I took a small detour from Life Lessons from Abraham to talk about Life Lessons from Lot, but now that we’re back on Abraham’s life, we will be talking about God’s covenant with Abraham. You can also go back to the last issue on Abraham’s life.
In this issue, we will talk about one of the most important themes running through Scripture, if not the most important theme of the Bible. We are talking about covenant. Even the Old Testament and New Testament organize the Bible into its two most important covenants.
The Abrahamic covenant is the second official covenant of the Bible. It is instrumental in moving us toward the story of the rest of the Bible, namely Israel and, through Israel, the Messiah and new covenant. I will focus on what the Abrahamic covenant means to us and how we can apply its lessons to our lives.
The Promise of God’s Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, 7)
Before we talk about God’s covenant with Abraham, we need to talk about how it all began once again. I have talked about Genesis 12 in another issue, but it is the background and foundation for understanding God’s covenant with Abraham.
Here’s where God makes promises to Abraham. They are laughable at best but Abraham believes that and that is the foundation of faith and why he is the father of faith. He believed God at His word even though he struggled along the way. We will talk about those struggles in upcoming issues.
Abraham already has a relationship with God because Genesis 12 opens by telling us that God spoke to Abraham. He must’ve known what God sounds like when He spoke to him. But the key to the promise that comes before the covenant is in Genesis 12:2-3.
This is where we see God’s amazing and impossible promises to Abraham. To the 75-year-old man with a barren wife, God promises He will make a great nation of Abraham. Abraham doesn’t even have an heir and God is telling him he will become a great nation. That’s crazy promise number one.
God promises He will make Abraham’s name great. Every man wants to leave a legacy, to have a great name and a great reputation. This comes with the territory of the promise of God and the covenant Abraham will have with God.
God’s third promise to Abraham is that he will live a life of blessing, blessing others and being blessed by others. All the families of the earth will be blessed by Abraham and the nation he will begin. This is also an amazing promise because God didn’t have to do anything for Abraham. Out of Abraham’s faith and faithfulness, God will bless others.
When we understand these preposterous promises of God to Abraham, that none of them happen without Sarah having a child and the impossibilities that surround their family when God makes these promises, we can understand why this account is the very foundation of having faith in God.
Abraham to God at His word. He was obedient based on God’s promises and his relationship with Him. Trust in God is one of the things we will take our whole life learning how to do well. Abraham is a good example to us about how to trust God no matter what.
The Preparation for God’s Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:1-9)
In Genesis 15, the time finally came for Abraham to receive God’s covenant with him concerning His earlier promises. Some time had passed and Abraham had gotten through all his travels. He dealt with rescuing Lot and I’m sure he had made a name for himself among the locals.
But God’s promise of a son by Sarah had not yet come to pass. There was no nation without a son. In a vision, the Lord appeared to Abraham and, “Fear not, for I am your shield. Your reward will be very great.”
We do not know how many times God appeared to Abraham or spoke to him directly. The Bible records the moments when God spoke to Abraham but there could have been long times between. Perhaps this was a time in Abraham’s life when he was beginning to wonder how long it would take for God to fulfill His promise.
God gave Abraham His promises when He sent him toward Cayman when he was 75 years old. We know that the covenant is not affirmed until Abraham is 99. For roughly 25 years, Abraham waited to see the promise become a reality through Isaac’s birth.
We only have reassurances of the Lord’s promises, especially when it takes them a long time in our lives to appear and become our reality. Abraham was honest before God. He said that his current heir was Eliezer of Damascus, his servant.
Without a son, Abraham’s servant will receive all his possessions. You can’t take any of your possessions with you when you die. The older Abraham got, the more he was waiting with less patience to have a son.
Abraham almost strikes the court of reminding the Lord what He had promised. Have you ever gotten to a place in life when you wonder, “What is God waiting for?” That might’ve been the place Abraham found himself. He still believed in the promise but it was getting harder the longer he waited.
