Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today we come together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is risen!

How did we get here though?

How did the story get from Abram and Sarai, a barren couple of nomads, to the Son of God stepping out of the grave one Sunday morning?

On this day many years ago, Christ ratified a new covenant between God and man, signed in his own blood.

Before he died, Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

When Christ arose, and his followers witnessed the empty tomb, they knew that this knew covenant had been ratified.

The blood of Christ, the atoning sacrifice, had been accepted.

Christ’s living body, walking around in the world as if he’d not just been crucified three days earlier, was all the proof they needed that the new covenant had been ratified.This new covenant, however, presupposes a much older covenant.

And in order to truly appreciate the new covenant, we have to learn to appreciate the old covenant, the very same covenant we see described here in this bizarre passage in Genesis.

God’s Proclamation

This passage begins by painting the father of faith, Abraham, in a light we’ve not yet seen before.

Abraham is shown as prophet of God, and the passage begins like many of other books of prophecy in scripture, “The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision...” Unlike many prophets that we’re familiar with, however, Abram actually gets good news, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

I’m sure Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Jeremiah would have loved to hear that word, instead of the typical, “Israel will be destroyed, everyone will go into exile, you’ve disobeyed me, everyone has sinned!”

Any of these prophets would likely have leapt for joy at the sound of this word from God.

Abram’s Protest

Yet, shockingly, the prophet Abram seems a lot more like Jonah than Isaiah, Ezekiel or Jeremiah.

Because when he receives this good word from the Lord, he responds in protest.

God says, “Abram, I am your shield and protector.

Follow me and your reward will be great,” to which Abram responds, “O really?

What reward?

You haven’t given me anything yet!

You promised me a son, but I don’t see one!”

This is, of course, a very valid complaint against God.

Abram and Sarai have traveled some 700 miles by now, through wilderness and desert, they’ve fought in a war, they’ve gone through a famine, and all because Yahweh had promised to provide them with a son, a hope for the future.

Yet, after all that time, there’s no son in sight.

And they’re not exactly getting any younger!

Promise and Faith

But God, listening to this complaint from Abram, does something rather unexpected.

So often we have a picture of God as some mighty, out of touch, pompous king.

To question God seems blasphemous, treasonous, totally taboo and out of bounds.

Yet God far from crying, “How dare you question me!”, seems to hear Abram’s complaint and understand.

God responds not with indignation, but with a request for Abram’s trust.

“Look to heaven and count the stars, if you can.

That is how numerous your descendants can be.”

Perhaps, in this moment, Abram was the first to ponder something like :

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them?

Seeing the beauty of the heavens, the stars that God created, Abram seems to find the faith to trust in this God once again.

If God can make all of this, then surely he can also make Abram a son.

God is able, he has the power.

And so we get that famous line echoed by later writers, like the apostle Paul, “And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

This word here, righteousness, is sometimes thought to mean “good”, or “just”.

It does have that connotation, but it’s really more about upholding your end of the deal.

“Righteousness” is a covenant term.

God has made this covenant, this agreement, with Abram: I’ll give you a son if you believe in me.

Receiving God’s promise, then, is predicated on Abram’s faith and trust in God.

There is no promise if there is no faith.

God needs Abram’s trust in order to carry out this plan he has.

And in this instance, Abram finds that faith by looking at God’s beautiful creation.

Proclamation and Protest Round 2

So, we’ve got the issue of an heir out of the way.

Abram has faith that God has the power to produce an heir for him.

God moves on to the second part of the promise: the land.

God declares to Abram, “I am Yahweh, the God who brought you out of your father’s land to give you this land your standing on.”

God has not only promised Abram an heir, but also this land in Canaan.

So when God reminds Abram of this promise, “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness,” right?

Wrong!

Abraham once again shows that he has his doubts about God.

“You say you’ll give me this land, but how do I know I’ll get it?”

Previously, Abram seemed to be doubting God’s power, but now he seems to be doubting God’s character.

So, once again, God acknowledges Abram’s very legitimate complaint.

The land has been promised to Abram, but he certainly doesn’t possess it yet.

So how is Abram going to trust in God?

A Covenant in Blood

This objection to God is going to require a bit more than getting Abram to look at the stars.

So, hearing this, God comes up with a plan.

He is going to sign a covenant with Abram, an official one this time.

While oral covenants were a common thing in Abram’s day, if you were really serious you’d perform a ritual to seal the deal.

And so God tells Abram,

A Covenant in Blood

“Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two.

At this point, most of us are probably totally lost.

What’s the deal with this strange ritual?

Couldn’t God and Abram just made a pinky swear?

Or signed a contract?

What’s the deal with killing these animals?

This form of covenant making was actually not uncommon in Abram’s day.

It’s a form of covenant known as a suzerain-vassal treaty.

Abram had probably seen it performed at least a few times before.

When a strong king wanted to make a covenant with a weaker king or someone else beneath him, he would have them bring out some animals and cut them in half, just like Abram did.

They would lay the split carcasses in two rows, making a kind of pathway between them: a bloody, grotesque, walkway covered in blood and entrails.

Then the weaker king would be forced to walk through the middle of these mutilated animals.

The message was pretty clear: the stronger king was saying to the weaker king, “If you break this covenant, you’re going to end up like these animals.

If you don’t hold up your end of the bargain, you’ll regret it.”

So God has Abram go get these animals and set up this covenant ritual.

Then something totally unexpected happens.

See, as the clearly weaker party in this covenant deal, it should have been Abram who walked through the middle of these animals.

But it’s not.

After Abram cuts these animals in half, he is struck with a vision, and he sees God himself walking through these bloody animals.

By doing this, God is taking on the consequences of failure to uphold the covenant.

God is saying to Abram, “I’m so committed to this covenant that I will go even unto death to uphold it.”

This is a truly powerful sign of God’s character and faithfulness to Abram.

I’m sure Abram got the message: there’s absolutely nothing that would stop God from fulfilling his promises, even if that means death.

Death metaphorically, I’m sure Abram thought.

God, after all, can’t really die, can he?