THE COVENANT — Genesis

GENESIS 15 THE COVENANT A life-changing spiritual reaction to some eventful experience is quite common to people of faith. It is like we awake to the fact that God is not done with us even if we fail. He gave Abram a significant victory and then presented him with two kings who met him on his way home. The first one was

Melchizedek, king of Salem who represented the kingdom of God and the fellowship with God and His people we find in that kingdom. The other was the king of Sodom who represented the world and all it has to offer. Abram gladly accepted what the king of Salem offered and gave to him what he owed to God, while on the other hand, he wisely rejected everything he was offered by the king of Sodom. Separation from the world and the sin-stained things the world produces is the only way we can keep “unspotted by the world.”

The forming of God’s covenant follows the rescue of Lot and opens another whole new experience of faith in the life of Abram. This is the fifth time Abram had a manifestation of God’s presence. The phrase, “After these things,” indicates Abram had moved farther and higher in his life of faith. God reveals Himself to us when our need is great. After the victory, Abram watched Lot go right back to Sodom. What a letdown! Physical, mental, and even moral reactions may come soon after and period of stress and strain. Fear before a battle is normal because of our lack of confidence in ourselves, and fear of the outcome as well as cowardice. Fear, after the battle is over, is the mark of a brave person who is fully aware of what could have happened if God hadn’t intervened.

Divine Revelation, v.1. “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” God is our shield from all enemies and their opposition. He is also our reward when the battle is over. He does not allow His faithful servants to be losers. Human Response, v.2-3. “Lord God, what will You give me…?” Waiting and longing for God’s promise of a son, had left Abram despondent and disappointed. He had been ten years in Canaan and was getting older, still there was no sign of the fulfillment of a promised heir, and he was thinking about taking matters into his own hands. It is well for us to always remember God acts on His own agenda, not on our timetable. Divine Assurance, v.4-5. “A son coming from your own body will be your heir.” God gently corrects Abram’s lack of faith and in grace, assures him that He will keep His promise. When God instructs us by His word, the manner in which He fulfills His promise is not the issue. Rather, it is the fact that He is giving us further reason to trust Him alone. Human Acceptance, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” In the Old Testament, people in general were conscious of righteousness being a fundamental attribute of God. It was a reference to the rightness of the actions of God; God is always right and consistent with His own nature and character. In His dealings with us, He is not partial, deceptive, crooked, or contradictory. He doesn’t favor the wicked because they are rich, nor does he justify the poor and afflicted because they are poor and afflicted. God’s judgments are always righteous.

God does expect those who belong to Him to be righteous and do what is right. Abram was righteous through faith, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw it and was glad.” He looked forward by faith to the cross. We look backward to the cross-work of our Lord Jesus Christ by faith and understanding and trust in God’s grace. We are able by the Holy Spirit in us, to behave righteously in the sight of God. That is what He expects of us. Redemption has brought us the ability to do what God wants in our daily life as well as every aspect of life. Righteous people live a life of sanctification in which we act more like our Lord because of His righteousness that has been passed on to us.

It is possible for us to become spiritually despondent right after a spiritual victory. Our weak humanity can quickly succumb to the temptation to sit down and stop doing what God wants. That in turn, will lead to spiritual disheartenment. By being despondent and allowing spiritual depression to continue, we can easily bring discredit to the name of God. We need protection against spiritual discouragement. This is found as God continually reveals Himself to our minds and hearts through His word and fellowship with Him in prayer. God’s truth deserves our whole-hearted trust. His grace and our faith can overcome discouragement. Spiritual discipline brings us closer to God and to where we depend on Him rather than on the gifts, He gives us. He is the foundation of our faith, our source of spiritual life, power, progress, and joy.

BLESSINGS CAN ALSO BE TRIALS

The promises of God are tests of our faith. Grief often comes before joy. Excitement may soon be followed by drudgery. Fruit follows extensive labor. As faith progress, it wants to see the “promised land.” We become strong in faith by the trials through which we are called to pass. Faith leads us to worship God Himself, not because of the blessings He grants us.
The promises are believed, but faith doesn’t know how they will come. Our faith is in the Person who gives the promises, not the words of the promise. A promise is only as reliable as the person who gives it. By faith, we believe God means what He says. How He chooses to fulfill the promises He gives, and when that will be, is up to Him.
The promises of God, and our promise to Him, are the basis of a covenant. Faith worships and faith takes action in worship. Abram divided the animals in half and opened the birds with their wings wide. The innermost substance of the sacrifices needed to form the covenant needed to be exposed to the view of both who were involved in making the covenant. Nothing was held back. Normally in a covenant between people, both parties would walk between the two halves. In this case, in the dreadful darkness, it was the fire of God only that passed through making the trial of darkness become an hour of light. Earthly things were shut out in the darkness while heavenly things were revealed.
The promises of God may not be fully understood, but they are real. The trial of Abram ended in the light of the covenant, and the faith of Abram was revealed as never before. Faith believes and righteousness results, but when we worship God Himself, His promises become larger than we had ever imagined. So, faith that is anxious, can be faith that quietly rests, knowing that what God says, He will do.

“I am your shield”. Gen.15:1 In any ancient battle, a shield was as important as a sword. A shield is a piece of armor designed for defense, and by movement can stop the arrows and darts of the enemies. When one is behind the shield, there is safety. The “shield of faith” is one part of a believer’s spiritual armor he is to take on to protect him from the “fiery darts” of the wicked. When a person is a shield, that means that whatever was intended against you, is focused on another who is in front of you – who has taken your place.

