The Covenant with Abraham Part 2
“God’s will must be fulfilled in God’s way and in God’s time.”
~Warren Wiersbe (OT, 68)
Read: Genesis 15, 17; Romans 4; Galatians 3
Read: The Covenant with Abraham Part 1
Abram had been in the land of Canaan for some time, long enough that he got into trouble in Egypt, separated from his nephew Lot, and experienced a regional war between nine of the kings in the land. The war is where our story now picks up.
In the war, there were five kings versus four kings, and the four kings (of Elam, Goiim, Shinar, and Ellasar) won. They took their spoils of war, including all the goods and people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was, by now, living in Sodom, so he was captured. Abram gathered his trained household men and pursued and defeated the once victors. Lot was rescued, and they all returned home. After an intriguing scene with the priest-king Melchizedek, all was back to normal, mostly. (You can read about all of these events in Genesis 14.)
Now, I do not know how many men were in the armies of the four kings, but I have to imagine it was a fairly large number, larger than the 318 men that Abram gathered together for his pursuit. All I can imagine, though, is that Abram had the resources available to one man, albeit a fairly wealthy man by their standards, whereas the armies had the resources of four kings and their tribes. Yet it was Abram who prevailed.
I mention this because Genesis 15 begins with a rather unique comment in light of these events. God tells Abram in a vision:
“‘Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield;
your reward will be very great.’” (15:1)
The first two lines both suggest that Abraham was afraid, possibly of retaliation from the regional kings whom he had just humiliated. God assured Abram that He would be his shield—his protection and strength (see also Psalms 28:7, 33:20, 84:11). God promised Abram a reward, meaningful as Abram had just shot down the King of Sodom’s offer of a reward for the return of his people and resources.
Abram responded with a pointed question: “‘[W]hat can you give me, since I am childless…?’” (Gen 15:2a). Another source of strength at this time would have been found in the family unit. A family without children would be vulnerable. There would be no heirs, no one to provide for and protect the family in the patriarch’s old age, and no one to carry on the family legacy. Abram would have been between the ages of 75 and 85 at this point in the story, with Sarai a solid 10 years younger, and neither a spring chicken.
God reiterated His previous promises: offspring, from Abram’s own body, that would be as numerous as the sky and the land that would be his own possession. We are told that “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). Abram’s belief was an active and continuous faith; this was something that was not momentary and fleeting, but rather enduring and long-lasting. Abram kept believing God, and he kept relying on Him, even when the promises were not yet fulfilled. Romans 4:5 and James 2:22 both address this idea of faith and righteousness. It is faith, not works, that achieves righteousness. Abram was expected to be obedient but not to earn righteousness, but rather to show the outworking of his faith through his obedient works.
God then enacted a covenant ceremony as would have been common in the Near Eastern cultures. A selection of animals would have been chosen, cut in half, and laid opposite each other. In a typical ceremony, both human parties would pass through the separated sacrifices, signifying their commitment to their individual covenant obligations and promises. The intent was that if either party broke their promises, they would then, in essence, call down a death curse upon themselves. It would show that “they deserved the same fate as the animals” (Wiersbe, OT, 68). This covenant ceremony was not quite the usual, though.
To begin, this ceremony was initiated by God, not another human. It was an inherently unequal ceremony between the Creator of the universe and a landless, childless man. It was God who made the promise to Abram, and it was God who walked between the bloody pieces of the sacrifice. Abram was in a deep sleep (reminiscent of the one Adam was in when God created Eve), so it was God alone who would take on the death curse if either party failed to uphold their covenant obligations. As God is perfectly holy and righteous, you can imagine who is going to fail in this scenario—and fail he would.
Approximately 15 years later, Abram and Sarai have tried to do God’s will in their time and in their ways, resulting in Abram taking a concubine as a second wife and having a son named Ishmael with her. Ishmael was not the son of the promise, and God made this point very clear when He appeared to Abram next. Abram was now 99 years old, “as good as dead” as some translations say (Rom 4:19). By human standards, Abram and Sarai are so far past possible, they might as well be “all-dead” as Miracle Max says in The Princess Bride. But “[w]hat Abraham and Sarah did not realize was that God was waiting for them to be ‘as good as dead’ so that God alone would receive the power and glory” (Wiersbe, OT, 68). Paul tells us that Abraham “did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do” (Rom 4:20-21). Oh, to have the faith of Abraham!
Prior to the birth of Isaac, God gave Abraham a sign of His covenant with him. The sign was to be a physical reminder of God’s promises and evidence that Abraham and his descendants belonged to God. God told Abraham, “…Every one of your males must be circumcised…My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant” (Gen 17:10b, 13b). As God’s promises revolved around Abraham’s “seed,” it makes sense that circumcision served as the sign for this covenant.
The physical sign of circumcision did not save Abraham; his faith in God had already saved him. Circumcision was merely a symbol. Paul writes, “And [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while still uncircumcised. This was to make him the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, so that righteousness may be credited to them also” (Rom 4:11). It is important to understand the point that Paul is making here because it applies to the faith we hold in God today. It goes back to the faith versus works issue, too. The Jews, at one point, held the idea that to be circumcised was to be saved, much like the idea that we can only be saved by our works. Both ideas are false. We cannot save ourselves because we are not perfectly obedient. Abraham was called to live in the presence of God and be blameless (Gen 17:1b), and he failed. It is the age-old problem since Adam. We cannot save ourselves because we are not perfectly sinless and obedient to God.
So, what do we do? We do what Abraham did; we believe in God and have it credited to us as righteousness. God’s promises were given through God’s grace, and it is through God’s grace that we are saved. Warren Wiersbe writes, “God justifies the ungodly because they believe His gracious promise, not because they obey His law” (NT, 419). God cleanses us of all unrighteousness when we put our faith in Him (1 Jn 1:9), and in return, God applies Christ’s righteousness to our accounts (2 Cor 5:21). Through this process, we undergo a type of spiritual circumcision that removes our sin nature (Col 2:10-12). God renews us by giving us a new heart and a new spirit. He cuts out our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh in its place (Ezek 36:26). We become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
The day this post will appear will be Easter Sunday 2025. In light of that, I want to share a couple of reflections to wrap this post up. First, this covenant series has been such a blessing to me as my study has led me to understand even more how God planned for our salvation since before the beginning of time. He is our intimate, relational God who knew we would need a Savior because we would never be right with Him otherwise. Second, I have been overwhelmed by the love God has for us and how intricately He planned for us to have a relationship with Him. I pray today that you experience God anew as we celebrate our risen Lord and Savior, who loved us so much that He died for us.
Author’s Note:
Please realize that the resource list is a work in progress, and not all the sources listed are ones that I necessarily used or heavily considered in the development of this series. I also realize that a variety of schools of thought may be represented. I am not intentionally promoting one theological system over another. I also recognize that there are multiple approaches to the study of covenants, and I am not here to promote one over another. My goal is to present a basic understanding of the various covenants and how they progressively reveal God’s overarching plan of salvation for humanity.
