Genesis 17:1-5 "Establishing the Covenant"

Introduction:

Under-girding the Kingdom of God is the foundational truth of God’s commitment to the fidelity of His eternal covenant of redemption.

The covenant of redemption is an eternal covenant that was made in eternity past between the Father and the Son.

The Father decreed the plan of redemption and the Son agreed to its terms where He would come as the lamb of God and offer Himself up as a sacrifice in the place of sinners. This aspect of the covenant is often referred to by theologians as the covenant of grace. This is where God initiates the outworking of His covenant through Christ into the world as expressed in various other covenants.

Under the umbrella of the Covenant of Grace are other covenants that solidify and express God’s grace being revealed in the plan of redemption.

If you have ever been in one of my Sunday School classes you would know that I teach using an outline format with words on the pages that I hand out. Like a teacher may use an outline to structure content and communication to emphasize primary versus secondary points of what is being taught, the language structure of God is expressed in covenant language.

Covenant structure, as it is being revealed in historical narrative, is interweaving history with the theological truth of God’s revelation. This is why Dorthy Sayers statement is true that, “the Dogma is the Drama”. What she meant by that was that the theological truth is wrapped up in the dramatic historical interaction of God’s involvement with man. And this is carried out in the context of covenant.

One such covenant is the Abrahamic Covenant and it serves as the historical backdrop of our text this morning. And as we shall see when God covenants with man as an expression of the covenant of redemption by grace there is always an initiation worked by God. And this covenant is no different. Look back at verses 1-2:

I. The Covenant Initiation (1-2).

Now at first glance we may be led to think here in the ESV that it appears that this covenant is a conditional covenant that is dependent of Abrams obedience to walk before God in obedience. But before we think that it is important for us to understand that this text is dealing with a ratification of the covenant and the sign of circumcision being established as the covenant sign.

God first spoke to Abram at the beginning of Genesis 12. And there is no indication that Abram was the one who initiated the relationship.

God initiated the speaking of words to Abram and no indication is even given at this point that Abram did any talking. God commanded Abram to, Go from your country and your kindred and your Father’s house to the land I will show you (12:1).

But God also initiated promised covenant blessing on Abram.

I will make of you a great nation (2a).

I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing (2b).

I will bless those who bless you and those who dishonor you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (3).

And we read in chapter 12 verse 4: So, Abram went, as the Lord had told him (4a). And we know that Abraham was 75 years old when he finally left Haran (12:4). God initially spoke to Abram back in Ur of the Chaldeans. And we know this from Acts 7:1-4.

The other thing that must be noted is that the demonstrative pronoun “that” which denotes the idea of Abram meeting a condition is better translated as a conjunction using the word “and”. This is why I believe the New King James gets it right here in this text using the term “And” as it is better rendered “And I will make My covenant between Me and you.” So in the Hebrew it is a conjunction that is being used.

This understanding fits better overall because every time the covenant is ratified God emphasizes again and again that He is the one who will bring this to pass.

God solidified the covenant on Abram’s behalf with Himself because it would not be Abram that would would fulfill the covenant on His end. It would be one of his descendents. Judaism says it was Isaac, Islam says it was Ishmael and the Scriptures tell us it was the eternal Son of God made flesh and born of a young virgin Jewish girl who conceived by the Holy Spirit.

And every last single part of this story of God’s covenant is saturated with His initiating grace driving it to come to pass throughout history in the person and work of Christ. And once you understand the drama you can see the dogma unfolding and you can begin to see the covenant indication. Look at verse 3-5:

II. The Covenant Indication (3-5).

Abram is once again extremely humbled by this covenant ratification and he falls on his face before God. This was a time when people groups like Abram and his entourage of all in his household could be wiped out by an opposing army or a plague of some kind. Abram has been repeatedly reassured by God almighty that his offspring would continue upon the earth and in the end they will inherit all of it and they would all be recipients of covenant blessing through Abram’s seed.