This is when the Lord reminded Abraham of His sure promise. God promised that this man would not be Abraham’s heir. God had a greater promise for Abraham and it went right through his wife Sarah as God had promised beforehand.
I love it when God gives us an illustration, an image that makes His impossible promises not much clearer to us because the image He leaves us with is just as improbable as what we think His promise is. God told Abraham to look at the stars of the sky and try to number them.
That is an impossible feat even for today. The naked I cannot fathom counting something so numerous.
Scientists today estimate that the naked I can see about 6000 stars on a clear night. They estimate there are around 200 billion stars in the universe. Even with the technology we have today, we cannot know the number of stars God has created in the universe.
Just as amazing as God’s ability to create the number of stars we cannot number, His ability to make Sarah pregnant with Abraham’s heir despite the improbability and impossibility of it, it still happened. God can do exceedingly more than we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).
As many as there are stars in the sky, God said Abraham what have that many descendants. Instead of concentrating on the fact that he had no son, God had them concentrate on how many more descendants would have have come from just one son.
Perhaps the miracle of this first section of Genesis 15 is that Abraham believed God even without any more evidence than he had before. He trusted God despite what his eyes showed him. He went above and beyond his situation to realize God’s promises are always true.
This was not blind faith in God’s promise. God had kept him and his family along with all their possessions and the people that worked for them safe from harm. Abraham was walking with God through his whole life. God had Him so far and there was no need to question that God can do even more than He had already done.
God’s covenant with Abraham was just a little far off now and Abraham trusted that God’s promise was true. Because Abraham believed the Lord in all that He said and promised, the Lord considered Abraham a righteous man (Genesis 15:6).
This is a key verse throughout Scripture. Paul and James will quote this verse when they talk about faith and trust in God. Paul quotes it in Romans 4:9 and 4:22. He is discussing their how Abraham had faith and what God did because of it. He also quotes it in Galatians 3:6 while talking about Abraham as a man of faith.
James quotes Genesis 15:6 to describe faith as our actions proving faith is alive (James 2:23). Paul and James speak about faith in different ways but they both use this verse to give Abraham as the example of a person of faith we can all look up to.
All this had to take place before God’s covenant with Abraham could be made it. God’s words after this to Abraham resemble His words to Moses. He identifies Himself because that is enough to prove every promise He will ever make. By God’s very existence everything He does is miraculous and impossible for us to understand.
He says to Abraham, “I am the Lord.” Israel will recognize this as God’s covenant-keeping name. It is the word Yahweh. Yahweh is an interesting word in Hebrew because it almost sounds like a breath, that God is saying He has given life to everything that lives, so He can certainly do whatever He promises. If God can create life and sustain it, the biggest miracle of all, He can do all things.
Then God describes what He has already done for Abraham. He brought Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give him this land He had promised. This takes us all the way back to Genesis 12:1. God had a purpose in telling Abraham to leave his homeland.
He had better things in store for Abraham and He has better things in store for us. That is why like Abraham we must walk with God and obey Him. His blessing comes with our obedience.
What God says to Abraham might also remind you of what He said to the Israelites, “I’m the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 6:7; 18:6; 20:2; 29:46; Leviticus 11:45; 19:26; 22:33, 43; 25:38, 55; 26:45; 28:13; Numbers 15:41; Deuteronomy 5:6; 6:12; 8:14; 13:10; Judges 2:1; 6:8; Psalm 81:10). The Lord’s identity to Abraham and Isaac form their identity and relationship with the Lord as unique.
Our relationship begins with God the same way. We recognize that He is the Lord, the one who briefed eternal life into our spirits. He brought us out of the house of slavery, the sin we had been living in that would lead to death.
Abraham recognizes who God is and what He has done for him so far. He asks a question we all would ask of the Lord when He promises us great things. How will I know I will possess it? This is where He gives the answer in God’s covenant to Abraham.
