Genesis 15

Genesis • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Genesis 15:1 ESV

1 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.”

It’s hard to say how much time has passed since Abram was originally called to go to the place the Lord would show him.

But, it’s been a while.

He’s getting old. He’s not sure how this calling of God can possibly play out. In the mean time, he’s living in a tent, traveling around from place to place in Canaan, down to Egypt and back.

Yes, he’s wealthy. Yes, he has a large community of people with him. Yes, he is obviously a man with military means…

But in spite of all that… he is carrying with him a calling, and he has no idea how it’s going to play out.

He is supposed to have children… offspring… innumerable descendants.

Instead… he is just getting older..

He is unsettled...

He is running off to fight battles for the sake of his nephew...

He is interacting with good kings… and wicked kings…

And he’s probably still wondering… just what in the world is going on.

These are the things… the first 3 words of vs. 15 are talking about.

And based on the opening words of Yahweh, we can easily deduce how Abram was feeling.

Fear not.

Why would God say this? Obviously, Abram was fretting. He was fearful and worried about the decisions he has made.

He took his wife and all of his servants and employees away from their homeland, and into a land inhabited by foreigners.

They were strangers in a strange land…

On top of that… Abram was making these drastic life altering decisions based solely on these strange interactions that he was having with some spiritual being.

The servants probably thought that he was crazy… and at times, Abram was surely agreeing with them.

On top of all this… Abram was thinking about one thing… and God was making promises about another.

In the next verse, we will see that Abram’s concern has to do with an heir… but God’s concern, was more about… who He was to Abram.

I am your shield.

I am promising you, a great reward.

God’s words spoke of protection.

Strangely… this promise came after Abram went to battle. Not before.

These are the kinds of promises we want before the battle.... before the trial… before the conflict… - not after.

But this is exactly what God does, in this instance, for Abram.

And sometimes, this is exactly what God does… for us.

There are hundreds of promises we can hold onto from the Bible.

God told Abram to Fear Not… - You will find this promise given enough times to cover every day of the year, even when there’s a February 29th.

We know God is in control. We know God has a plan. We know God loves us. We know that we will spend eternity with Him. We know a lot…

But sometimes, when we are about to go into that battle… we don’t get the vision, or the word from the Lord.

We only get… the hundreds and hundreds of promises that speak of God’s character, as they have been given to us clearly, in His word.

Abraham didn’t have the scriptures to fall back on.

He had, these encounters…

He had promises..

And he had the option, to remember these visions, and fall back on them for the things he would face in the future.

And now… for the battles and conflicts that were to come...

He had this one… “I am your shield”

For the questions that will continue to come… about the details of God’s calling, and if he,

Abram, was doing the right thing by coming to this foreign land… - there was this promise: “Your reward shall be very great”

The promise of protection may have come after the battle...

But for the many conflicts which remain… this promise was Abram’s scripture.

-God is my shield’

Genesis 15:2–3 ESV

2 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?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”

This shows us where Abram’s mind is.

He’s locked in on this one topic.

Nevermind that God has promised protection.

Nevermind that God has told him that he has made decisions worthy of a reward…

Abram can’t get past the idea… that somehow he is supposed to father a nation, and yet, he hasn’t even fathered a single child.

In this culture, there needed to be an heir. If their wasn’t a child, or another appropriate close relative, they would appoint a servant. In fact, if there was a child… they still might have a secondary heir appointed as a back up.

There is a system called the Hurrian Family Law that was normal fo the patriarchs. One would be the APLU… or the direct heir… and the other would be the Ewuru. The Ewuru was an indirect heir whom the law recognized when a normal inheritor was missing.

We see a certain level of Abram’s distress in that he repeats himself… saying virtually the same thing in both passages. It’s been a while since he last had a vision with Yahweh. He knew of the promise to go to the land… and he knew of the promise that he would have offspring.

He was in the land… BUT WHERE WERE THE OFFSPRING?

This questions was most likely, weighing heavy upon Abram… it’s the first thing he has to say when God shows up.. and he flat out says it two times in a row.

Genesis 15:4–6 ESV

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Verse 4 must have been an incredible thing to hear.

Imagine: God tells you something impossible.

You wait for it to happen… and years pass… and it just keeps on getting more and more impossible.

So what do we do?

We try to turn it into an analogy. God’s promise really meant this. It was figurative of this..

And sometimes, that might be true…

So you can imagine what Abram must have been going through.

