Jeffrey C. Long

Today is the second sunday of lent. Which is a time of rehearsal of the basics of our faith. Also a rehearsal of the foundational stories of our faith.

Today we are looking at the story of God’s promise to Abram that he would multiply his descendents like the stars of the sky.

One of the questions that is important to ask is how are we to use these stories in our own life.

Will God do the same things for us that he did for Abraham? or for Solomon? or Paul?

A common way that people use the stories of the Bible is to Apply promises that were made to specific people in specific situations to themself.

So, Because God gave Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age does that mean that He is going to give a barren couple one as well.

Because Jesus healed a blind man does that mean that He is going to heal the young man who was deaf in the church I grew up in.

Because God blessed Jabez, enlarged his territory and kept him from pain does tha mean that He is going to do the same for me.

I don’t think so. Instead, we discover first from these stories that the God who has been faithful in the past is going to be faithful in our present. He is going to do a unique work in you just as he did a unique work in the life of Abraham, the blind man and Jabez.

Second, we learn from these stories who we are and where we’ve come from.

Moses told this story because it told Israel _who_ _they_ _were_. They were children of a promise.

The Church tells the story because it tells us _who_ _we_ _are_. We are children of a promise.

In this case, we are the fulfillment of the promise made by God to Abram that He would multiply his seed.

In the story today we learn that God was not simply promising Abram that He was going to multiply his seed. He was demonstrating using this promise to demonstrate to Abram’s that He was Abram’s shield and reward. And so we learn from this story that as heirs of this promise, He is our shield and reward as well.

Read Genesis 15:1-12; 17-18

1 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

2 Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”

4 Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir.” 5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So shall your seed be.” 6 He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. 7 He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”

8 He said, “Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

9 He said to him, “Take me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.” 10 He took him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13 He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great substance. 15 But you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” 17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

Abram lived during a time of battles for control of various regions. In the previous chapter he had settled into a area that was near oaks that were under the rule of Mamre an Amorite. He had allied himself with this tribe.

In a nearby region a ruler named Chedor-laomer had come to reclaim the territory that he had ruled for twelve years and then lost to a rebellion. Battle after battle he conquered the kings of this land. Finally the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela stood up against him in the valley of Sidiim. Unfortunately, this valley had tar pits that the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into as they fled. Chedor-laomer took the opportunity to take all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and to go on their way. An escapee from this battle went to the oaks and found Abram and reported that his nephew Lot had been taken by Chedor-laomer.

Abram gathered his people and those of Mamre, 318 total and went in pursuit. first to Dan and then as far as Hobah which is on the left hand of Damascus. Finally he was able to retake the army, was victorious and returned with all the goods, the women, the people, and his nephew Lot.

When he returned, the king of Sodom went out to meet him and said to him “Give me the people and take the goods to yourself.”

Abram replied “I have lifted up my hand to YHWH God most high, possessor of heaven and earth that I will take not a thread nor a shoe latchet nor anything that is yours lest you be able to say that you made Abram rich.”

So Abram returned to the oaks.

We can imagine that he did so with some insecurity. Chedor-laomer had a claim upon the land. Generally warriors don’t give up after a loss. They return again for vengence. So Abram knew that he had now made an enemy with a warrior who had a claim upon his neigboring land.

So, at the begining of Genesis 15, Yahweh came to Abram in a vision and responded to his concern.

God said to Abram “_I_ am your shield. your exceedingly great reward.”

Don’t worry Abram. I will protect you. You do not need to fear the return of Chedorlaomer. Just as I was with you in that battle I am with you now to protect you and your people.

But even moreso. You were a man of integrity and did not take a reward from the king of Sodom. So I will not only reward you, I will be your reward.

Imagine Abram’s shock at hearing God in a vision. And of course he was assured by this. But it left him with a question.

In verse 2 Abram replies: “Lord Yahweh, what will my reward be?, since Sarah and I are childless? As it stands now, Eliezer of Damascus will inherit my estate. You have given me no seed.

Abram was saying “All my wealth and riches, victories and honours, are of no worth to me, when I have no heir and am advanced in years, Should I die childless, as I am apt to do, what pleasure can I take in these _rewards_ you’ve promised, and comfort from them, when I have no one to inherit them?”

Verse 4 says And Behold, in Abram’s vision, he heard the word of Yahweh speaking. He said, “Eliezer will not be your heir. Instead your heir will be the boy who will come forth out of your own body. He will be your heir.” 5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So shall your seed be.”

