When God Starts Talking

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever had a season in your relationship with God where it seems like he had gone radio silent?

You would pray but your prayers felt like they were bouncing off the ceiling? You’d come to church but nothing ever really resonated or connected.

What do you do when God stops talking? When God goes silent how do you move forward?

That question is in the background of our passage this morning in Genesis 17.

Last week we were in Genesis 16 and saw what happens when we let our faith get fickle and try and solve our problems our way instead of God’s way

The plan cooked up by Sarai and Abram brought about serious collateral damage to Abram’s family, Hagar and their son Ishmael who came about as a result of their scheme.

When God is Silent

Ishmael was born to Abram when he was 86 years old. For all we know, that was his last meaningful word from the Lord.

Because Genesis 17:1 opens with the words “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him…”

We know Abraham knew how to walk with God because he’s demonstrated incredible acts of faith throughout his life. (Leaving Father, Rescuing Lot)

But we also know Abram has an inclination to let his relationship with God “cool off.” This is especially true during the spiritual droughts of life or when facing difficult circumstances.

We don’t know what’s transpired between Genesis 16 and 17 but we know it lasted 14 years because in Genesis 17 Abraham is 99 years old.

From what happens in Genesis 17 I get the feel that those 14 years might’ve felt like God was silent.

God gave Abraham no vision, no voice and no visit during those 14 years. 14 years is a long time in human years!

But just because God is silent doesn’t mean that God’s not working.

It’s important when God goes silent that you not lose touch with his promise.

Sometimes God uses those seasons strategically to deepen our roots and mature our faith.

Sometimes must slow us down and lead us into a long dormant season similar to the season of barrenness that Abraham and Sarah experienced as they waited on God to give them a son.

QUOTE: “Maturity and depth do not come quickly. They take time. If greed is the demon of money, if lust is the demon of sex, if pride is the demon of power, speed is the demon of depth.” Chuck Swindoll.

IllS: best time to plant an oak tree? 100 years ago (or today.)

In a culture that has immediate everything it’s important that we be reminded you can microwave spiritual depth. It comes slowly.

There are often long blanks - maybe even 14 year blanks - like we have here in the life of Abraham and Sarah.

Don’t despise the work of God during the blank spaces. It’s just a meaningful and often the necessary prep work so that God’s greater days have a foundation on which to stand.

“Even when I don’t see/feel it - you’re working.”

“You never stop. You never stop working.”

Just because God is silent doesn’t mean He isn’t working.

WHEN GOD IS SPEAKING

With that background in mind, our text in Genesis 17 records an encounter between God and Abram. It’s a life changing encounter.

One of the best ways to grow in your relationship with God is to put yourself in environments where you regularly encounter God.

One of our core values at Broadview is to “foster tangible encounters with the living God.”

God can do more in one moment than what we could manufacture in a lifetime.

It’s important to pursue encounters with God - even in seasons when God feels silent - because God uses those encounters to establish his will in your life.

This covenant reminder between God and Abraham happens in the context of an encounter with God.

Your thoughts about God are one of the most important things about you and those thoughts will be inaccurate if you never personally encounter the Lord.

Encounters with God help establish his will for your life.

Why is that? This text gives us an answer.

When we encounter God we will be reminded of certain important truths. In this case Abraham is reminded of three important things:

Who God Is (El Shaddai)

What God wants (Live before me & be blameless)

What God has promised. (Covenant to multiply you greatly)

These three things are true of any encounter with God whether it’s this morning in gathered worship or a personal encounter with God throughout the week.

For the rest of our time together we are going to look at these three elements. In understanding Abram’s encounter with God we can better understand and anticipate our own.

Genesis 17:1–3 (CSB)

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. 2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:

Who God Is

First God reminds Abram of who he is. El Shaddai.

This is the first time this word is used in the Scripture though it’s used 42 times elsewhere (6 in Genesis: Gen 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:25)

The CSB translates it “God Almighty.” It refers to God’s bountiful abundance and ability to provide. It captures God’s majestic strength (think the tippy top of the mountain.)

