Genesis 15:1-21 "The Abrahamic Covenant"

Good evening, Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 15. Genesis 15:1-21 tonight.

Last time we looked at Genesis 14…

… where Five pagan kings who lived around the Dead Sea rebelled against Four pagan kings.

So there was a Battle of Nine Kings.

The invading army hailed from Northeast of the Promise Land… from what would become the regions of Assyria and Babylonia.

And these four kings were led by Chedorlaomer… king Chedor for short… or ‘the big cheese’ if you prefer.

The invaders swooped into the land and conquered… taking all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah…

But… their mistake… they also took Lot and his goods.

Abram then rose up with 318 trained servants… which was a small number compared to the invading army… but Abram’s men won… attacking them in the night… and drove them out of the land.

God loves using a small army to win… so there is no doubt that it was God’s victory.

Like in the case of Gideon (Judges 7-8)… God reduced the army from 22k to 10k to 300 fighting men… to face 135k Midianites.

And the lesson there and the lesson of Gen 14 was… when a small minority of faithful and obedient warriors of God are given victory over hoards of ungodly forces…

… God gets the glory… proves His Sovereign power… and demonstrates His faithfulness to His people.

Gen 14 ended with Abram standing before two kings…

… the wicked king of Sodom…

And Melchizedek… the king of Salem… and priest of God Most High.

Who would Abram pay honor and allegiance to?

At some point we all must make a choice like this…

… to pledge ourselves to the prince of the power of the air… or to honor the KING of kings and LORD of Lords.

Abram would not take anything from the king of Sodom… knowing he would be indebted to and later manipulated by this evil king.

But to Melchizedek, Abram paid a tithe of all… and in the Gen 14 message we looked at several cross references building a case…

That in the least… Melchizedek was a type of Christ… if not actually Christ appearing in the Old Testament… a theophany.

Tonight… we pick up in Chapter 15 right after this battle where God formerly establishes “The Abrahamic Covenant”… our message title this evening.

Let’s Pray!

In reverence for God’s word, if you are able, please stand as I read our passage.

Genesis 15:1–21 “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. 7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” 8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.””

Praise God for His word. Please be seated.

Chapter 15 begins where the LORD… All caps L.O.R.D. … YHVH or Yehovah in Hebrew… the proper name of the God of Israel..

The LORD comes to Abram in a vision… so Abram is seeing something supernatural not visible to the naked eye.

He is not sleeping and having a dream… he is awake and having a long vision down to V11…

Encountering God in such a dramatic way is consistently presented in Scripture as a frightening experience…

Isaiah had a heavenly vision and cried out, “Woe is me! I am undone” Isaiah 6

Ezekiel’s heavenly vision led him to fall on his face… Ezk 2

Daniel’s dreams and visions in Dan 7 troubled him and his vision in Dan 10 left him feeling frail and week.

And there were similar responses with Mary, Paul, Ananias and John.

Thus I appreciate God saying first to Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram.”

Not only this, but God also describes Himself as Abram’s “shield and great reward.”

A shield is used to protect one in battle. If you’re not in a battle, you don’t need a shield.

But we are in a battle… Ephesians 6:11 instructs believers to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

And what is the shield called? The shield of faith.

The Shield is linked in the Bible to faith… to trusting in God.

Psalm 18:30 declares… “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.”

Trust God as your shield… as your reliable protector… as your defense… and your Defender… in the spiritual battle we live out as believers.

There are many pieces to the armor of God… but Ephesians 6:16 states, “… above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

It is because of faith that God is our shield… believe in Him… trust in Him…

How kind to Abram that God settles his fear… and then assures him that God is on his side… “I am your shield.”

And God promises Abram that He is his “exceedingly great reward.”

Abram had just passed up the reward from the king of Sodom… and now God declares Himself as Abram’s abundant reward.

