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Studies in Genesis, Blessed Assurance, Lesson XXXVII, Genesis 15:7-21
Genesis 15:7-21, And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer (a young female cow that has not borne a calf) of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, (God deals in triads) and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. 12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18 In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
In verses 1-6 of Genesis 15 God assured Abram that his promise to build a great nation from his seed was secure for God guaranteed to Abram a son.
And in our passage for today God addresses his promise to Abram concerning the land for a search at that time would reveal this promise was nowhere near fulfillment as the Canaanites and the Amorites and many other ites filled the land.
God had told Abram that his faith counted to him for righteousness meaning that faith alone brought Abram into a right standing with God, a standing which could never be overturned by Abram’s works.
For the word “counted” means that God degreed Abram righteous for Abram believed God.
But this right standing did not guarantee a fully assured Abram for in the matter of the land Abram asks the Lord, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
God gives us this account of our father of faith to show us that in Abram flowed the same blood that flows in our veins, that Abram’s nature still governs in our time.
He was still weak in the faith and we are weak in the faith but God loves his own and provides assurance to Abram and to us as our weakness so many times prevails.
By faith Abram had obeyed God’s call to leave his home and go to a land which God would show.
Abram had in the forefront of his mind God’s promise to give him a son and to make of his seed a great nation, therein blessing all families of the earth.
But time had marched on, Abram, nor Sarai were not getting any younger and still Abram had no son and unbelievers surrounded his tents and filled the land.
Abram was no doubt elated to receive a new assurance of a son but after celebrating that assurance new doubts concerning the land came to his mind, a kind of thinking that came from that old sinful nature, a thinking that only God’s word will erase.
So, the “whereby shall I know” question is posed to God.
God’s response is an acknowledgment of how business was done in those times.
Today we are filled with legal documents, written contracts and with lawyers counting their hours to charge each client.
But in those days contracts or covenants were executed by the slaying and splitting of animals.
Then the parties of the covenants would walk between the split halves, some commentators saying that this was understood by the parties that the same thing would happen to each as happened to the animals if one or the other broke the covenant.
Others say the sacrifice of animals which meant wealth added to the seriousness of the agreement and insured both parties intended to carry out the covenant.
So Abram obeyed God and took of his flock an heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon.
Abram divided all except the birds and laid them in the proper order so that passing between the pieces could take place as covenants of the day demanded.
The day was spent and Abram, after waiting upon God, a wait indicated by Abram spending time in driving fowls away from the carcasses, a deep sleep fell upon him, a sleep accompanied by an horror of great darkness.
And in this deep sleep, God brought assurance to Abram by recounting His prophesy concerning the future of his descendants.
It is a future of four hundred years, a future of adversity and affliction, but also a future of victory.
And then it came to pass when the sun went down and darkness surrounded Abram a smoking furnace and a burning lamp came into view and both passed between the divided pieces of the sacrificed animals.
So here God gave Abram an image of himself as a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passing though the animal pieces thus ratifying the covenant.
This image of God, smoke and fire, reminds us of the smoke and fire of the tabernacle which showed God’s presence.
Now as we have taught in prior lessons this was a unilateral covenant.
It was a covenant totally upon God’s shoulders with nothing upon Abram.
Abram was to wait and watch God’s hand to bring this about for this is what faith requires.
It requires seeing the hand of God bring about what he says he will bring about.
We see nothing about Abram passing though the animal pieces for unilateral means independent, autonomous, solitary, single handed and self-determined.
The message to Abram was, listen to this and keep your hands off God’s promises for you can only get in the way!
Abram didn’t listen to this as we will see in coming lessons where he and Sarai conspire to bring into their world a son, but a son not of God’s choice and even today we are reaping the consequences of that decision.
God does not stop with the execution of the covenant for in this account God shows that the realization of these promises will extend far into the future.
Far past Abram’s life for he is told by God that he will go to his fathers in peace, thus not being a part of the Egyptian enslavement, and be buried in a good old age.
And God restates his promise concerning the boundaries of the land, even expanding it to include all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates River,
Boundaries which still await their fulfillment when Christ sits upon His kingdom throne in the Millennium.
