacrificed animal is physical, but it symbolizes another form of death
for the one who offers the sacrifice and passes through the pieces. The one
who does this hereby renounces all right, from that moment, to live for
himself. As each party passes through the pieces of the sacrifice, he says,
in effect, to the other: “If need be, I will die for you. From now on, your
interests take precedence over my own. I no longer live for myself; I live
for you.” To
God, a covenant is no empty ritual. It is a solemn and sacred commitment. If
we trace through history the course of events that resulted from the Lord's
covenant with Abram, we see that each party had to make good the commitment
which the covenant represented. Some
years later, when Abram had become Abraham, God said to him: "I want
your son Isaac, your only son. The most precious thing you have is no longer
yours because you and I are in covenant. It is mine." To his eternal
credit, Abraham did not falter. He was willing to offer up Isaac. Only at the last moment did the Lord
intervene directly from heaven and stop him from actually slaying his son
(see Genesis chapter 22). However,
that is not the end of the story. God had also committed Himself to Abraham.
Two thousand years later, God in His turn, fulfilled His part of the
covenant. To meet the need of Abraham and his descendants, God offered up His
only Son. But this time, there was no last minute reprieve. On the cross,
Jesus laid down His life as the full price of redemption for Abraham and all
his descendants. That act was the outcome of the commitment that God and
Abram had made to each other on that fateful night two thousand years
earlier, when they passed between those pieces of the sacrifice. All that
followed from then on in the course of history determined by their covenant. The commitment that
is made in a covenant is that solemn, that total, and that irrevocable.” Abraham
was blessed in “all things” (Gen.
24:1; see also Gen.15:9-21; Heb.6:13). If
you are a committed follower of Jesus the Christ, you are a descendant of
Abraham for “through the work of Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles
with the same blessing He promised to Abraham, and we Christians receive the
promises … through faith” (Gal.3:7,
9, 14, 16, 29; see also Acts 28:28; Rom.4; 9:16-30; Heb.6:13-19). That is
good news! “No, I will not break My covenant; I will not take back a single word I said.” (Psalm 89:34) “The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all those who keep His covenant and obey His decrees.” (Psalm 25:10) Back to The Essence of Covenant Fifteen Great Covenants of
Scripture
The
Context “The object and purpose of our instruction and charge is that all believers would be filled with charity (love) that comes from a pure heart, and a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” —1 Timothy 1:5 Links “For His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and goodness. And by that same mighty power, He has given to us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these you all might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter1:3-4) There are 750 promises in the New Testament alone. The Key That Unlocks all promises Link
to the list of 250
separate benefits of the 750 New Testament promises “The
Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all those who keep his
covenant and obey his decrees.” (Ps. 25:10) The benefits of God’s promises
are conditional. “…For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged [by the Lord]. But when we are judged, we are chastened [taught] by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” (1 Corinthians 11:31-32) “…Remember, each of us will stand personally before the judgment seat of Messiah (Christ).” (Romans 2:1-16; 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10-11) Understand the Seven Judgments in Scripture – currently under construction “If
you love me [Jesus], keep My commandments.” (John 14:15; 1 John 5:2-3; 2 John 1:6) And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess.
5:23). See the tri-unity of humans. Some
links require Adobe Acrobat Reader “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Habakkuk 2:4) “So we see that they could
not enter in because of unbelief.”
(Hebrews 3:19) See Doubt and Unbelief
concerning God’s Word “Beloved, I pray above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even
as your soul prospers.” (3 John 1:2) “For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) See the reality of evil, Satan, or the devil
“Be careful for nothing; but
in every thing by prayer and supplication
[prayer as from neediness] with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God.” (Philippians 4:6) See The Art of Prayer “…The
eternal purpose which He [God]
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11). “…Rightly dividing the
word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Link to God's
Plan for Mankind This
site relies mostly on the message of the “King James Version” (KJV) of the
Bible. Here are some of
the reasons. Thank you Derek Prince and Derek Prince Ministries Thank you Finis Jennings Dake and Dake Publishing |