And then, God re-affirms the most impossible, literal interpretation of the promise. He even words it in a very direct, literal, and undeniable manner.

… to be abundantly clear… YOUR VERY OWN SON WILL BE YOUR HEIR..

Abram has done the legal work… he has set things up… he has invested in the potential future of a man named Eliezer of Damascus. But then God… off handedly refers to him as ‘this man’

Here’s a situation that we might be able to relate to. I sure can.

We come up with an idea… we have a great plan… this is our vision, and we do a lot of work to put it together. We invest our heart and soul into it. We can already see how it’s going to play out....

We give it a great name… - AWESOME VISION 2021

And we are all ready to see this great name thing happen....

And then, it becomes evident… that the Lord isn’t really into AWESOME VISION 2021…

And maybe He says to our heart… “that thing isn’t my thing.”

To us… is’s a big, IT’S ELABORATE… WE ORDERED BUMPER STICKERS. WE GOT THE DOMAIN…

AWESOME VISION 2021.

To God… it’s just, ‘that thing’.

And we need to learn how to deal with the disappointment… of God, not being into our vision.

But not to the degree… that we stop having the courage… to try again.

I shared this story years ago… but the founder and former director of Teen Missions Int’l in Merritt Island, Fla, was a man of huge vision. He had incredible ideas. He had so many ideas and visions, that sometimes, they were kind of silly.

There was a part of the property, where the junk went.

The things they built, or welded together, or purchased… the things that were supposed to be the fruition of the big vision…

And for some reason… they didn’t work out.

To God… they were just ‘that thing’.

And I called this part of the property… “The junkyard of failed vision.”

When I was young, immature, dumb Bible School student… I said this in a derogatory sense.

But over the past 20some years of pastoring, I’ve come to think of it a little differently…

That man was bold enough to dream big for God’s glory...

And when God wasn’t in it… the things went to the junkyard, and he kept on dreaming big.

Sometimes… AWESOME VISION 2021… is just… ‘that thing’...

And we need to be ok with it..

But… that doesn’t mean we stop dreaming.

So God told Abram… not that man… but your very own son.

And then, God brought him outside and showed him the the stars…

‘number the stars, if you are able to number them...’

The thing is… even though Abram could only see about 5000 stars, and 5000 is a number that someone could make an account for...

There’s no way, in the moment… looking up w/o a system, charts, ink, teamwork, and lots of time… to actually do it.

It’s an overwhelming task.

With light pollution, we can see less than that with the naked eye… and yet, we would lose count in about 3 seconds.. Then, when we would get to a certain point in our count, the rotation of the earth would cover up some, and uncover others..

The conclusion would be… - there are just too many.

This is what God is telling Abram… not that he would only have 5000 descendants… but that there are so many, it would be impossible to count them.

and then… vs. 6

and he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This is a familiar verse to us…

It is quoted multiple times in the NT, reminding us… that we are not saved by works, or laws, or by our goodness… - God gives righteousness… not because of works, but rather… He gives it… because of faith.

When some people were telling the Roman believers that they had to be circumcised if they really wanted to be Christians…

Paul told them… that God declared Abraham righteous, because of his faith, even before he was circumcised.

Romans 4:9 ESV

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

Paul goes on to say, in that very chapter… that the words ‘it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. vs. 24… IT WILL BE COUNTED TO US WHO BELIEVE IN HIM WHO RAISED FROM THE DEAD JESUS OUR LORD.

Gen. 15:6… was written also, for us. - This is a reminder of God’s grace. Not by works, nor ceremony, nor circumcision, nor baptism, nor confirmation, nor church membership, nor participation… - but by faith.

To those who were being duped into turning back to the law… Paul said, in

Galatians 3:5–6 ESV

5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

The book of James takes it a step further....

He tells us… we are not made righteous by our works… but, works will be a product of faith.

James 2:21–23 ESV

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.

Looking forward from this verse in Genesis 15, we will see… that Abram will not always be a man whose works are a product of faith.

He’s going to take another woman and have a son named Ishmael with her.

But beyond that failure, he will again, walk in faith, and see the promise come to light.

let’s read on.

Genesis 15:7–19 ESV

7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

God is establishing a contract with Abram.

God promised, “I brought you here to give you this land to possess.

But Abram wants to know… “How am I to know that this will happen?”

Wait a minute.

We just found out that Abram was a man of faith..

And then this happens.

God said, “You will possess it.”

