Genesis 15 by Rev. Todd Bordow

More and more Christians are coming to understand the importance of covenant in the Bible. Whenever the Lord establishes a relationship with man, he does so by way of a covenant; so much so that theologian Geerhardus Vos once wrote, “God says nothing to man apart from covenant.”
Children, a covenant is a legal, binding arrangement between two parties. Think of a contract, or the promises made in a wedding ceremony. What you need to know is that in the Bible, as well as in the ancient world, there were two types of covenants; unilateral covenants and bilateral covenants. Bilateral covenants were covenants where both parties promised to fulfill the terms. Unilateral covenants were covenants where only on party promised to fulfill the terms.
An example of a bilateral covenant would be a covenant between kings. In this type of treaty, each king would bind himself to fulfill the terms of the agreement. The treaty was then ratified in a covenant ceremony, where each king would officially swear upon his life to fulfill his terms of the covenant.
An example of a unilateral covenant would be where a king would swear to grant a servant a tract of land. A modern example would be a last will and testament. A parent legally binds himself to ensure that his children receive a certain amount of money when he dies. There is nothing the children agree to; the children are only the receipts of this unilateral promise.
In Genesis 15 the Lord makes a covenant with Abraham. This covenant is unilateral; a covenant of pure grace. It must be unilateral because in Adam Abraham was already a covenant breaker. The first covenant between God and Adam was bilateral; a covenant of works. Adam needed to obey God for man to be given eternal life.
All people, including Abraham, are born into this world covenant breakers because of their father Adam. People think at Judgment Day God will look at their whole life and decide if that person did enough good to enter heaven. But you were born with a verdict of “guilty” already over your head, because in Adam you broke the covenant with God.
But the Lord promises in Genesis 15 to save Abraham from the consequences of breaking the original covenant. In this covenant the Lord promises Abraham all the blessings of eternal salvation, including a relationship with God, forgiveness of sins, an eternal paradise to live in, the righteousness needed to stand before a holy God, and that from his offspring the Lord would form a great band of people from around the world who would also be beneficiaries of this covenant.
All this is too much for Abraham to believe; he often struggles to believe it. In v. 1 God appears to Abraham in a vision and repeats the promises. Abraham, do not fear, I am your shield and I will greatly reward you.
We have seen that when the Lord tells Abraham not to fear, it means he is afraid. Why would Abraham be afraid? Well, remember that Abraham rejected a deal with the king of Sodom that would have made him rich and powerful. Abraham didn’t want anyone thinking he was relying on that king for riches and protection, but on God, so he turned down the offer. Now he was again weak and vulnerable in the midst of all the powerful kings in the Ancient Near East.
Added to this fear was the growing worry as time went on that he would never bear children. God had promised him offspring, but he is over 75, and his wife over 65! It was impossible for them to bear children! Abraham needed assurance that God would do as he promised. So God comes to Abraham and gives him assurance just when he needed it. Do not fear, I am your shield; I will protect you, and you shall receive all I promised.
Though these promises would have a temporary fulfillment with the nation Israel, Abraham understood that God was promising him the gospel. Abraham knew that from his physical descendants a Savior would be born who would take away his sin. Abraham knew that the Land of Canaan pictured the paradise God’s people would inherit at the resurrection. Jesus said in John 8 that Abraham rejoiced that a savior would come and bring them to a city from heaven.
In vv. 2&3 Abraham asks a question to God about the promises. How can this be since you have not given me any offspring, and my servant will end up being my heir?
We can certainly sympathize with Abraham; everyone else around him was having babies, but his wife and he remained childless. Lord, are you sure you are going to do all these things for me?
Abraham is not being disrespectful here, he is being honest. He is pouring out to God his doubts. It is difficult to believe the gospel sometimes, is it not? We all feel like Abraham at times. As I was on the ship last week looking out over the vast sea, I couldn’t help but thinking how puny I am, and wondering why the Creator of all this would have anything to do with me.
Sometimes, after a particularly bad week, where our sinfulness is rather apparent and our hearts rather cold, we wonder if we really are in a relationship with God. We rightly think, I need to go to church and hear how God accepts me because of Christ and not because of my Christian performance. Abraham simply needed to hear the gospel again.
God answers Abraham’s concerns by bringing Abraham outside and instructing him to look up into the night sky. Abraham, do you know how many offspring I will give you? Do you know how many of your children will live in Paradise with me? Look up, try to count the starts. You will not even being able to count your eternal family.
In v. 6 we have that glorious statement that Abraham believed God’s promise, and God counted Abraham as righteous. Since Adam’s fall this is every man’s need; to be counted as righteous in the eyes of a holy God. God freely grants Abraham the status of “righteous” when Abraham believed the gospel.
