Scripture: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Today I’m preaching the traditional Old Testament lesson for the Second Sunday in Lent. As best I can tell, I’ve never preached this passage before. And I want to make three points: Number One: Fear. Number Two: Faith. And Number Three: Fulfillment. Now… Point Number One is much longer than Numbers Two and Three… So when I finish Point One, don’t say, “Ugh! We’ll never beat the Baptists to the Mexican place.” We still might… If we all work together, and none of us falls asleep, and I hear a lot of “Amens”! Okay? Let’s do this…
In his commentary on today’s scripture, the British Old Testament scholar John Goldingay described his experience, years earlier, of answering a call from God to move to America, in order to teach at Fuller Theological Seminary, in California. He was anxious about making the move, in part because his wife had advanced MS, and she was now confined to a wheelchair. The move would be especially difficult on her. So should he do it or not? With some trepidation, he decided to do it.
Before leaving for America, he describes the following experience:
After a seminary chapel service, a student told me that during the service God had told her, “Tell John, Judges 18:6.” Neither of us knew what this text said, so we went to look it up. In the NRSV it says. “Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the Lord.” In the TNIV it says, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.” It was a promise that made it easier to undertake the move to which I was committed, though obviously that required me to trust the promise. 1
Indeed… God’s Word only helps us if we actually trust the promise. But trusting the promise is the hard part, right? Because if we don’t trust the promise, all we’re left with are reasons for fear.
This relates to our church’s theme for the year. Which is what? “Fear not, therefore…” Which comes from one of our memory verses: Matthew 10:29-31.
This issue of fear versus faith will keep coming up among God’s people in scripture. Like it or not, fear is incompatible with faith.
So what’s our problem?
Whatever our problem is, it’s a problem that Abraham shares with us… And for the record, I’m calling him “Abraham” here, not “Abram”—even though in today’s scripture God hasn’t yet changed his name. The name “Abram,” by the way, means “Daddy.” And “Abraham” means “Big Daddy.”
Anyway, it’s already been about ten years since God called Abraham to become, through his offspring, a great nation—the nation through which God would save the world, through one particular offspring, Jesus.
So now it’s ten years later… Still no promised son. But Abraham has lived an eventful life since then, to say the least—filled with unmistakable signs of God’s love, power, and favor…
And in verse 1 we have yet another sign: “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’”
At this point, we might expect Abraham to click his heels, salute, and say, “Whatever you say, Lord! You’ve more than earned my trust. I believe you.”
Instead we have verse 2: “But Abram said…”
Uh-oh. I already don’t like where this is going. Do you? When God speaks to us, we should never contradict him with the word “but,” B-U-T. It just never makes sense.“But Abram said, ’O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’”
Verse 3: “And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” That’s how our ESV puts it. “Member of my household” means an unrelated member of his household, Abraham’s servant Eliezer. But I prefer the way the NLT and many other translations change the word from “and”—“and a servant of my household will be my heir”—to “so”: “so one of my servants will be my heir.” It means the same thing as the ESV, it just makes it clearer: Abraham is telling God, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and as a consequence a servant in my household will be my heir.” That’s the idea…
The first part of verse 3 is perfectly true: God hasn’t given Abraham an offspring. It’s the second part of the verse that’s the problem: “And… as a consequence of this fact… one of my servants will be my heir.”
That’s not true… It’s as if Abraham were saying, “Because of these things that have happened in my past—which God has obviously allowed to happen—therefore…” Therefore what? “Therefore I can’t expect God to do anything different for me, or better for me, in the future. God can’t do anything to help me now! The situation is hopeless.”
But why would he feel that way? If Abraham believed God’s promise to give him a son ten years earlier, what’s changed now… from God’s perspective? The mere passage of time? Okay… What does that matter? It’s no more impossible for God to give Abraham a child at 85 years old than it was at 75 years old. And it was no more impossible for Sarah to conceive a child at 75 than it was at 65! She was unable to conceive when she was 20!
It’s true their situation seems impossible… from a human point of view… but they are still alive, after all. God’s not finished with them yet!
So I want to tell Abraham, Forget the past! Stop focusing on the past. Stop living in the past. Consider what God is doing now. Consider what God can do for you now! Focusing on the past has a way of blinding us to what God is doing rightnow!
I saw this same idea during one of my quiet times last week, and it got me fired up. My Bible reading plan is currently taking me through John’s gospel. And I read chapter 5. It’s about that paralytic who was hanging out at the Pool of Bethesda. I’ve been there, by the way. It was a highlight of my visit to Israel in 2011. This pool was likely fed by an underground spring, known for its therapeutic properties—probably similar to Warm Springs, Georgia, where FDR found relief from polio.
Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to get well?” And instead of answering the question directly, the man complains about what? About what’s happened in his past—he’s been paralyzed for 38 years, and he offers at least one reason why he’s never been able to get into the pool for himself.
And I want to tell the man, “That doesn’t matter at all! Your past experience is irrelevant! After all, do you know who you’re talking to right now? You’re talking to Jesus; he is God in the flesh! Jesus wants to heal you! Do you believe it? Do you want to get well?”