We can look forward and know that this reward would come to Abram as God promised in Gen 12…

Abram would be blessed becoming a great nation… with much land and people…

His name would be great…

God would bless those who blessed him and curse those how cursed him…

And all the families of the earth would be blessed through him… pointing to ONE descendant in particular… Jesus Christ…

Who through faith in Him salvation was given… which is the greatest reward… the greatest gift.

But in this moment in Genesis 15… Abram has something weighing upon him… he has no heir… so in verses 2-3 we read…

vv2-3 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” [meaning ‘one of my servants will be my heir’].

This may feel a bit disrespectful on Abram’s part, but Notice HOW Abram addresses God in V2… “Lord God”… in Hebrew “Adonai Yahweh”…

This is a phrase a servant would use to address his master.

And Abram reveals his heart’s desire above the riches of the world… he desired an heir.

If he and Sarai could not have a child… it was a custom of the Near East culture for a trusted servant to become heir to a childless couple.

Eliezer of Damascus was a trusted servant, but was not whom Abram expected as his heir.

What good were the blessings of God if Abram could not pass them down to His children?

So, the Lord responds…

V4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

God reassures Abram that he will have an heir from his own body…

How kind of God! I appreciate when God reassures me. When He tells me He will build the church… that His will… will be accomplished by His Spirt… and who can stop Him? No one.

When I am reassured by His word… reading verses like Acts 2:47 “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

He will build… as we faithfully labor… and He will bless…

Abram just defeated an army much greater than his force of 318 men…

And this should have stood as reassurance that if God could win that battle…

He would also win the battle much closer and much more personal to Abram…

The battle with time… Abram was creeping up in years… and did not have a child…

In Genesis 12:4, Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

In Genesis 16:16, Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.

Here in Genesis 15… he is somewhere around 80 years old… and Sarai ten years younger… and barren… childless…

God may have given him victory over pagan armies, but would He be faithful to His promises?

He would. Genesis 21:5 “Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.”

God would fulfill His promise to Abraham… some 20 years after Genesis 15…

You and I… Abraham… God is NOT on our schedule… His will is accomplished according to His perfect timing.

Isaiah 55:8–9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God’s ways are mysterious… and humble us. They bring us to the end of ourselves… and cause us to rely wholly on Him… and cause us to cry out to Him…

And when He moves… when the miracle comes… we then know… it is only by God’s hand… and He gets the glory.

When an army of 300 defeats 135k… and when a 90 year old woman gives birth… who alone can be glorified but God?

God continues to promise Abram in…

V5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Again… this is reminiscent of God’s promise in Gen 12… that Abram would be a great nation… but now God provides an illustration…

One cannot look into the night sky and count the stars… and one cannot look down through the ages and count the number of Israelites… they are innumerable…

How meaningful this must have been for Abram who seems very discouraged in this scene…

I imagine he must have been looking up… as tears rolled down.

How often do we need reminders from God like these?

How important is it for us to be in His word… to allow Him to encourage us.

How many times have we had a great victory… like Abram did in Gen 14? Defeating the pagan armies… and then the following days or weeks feeling discouraged.

Like how Elijah… by God’s power… defeated the prophets of Baal… a great victory on Mount Carmel in 1 King 18…

… and then in the following chapter ran from Jezebel and prayed to die.

My how our emotions can swing… and what a God we serve to stoop down to us… and reassure us during our time of questioning and dismay.

And look at Abram’s response.…

V6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

I would call this an emotional upswing!

I imagine he was encouraged… and the Lord renewed his strength.

This is the first mention of the word “believe” in the Bible… and the context is perfect from an eternal sense.

As Abram believed in the Lord… it was accounted (or imputed)… an accounting term to apply to one’s account.

One’s eternal account in this context.

It doesn’t matter is one lived in the Old or New testament era… if they trust in God (the object of faith)… they are justified.

Hebrews 11 testifies of many OT saints who are saved.