God gives Abraham strict instructions on what to gather for the covenant. Abraham knows covenants well enough, just as anyone in his land and time would know. Covenants were away for people to affirm there commitment to one another.
The covenants of the Bible, especially the old covenant with Moses, followed a certain style and precedent. In Abraham’s case, God told him the animals that would be sacrificed as part of the covenant. Every covenant must be established by blood.
Abraham knows well enough to cut up the animals he brings to God. Only he does not cut up the birds. He also knows not to contaminate the sacrifice by allowing scavenger birds to mutilate the carcasses. He shoes them away so they do not ruin the covenant.
The Cutting of God’s Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:10-21)
God initiates every covenant in the Bible. A covenant only lasts as long as the initiator decides or lives. Since God is eternal, all His covenants are still in place today. We must remember His covenants were with certain people and nations.
But they do not all apply to us as Christians. Only the new covenant includes us, but the covenants God has made with Israel and Noah, Abraham, and David have great significance to us as well.
God initiates His covenant with Abraham in a unique way. Since no man can look upon God and live (Exodus 33:20), God puts Abraham into a deep sleep. The language here is similar to what God did to Adam when He took his rib and some tissue and matter from him to create Eve. But the reason is different.
God did it this way so Abraham would not see Him passing between the pieces of animal Abraham had cut up. The language of making the covenant in Hebrew is literally “cut the covenant” because it involves a sacrifice and blood.
If the person violates the covenant, he is saying, “May what has happened to this animal to make this agreement happen to me if I break it.” We do not have to worry about God breaking any of His covenants. He is always faithful. It is us fallible humans who must stay the course with God.
Even though Abraham was in a deep sleep, God could still speak to him through visions. He gave Abraham foresight to know what would happen to his descendants before God’s promise to him about owning the land would be complete.
He let Abraham know that his descendants would endure some trials along the way, that they would be slaves to another land for four generations, which God tells Abraham will be 400 years. But after that, they would possess the land God promised Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14).
He told Abraham that he would live to a ripe old age. His descendants would return to the land and inherit it. God does not always tell us as much as He told Abraham. We don’t always know how God will accomplish His promises for us. But we must be like Abraham and trust in Him to fulfill His promises to us no matter what.
The coolest part of God’s covenant with Abraham happens in the next couple of verses. God moves between the pieces of the sacrifice for the famine. The Bible describes His presence as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch.
Smoke and fire are signs of God’s presence in the Bible after this. Remember that God leads Israel with a cloud by day and fire by night. And His presence on Mount Sinai had these same elements to it.
God finished by affirming the covenant, promising in covenantal language that He would give this land to Abraham’s descendants, naming the current people who were in the land. All that they had would belong to Abraham’s descendants. This is how a covenant was cut in the Bible.
God Reiterates His Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8)
Abraham and Sarah waited for a long time for the promise of God’s covenant with Abraham to happen. God promised Abraham a son by Sarah and the land of Canaan. We saw how God formalized His covenant in Genesis 15. Now we will see God reiterate that covenant with Abraham.
God was about to make a profound change in Abraham’s and Sarah’s life. As such, He will do something we don’t see as incredible today, but it’s really incredible in the Hebrew language and culture. But first we must see how God we iterates His covenant.
Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans when he was 75 years old. God made a promise to him then about descendants and land. He is now 99 years old and has yet to have seen the promise fulfilled through Sarah. In upcoming issues, we will talk about what he and Sarah decided to do in the meantime.
God reiterates the covenant He made with Abraham because such a long time has passed. Abraham and Sarah have been through a lot but God is never done when He promises something. His promises are sure and true. We can trust them better than the promises people give us. God never fails in His word or promises.
God calls Abraham to walk before Him and be blameless. This might be because of what Abraham has done to try to secure an heir in the meantime. Or it could just be that so much time has passed since Genesis 15 that God wants Abraham to realize His covenant promise is about to become reality.
