God's COVENANT with Abraham.

As you know last week we started our short sermon series about “God’s Covenant with his people”, and we kicked it off with God’s Covenant as revealed to Noah. Now in my mind it’s a really wonderful, glorious and majestic theme which will clearly develop as we progress through the series, so you can imagine my surprise when after that sermon some remarked, ok - but so what? What has all this stuff about Noah got to do with me? I was stunned!  I was stunned because not only had I shown how God’s covenant with Noah really speaks to our time, in terms of green issues, the world and the environment, but I had also explained how it was the start of a journey back, the start of a God given process through which God restores a fallen world and rescues and redeems the faithful. Of which the story of Noah is in itself a classic example, and although I didn’t actually uses these words, Noah is a salvation figure who is an early type and precursor of what we see in Jesus and therefore knowing that, it should fire up our imaginations, shape our outlook and challenge the sort of people that we are in Christ and for him. That in my mind is a pretty big ‘so what!’ Your lives are not just yours alone! You are not simply flesh and blood, you are what your mind tells you, and your mind is influenced by whatever it comes into contact with, the morals, values and culture of the day. That’s why feeding the mind is so important! Because it’s so easy to be taken in by the superficial, you can be entertained that way and it doesn’t cost you anything, but will it make you a better person?  Will it encourage you to deepen your faith and your thinking?  I guarantee you that if you wrestle with this concept of covenant and really come to see how it comes together in Christ – it will stay with you for the rest of your lives. But it was NOT given to us all at once, it was given to us in stages, and the next part that I would like to share with you is how God spoke to Abraham.  And it begins in Chapter 12:

“The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.” And here’s the punch line, and “Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.”  Genesis 12.1-4

At seventy five most of us are in the midst of retirement. We’ve had our families, done our bit for society and have probably settled down  - with our slippers, pipes and cocoa, but Abraham had no time to think about his pension, because at seventy five he was called on a life changing journey. Now I know we can debate as to whether Abraham’s calendar and age was exactly the same as we understand it, but the point remains Abraham was no spring chicken. And I think there is a bit of a challenge here for those of us who would naturally feel that we’ve ‘done our bit’ that we’re reached a certain age, or even ‘over the hill and past it’. You may feel that you want ‘pass the reins’ over to a younger person, but is that really what God wants? Especially when young people seem to be is such short supply! God isn’t ageist, I not even sure that think he looks at age. I just think he looks for faith and opportunity, and so Abraham travelled to the land of Canaan, But even then he had no time to let the grass grow under his feet because in the midst of a conflict between rival kingdoms, Abraham’s nephew Lot was kidnapped, and it fell to Abraham to rescue him. Not only was his mission a great success but he managed to defeat some of the warring kings in the process, so much so, that he is gratefully rewarded by the King of Sodom in whose territory he remained. So everything’s looking good, for Abraham has respect, prestige, riches and a lovely wife; but he has no children, no one to look up to him or inherit all that he has gained. And it is in this context that God’s covenant with Abraham is made. And it begins with a truly remarkable promise:

“Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them.” “So shall your offspring be.” And we are told that Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15.5).

Abraham believes, but he doesn’t understand for how can he who has no children have offspring as numerous as the stars? It just doesn’t make sense does it? Its stunning news and Abraham doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry:

For in chapter 17 we are told that “Abraham fell face down; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17.17) and if Abraham is surprised, Sarah is astonished, and she doesn’t exactly hold back either:

“After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” she laughs to herself ( Genesis18.12)

Humanly speaking, this seems to be an impossible promise, and over time, there were occasions when it seemed that God had perhaps forgotten, or even needed a helping hand. That’s why Sarah even suggested that Abraham should have a child by her maidservant Hagar. But this is not what God has in mind, for God really did intend Sarah to be the mother of the nation, as Abraham discovers when he is mysteriously visited by three visitors, one of whom is believed to be the Lord in human form.

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” the man says” “I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” (Genesis 18.14).

So as you can see one of the great privileges and blessings of this covenant is that Abraham will be the father of a nation and have many descendants.

Now for the sake of ease I have been talking about Abraham and Sarah, but they didn’t get those names until this part of the story as part of the covenant promise. Prior to this they had been called Sarai and Abram .  Sarai actually means “princess” and probably refered to her natural beauty, but in the light of God’s Covenant her name is changed to Sarah meaning “mother of the nations”, and Abram which means “exalted father” is changed to Abraham  meaning “father of a multitude”, and so as you can see in their very names, they have a reminder of God’s Covenant and promise. As I’m sure you can appreciate the gift of children and descendants is a blessing, but the change of their names is an act of responsibility. But there is another act of responsibility that Abraham is to undertake for and on behalf of the whole family, a very intimate and personal one – and that is circumcision.  Now circumcision wasn’t new or unknown, many foreign nations practiced it, but what is new is that whereas they used it as mark of initiation and transition from childhood to manhood, the Israelites used it right from infancy as a mark of being part of God’s chosen people, (I thought I’d better show you a child’s foot there!) and it wasn’t just a sign of being part of a special group or people, it was always spiritual, and just like the rainbow of last week, it was a constant reminder, a literal mark in the flesh recalling the promises of blessing and hope conveyed by the covenant. And it was inclusive, encapsulating the whole of their society and family life together, for just as Noah had been told to go forth and multiply, Abraham was promised that he would have many descendants and so whenever a man and a woman came together, then right there at the heart of their love making was the symbol of God’s covenant with his people. Circumcision was therefore a sign of the covenant, an act of humility and a physical reminder that they were part of God’s chosen people.

“Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” (Genesis 17.10-11). and

“My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.” (Genesis 17.13).

Today we often think of circumcision as being simply a sign of national identity (of what it is to be a Jew), but that is actually far too weak and superficial an understanding, for the physicalness of circumcision was not all there was, it was spiritual too, which is why other passages highlight the whole concept of being circumcised in your heart. A turning away, indeed a stripping away of all the things that get in the way of true faith, and true religion. And this actually is very important for us as Christians because we too have a covenantal sign don’t we? Which is baptism, and like circumcision the physical act conveys a far deeper and spiritual meaning. It’s not so much the washing of our bodies that matters as the washing of our hearts as we identify with Christ and his death upon the cross. Many people can  superficially, externally go through the motions, but what does that say about our inner faith. Without genuine faith and devotion the significance of  our sacraments become much less. So how faithful and practically committed are we to the faith which our baptism signifies?

In fact circumcision as a covenant sign is so important at this early point in Israel’s history that not only does it demonstrate to the bearer that God is with them, but not to have it - is a sign, that God is not with you, that you are not part of the ‘chosen people’ or the ‘family of God’. And in fact it is at this point that we get our first rule of anger or wrath that so often accompanies covenant agreements:

“Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17.14).

It’s quite remarkable isn’t it?

But the interesting thing is that the curse works both ways. For this covenant that is made with Abraham, or Abram as he is back in chapter 15, takes place within a religious context or service. Do you remember that when Abram was first told about the promise, he effectively asks how can I be sure? How can I know that what you have said and promised will be, and so he is instructed to prepare a sacrifice:

“And 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.” (Genesis 15.9-12).

And as he was asleep, he had a vision:

“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” (    Genesis 15.17-18).

So what is going on here? What is the significance of this vision? - Of the Lord appearing like a smoking blazing torch and passing between the pieces. Well for this, our best clue comes from the book of Jeremiah. For in Jeremiah 34.18 we get this verse:

“The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.” Jeremiah 34.18

In other words, what God is saying, is that Abraham can have every confidence in what he has promised, for if God himself fails to uphold the covenant, then he himself will bear the full force of the wrath of judgment, as the covenant demands. Lawbreakers deserve death – don’t they? I hope that you can see that there are profound implications here for the New Testament and what happens in the purpose, life and death of Jesus.

The gift of children is a blessing. The changing of names an act of responsibility, with circumcision a sign of all that was promised, but this was not all there was to be another blessing -  land!, a place to live and call their own.

“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates” (Genesis 15.18)

“I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” (Genesis 15.7)

“The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17.8)

“You will be my people, and I will be your God” is a phrase which is just beginning to come through here, but it will become an anthem, a motto a theme which we shall hear a lot from now on, summing up that special relationship between God and his people.

So what have we learnt? Well firstly whereas the covenant with Noah had been universal, a worldwide agreement as it were between God and his creation, the covenant with Abraham is not universal, it is a specific covenant made between God and Abraham and his descendants (and this is the start of a pattern that will develop as our weeks progress). . And that covenant like the earlier one made with Noah, had certain rules of privilege, blessing, and responsibility. God promises Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son and many descendants, as ‘numerous as the stars’, God also promises to give them a land, a place to be and call their own.

But with the blessings come responsibilities, the first of which is inevitably the claiming of the land, it won’t simply fall in their lap, they have got to go, work and by faith take hold off it – in other words they have a part to play. Abraham and Sarah adopt new names in recognition of God’s faith promise to them, and finally there is the responsibility of circumcision, a mark in the flesh, a visible sign like the rainbow previously, which reminds them of their covenant with God, and his with them – they are his people, and he shall be their God. But just as there are rules of privilege, blessing and responsibility, there are also rules of anger and wrath, series penalties to be paid for those who default, penalties which even God is not excluded from.

There is one other final thing which I have not mentioned, but which I should, a responsibility that befalls Abraham and his descendants, its sounds simply but actually is very profound – they are to keep the covenant. They are to keep it forever before them and live their lives in the light of it.  This is underlined in verses from chapter 18, which read as follows:

“Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18.18-19).

It’s ‘the keeping of the way of the Lord’, by ‘doing what is right and just’ which proves that the covenant has effect and is useful. It’s the faithful acts of men and women living in the light that they have received which brings blessing to them and to others by the will of God. And I don’t think that it is at all coincidental that those few words are immediately followed by the terrible story of Sodom and Gommorah, people who were cut off by God, precisely because they did not ‘keep the way of the Lord.

In many ways it is very difficult for me to give you something specific as an application or task to perform as a result of this sermon. My talk just isn’t like that, but with a deeper understanding of God, covenant and the journey of faith that was undertaken by Abraham and his descendants. I would like to encourage you to take hold of the faith that Christ has called you too and to practically live by it, appreciating the deep and rich context from which your faith springs. In the name of Christ. Amen.