In 1996 Kenny and Bobbi McCaughey (McCoy) desired to have more children then the one daughter that they had. Struggling to conceive, with the help of a doctor they finally succeeded through the help of fertility drugs. But what a shock to discover that they weren’t pregnant with one child, or perhaps even twins, but rather she was carrying seven fetuses. They declied what the internet called “selective reduction” to reduce the number saying instead that they would “put it in God’s hands.” And so on November 19th, 1997 they gave birth to Kenneth Robert, Alexis May, Natalie Sue, Kelsey Ann, Nathan Roy, Brandon James, Joel Steven , are the world’s first surviving set of septuplets.

Imagine going from one child to 8.

That’s how Abram must have felt. He was just told that he was going to go from zero to more then the stars in the sky. What a discovery! What a ridiculous claim. He and Sarah were old. And yet their progeny would outnumber the stars in the sky.

And so what did he do?

He believed.

What else could he do? There was nothing he _could_ do. It was totally in God’s hands. The only choice he had was to believe or to doubt. Or to doubt.

The result?

verse 6 says “and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

I said last week that righteousness means that we put ourself under, conform to the claims of someone who has higher authority then us.

By believing, Abram put himself under God’s claim to be Abram’s shield. He was subjugating Himself to God. He found himself in right standing with God. In right relationship.

Through belief he was doing the only thing he could do. Agreeing with God. Saying Amen to God.

And God said to him, “Attaboy! You aren’t righteous for anything you did, but I am declaring you righteous because you believe me!”

We know that Abram wasn’t righteous because later he tried to pass off sarah as his sister

And yet because of his faith God _declared_ him righteous.

Paul says in Romans 4:4 that if Abram had done something to merit God’s favor, then the reward God promised him would be repayment of a debt. God would have owed Abram. But because there was no work involved but simply belief, instead of God repaying a debt, the free reward was righteousness.

It is interesting that Abram’s belief was not absolute and yet God still credited it to Him as righteousness.

After coming to Abram in a vision, promising him an heir, and then promising him the land as an inheritance, Abram has the audacity to ask “God, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

This is the second time that Abram has asked God a question. Do you know that it is OK to ask God questions? God is infinite and we are finite which means that there is lots for us to not understand. God does not credit our questioning to doubt.

We’ll close with God’s answer to Abram’s question.

God made a covenant with Abram.

Verse 9 says 9 He said to him, “Take me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.” 10 He took him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds.

And then continuing at verse 17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

What is described here was a a rite or custom used in making and confirming covenants; a calf, or some other creature, were cut in pieces, and the parts laid in order, and the covenantees passed between these parts; signifying thereby, that if they did not fulfil the engagements they entered into, they imprecated to be cut to pieces as that creature was.

This is a practice that was common to the Chaldeans, greeks, and romans. Some believe it originated with this story.

What is important about this example though is that it was only God who made the covenant.

There are examples when men covenanted with God. Again, one sided.

Jer 34:18 [18 I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it;]

But in this instance Abram didn’t.

What does this mean?

It means that it was God who was making the promise to Abram, not Abram to God. God who would be held accountable if He broke the covenant.

Which leads us to a very important question: Who are the parties in the new covenant? We know that God made the covenant with us. Jesus death on the cross was the sacrifice as the animals were here. And we might imagine that God walked through this sacrifice. But does man walk through the sacrifice too?

I don’t think so. because if we did, we would be crucified as well. The symbolism of the covenant is that if one of the party breaks they were to be cut to pieces as the sacrifice was. So if Jesus was the sacrifice on the cross for us, wouldn’t it be true that if we broke the covenant we would be crucificed as well.

And we’ve already broken the covenant. I cannot keep a promise with God. We saw from this story about Abram that even after he believed God, he questioned him. His righteousness came from God’s declaration of his righteousness. Not because of his ability to fulfill a covenant.

You might say then that All you can do is your best. Well, imagine if you borrowed money from the bank for a car and kept missing payments and suddenly found yourself six months behind they would say “you have broken your agreement with us. We are taking the car.” Would you say to them, “but I did my best?”

We can do our best with God, but we will still break the terms of the covenant. Our righteousness comes not from our ability to fulfill a covenant. It comes from God’s declaration of our righteousness based on our faith.

So, it is God who covenants with us. God who prepares the sacrifice. Only God can keep the terms of the agreement.

So what is left for us to do? We must do something?

We do what Abram did. We believe. And God credits it to us as righteousness. God says to us, “I am your shield your great reward. If you did anything, I would owe it to you as a debt. But you did nothing. So it is grace. My righteousness is grace to you. Just believe.”