Abraham gives the proper response to God appearing before him. He bows before the Lord in worship. God reminds Abraham that he will be a father of a multitude of nations. This is where one of the most unique features of the Old Testament happens.
God changes Abraham’s name to agree with the reality of his life. His name is originally Abram, meaning “exalted, high father.” But when God changes his name to Abraham, its meaning is “father of a multitude” or “father of many nations/peoples.”
Names are extremely important in the Bible. A name could convey the nature or kind of person holding that name. It often gave a quick definition of the kind of life that person would have. We discussed names a lot when we were talking about the genealogies because they tend to tell you a lot about those people. The same is true for the rest of the Bible.
Abraham’s name change is no different. He goes from being an honored or exalted father to becoming the father of many nations. You may ask, “What do you mean many nations? I thought he was only the father of Israel.”
But we must remember that Ishmael, also Abraham’s son will become the father of many nations. Therefore, Abraham is the father of many nations, including Israel.
To this day Ishmael’s and Isaac’s descendants continue to fight amongst one another. But we will talk about that in greater detail in a later issue. God changes Abraham’s name because his status will be completely different and his life would take a huge turn. He will go from having no children to having so many children he will not be able to count them all.
God tells Abraham about his future, that he will be the father of many nations and many kings will come from him. It is probably hard for Abraham to imagine what this will be like since he and Sarah have been childless up to now.
God also promises that the covenant does not die with Abraham. It will be observed by the generations that will come from him and Sarah. It does not only apply to Abraham but to the rest of the patriarchs and their descendants.
This is important because Abraham and Sarah are not the only patriarchal couple to suffer from barrenness. It is a covenant and promise that must be reaffirmed again and again.
God finishes by promising once again that the land He gives to Abraham and his descendants will belong to them forever after. The people around the land of Israel and the nation of Israel today say they stole the land or that it was given to them and taken away from these people. But God promised the land to Abraham a very long time ago.
The covenant and its promises are everlasting. Since God can never die, the covenant He made with Abraham stands today for the Jewish people. God does not we need on His promises. Only He can make sure they continue to be fulfilled to this day.
The Sign of God’s Covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:9-21)
God’s covenant with Abraham takes on a very significant sign still practiced today among the Jews, Abraham’s people. God demands it of Abraham and has specific reasons for this sign. He made this promise to Abraham long ago and Abraham and Sarah tried to fulfill it on their own.
That is part of why God issues this sign of the covenant. God commands that the sign of the covenant He shares with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants will be circumcision of every male. God requires this to occur on the eighth day after birth.
Why this sign? It is an unusual one. It is not one that is noticeable unless someone has a peak under your garments. It is more than a physical, visible sign. It reminds Abraham and all his descendants, even those who serve him at this moment in time, that God is the one who blesses with progeny.
We cannot force generations to come from our loins. God is the creator of life and that right belongs solely to Him. When He promises something, only He can fulfill it. There is no getting around that.
This sign of God’s covenant with Abraham forces every male Israelite to remember that only God can bring such blessing. We know from science today that there can be problems in both the man’s or woman’s body that can force them to not have children.
God is the God of the miraculous. Every life that is born is a miracle. Especially with all the genetic problems and possible problems with DNA today, we must see even more now than ever before with as much we know from science that God is still the God of life. Only He can do the impossible.
God enforces this sign of the covenant not only on Abraham and his descendants but on every male in his house, including his servants. Part of becoming Jewish is not just in what you believe but the circumcision that must be carried out to make you a person of the covenant by performing its sign.
Thank goodness that an eight-year-old male child will not remember the ceremony or act of surgeon performed on the eighth day. Unfortunately for Abraham and all the males in his household, this would have been a much more memorable moment in their lives. Ishmael was 13. It shows true trust in the promise and the covenant to go through with what God commanded in complete obedience.
