One aspect of a covenant was a sign, a tangible symbol to show the validity of the covenant. This devotional reading looks at how God proved through prophecy that Abram would have a son.
Nuggets
- God wants us to remember how He has kept His promises in the past so we don’t give up waiting in the present.
- We would think that Abram would have been assured by God’s words, but he was still doubting.
- God told Abram to bring a sacrifice.
- God is love and wrath.
- God gave Abram a glimpse of what was in store for his descendants.
- Abram was told the good and the bad.
- Regardless what the distant future would bring, God assured Abram his peace would be with Him.
- Everything happens in God’s time.
- The firepot and torch moving through the sacrifice indicated that God had accepted it.
For the last several verses, God had been reassuring Abram that the promises associated with the covenant He made with him would come to pass. Abram had waited a long time without reaping the most important thing in his mind: a son.
God used the sign of the covenant to reassure Abram that the promise would occur.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Abraham the Patriarch series
Assembling the Sacrifice
“Then the Lord told him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.’ But Abram replied, ‘O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it?’ The Lord told him, ‘Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half. Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away” (Gen. 15: 7-11 NLT)
Then the Lord Told Him
God wants us to remember how He has kept His promises in the past so we don’t give up waiting in the present.
Abram may have just had his first salvation experience – we aren’t told if he had previously believed.
So, I am thinking he hadn’t. If he did, this was just a reaffirmation.
The first thing God told Abram was to remember. Remember a past mountain-top experience. More than that, remember your obedience.
God had asked Abram to do something hard – and Abram aced it.
Abram was not only watching for God’s response, but he also was guarding the sacrifice. He was showing his dedication.
Ooo, baby. Isn’t that what we have to do. We have to watch for God in order not to miss His still, small voice. We have to guard our hearts so that we don’t slip away from Him.
Think about it. This is the third time that God told Abram He was going to give him land. He is going to tell him one more time.
How many times does God have to tell Abram before he starts believing?
How many times does God have to tell us something before we start believing?
How Can I be Sure that It Will Actually Possess It?
We would think that Abram would have been assured by God’s words, but he was still doubting.
All Abram wanted was a sign, verification that the plan was still moving forward. God gave it to him.
We can’t bite on Abram for still questioning (God didn’t). If we look at everything, he had very little evidence that God was real, was Who He said He was, and would do what He said.
When we start to doubt, we have to figure out what we are doubting.
- Are we doubting Who God is?
- Are we doubting He can and will do what He said?
- Are we doubting He can and will do what He said for us?
If we do the first two, we are doubting God. If we do the last, we are doubting us.
If it is the last, that isn’t good.
The Sacrifice
God told Abram to bring a sacrifice.
Abram went and got the animals. Then he waited. But he was watching as he waited.
In other words, Abram was expectant. He knew God was going to continue the conversation – when He was ready. He was going to continue the assurance.
The significance of all the animals has always been a puzzle to me. But try this.
“Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people — for you have broken your oath. I will give you to your enemies, and they will kill you. Your bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals” (Jer. 34: 18-20 NLT).
Ooo, baby. The way that started, my tummy sunk. I’m going, “Wait, wait, wait!!! I always thought this was God reassuring Abram.
Then I got to the last part of verse 18. “… as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows” (Jer. 34: 18 NLT).
Picture me wiping my brow. Abram was okay.
This was just part of the covenant.
Divine Presence
“As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction” (Gen. 15: 12-16 NLT)
A Deep Sleep and a Terrifying Darkness
God is love and wrath.
We know sometimes death and sleep are used interchangeably. I don’t think Abram died here.
But it is interesting that Abram fell into a terrifying darkness. Darkness is usually associated with sin, not a sacrifice to God.
Gray labeled this in a way as being overwhelming but also a good contrast. He wrote, “The hour, the work the circumstances, filled him with awe. He expected he hardly knew what. The profound darkness would make the light that appeared more visible.”
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God will use everything to His benefit. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8: 28 NLT).
Think about it this way. The darkness was a demonstration of God’s awful majesty. God is love and wrath.
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We usually think of God’s majesty as being beautiful. His Shekinah – His glory – is described as amazing.
But what God has to tell Abram is probably going to be hard to hear. Wouldn’t Abram be confused if God shows up all rainbows and unicorns and tells him about hardship and slavery?
True, the end would work out. But the road to get there was going to be challenging.
Then the Lord Said to Abram
God gave Abram a glimpse of what was in store for his descendants.
Abram just had stood up and said he believed God. God comes back with a prophecy.
God showed to Abram the outcome of his waiting. Yes, it was just mere words, but Abram got to “see” what his faith would bring.
We can’t for a minute forget that, at this point, Isaac was just a hopeful memory.
Smith said something I have to figure out. He wrote, “God allows Abram to see a symbol of the Divine Presence.”
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I know. There are times when I wish the author would have elaborated a little more instead of only making a statement and moving on or out.
Strangers in a Foreign Land
Abram was told the good and the bad.
God didn’t hold back.
- You’re going to have a son because a daughter wouldn’t pass on the line in that culture.