He’s saying to Abraham, “I’m the God who can ‘get it done!’”

The other book this name of God shows up quite often is the book of Job. Another individual who experienced long bouts of God’s perceived silence and absence.

It’s important in those seasons to be reminded that God El Shaddai.

What way we live is determined by the way we think.

I think God is reminding Abraham of who HE IS because it’s directly relevant to what Abraham had been experiencing and was about to experience next.

God is often kind to reveal important truths about his nature that are directly relevant to the experiences we are about to walk through in life.

One of my prayers as your pastor isn’t that you’d come to church and learn ABOUT God but that you would actually come to KNOW God in these meaningful and life changing ways. He’s the God who can make things happen.

Do we not need to know THAT way more than we need to know the latest news story or political controversy?

And yet the very first thing many of us do when we get up in the morning is we slide open our phones and hit the news sites or a you tube subscription and dull our minds with trivial realities when the most glorious reality of the universe is just waiting on us to engage with him through His Word.

What God Wants

After revealing himself as God Almighty he instructs Abram to do two things: walk before me and be blameless.

Some translations use the phrase “walk before me” as it better represents the literal Hebrew.

The CSB “live in my presence” really captures the essence of what’s being communicated.

The Lord isn’t suggesting that Abram “walk in front of God” as God is spirit and doesn’t localize himself to be paraded in front of.

The idea is to live your life with the assumption that God is with you every where you go and is attentive to everything that you do.

Would you act differently if you believed God was watching everything you did?

Would you speak differently to your children?

Would you behave differently with your internet habits?

Would you eat less, eat different or maybe not imbibe at all?

The next thing God says is to “be blameless” This phrase is used throughout the OT and NT.

It’s important to understand.

He’s not talking about sinless perfection. That would be impossible and the Lord knows it.

The idea is absolute surrender to the will and plan of God. It’s coming the end of yourself and saying, “Lord, have it your way. Whatever, whenever, however, whoever - I’m all yours.”

This requires true humility, repentance and confident trust in the Lord.

But this naturally happens when we encounter God and begin to see him for who he truly is in our life and the world.

When Abram puts himself in this position the Lord begins to speak to him.

Genesis 17:3 CSB

3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:

What God Has Promised

Which leads to the third thing that happens when we encounter the Lord. God reminds us of his covenant promise.

Genesis 17:2 CSB

2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

The word covenant (berith) is used 13 times in this chapter and 27 times in all of genesis.

A covenant is an agreement between two parties. In Scripture these two parties are often the Lord and a particular community he has chosen to bless.

The thing that makes God’s Covenants so unique is they are all grace based relationships.

God’s covenants are covenants of grace. Every one of them. From Noah to Abram to David to Jesus all of God’s covenants are covenants of grace.

There are five basic elements of a Biblical Covenant between God and Man.

There’s a covenant mediator between God & the people.

There are covenant conditions (that result in blessings & curses)

There’s a covenant community.

There’s a covenant promise (that ultimately points to Jesus).

There’s a covenant sign given for the sake of remembrance

Mediator

In this covenant the covenant mediator is Abraham. (Gen 17:4-5)

Genesis 17:4–5 CSB

4 “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.

Notice that God changes his name as a result of this expansion to his covenant.

Abram’s name changed to Abraham. Abram = exalted Father. Abraham = Father of a multitude.

This name change for Abraham is significant. We’re going to see him do the same thing with Sarai.

In the Bible when God changes somebody’s name it’s often an indication of the new thing God is going to do through their life.

God doesn’t call the equipped and he equips the called. He’s going to provide for and in Abraham everything he needs to move a Mighty Father to the Father of a multitude.

Covenant Conditions

The covenant conditions are laid out in Gen 17:6-9

Genesis 17:6–8 CSB

6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”

God’s covenant promise to Abraham has been progressively getting more and more specific.

It’s important to interpret Abraham’s actions based on the information he knew at the time (instead of the information we have knowing the entire story.)

In Genesis 12 God makes the initial promise to

make him into a great nation

bless him and make his name great

bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him

bless all the families of the earth through him.