This is also where Abram got a name change. God changed his name to Abraham to reflect something promised that Abraham never got to see. Verse 4 is quoted and reference throughout Romans 4:11-17 where Paul argues that justification is by faith and he uses the life and faith of Abraham as an example that we are justified by faith apart from circumcision.

So the Apostle Paul’s logic is that Abraham is the Father of all who believe by faith from among the Jews and Gentiles. From all the nations of the world, from every people group and it was all being established and initiated by God revealed in the covenant of Abraham and brought to fulfillment through Jesus Christ.

So, Abraham’s new name is a covenant indicator that God was decreeing and revealing something global in scope when it came to His covenant of redemption. This is why Paul’s New Testament understanding as seen through the finished work of Christ makes faith the issue and not ethnicity for everyone, for both Jew and Gentile.

Listen closely to Romans 4:11-13 “11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.”

So, in the name Abraham we learn that the Kingdom scope is global regarding people groups and that justification is by faith and it is the only means by which an inheritance can be secured in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. And God has done it all and He is bringing it to fulfillment in and through the person and work of Christ.

If the dogma is in the drama, then what does it matter to us in our day and time? Is the application just another theological point to be made? This brings us to what I am calling covenant application:

III. The Covenant Application

Christian, the covenant application is revealed in the expression of God’s structural order being communicated to His people.

Most of us will at least say, well this is an interesting fact for us to ponder but how does it translate into something applicable for my life?

Christian it is the very truth that moves your assurance in Christ from the mundane aspects of your experiential life into the realm of the covenant security of God in Christ.

The writer of Hebrews picks up on this when He says in Hebrews 6:13-14-- 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” (Christian you should Read Hebrews 6:13-20)

Christ is the object of our saving faith but Christ is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham. Christ is the fulfillment of the covenantal structure that God put in place.

All the covenants in the O.T. were pointing towards Christ but when we go back and look at the foundational elements of that covenantal structure we find that it is all built upon the fidelity of God’s unwavering ability to keep His promise.

Just recently I saw a group of truckers who were being told that due to their company’s bankruptcy that their pensions were not necessarily secure.

One man interviewed expressed his disgust over his 30 years of service and the sacrifices that he made for the company only to have it come down to this.

Few things in this world can be trusted with absolute assurance because nearly everything is affected by changes that can come in a fallen world.

Men violate covenants all the time. And things that men believe are secure in this fallen world are really dependent on so many variables that they are never absolute in the end.

But Christian, your security in God’s covenant through Christ is unshakable. And to believe in Christ is not just to believe in what He did on the Cross for us but to believe in the foundational covenant structure of the God who decreed the entirety of the plan in the first place. Remember the Call to worship this morning from Psalm 146?

Psalm 146:3-5 “3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,”

And we learn this warning from Isaiah 31:1

Isaiah 31:1 “1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!”

Truth is Christian, Scripture tells us such things over and over again. The historical events revealed in Scripture give us examples over and over again. History itself recorded by historian tell us again and again of the folly of assurance being rooted in a fallen world.

This is why optimism that fails to take the foundational structure of the covenant fidelity of God into account is just a human optimism built on wishful thinking and not the same thing as Biblical faith.

Biblical faith is anchored in the work of the Godhead, Promised and decreed, carried out in an atoning blood sacrifice and applied in transforming power.

This is why Biblical faith has works as the by-product because such a transformation can’t help but show forth as a contrast against a fallen world.

Conclusion:

I don’t believe in the power of positive thinking. I believe in the power of biblical faith in a God who is absolutely sovereign, who provided a savior that has given the power for transformation.

Christian that is where we find our security. In Christ Yes! But in a Christ that is the revelation of God’s decreed covenantal structure. Confess your sin and rest in the sovereign security of His grace.

Unbeliever the world may give you principles to change your behavior but the world can’t transform your heart from death to life. You must be born again.

You may look at your life from the perspective of the self and what you observe in the world as you compare yourself to others and find a measure of solace in that.

But in the end you fail to see with spiritual eyes. You don’t see yourself from the perspective of a Holy God.

But the good news is that God saw fallen man from His own perspective and decreed the plan of redemption for us.

Believe the gospel! Let’s pray!