Genesis 17 - Our Covenant Keeping God

Illustration

Good morning. My name is Gary. I’m an elder here. I have the privilege of sharing God’s word today.

Veteran’s Day last Tuesday: Acknowledge veterans and thank them for their service.

This is a pic of my submarine

USS CAVALLA SSN 684, Arrival Pearl Harbor, HI 1980

It was one of the vessel I was stationed on when in the Navy.

Enlisted in the Navy in 1977. I had to sign all manner of documents. These documents were committing me to adhere to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and agree to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I signed so many documents, I almost had a cramp in my hands.

We sign similar documents when buying a car or a house. They’re legal agreements that bind two or more parties to some course of action. They often call contracts or covenants. In today’s passage, we’re going to read about a formal covenant that God makes with Abram.

Background

Covenants in the Bible

What is a covenant: covenant (בְּרִית) (284x)

A contract which binds parties to the agreement

Often accompanied by tangible sign and tangible action to confirm the agreement

Graphic of Biblical Covenants - Up to this point Genesis, we’ve had several covenants described.

Hebrew Bible covenants

Eden covenant - Blessing of Eden. Sign - Sabbath Genesis 1-3

Noah’s covenant - Save Noah’s family. Sign - Rainbow Genesis 8-9

In today’s passage we’ll learn about another covenant

(Bless the world through Abraham’s family Genesis 12-17, sign - circumcision)

Other covenants to come

Israel’s covenant - Blessing of the Law, Exodus 20, sign - Passover

David’s covenant - The coming King, 2 Samuel 7,

New Covenant - God living in our hearts, Sign - baptism, Jer 31

The Lord Speaking

First speech

Today we’ll be reading from Genesis chapter 17. For parents, some parts of this message will be PG-13, so be advised.

In this chapter, the Lord speaks to Abraham three times. Let’s read the first speech.

Genesis 17:1–8 ESV

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Up to this point, the Lord has spoken to Abram 5 times

Gen 12:1 - Blesses Abram and tells him to leave Haran

Gen 12:7 - When Abram arrives in the land, the Lord tells Abram his offspring will have the land (age 75)

Abram builds and altar

Gen 13:14 - The Lord reconfirms his promise of the land and generations after Abram & Lot separate.

Abram builds and altar after he arrives at Mamre

Gen 15:1 - (a vision) The Lord tells Abram to “fear not.” Abram says he has no offspring. The Lord says he will have is “very own son.” Abram believed God. (age 85)

Gen 15:7 - The Lord tells Abram he will have this land. Abram asks, “how can I know this?” God consecrates the sacrifice. In Chapter 5:18, the first use of the word “covenant” is made by the Lord - after the sacrifice was burnt up.

In vv.1-2 God say’s “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” This is the first time the Lord places a condition upon the covenant.

As I said covenants often have conditions. The condition here is to walk with God and be blameless.

The word blameless is תָּמִים (tāmîm) in Hebrew and means whole, complete, full - frequently used in Exodus/Leviticus for “spotless” animal)….”

It doesn’t necessarily mean be perfect. It means to follow and obey God with all that you have and all that you are. Be all in!!

There were several failures that Abram and Sarai made on their journey up to this point.

When the were in Canaan, they left and went to Egypt. There, Abram abandoned Sarai saying she was his sister not his wife. His fear overcame his confidence in God’s covenant promise.

Sarai gave Hagar, her Egyptian slave, to Abram so she could bear a child for Sarai. “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai” (v.16:2). Hagar got pregnant. Angry at her slave’s attitude, Sarai abused her, and Hagar fled. Out in the wilderness, Hagar encountered God. And he told here to go back to her mistress.

Sarai failed. She acted out of envy, spite, and self-pity. Abram failed because he didn’t take God at his word. In Gen. 15, God promised Abram to have his “very own son.” This suggests that the mother of his “very own son” would be his “very own wife” not Hagar.

They tried to help God out by having a child by Hagar. And the consequences of that union are with us today.

Even after all this the Lord confirms his covenant and changes Abram’s (mighty father) name to Abraham (father of multitudes).

Notice the verb tenses. “I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.”

God declares Abraham the father of nations (he actually wasn’t then), and the Lord will make him exceedingly fruitful.

The blessings of God are NOW and in the future.

First time nations & kings are added to the covenant.

Take away - Our covenant keeping God pursues us, even when we fail. He continues to honor his promises.

The Second Speech

Genesis 17:9–11 ESV

And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Why circumcision?

This is the sign of the covenant. But why circumcision?

It was not novel to the Jews. Ancient peoples from 4,000 B.C. are recorded as practicing circumcision. In Egypt was used to mark royalty, priests and those serving in temples. Could it be that the Lord was setting apart a nation to be priests by this practice?

Exodus 19:5–6 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

It applies to all Jewish males, starting 8-days after birth.

It is an intimate, physical sign of God’s promise and His domain

It is a clear reminder of God’s covenant promise to provide abundance offspring.

It’s also a sign that God’s covenant promise applies to even the most intimate of settings.

It is a covenant sign sealed in blood

All covenant promises, thus far have been accompanied by sacrifice.

It removes flesh from the body, a symbol of removing sin and having pure hearts.

Deuteronomy 30:6 “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

2. Key take away - God wants all parts of us to be participate in his covenant - the everyday and the intimate parts of our lives.

Third Speech

Genesis 17:15–19 ESV

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

First time Sarai’s name is mentioned by God. Sarai’s name changes to Sarah. She too is part of the promise. She was part of it all along.

Sarai = “my princess (noble woman)”

Sarah = “princess” or “noble woman”

This name change signifies changing Sarai’s identity as someone belonging to Abraham to someone belonging to God.

Abraham’s response to God’s proclamation of Sarah is puzzling. He laughed and offered Ishmael, instead.

How did Sarah feel? She was baggage. Barren when they came into the land. She was given away to pharaoh. She was so desperate for a child that she gave her husband another woman. With Ishmael being born, she must have daily been reminded of her barrenness. It was on display.

The Lord was clear - the promised son WOULD come from Sarah. Ishmael would be blessed, but the covenant promise was through Isaac.

Take away - You are included in the promised covenant. The Lord knows your name, even when it doesn’t seem so.

Abraham’s response

Genesis 17:23–24 ESV

Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Did you notice that Abraham obeyed right away and he started with his son.

Abraham had many, many men born into his household. He had several slaves. There were well over 300 boys and men. And Abraham circumcised all the men that day by himself. I am certain it was NOT a popular activity with his men! He himself was circumcised.

It is VERY important to understand that Abraham was placing himself, his family, and his entire household at great risk.

Not just hygienically.

Abraham lived in a very rough neighborhood, and he was certainly not the most popular person for some people, e.g., the Kings of the East, Genesis 14.

By following through with all of his men, he was incapacitating all of his protection.

Abraham trusted that God would protect him.

Take away - Through our obedience, we enter into God’s covenant.

As we read more in the Hebrew Bible, we see that the offspring of Abraham and Sarah continued to fail to meet this covenant. Again, and again, they turned away.

At the end of Judges we read “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This pattern of doing it yourself, not following the covenant is seen through the time of the Kings, and is the chief reason Israel was taken away by the Assyrians and Judah by Babylonians.

But we have a covenant keeping God. The prophet Jeremiah writes this,

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The Lord makes a new covenant. A covenant where he would put his words into hearts. Covenant keepers will know the Lord, and their sins will be forgiven and remembered no more. Does this sound familiar?

This new covenant came through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Are you part of that new covenant. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior? You can do that right now by believing and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and savior.

You can join us in the blessings and eternal relationship with our covenant keeping God.