In Genesis 13-14 we see the Lord honor each of those promises in specific and gracious ways.

In Genesis 15 the covenant promise of God expands.

He reiterates the promise of numerous descendants (look at the stars)

He performs a covenant ceremony through animal sacrifice signifying God’s deep commitment to these promises even if Abram is unable to fulfill his end of the bargain.

He promises the land of Canaan to his descendants as an everlasting possession.

Genesis 16 shows Abram’s attempt to try and bring about God’s promise through his own wisdom and power and schemes but it results in chaos and destruction to his family.

So in Genesis 17 we see God reminding Abram that it’s not up to him and that only God’s power can bring it about.

To drill it home he expands the covenant and names the person through whom it will come about.

Abram’s name is changed to Abraham (father of many nations)

The covenant gets more specific to include the promise of nations and kings.

Confirms the covenant permanently to Abraham’s offspring.

Specifies Sarah as the womb through whom the covenant promise would come.

Promises to be their God and that they will be his people.

Giver > Gift

That last part is really the most important part of the covenant conditions. Because covenants are about relationships.

They are a set of promises and commitments that we make for the sake of a relationship.

Just like your wedding vows helped to articulate and establish the boundaries of your marriage, this covenant between God and Abraham is establishing something similar.

But the BEST part of a wedding vow - the most IMPORTANT part - is you are saying to your spouse “I’m going to be all yours and you are going to be ALL MINE.”

That is what God is saying in this covenant. I’m going to be your God. You’re going to be my people.

The gifts and promise of land as an eternal inheritance is nice and all. But the giver is ALWAYS better than the gift. And that’s what this covenant was giving to Abraham and his descendants.

Covenant Community

The third specification of the covenant is the covenant community.

The identification of Sarah as the womb through whom the covenant promise will continue is one of the unique revelations not shared in prior conversations with God.

The covenant community is defined in verse 9 - marked with a sign in vv 10-14 - then narrowed in vv 15-21.

We’ll begin in verse 9 then skip down to 15 and following.

Genesis 17:9 CSB

9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant.

In verse 15 he turns to Sarai.

Genesis 17:15–16 CSB

15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

Incredulously, Abraham objects (just as he did in Gen 15 and offers a different path forward.

Genesis 17:17–18 CSB

17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”

But the Lord is adamant to prove to Abram he is able to do the impossible.

Genesis 17:19–21 CSB

19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”

So this covenant promise by God is both more expansive and more narrow than it’s previous iterations.

It’s more expansive in that

it gives the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendents forever.

the descendants of Abraham will become kings and nations.

It’s more narrow in that it

specifies Sarah as the person through whom the promise would come.

excludes Ishmael and his descendants from the reconfirmation of the covenant.

Ishmael is blessed and will become a great nation (12 tribal princes)

Only Isaac and his descendants receive the continued promise of land / messianic line.

Obviously this is under MUCH debate even now in the land of Israel.

The descendents of Jacob and the descendents of Ishmael are right now killing each other over a land dispute about who really possess the land.

According to Genesis 17 it’s pretty clear the land belongs to Israel, the true descendants of Isaac and Jacob.

The Covenant Sign

So the covenant mediator is Abram.

The covenant conditions are descendents and land that will produce nations and kings of people.

The covenant community are the offspring of Sarah and Abraham.

What about the covenant sign? That’s given in vv 10-13.

Genesis 17:10–13 CSB

10 This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant.

It’s very common for God’s covenants to have a sign. And the sign of the covenant often corresponds to the nature of God’s promise and the implications of the covenant.

In this case the sign is circumcision.

What does circumcision have to do with God’s covenant to Abraham? It’s a somewhat complex answer and may seem crass but I think it was intentional on God’s part.

The focus on God’s promise is Abraham’s seed. His descendants. This “offspring” or “seed” of the woman has been with us since Genesis 3:15.

So it’s fitting that the sign of the covenant be applied to a reproductive organ so that the connection would never be forgotten about that future promised offspring who was to come.

All male offspring (plural) were to be circumcised as a reminder of that future male offspring (singular) who would bring about the completion of God’s promise.