Genesis 17:14 has a possible play on words when God tells Abraham that a male who is not circumcised among his people will be “cut off” from his people. Cutting the covenant, the act of circumcision, and “cutting off” a person have the same idea.
Abraham’s Obedience to God’s Covenant (Genesis 17:22-27)
We have talked about the significance of circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. The last part of Genesis 17 shows Abraham doing what God commanded in full obedience. I can’t imagine every male in his household was on board with this idea.
Abraham was faithful to do what God told him to do. No matter how painful it was, he followed God’s command to the letter. It cost Abraham and those men dearly, but I think all of them knew what God had done for them so far.
We made an understand why God commands us to do something, or why. But we must be faithful and obedient. If not, we cannot expect to live under God’s blessing.
Life Lessons from Abraham and God’s Covenant
We can learn at least four life lessons from God’s covenant with Abraham. First, Abraham is the father of faith for Jews and Gentiles because he trusted in God’s promises without question. That trust in God’s promises was the foundation of faith for all of us.
Even Old Testament Jews approached God by faith. They trusted all His promises just like we have as Gentile Christians. Even in the Old Testament, faith was the foundation for relationship with God. It may not appear that way, but this is the case.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us we must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him. God rewards our faith in Him with the greatest relationship we will ever know. He blesses us beyond measure whether we deserve it or not. But we must continue to have faith in God’s promises.
God does not change (James 1:17), so He will continue to reward our faith. He is always faithful even when we are unfaithful. Let us endeavor to be more faithful as we continue in this wonderful relationship with Him!
A second life lesson to learn from Abraham to continue to be patient for the promises of God. I have been waiting 11 years as of this writing for complete healing in my body. I do not question if God will do it. I wait for that wonderful day.
No matter how long it takes, we know that if God has promised it, He will do it. The question isn’t if but when. Let us have the trust in Him and His Word that He does not miss or speak an idle word. Let our faith be shown in our patience.
Another lesson we can learn from Abraham is that we must walk with God in obedience and blessing. God blesses our obedience. When we walk with Him, the first blessing we receive is God’s presence. He puts up with us when we don’t deserve it.
Abraham was in perfect and we aren’t either. He had his moments, but God stayed with him. God works with us every day. As long as we maintain our obedience, He will continue to pour out blessings we cannot imagine.
We must be obedient to God’s commands no matter what they are. God can test our faithfulness to Him. We won’t always understand what God commands us to do but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to obey Him.
I can imagine Abraham’s reaction to God’s command to have the sign of the covenant as circumcision. But Scripture does not record Abraham being disobedient. He did exactly what God commanded him to do. We must do the same.
God doesn’t command us to do anything without purpose. He has His reasons. Whatever they may be, even if just a test of our obedience and faithfulness, we must come through every time. Even if we stumble along the way, we must ourselves and do it. Only in our obedience will we experience the fullness of God’s blessings.
Last, we must be faithful to God because it is a good example to the rest of the world. The people who belonged to Abraham’s household, even if they were his servants, new about Abraham’s faith. They knew how he walked with God.
Even when Abraham had to fulfill the sign of the covenant himself and with everyone in his household, I’m sure it was easier to be obedient along with Abraham because they knew God commanded Abraham to do it.
Everyone is watching you. They see your faith and they see the times you stumble. They want to see your faithfulness because it is a powerful witness to them that God is real. When you are willing to be faithful to God in the small things, He blesses you with greater things. One of those greater things may be the salvation of those around you.
Do not discount yourself from the blessings and promises of God because of disobedience or lack of faithfulness. Like David, we need to be people after God’s own heart. David was a man after God’s heart because he realized his sins and missteps and asked for forgiveness and did the right thing before God and people. We must be the same.
The Saga Continues…
We have looked at God’s covenant with Abraham and everything it entails. But Abraham’s story is not over. We have a lot more to cover. In my next issue, I’ll talk about how Abraham tried to fulfill God’s covenant on his own.