Abram asks, “How will I know that i shall possess it?”

This might look like doubt..

But God has just affirmed his faith… and God is not rebuking him here.

No, this isn’t doubt. This is Abram, asking for understanding and confirmation.

So God said… bring me these animals… we are going to write a contract.

That’s what this was… this was an ancient means of establishing a contract.

Generally… both parties would pass between the animal that was split in two… but as we will see later… this is not how this particular contract was carried out.

In a way… this is God speaking Abram’s language.

This is not how God made a covenant. This was a pagan practice…

The Amorites used asses… and their term for making a contract was… ‘to slay an all’

Other nations did the same… and the use of the ‘donkey’ was a major part of it.

Some believe, that this is why… in Exodus 13 and Exodus 34… a law was established… that a firstborn donkey had to be redeemed with a lamb… and if they were unwilling to redeem it with a lamb, they had to break the donkey’s neck.

That donkey would have stirred up pagan ideas and pagan thinking… and by this strange practice in Exodus… the people of Israel were breaking that religious link, and that pagan association.

So, after Abram cut the animals in half and laid them out...

He waited.

Apparently, the vision ended. The communication with Yahweh went silent..

So He obeyed. He did the work and waited.

while he waited, he drove the scavengers away…

Abram fell asleep in vs. 12.

A dreadful and great darkness fell upon him…

This is curious...

Did all of this happen, while Abram was sleeping? Did this happen in a dream.

This part, is unclear...

But There was somehow… communication… and action.

First off… the bad news. Abram’s offspring would be pilgrims in a land that is not heirs, and will be servants. They will be afflicted for 400 years.

At the end of this 400 years… God will bring judgment on the nation… and Abram’s family will depart with great possessions.

This is obviously, a reference to Egypt.

Israel was there for a bit over 400 years… but the first part of that time was under good terms. They weren’t servants and they weren’t afflicted when they came at Joseph’s invitation.

But, as slaves, they were afflicted for 400 years. They grew exceedingly in number, and when God let them go… great curses… judgment was laid upon Egypt…

And when they finally began to leave… the people of Egypt gave them their riches… and it all went as God said it would… right here in Gen. 15.

So… that’s the bad news… and kind of the good news.

That’s how it’s going to play out..

But Abram… not you. You will die in peace… and you will be buried in a good old age.

Now… this next verse is important… Let’s read it again.

Genesis 15:16 ESV

16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

The term ‘Amorites’ was kind of a catch all term for all these ‘ites’ that were living in the land… there’s a list of them in vss 19-20...

These Amorites… who live int he land… they are going to be driven out. It’s going to happen. this land will be given to you. It’s a sure thing.

But..

It’s not going to happen, till it has to happen.

In this, we see the patience, the justice, and the grace of God.

Even though God knew, that their iniquity would become complete… that they would fall to a place of utter depravity… that they become a people irrevocable hardness and wickedness…

God wasn’t going to drive them out… or call for their destruction...

until… they were 100% worthy of it.

Look at Sodom and Gommorah… God isn’t going to destroy them, until on righteous family is removed from their midst.

With God… there is friendly fire.

Now… why is this passage so important?

Because we will come across a lot of disturbing passages in the Bible…

Where God calls Israel, to completely and utterly destroy the people of the land…

And to our senses… that sound horrible..

It is horrible...

And we cannot really fathom it.

I don’t think we should…

We live in a different time… we live on this side of the cross

We live in a dispensation of grace...

We live in a time… when the wicked gods who ruled over those other nations have been defeated by the work of the cross.

There is no real understanding for us… for those passages of utter destruction.

But this… might be our only true piece of revelation.

God is telling Abram… that He won’t do these things… He won’t drive these people out… until their iniquity is ‘complete’.

There was a work to do, in preparing Israel… to be the right people to do this work… they had to grow into a nation… that happened in Egypt..

but they had to also grow into a people of faith… and that took 40 years of wandering and purging in the desert.

But eventually… this promise would come true.

In the final verses… 17-21… the covenant is finalized...

The one thing to take note of … is that only God walked between the animals.

His presence looked, to Abram, to be like a fire pot and a flaming torch…

It’s hard to say, what His image in that moment looked like, but these were the best things that Abram had to explain what he saw…

The covenant was made..

But God made it.

Abram’s part… was faith.

And this is exactly how our covenant with God was established.

God did all the work..

Our part, is faith.

end.

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