This is the exact language Paul uses in Galatians 3 telling us that Christ is that seed (singular) of Abraham.

Privileges & Responsibilities

The covenant sign also entailed covenant privileges and responsibilities.

This physical practice of purity and cleansing pointed to the internal need for sin to be cut out of the heart and purified by the Lord.

The cutting off of foreskin was symbolic of the purification that was necessary for a genuine relationship with God.

That’s what made Jewish circumcision unique and set apart from the other cultures that practiced it.

The other thing that made it unique is that Abraham had to place the sign on EVERY male within his camp.

Can you imagine being 20, 35, 60 years old and going through this ceremony? Absolutely not! And these are hardened battle warriors. Not soft in the loafers or effeminate type.

Nevertheless, they oblige. The covenants of God require some kind of response from those who receive them.

Covenant Promise:

If you didn’t go through the purification ceremony then you’d be “cut off” from the covenant community.

This brings us to the covenant promise. Or to the other side of the covenant promise.

Genesis 17:14 CSB

14 If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

There’s a play on words here with the Hebrew word for cut. “Either get cut off or be cut off.”

So one side of the covenant promise is I will be your God and you will be my people.

The other side promise of the covenant is that if you DON’T participate in this rite of purification you will be “cut off” from my people.

So at the end of the day, every person had a choice. But the choice they made wasn’t without consequences in their life.

God’s Grace & Our Response

So if we put all of these things together we see that the covenants of God are covenants of grace.

In the case of Abraham, this grace is shown to a particular set of individuals who set apart from others by an external sign that they belong to God.

But God’s covenant of grace was conditional to one thing: a response to receive it.

And that’s exactly that Abraham does.

Genesis 17:22–27 CSB

22 When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham. 23 So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.

To receive the grace of God and be invited into a covenant relationship you must respond with faith and obedience.

God’s grace in salvation has always required a response. Then, today and always.

Once these men responded to God’s grace through this covenant, the received an external sign that was fixed and unchangeable.

The thing about circumcision is that once it’s performed it’s can’t be undone. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant was permanent and fixed.

I think the Lord made it that way on purpose. It’s a reminder that God’s grace in salvation is also unchangeable and fixed.

Christ & the Covenant

And in that way God’s grace to Abraham points to an even greater grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s covenant with Abraham points to an even greater covenant THROUGH the Lord Jesus Christ.

Abram was the head of his covenant family. Christ is head of our New Covenant family.

The conditions of Abraham’s covenant was an inheritance of land surrounding the earthly Jerusalem.

The conditions of our covenant are forgiveness of sins and a new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven.

Their covenant community was the descendents of Abraham. The New Covenant community are those who unite themselves to Abraham by faith in God’s promise. (Gal 3:7)

Their covenant sign was circumcision which pointed to the need for eternal cleansing and inward change.

Our covenant sign is baptism and the Lord’s Supper wherein we display a death to the old man and a new life devoted to Christ.

Back then, first there had to be demonstration of faith. THEN the sign followed. Much like the ring follows the vows in a wedding ceremony.

Today, the covenant signs of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are only given AFTER faith is demonstrated.

Back then the covenant promise was they would be His people and God would be their God. But rejection of God’s grace would cut you off from relationship.

Today God’s covenant’s promise is similar through Jesus. We’ve been invited to be forgiven of sin and reconciled with our Creator.

But that invitation was made possible because JESUS was cut off so that we wouldn’t have to be.

He died on the cross and received the just penalty for our sin so that God’s forgiveness and grace might flow to us even though we don’t deserve it.

In other words, God has established a NEW covenant with US through Jesus Christ. But like every demonstration of God’s grace, it demands a response.

God’s covenant love has been revealed through Jesus Christ.

It’s not a general love for all people. It’s a fierce narrow love for a special people. ONE WAY LOVE.

Jesus storybook Bible: “Never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always & forever love.”

Even though that grace is narrowly applied it is universally offered to every person here this morning.

There are two ways that you can approach your relationship with God. law (your works) or grace (Jesus’ works)

What will be your response to Jesus’ invitation?