The Apostle Paul uses this verse to prove that we are given a right standing with God through faith alone, not through our good works. Abraham had done many noble deeds; he had left his country to follow God, he had offered his nephew Lot the best of the land, he had rescued Lot in a great battle, he had given Melchizedeck a tenth of the spoils; but none of these was the cause of his right standing before God. Abraham was granted all these promises because he believed God.
It is not that Abraham’s faith was so impressive that God was bound to reward such faith. Abraham a sinner had nothing to offer a holy God, even his faith was imperfect. It was not the quality of his faith that saved Abraham, but the object of his faith, Jesus Christ the Savior.
This brings us to vv. 7-21. It is time for the covenant ratification ceremony. Outside of the birth, death and resurrection of Christ, this may be the most remarkable passage in the entire Bible.
God reminds Abraham in v. 7 that he is the sovereign Lord who called Abraham out of his idol worship to serve the true God. Abraham now belongs to the Lord by ownership. God called Abraham to confer upon him abundant and wonderful blessings. Because Abraham was still struggling to believe all this, evidenced by his question in v. 8, the Lord seals his promise with a covenant ceremony.
In those days, two parties would ratify a covenant by splitting apart animals and forming a bloody pathway between the carcasses. Each party would walk through the bloody pathway, which was in essence saying, may I become like these animals if I fail to perform the terms of this covenant. To walk through the animals was to call a curse upon yourself for breaking the covenant.
The Lord instructs Abraham to gather together the animals for the ceremony, then to split them in two to make the bloody path. What was Abraham thinking as he gathered up the animals? Since God is not here to walk the path, will I be required to walk through and pledge my obedience? Who would swear upon his death to fulfill the terms of the covenant? Whose blood was on the line here?
Vultures fly down and try to eat the carcasses, but Abraham shoos them away. In the Old Testament, birds of prey symbolize the enemies of God’s people. Not everyone is thrilled with this covenant God is making with Abraham. The spiritual forces of darkness especially do not want God to make such a binding agreement to save sinners.
Gathering and cutting up those animals must have made Abraham tired, so at sunset he fell asleep. In his sleep a dreadful darkness engulfs him, a darkness he had never experienced before. In the darkness the Lord reveals that Abraham’s descendants would not experience the promises until they first suffered. They will be enslaved for many years, but after an appointed time God would bring them to the Promised Land and judge their enemies.
Abraham learns that the blessings of God’s covenant will only come through suffering. To some degree Abraham was experiencing in that nightmare the darkness of Christ’s sufferings; those sufferings that would enable these promises to be fulfilled terenally.
As extraordinary as all this seemed to Abraham, nothing could have prepared him for what was to come next. Abraham is still asleep. Soon he would need to wake up for the ceremony. But in his sleep he sees a large pot with smoke spewing out, forming a cloud. Next to this pot was a burning torch. Remember that God led Israel by a cloud and pillar of fire? This cloud and pillar of fire represented God’s legs.
God had come down to walk through bloody pathway. Abraham beholds God walking between the animal carcasses. Abraham would not be required to walk through it all. God would be the one to pledge his loyalty to Abraham!
Beloved, do you see what is happening? God is pronouncing a curse upon himself if he does not give Abraham all he promised. God is saying, may I die if I do not perform all the promises of this covenant.
In essence God did exactly that. To confer what he promised God would need to come down to earth in the form of a man and die on the cross. The Lord of glory was crucified so that we might inherit all these promises. We who trust in Jesus Christ are as the stars of the sky, and we will inherit paradise forever.
How gracious is our God? As the mighty Creator he has the right to make the demands. He has the right to demand that we walk through the animals and pledge our loyalty to be saved. But instead, he made his own eternal Son take upon himself the wrath due to our covenant breaking. We should be like those animals, but instead Christ died in our place.
Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ to save you? This is the work of God; that ye believe on Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. He asks nothing of you but faith in the work of his Son, because you have nothing in yourself to please him. Humble yourself and believe; be justified by faith like Abraham by believing in the Savior Jesus Christ.
Christian, as Abraham’s children you will also doubt. Sometimes the promises of God also seem impossible; how can he love me so much? To assure your doubts, God binds himself in a covenant ceremony. God can never forget the covenant he bound himself to.
Man breaks covenants all the time. Husbands and wives break the covenants they make to each other at their marriage ceremony. Political leaders break covenants. But God never lies. He cannot break the covenant he made.
God shall fulfill his promises to you, and no matter how weak you are, no matter how often you fall, empty handed you came to him trusting only in the merits of Jesus Christ to save you, and God will do all he promised. He will lead through the hardships of life to possess the Promised Land with all Abraham’s children. Amen