The Keeper of a Covenant
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Handout
Genesis 15- full chapter
Genesis 15- full chapter
Review Chapter 14
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
INCLUDE 1 AND THE DEFINITION OF MAGEN IN SLIDE 1
Click #1
1. God refers to Himself as a shield to Abram.
מָגֵן (mā·ḡēn): n.masc. occasionally fem.; ≡ Str 4043; TWOT 367c—1. LN 6.29–6.40 small shield, i.e., a defensive weapon that protects from attack
God reminds Abram to not be afraid.
Don’t fear.
I am your defense.
I am your protector.
The great reward God refers to is a result of Abram’s faith.
The great reward of Abram’s faith is to be in covenant with God.
This chapter deals specifically with what is called the Abrahamic Covenant.
This is a covenant of protection, provision and prosperity for those who walk in faithfulness to God.
Protection:
We talked about this aspect of the covenant.
God protects.
He promises to protect Abram.
Click #2
2. The Lord promises to protect us, therefore don’t be afraid.
Turn to Psalm 91
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Don’t live in fear.
The Lord is our refuge.
He covers us with His presence.
He tells us that he is our shield and rampart.
Rampart is a protective barrier.
Don’t live in fear.
Click #3
3. The enemy knows the power of fear.
He uses it to sedate us.
Or to cause us to cower.
We can see over the course of the past few years the effect of fear upon populations of people.
With this knowledge, we are now given discernment to know how to respond.
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
God is our shield.
A shield protects from an oncoming attack.
We can find confidence to stand protected from the attacks of the enemy behind our shield.
God will push back the onslaught of evil.
It is our task to stand.
To stand behind our Hope.
I am reminded of Ephesians 6.
Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God.
After we put on the armor, what does Paul tell us to do?
To stand.
To stand firm.
Click #4
4. Stand firm having confidence in the protection of the Almighty.
Provision:
Turn back to Genesis 15: 2-3
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Abram is thinking back to the promise God gave him in Genesis 12.
God told Abram that if he follows he will be made into a great nation.
At this point, Abram has no heir.
V.4-6
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God reminds Abram of the promise.
The promise is a result of Abram’s faithfulness.
God promises to provide Abram descendants that are comparable to the number of stars in the sky.
This is physically true.
We are all descendants of the promise of Abram.
Those who place their faith in Jesus are descendants of Abram’s faithfulness toward God.
But this is also a spiritual truth.
God tells Abram to count the stars is he is able.
The stars represent in one sense, people.
In another sense the represent the abundance of truth.
The stars represent the abundance of the knowledge of God.
The Lord promises that Abram will be the father of many nations.
Click #5
5. In faithfulness toward God, the truth will abound.
The Word of the Lord will be made great on the earth because of Abram’s example of trust.
As we walk out our faith with integrity, the truth of God will be made great in the earth.
As Abram gazed up at the stars, God declares that because Abram to be righteous.
Abrams belief and trust in God caused him to be credited with righteousness.
The same is true for us.
Our trust and faithfulness in Jesus as our Savior grants us access to the One who is righteous.
V.7-8
He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
God reminds Abram that he was delivered
He crossed over.
V.9-12
So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
The instructions in these verses sound strange to our ears.
But to Abram, this practice would have been familiar.
It was a common practice for Kings who came into agreement with one another to ratify their agreement with this method.
They would cut an animal in two.
Arrange it in a way to create a pathway.
The two Kings would then walk together between the two halves of animals.
They would walk through the trail of blood left on the ground as a result of the sacrifice.
This act would symbolize a mutual agreement.
It was a way to show mutual determination to follow through with the agreement.
Essentially what this practice illustrated was that if one half of the party that was coming into agreement with the other would break covenant, then they would be like one of the severed animals.
In other words, the two parties would agree that if they did not keep their word, then they would end up destroyed.
This practice is where we get the phrase “to cut a covenant.”