V6 is quite famous and is quoted three times in the NT…

Romans 4:3… emphasizing Abraham was justified by faith and not works… therefore he had nothing to boast about.

Galatians 3:6… again Abraham was righteous before God through faith… not works or the law, but by the “hearing of faith”… and that Gentiles (the nations) would also be justified by faith.

And James 2:23… emphasizing that good works are part of Christian life after justification.

James 2 cites that Abraham was justified by works (which seems to contradict justification by faith alone)…

But James would use the example of Abraham offering Isaac…

… that would be over 20 years after this scene…

20+ years after Abraham was already justified by faith…

So… this points out that any person who observed Abraham would be able so see his faith in action.

They would know he was righteous before God and before man. His works were a demonstration of His faith.

Constable wrote, “In Genesis 15, God declared Abram righteous (in his standing before God), but in Genesis 22, Abram’s works declared (testified, showed to others) that he was righteous.”

This is important for any believer today… when other people see how we live… do they see a Christian living out their faith?

There should be evidence. James said faith without works is dead.

So… after any of us receive the free gift of God and are justified freely by His grace…

Then… it’s time to go to work. To be busy about the Father’s business. NOT to be justified, but because we are justified.

So Abram believes… God accounts him as righteous… and then God continues to take Abram back…

Looking back upon stones of remembrance of God’s faithfulness.

V7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

Remember Abram who I am… Remember how I called you out of paganism… and promised you this land…

Sometimes we need a reminder…

And Abram responds…

V8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

This was a Faithful Question… not a doubtful question.

Like Mary (Lk 1:34) when she asked how she would deliver baby Jesus… being she was a virgin.

This was an inquiry of sincere desire to understand... which expresses faith.

And Abram would know because of the Abrahamic Covenant… was given to Abram in three phases:

First… in Genesis 12… God verbalized the Initial Promise…

To make him a great nation… To bless him… To make his name great… That all nations would be blessed through him…

Second… in Genesis 15… as we’ll see in vv 9-17… God formally establishes the covenant with Abram… through a sacrificial ceremony.

Animals are divided, and God alone symbolically passes between the pieces… making this a unilateral (or one-sided) covenant.

… promising… Numerous descendants… and the land of Canaan.

This is often considered the official enactment of the covenant… and answers Abram’s question “How shall I know?”

But then Third… in Genesis 17… God confirmed the Covenant.

He gave the “sign of the covenant”… Circumcision… and stated the covenant was “everlasting.”

This time Abram had obligations to keep the covenant… making it two-sided.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham… meaning “Father of a multitude”… and promised he would be just that… “exceedingly fruitful” in his progeny.

And promised that Sarah would bear Isaac.

So… the covenant begins in Genesis 12… was formally enacted in Genesis 15… and confirmed and given a sign in Genesis 17.

Continuing to God’s response to Abram…

vv 9-11 “So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

Yahweh God responds with a covenant ceremony… which closely followed a pattern of Near Eastern land grant treaties.

Now… Typically, the 2 people in the contract would pass through the split animals… joining hands… affirming that to break the oath would result in blood for the guilty party.

As a covenant was not to be taken lightly.

But in V17… only God passes through the pieces… this was a covenant entirely upon God’s faithfulness…

The offering consisted of five different kinds of sacrificial animals… which may suggest just how solemn this occasion was.

A turtledove or a young pigeon was permitted for the poor according to Lev 5:7. This is what Jesus’ parents offered… in Luke 2:24… indicating their poverty.

And then in V11… an evil omen appears…

V11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

The unclean birds of prey who come down on the offering link to Egypt… who are foreshadowed in V13…

Egypt would swoop down on the nation of Israel… in later years…

But, just as Abram drove away the birds, the Lord would drive away Egypt…

They intended to enslave and destroy the firstborn of Israel… Surely Satan was working against the first Gospel of Gen 3:15… and the covenant promises to Abram…

But God would prevail… and His covenant would stand…

We live in the Church Age and there are promises Satan would like to disrupt for us as well…

But God’s promises will not be broken… “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

V12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.

