THROUGH THE BIBLE: Genesis 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Chapter 15, which is our reading here this morning, and the first verse says, and after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram.

By your shield, your reward shall be great. The Lord here speaks words of comfort to Abram. Why? Well, think about it for a moment. Abram has just made some very powerful enemies in the Middle East.

The nations he attacked could retaliate and retaliate with vengeance, and he knows it. How would Abram fare without the element of surprise on his side, and with a measly 318 men against armed forces that would be in the thousands? The odds aren't very good for Abram. Then he hears these words, fear not, Abram, I am your shield. What comfort, what rest would these words have brought to Abram?

The almighty God of the universe is saying, I have your back, Abram. I'll be your protection. What about Abram? What has he done to earn the special care of God? What has this man from Ur of the Chaldeans, what has he achieved or done for God that he would be so special in God's eyes?

Beloved, this passage is not about Abram. It's about God. It's not about what Abraham has done, but it's about the faithfulness of God, who has a plan, and a plan to redeem a people, and he will accomplish that plan. And God will never, never abandon Abram, nor will he ever abandon any of his own people. Fear not, Abram.

I am your shield, your reward shall be great. So what's Abram's response when he hears God saying these words? He says to God, what will you give me? You have given me no offspring, so Eliezer will be my heir. The promise had already been given to Abram years ago, and we know this in chapter 12, where God promises him an offspring and a land.

But God is very patient with Abram. just graciously reminding him once again, you will have a son, and he'll be from your own loins, and he will be your heir. Eliezer won't be your heir. Abraham is told to look to the sky and to count the stars as numerous as they are, and he says, his offspring shall be as numerous as the stars in the sky. What an awesome promise to an age man who is yet fatherless, probably approaching 85 years of age, and his wife only 10 years younger than him.

The odds were stacked up against them, but again, they weren't exactly in Abram's favor when he went against the four mighty kings. God has a way of putting his glory on display in circumstances which seem humanly impossible. The test for Abram is this, will he believe? Will he trust in the Lord? Will he say, yes, the Lord is my shield and I'm going to place my trust in him?

The next verse tells us he did. He believed the Lord and he called it to him. He simply believed, he trusted in him for protection and to fulfil what the Lord had promised him. With empty hands and nothing to offer, Abraham leaned on God for complete dependence. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 4, Abram had nothing to boast on, but he turned and trusted in God.

And then he goes on to say, he was strengthened by his faith, he gave glory to God, and you, God, will fulfill his promise. This is Romans 4, 19 through 20. Abram was counted righteous because of the exact same way you and I are counted. righteous beloved. It's because he believed in the Lord.

It's not because of anything he had done, or anything he will ever do. It's because he believed in the Lord. And then from verses 7 through 21, we have something amazing going on. To confirm his promise to Abram, and to give him assurance, God binds himself to a goat. Abram is asked to slaughter a young cow, a goat, a ram, and to place the halves on the ground with a turtle dove and a pigeon, parallel to each other with a gap, with a gap in the middle.

So Abram obeys, then he waits patiently on the Lord, and he waits, and then he waits. And the text tells us the birds came down to eat the carcasses because he waited upon the Lord. Now for you and I, dead, bleeding animals lined up on the ground is rather strange, it is. strange thing to us. We're not used to this sort of language or these ideas.

But in the ancient Near East, when an oath is given, or a covenant is given, and to confirm a covenant between two parties, and to confirm their agreement, they slaughter these animals and they place them on the floor. And then, as if to say, if I break this covenant, let me be a slaughtered as these animals are. They walk through, and as they walk through, looking at these dead animals, they're looking at one another, and they're saying, we have an agreement here, and if I don't follow in my end of the agreement, then let me be as dead as these bloody animals who are lying on the floor. This is serious business. To violate this agreement would be to bring a curse upon oneself, and to see himself as good as dead.