בְּרִית (berîṯ): n.fem.; ≡ Str 1285; TWOT 282a—1. LN 34.42–34.49 covenant, treaty, compact, i.e., an agreement between two parties (Ge 6:18; 14:13), note: the exact relationships of the two parties will vary according to context; 2. LN 34.42–34.49 pledge, a binding oath of promise (2Ki 11:4); 3. LN 34.66–34.78 marriage (Pr 2:17); 4. LN 34.43 unit: כָּרַת בְּרִית (kā·rǎṯ berîṯ) make an agreement, formally, cut a covenant (Ge 26:28), note: see also domain LN 42.7–42.28; 5. LN 33.35–33.68 unit: סֵפֶר בְּרִית (sē·p̄ěr berîṯ) Book of the Covenant, i.e., a body of literature (Ex 24:7); also part of a compound name El-Berith, see 451; Baal-Berith, see 1253
כָּרַת (kā·rǎṯ): v.; ≡ Str 3772; TWOT 1048—1. LN 19.14–19.26 (qal) cut off, cut down, i.e., sever an object from its source, or cut into parts, implying a violent action (Ex 34:13); (qal pass.) be cut off, be cut down (Lev 22:24; Dt 23:2[EB 1]; 1Sa 5:4+); (nif) be cut down (Job 14:7); (hif) cut down (Lev 26:30); (pual) be cut off, be cut down (Jdg 6:28; Eze 16:4+); 2. LN 34.42–34.49 (qal) make a covenant, formally, cut, i.e., make a solemn agreement between parties, with stipulations, benefits, and responsibilities, as an extension of cutting or destroying an animal in the making of some covenants (1Sa 20:16), note: these covenants can be made between persons, gods or God, or political/national alliances; 3. LN 34.31–34.39 (nif) be cut off, i.e., be excluded from an association or membership (Ex 12:15); (hif) banish, cut off (Lev 17:10); 4. LN 68.34–68.57 (nif) stop, cease, fail, formally, cut off, i.e., not have an event happen (or cease) as an extension of severing an object from its source (Ru 4:10); (hif) cut off, cease (1Sa 20:15); (hof) not happen (Joel 1:9+); 5. LN 20.61–20.88 (qal) kill, i.e., put to death by any means as an extension of cutting or severing a body (Eze 14:21); (nif) be cut off, be destroyed, ruined (Ge 9:11); (hif) cut off, destroy, kill (Lev 26:22); 6. LN 19.27–19.33 (qal) uproot, i.e., a tearing motion of removing roots of a plant or tree from the ground, in a tearing motion which severs (Jer 11:19); 7. LN 23.1–23.39 (nif) be consumed, be eaten, formally, cut up, i.e., eat food as a process eating meat off bones, breaking the joints and bones as one eats the meat (Nu 11:33)
This would not have been foreign to Abram.
He would have understood the imagery.
He would have recognized the significance of the illustration that God was showing him.
Skip down to verse 17
We will come back to verses 13- 16 later
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
This happens after Abram cuts the animals in two.
Abram fell into a deep sleep.
Click #6
6. Abram saw a vision of a smoking firepot and a burning torch.
Both the smoking firepot and the blazing torch pass between the animals.
These verses are interesting.
There are various interpretations to exactly what the smoking firepot and the blazing torch represent.
They all have a slightly different outlook.
But all of the various interpretations recognize that the smoking firepot and blazing torch represent God.
Click #7
7. The word smoking in Genesis 15:17 can be translated, pillar of cloud.
8. The oven points to the fact that God is an all consuming fire.
9. The term blazing can be translated as Lightening.
10. The torch represents the Light of the World.
This imagery points ahead to the time when God would lead Israel out of captivity in Egypt.
He led them by Cloud in the day and fire and Lightening by night.
He was with them.
He led them.
It points to our own deliverance.
He delivers us in the same way.
He leads us out of sin.
Protecting us by His covering of hope.
He guides us along the path, equipping us to let go of the old self which He burns away.
He is our Light.
The ever-present help in time of need.
These verses are profound.
They are profound because in this imagery, God is declaring that He is the One who upholds the covenant.
The point is that God walked through the animals himself.
He did not walk alongside Abram.
Abram was a man.
He would not have been able to keep his end of the agreement.
Click #11
11. God Himself walked through the halves of the animals.
12. God declares that He is the author and the keeper of the Covenant.
He is the One who upholds the Covenant.
He is the One who walked the path of blood.
He is the One who suffered death to win us back from sin.
Remember the symbolism of two kings walking the path of animals.
If one fails in keeping the agreement, then they would be like one of the dead animals.
God declares that He will keep His Word to us.
If He fails, then He declares let me be like one of the dead.
He will not fail us.
He will not falter in keeping His Word.
He shows us in this imagery that He is our protector, Our provider and our prosperity.
Side note:
Which valley did Jesus need to walk through in order to cross into Jerusalem leading up to the crucifixion?
Kidron Valley.
Read Article.
https://www.experienceisraelnow.com/we-had-to-cross-the-kidron/
Wrap this up with the last aspect of this covenant which is prosperity.
Look at Verses 13-16
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Anyone know what these verse allude to?
Egyptian slavery.
These events unfolded just as God declared that they would.
In this promise, God states that Abram’s descendants will go through a time of trouble but eventually they would be delivered.
God Himself would lead them to the land of promise.
He would lead them to prosperity.
In these verses God also promises that Abram will have a good life.
The verses state that Abram will be buried at a good old age.
The promise of God’s provision was for Abram, but it was also for the generations who followed.
The promise for us.
Click #13
13. God upholds His Covenant by His own authority.
We can trust His promises.
We can trust His leading.
We can trust that He will continually pour out His mercy upon us.
Click #14
14. We can trust His Word, because He walked the path of blood for us.