This is the same deep sleep that fell upon Adam…

And it would be a horror and a great darkness to dream of what would befall his descendants…

vv13-16 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. [which was all literally fulfilled] 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

This foreshadows the days of Israel in Egypt… “four hundred years” of enslavement… which are thought from Jacob’s entry into Egypt in 1845 B.C. to the time of their deliverance in 1446 B.C.…

Now for you astute Bible readers… Exodus 12:40 and Galatians 3:17 state that the Egyptian bondage was 430 years…

So it would seem that Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6, with their references to 400 years, are using rounded figures.

V16… in the fourth generation… (which a generation here is 100 years)…

… the Israelites would return to the promised land…

And, God had withheld the land because the occupants… the Amorites… had not reached the full capacity of sin before He would justly judge.

And this shows that God did not displace the Amorites and Canaanites and other pagan tribes because of favoritism to the Israelites… but because of their own sinful and abhorrent practices.

And every person has limited time to turn to God in faith… but as Romans 1 declares… that time is limited.

If a person continually turns from God… He eventually ‘gives them up’ to their sin.

Romans chapters 1-3… are a great cross reference to how all stand as condemned before God… but He is the justifier of sinners who comes to Him in faith … and He is just because He provided His Son.

Moving on… the additional images Abram sees testify of God…

V17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.

Fire in the Bible is often associated with the presence of God…

The burning bush… Exo 3:2

The glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on top of the mountain… Exo 24:17, Deut 4:11, 5:4-5

God’s presence was fiery during the exodus and throughout the wilderness wanderings (Exod 14:24; Num 14:14; Neh 9:12, 19)"

And here it is a smoking oven and a burning torch that pass between the pieces…

Notice… Abram did not pass through… as this was a covenant solely based upon God’s promise and God’s faithfulness…

God came down in this fiery form… and note the word “made” in V18… which literally means “to cut”…

God cut or established a covenant with Abram… a formal treaty… and this was an “unconditional covenant.”

Hebrews 6:13–14 states, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.””

Which looks forward to God reaffirming the covenant in Gen 22.

But God ‘swore by Himself’ and passed alone through these pieces indicating the promises of this covenant are absolutely sure.

We serve a God whose promises are absolutely sure.

2 Corinthians 1:20 declares, “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

If God promised it… you can trust it. And the greatest promise He has declared to us… is that through faith in Jesus, we have eternal life.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Take in to the bank… Yes and Amen to the promises of God!

Well wrapping up… for Abram… God gives Abram greater details of His promises…

vv18-21 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.””

V18 is the first time we officially see the word “Covenant”… which means “agreement.”

Covenants are relationships God establishes with people on the basis of His promises.

And this covenant included a promise of a great stretch of land.

The geographical boundaries of Israel’s land— are from the river of Egypt (the Wadi el-Arish… to the great river (the Euphrates).

Israel has never possessed this land in its entirety, but she will when Christ returns to reign as Messiah during the Millennial Kingdom Age.

And all the tribes listed in vv19-21 is the most complete OT list of the preconquest inhabitants of the promised land… only omitting the Hivites.

All these tribes were pagan… and fell into evil ways… and God gave them time for their iniquity to come to completion.

But like the pre-flood days… they would not repent of their sin.

(worship team please come)

Each of us has a threshold… God knew the day Pharoah would harden his heart… God knows the days when a person fully suppresses truth in unrighteousness… and sears their conscience…

But great are His mercies… for all who believe…

Let’s Pray!

Read ahead…

Next time we will look at the impatience of Sarai and Abram with the Hagar incident...

Which testifies that great are His mercies even when we really mess up.

Praise God for that!

If you need pray for anything, we will be hear to pray with you during or following this final song of worship!

May the Lord bless you as you wrap us this week.