I’m not making light of this man’s suffering, I promise. Thirty-eight years is a long time, I know. But when you’ve got God in the flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, standing in front of you, that changes everything!
Doesn’t it?
Now think about what this means for us: When you walk into this church on Sunday morning for worship, for instance, I want you to tell yourself something this: Jesus is here in this place! I can’t see him, but he’s just as present to me and my brothers and sisters in Christ as he was to that paralyzed man at Bethesda. We know that Jesus is present because his Spirit is here… and he’s here in a special way when God’s people gather! “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” 2
Just think: when we walk into this sanctuary on Sunday morning, the Spirit of Jesus himself will be waiting for us here. And imagine, when we meet Jesus here on Sunday morning, Jesus is saying to each one of us, “Do you want to get well?”
Every single one of us, by the way, needs Jesus to make us well in one way or another!
And good news! Jesus has all the power to do it… to make us well—whatever “wellness” looks like… in our particular case, at this particular moment in time—only God knows what that looks like. Does “wellness,” for instance, look like a miraculous physical healing? Maybe. Why not? Can’t rule it out… We’re hardly acting on faith if we rule out the possibility of physical healingbefore we even get started! Before we even pray!
No, the Spirit of Jesus Christ has all the power to work a physical miracle if he wants to. But if Jesus won’t give you a physical healing, it’s not at all because he doesn’t love and care for you, it’s only because it’s not yet time for that, and he’s got something better and more necessary for you at this moment. But by all means, ask the Lord for what you think you need… Pray… and believe… and expect… the Lord to do mighty things when God’s people gather right here at Toccoa First on Sunday mornings!
And by the way, Jesus will physically heal every single one of us who trusts in Christ as our Savior… That’s a hundred percent guaranteed! It’s just that often—or usually—the physical healing won’t come until the resurrection of the dead, when God’s children will receive new, perfect, glorified bodies. But physical healing is coming for everyone! God’s Word promises!
So let me talk about one more thing that causes Abraham to be anxious in today’s scripture… Verse 1: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.” And he’s our shield too, as the Bible tells us throughout the Book of Psalms, for instance.
God is our “shield”… He protects us… like a shield in battle.
So here’s a good question… if God’s Word is telling the truth (and it is)… How good do we think God is at being our “shield” and protecting us?
Do we imagine that there are some arrows or spears or javelins or flaming darts or maces or swords that God accidentally “lets through” his shield? Like… He’s trying his best to protect us from all these things… He wants to protect us! But cut him some slack! It’s not like God can be in all places at once… Oh wait, he can! Because he’s God!
Think about Abraham and Sarah: At the beginning of today’s scripture Abraham is clearly frustrated with God. And I can’t help but wonder if Abraham believed that our enemy, the devil—or at least unfortunate medical circumstances beyond anyone’s control—shot an arrow labeled “years of childlessness” in the direction of Abraham and Sarah… and God—who was supposed to be “their shield,” after all… God lunged to deflect that arrow, but missed… and, sadly, that arrow struck its intended target, Sarah and Abraham? The result? Years of childlessness… Decades, in fact…
And why did this happen? Did it happen because God failed? Because God lunged at the arrow with his shield and missed?
Perish the thought!
But if that’s what Abraham believed about his almighty God, it’s no wonder he has trouble trusting in God’s promises… despite already having seen the powerful and miraculous things that God can do! God could show Abraham a thousand miraculous proofs of his power, but if God can’t heal this one small but uniquely painful problem… He’s going to have a hard time trusting what God says. Because Abraham and Sarah are hurting. And it seems like God doesn’t care… or at least he can’t fix it… or at least he’s not doing anything about it.
So here’s a difficult truth, and I say this with great care because I promise I’m not minimizing anyone’s pain… but I do believe we’re going to have a hard time trusting God and his Word as long as fail to grasp this truth: Just because something hurts us, right now, doesn’t mean that that painful thing represents an “enemy arrow” that God accidentally let through. God is our shield, after all. He’s on our side. He’s fighting for us. And his record of protecting his children is perfect. I agree his timing isn’t our timing—and usually his timing is late, by our standards—and that can be difficult and frustrating… But his shield intercepts every enemy arrow that would cause lasting, long-term, or eternal harm! Any other conceivable arrow that comes our way is one that God will transform and use for our ultimate good and for his glory. And there will come a time, in this life or the next, when we will say, “Amen! Hallelujah! Look what God did with that painful situation. Remember our memory verse in Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Answer: no one.
And so we can trust him.
That’s Point Number One… Fear.
Number Two… Faith.
God is very gracious toward Abraham’s doubts and fears. He doesn’t fuss or scold or lose patience. Instead he takes him out under the night sky: “‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’”
When God says this, the most amazing thing happens. Verse 6: “And he believed the Lord, and he [God] counted it to him [Abraham] as righteousness.” As the NLT puts it, “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
And this verse is at the center of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of the apostle Paul’s argument in Galatians and Romans: We are justified, or brought into a right relationship with God, not through obedience to God’s law—none of us could keep the law if we tried; the law can only convict us of sin… No, we are brought into a saving relationship with God through faith alone.