God Himself is our Shield. In the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, He has positioned Himself between us and our enemies. Holy justice has the right to bring us down because of our sins and failures, but it fell on our Lord Jesus instead of us. Satan casts his darts of deception, lies, animosity, and outright hatred of righteousness and truth, but our Lord took every one upon Himself. The wages of our sin bring the dart of the fear of death and death itself, but our “Shield” died for our sins according to the scriptures, when He “died for the ungodly.” None of those darts and arrows of challenge against us gets past the One who is our Shield in front of us.

Sin is an enemy over which we have no control or power in ourselves, and death is the result of sin. How thankful we are that “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

Satan is an enemy whose evil strength seeks to take us to hell. The shield of faith given to us, along with the Shield in front of us, gives us the ability to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Self is an awful enemy that is at us constantly without letup. The Shield enables us to reject ‘the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” as well as the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Success and pleasure are enemies that promise much and produce little that lasts for eternity. Both of these are never satisfied. They have a tendency to beat us down and we may fall under the onslaught of their futility.
Scorn and sarcasm are enemies that may come unexpectedly, but “greater is he that is in you, that he that is in the world.”
Sadness and sorrow are twin enemies that often attack when we least expect them. The Shield before us bids us to “Look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

‘Your exceeding great reward.” Gen.15:1

Abram first heard God’s call of reward when he was in Ur of the Chaldees when he was in the middle of an idolatrous city.
Abram heard God speak to him when the temptation was put before him to take riches from the king of Sodom, but instead, he turned away from that with a holy indifference.
There is a narrow gate and a narrow way open before those who can see beyond the treasures of the broad way, which leads to the place where we lay up treasures in heaven.
To enter through that open door, means that we move in spirit to where we are willing to enter by faith in God’s word. It is then we put our faith in Christ alone for salvation. Then we walk and live by faith, not by sight.
The love of this world and the emptiness of all it offers, fades when we look to the One who is our “Exceeding Great Reward.” Our treasure is Christ Himself. He is our present reward, our great reward, our eternal reward. He is God, and He is the Man who paid the price we needed to pay to be righteous before the holy God. We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ.
The present advocacy of our Lord Jesus Christ is an exceeding great reward. Because He lives, we shall live also. “Our life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The promise of His return is an exceeding great reward. When Christ is established in our hearts today, this is an exceeding great reward that we already have and will have forever.

CONFIRMATION OF FAITH The verses in this chapter from seventeen to twenty-one give us a view of how we should respond to, reverence, and respect God in our communication with Him. It is no casual matter to be speaking to and interacting with, the Almighty God. True, He is our Father, but not in the same way as our earthly fathers. God’s response to the faith Abram had in Him, was to enter into covenant with him. This would assure Abram and those of his seed after him, of all of God’s promises being fulfilled. The Foundation of the Covenant, v.7. God’s character and God’s presence never change. He is always the same and always will be. He had redeemed Abram and called him to go where he directed. God had preserved him through famine and failure when his faith became weak. He had used Abram to rescue Lot when he delivered the enemy into the hands of Abram and his servants. Then God renewed the promise of the land of Canaan to him, and His objective of blessing the world through the man who “believed in the Lord.” The Desire for the Covenant, v.8. Abram wanted proof, and appealed to God for knowledge and assurance. He wanted some visible evidence and a pledge. He didn’t need this to believe, but after he believed he wanted confirmation as to how and when the promise would be fulfilled. He was like the man who came to the Lord Jesus and said, “Lord, I believe, help Thou my unbelief.” How kind it was of God to be willing to enter into this covenant with His friend! The Preparation for the Covenant, v.9-16. The instructions from God were plain. Abram’s part in the covenant was to provide the requirements connected to solemnly establishing the terms of the covenant. It was his responsibility to do what God said so that a pathway between the parts of animals and birds would be made. In covenants between people, both participants would walk that path to ratify their agreement. The Readiness for the Covenant, v.11-12. Abram was faithful to God and obeyed the command of God exactly as he had been instructed. This is the attitude and the way every believer should act in order to progress and develop as a person of faith. Obeying God, and waiting and watching for God to fulfill His promise is our part as participants in the new covenant we have with our Lord. A spiritual attitude is the underlying necessity to keep our part of the covenant with God. The dreadful darkness was God’s way of detaching Abram from anything that would divert his attention from the presence of God. Darkness around us makes us more conscious of the presence of God with us. The Message of the Covenant, v.13-16.

His seed will go into exile and be in bondage and affliction
His seed will witness the power of God
He would find peace in his old age
He was to be patient because God was working out His will

The Making of the Covenant, v.17-21. The firepot and flaming torch symbolized the presence of God passing between the halves of the animals, and the birds, which was evidence that this was not an agreement between equals. This was a Divine Action as God ratified His promise to Abram. God promises, God gives and God assures. This was a prelude to a description of God’s promise of the land to His fried, the man of faith. God gave what Abram wanted and his Human Attitude was obvious with a feeling of gratitude, a response of complete trust, an expression of thanksgiving, and a life of obedience. Sonship and inheritance. Gen.15.

1. v.1. Revelation of God: “in a vision.”

2. v.2-3. Response of faith: “I am … reward.”

3. v.4. Reward of grace: “He shall come forth.”

4. v.5-7. Reckoning of righteousness: “Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness [Rom.4]. Look, listen, believe.

5. v.8-10. Remission of sins: Sacrifice.