And to this promise he lists those nations that will be vanquished, those nations occupying and surrounding the land.
Think of this chapter concerning this important experience of our father of faith.
It is given to us by God and Abraham for God knows we, in our weak state need constant assurance.
You husbands, are you sensitive to your wife’s need to be assured of your love?
Are you like the dastardly husband who was asked “When was the last time you told your wife you loved her?”, and responded “It was when we were married and I told her if I ever changed my mind I’d let her know.”
Now that is a foolish man who does not meet his wife’s needs, for she, as well as everyone, needs assurance and encouragement in this world.
And God knew Abram’s frame and God knows our frame and therefore he provides us with assurance throughout his word, and not only that, he provides us assurance in everything our senses reveal to us about him as creator.
This chapter 15 passage tells us that God is in charge and that assurance rests on His promises and not our unstable and/or unsteady deeds or acts and very thankfully so.
We have made it plain in our study of Abraham that God was the one who began, who continued, who followed through on all things concerning that which he promised to do.
In verse 7 after hearing of Abram’s concern over his lack of a son and knowing of Abram’s concern about the land He declares:
I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
So is Abram in charge in this declaration or is it God who is in charge?
Does this declaration place on Abram’s shoulders any requirements for him to accomplish in order that God’s promises be carried out?
Is Abram now expected to go into high gear and get all the planning done, pulling all the details together in order that the land be secured, and sons be obtained?
No none of that is here but isn’t it so true that our sinful nature always desires that we bring about or at least help God to carry out His promises?
So here we clearly learn that it is God who initiates a covenant with Abram.
It is God who sets the terms.
It is God who gives the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants.
It is God who is the owner and surveyor who stamps his credentials on his established boundaries of the land.
It is God who assures Abram that all this will be carried out within God’s time clock, nothing sooner, nothing later.
We, four thousand years after this event, with Abram, still await the fulfillment of the promise concerning the land but we know the land’s history and we know that everything God promised progresses toward that fulfillment.
King David conquered much land and his son King Solomon conquered even more but their victories never reached to the boundaries God had promised, for that goal awaits the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Just in this we again see that it is all of the Lord and none of us.
Another thing we are to learn about God’s assurance is that it is for those who believe God, those who, originating from faith, are made righteous and is not for doubters and unbelievers.
The assurance given in our passage follows verse 6 whereby Abram is declared righteous, meaning he is a believer.
Abram asked God concerning the land: Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
And because of God’s response to this question, we know that Abram did not ask with doubt but with faith.
And God was gracious to give Abram assurance.
Examples abound of God’s rebuke of unbelievers who do not ask of God in faith but for personal self-centered reasons and God will not abide them.
The Pharisees and scribes were of this ilk and suffered severe rebuke from the mouth of Christ.
Abram was of the group of faith who had advanced to the conclusion: “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” and God honored that humble request.
God never succumbs to the unbeliever’s demand for proof for the just shall live by faith and God never rescinds his word.
The Pharisees and scribes did not love truth for truth’s sake but only for worldly power and control of others.
God will never provide assurance to those who desire evidence, those who reject repentance.
God will always give assurance to those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ when they come to Him with a submissive, obedient heart.
God feeds His children His daily bread, and that includes assurance, that they go on and on believing till He comes.
Now also note that assurance is confirmed by God’s prophetic word.
Reading again Genesis 15:13,14, And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Know of a surety about the future can only be said by God.
The giving to us knowledge of the future provides assurance to those of us in the now and now.
Abram is given that which encourages him to trust God concerning His promises because he knew that God was working things out in His own good time.
And because of this to know without doubt that all things worked together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Because of God’s surety Abram could go on trusting God concerning His promises because he knew that God was working things in a timetable far greater than Abram’s life.
God gave Abram a vision of the future, a future to us that is now in the past but we can read of it as if we were Abram and therefore be assured that God’s word is true.
For most of these events as told to Abram in chapter 15 have come to pass and therefore we are assured that those yet to come will come, as God has said for He has promised, and His promises are eternally true! Blessed Assurance by Fanny Crosby
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Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
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Perfect submission, perfect delight,
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Perfect submission, all is at rest, |