In Galatians, for instance, Paul is writing to a church that’s been infiltrated with “Judaizers,” alleged “Christian” teachers who are teaching the Galatians that they need to add a few more things to the gospel that Paul preached to them… just a few… They’re nearly saved. Paul got them started, but now they need to get saved all the way by following a few laws. Like… they need to get circumcised, they need to observe Old Testament dietary laws, maybe follow a few Jewish festivals. Just add those things, and they’ll be okay.
And Paul is at his most passionate: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8. And one plank in Paul’s argument is that Abraham himself was justified—made right with God—saved—completely forgiven—through faith alone… And this happened 430 years before the law was given to Moses on Sinai. In fact Genesis 15 takes place even before God gave Abraham the very first law, the law of circumcision. That doesn’t happen until Genesis 17!
Paul’s point is that God was showing his people, way back in Genesis 15 that God always intended for his people to be justified by faith in Christ alone! It wasn’t some new innovation that came about with Jesus… or with Paul. We trust in Christ alone for salvation, not Christ plus a few good works.
We’re justified by faith alone… and not even a lot faith, if that makes you feel any better.
Because look at Abraham’s doubts and fears, which crop up again the moment God tells us that Abraham is justified by faith. “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
Abraham is justified by faith alone…
And not even a lot of faith… if that make you feel any better!
Pastor Tim Keller asks us to imagine that we’re about to hurdle over a steep cliff and there’s nothing to slow you down or prevent you from going over the edge to your certain death… Nothing except the branch of a nearby tree. You can just barely reach out and grab hold of it. So that’s what you do. And praise God! The branch is strong enough to keep you from falling. Did it take faith for you to reach out and grab hold of that branch? Well, sure… You had to believe that there was at least a chance that the branch was strong enough to stop your fall and support your weight.
Of course, what did you have to lose at that point? It doesn’t take much faith to reach out and grab hold. So when that branch saves you from falling to your death, you’re not crediting your faith in that branch, you’re just thankful that the branch was there!
The point is, “It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.” 3
That’s Point Number Two… Faith…
Point Number Three… Fulfillment…
So… in verse 8, Abraham asks, “How am I to know that I shall possess it?” Which is another way of saying, “How will I know these promises that you’ve just made will come true— promises that will ultimately be fulfilled through Abraham’s offspring, Jesus. God will save the world by sending his Son Jesus. “How am I to know that this will happen?”
And God answers by entering into a covenant with Abraham.
Because what follows in verse 9—which sounds really strange to our modern ears—is a covenant ceremony.
At the Lord’s command, Abraham cut in half a heifer, a female goat, and a ram—and made a space between the animal halves—an “aisle” down which people could walk in between the animal parts. Abraham also sacrificed a couple of birds, but they were too small for cutting in half.
And you’re thinking, “What the heck is this?”
This was how ancient Middle Eastern people entered into a covenant. Today we would draw up a legal document and have parties to the covenant sign it; ancient people cut animals in half and walked in between the animal parts. In fact, when the Bible speaks of “making” a covenant, the Hebrew literally says “cutting” a covenant. Because it involved cutting animals in half and then all the parties to the covenant walk in between the animal parts.
So, strange as it seems, that’s what’s going on here…
In fact, let’s turn our attention to the only other place in scripture where this same covenant ceremony is referred to: Jeremiah 34:18-20. For context, the people of Jerusalem had broken a covenant they had made with God to release all their slaves. God tells them:
As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf— all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land. 4
Notice those words: “I will treat them like the calf they cut in two…” That’s what the ceremony means for people who walk between the pieces. It’s as if each person were saying, “May I be treated like this calf, this heifer, this goat, this ram, this bird… if I don’t live up to my end of the covenant.”
With that in mind, get a load of what happens next: When night fell, God appears to Abraham in the form of a fire pot and a flaming torch. Images of fire and smoke. These images for God are used elsewhere—for instance, when God descends on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. But this fiery, cloudy vision—representing God—passed in between the two halves of each animal carcass.
God, in other words, enters into the covenant.
Therefore, since God passed between the pieces, it’s as if God were saying, “May I become just like these animals—may I die like these animals—may my blood be shed like these animals—if I fail to live up to this covenant and keep my promises.”
And next, we might expect the other party to the covenant, Abraham, to walk between the animal carcasses. But no… there’s no indication of that happening. Abraham doesn’t walk between the pieces. Only God does.
God, in other words, was assuming responsibility for both sides of the covenant: If God’s own people break the covenant, God will suffer the penalty on their behalf. God will suffer death.
But wait… How is that possible? How does God die?
Only by doing what Paul says that Christ did in Philippians 2:
though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 5
This strange ceremony points to the reason why we can be justified by faith in Christ alone… It points to Good Friday… It points to the cross…