- You’re going to have descendants – plural.
- They are going to become slaves.
- I’ll bring them home.
- I’ll give them the land I promised you.
- The land isn’t ready to be given to you yet.
You Will Die in Peace
Regardless what the distant future would bring, God assured Abram his peace would be with Him.
I can just hear God saying, “Yeah, all this bad stuff is going to happen to your descendants, but it will be after you are gone. You won’t have to see it firsthand.”
Welcome to life. Sometimes, you win some; sometimes, you lose some. Sometimes, you don’t have any control; sometimes, everything is smooth sailing.
But all through whatever was going to happen – to Abram, to his descendants – God was going to be there with them.
Go back to Abram being in a deep sleep. I think there is something we tend to gloss over. Yeah, Abram is out of it.
God didn’t send this to Abram in a dream. He didn’t make him see his great-great-great grandkids as slaves.
All that Abram is getting is words – and that was probably bad enough. But these words will ultimately become the Word.
Gray reminded us that God is giving this to Abram personally. He isn’t reading this in some book thousands of years after-the-fact. He is hearing it real time.
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Yes, what God said was hard to hear – more road trips, forced service. Contrast that with divine deliverance, wealth, occupying the land.
Sins of the Amorites
Everything happens in God’s time.
Sometimes, it takes years for God’s promises to come into fruition. Abraham wouldn’t be alive to see this.
It has nothing to do with Abram’s faith or lack of faith. It had to do with the Amorites. (We’re going to talk about who they were in the next devotion.)
God is patient. He will wait until sinners have reached the line in the sand He has.
This is God’s mercy. What they deserve, He has put on hold.
But that will stop one day. God will bring forth the sentence He has passed on them.
Payson explained what that isn’t. He wrote,
“… when we say, God waits until sinners have filled up a certain measure of iniquity before He destroys them, we do not mean that He waits upon all, till they have filled up the same measure. In other words, we do not mean that all sinners are equal in sinfulness and guilt at the hour of their death.”
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Just like each disciple is on our own Sanctification Road, non-believers have their own highway to hell. While all non-believers will end up at the same place, they each have their own time and way to get there.
How does God know non-believers are filled up? He knows their feelings, thoughts, words, and actions, according to Payson.
Well, yeah. What we believe comes out through our feelings, thoughts, words, and actions.
Firepot and Torch
“After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses” (Gen. 15: 17 NLT)
The firepot and torch moving through the sacrifice indicated that God had accepted it
As usual, we don’t know how much time passed between when God finished talking with Abram and when the firepot and torch appeared. It doesn’t matter.
Abram stayed in watch mode.
Hastings identified the smoking pot as a furnace. He saw this as a purification process. We know God is in the process of purifying us from our sin.
Hastings and Gray’s Watching and Visions
https://www.biblehub.com/sermons/auth/hastings/watching_and_visions.htm
If this was Abram’s conversion experience, this might be a visual example of how God moves through us to purify us. It is nice to know that – however He does it – God does purify us.
Whitefield got a little more specific. The pieces of the animals are Jesus’ cut body. The smoking furnace are the trials we go through to sanctify us. The light are God’s presence and joy.
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As the covenant says to pass through the cut pieces, that means we are hidden in Jesus’ wounds.
Hastings reminded us that the lamp not only provides divine light but also guidance.
Think about it. We know Jesus is described as being the Light.
- “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1: 3 NLT).
- “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life’” (Jn. 8: 12 NLT).
- “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it” (Jn. 1: 5 NLT).
- “Your word [Jesus] is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path” (Ps. 119: 105 NLT).
- “But while I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn. 9: 5 NLT).
- “A psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation – so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” (Ps. 27: 1 NLT).
Yeah, God was showing all of this to reassure him that He will keep His promises. But He is also saying, “You aren’t going to be alone because My Lamp – My only Son – is going to be the lamp to guide you.”
Jesus Himself talked about this. “Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad” (Jn. 8: 56 NLT).
Remember, a couple of sections back, we talked about Smith saying something was a symbol of the Divine Presence. Gray answered that.
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The lamp symbolized God’s Shekinah – the glory of the divine presence.
We are told we are to reflect Jesus’ light. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Mt. 5: 14-16 NLT).
Making the Connections
How do we look at ourselves? It is in the moment.
Maybe we will think about one or two things of the past. Maybe.
We don’t get the chance Abram had. The writer of Hebrews, which may have been Paul, gave a summary of Abram’s life.
“For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: ‘I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.’ Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind” (Heb. 6 13-17 NLT).
What can we gain from that? Bad days, addressed the correct way, are okay. God can use the, too, to grow us.
We have to. Make sure we keep God on His Sovereign throne.
God knows that Tom is going to have to believe God with little evidence. He knows Sally is never going to believe in Him. He knows Elaine has to process for a couple of minutes and then say, “Whatever You want, God.”
How Do We Apply This?
- Believe in God’s promises.
- Obey God.
Father God. Your promises are gold. What You promise, You will do — no matter how long it takes. Help us wait and obey. Amen.
What do you think?
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