So Abram waits patiently, with the animals lined up, and the Lord puts him into a deep sleep. The same way Adam was made to sleep, you remember back in Genesis, so that his rib can be removed by God in order to make Eve. The same words are used. This is no ordinary sleep, this is a God-induced deep sleep. And then we have some interesting words, and terror fell upon Abram.

And this is a difficult passage to understand, But I would think that the terror experienced here is similar to that that was experienced by Isaiah when he saw the glory of the Lord fill the temple. Being confronted with God's holiness and God's purity and the greatness of God would most certainly leave a man undone and terrified. I think that's what this passage is speaking to. But then the Lord speaks to Abram in a vision and he's told that his offering will indeed that his offering will indeed receive the promised land. But not before they're subjected to serve, well, to serve a strange people in a strange land for generations, or about 400 years.

A generation's probably seen about 100 years. Of course, speaking of Israel and her bondage to Egypt, we know that because we're New Testament Christians. But when the sins of the Amorites, and these are the people who are now residing in the land that he's promised to Abram and his offspring, When their sin reaches a tipping point, God will judge them, and then he will give the land to Abram and his offspring. But Abram won't see this land. He'll die and be buried in peace.

So the text tells us that, that he believed. He believed God will fulfill his promises. This is where the twist comes, in verse 17. A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the dead animals. The smoking firepot and the flaming torch represent the manifested presence of God, just like if we remember how God manifested His presence among the people of Israel in the wilderness, where He led them with, it says, a cloud of smoke through the day and a pillar of fire through night.

But we're told something very interesting, and that is that God alone passes through the animals. Now remember before I said in the ancient Near East, this sort of covenant, this cutting of a covenant, it was commonplace where both parties walked through the dead animals. But Abram is still sleeping. He's in a deep sleep. This is incredible.

The sovereign God of the universe would bind himself to a covenant by himself, pledging to fulfill his promise to Abram for an offspring and a land. And that's what the promise is for, offspring and a land, or else he were to be like these slaughtered animals. Now, that's incredible. Think about it. The sovereign free God of the universe would bind himself.

Why? Why would God bind himself to a covenant? He knows he'll keep his word. You see, this is for the benefit of Abram. This is for the benefit of his people, because God knows he will never break his covenant.

But God accommodates so that we can see it that way also. Now, the covenant looks like it is without stipulation on Abram's half, and that's true at this point. And God is faithful, and Abram receives an offspring and the land, but albeit in the future, the people of Israel, his offspring, are sworn stipulations of obedience in order to keep the land. We know this, but they failed badly. But God, but God kept every promise he has ever made.

1 Kings tells us that Israel's number was as numerous as the sand on the sea. Offering promise fulfilled. And in Joshua 21, we're told, thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it, and they settled there. Not one of all of the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed. All came to pass.

Joshua 21. The land promise fulfilled. Beloved, it's clear, Abram's faith was not in vain. But the question we need to ask is, are the promises to Abram solely for his physical descendants? Was God only concerned with Abram's physical seed receiving a physical land?

Is Israel, or physical Israel, the only concern in this passage? I submit to you that the promises and the covenants we see before us made to Israel were indeed physical covenants, but they were also typological, pointing to something far greater, something greater and more profound than a multitude of ethnic Jews receiving a land in Palestine, although that was fulfilled also. Even Abram was looking for something more than this. Listen to Hebrews 11, chapter 10, sorry, chapter 11, verse 10. For he was looking forward to the city that was his, Abram, that has no foundations, whose designer and builder was God.

Through the eye of faith, we're told also that the gospel was preached to Abram. He was looking for something bigger and greater. And beloved, all these promises point to the true promisee of Abram. The one in whom all the promises of God are yes, and amen. Beloved, this is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is seen in these passages, and therefore, the true heirs of eternal promises of God are the people who have faith in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus will come, and we know he has come, and he establishes a new covenant, a better covenant, a covenant ratified in his blood. The question for us this morning is this, do you believe in Christ? Because if you do, you too, just like Abraham, will be counted righteous. Amen.