July 14, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Colossians 1-2

Weekly Memory Verse: 1 John 1:9

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Genesis 15:1-21 (NASB95)
¹ After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” ² Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” ⁴ Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” ⁵ And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷ And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” ⁸ He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” ⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. ¹¹ The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ¹² Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. ¹⁴ “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. ¹⁵ “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” ¹⁷ It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹ the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite ²⁰ and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim ²¹ and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”^[1]

Abram set the stage for faith based belief in God.  I am a little unsure how to approach this without sounding like the faith preachers on TV.  Abram had a solution to his dilemma in mine concerning his heir, he was looking at Eliezer of Damascus.  But often when we get to thinking, God is left out in the cold.  In this vision, God was having a conversation with him, and He instructed Abram that Eliezer would not be his heir, rather he would have a son, and that son would have descendents as numerous as the stars. 

Remember one important thing here, Abram was an old man at this time.  When he left to go to the land of Haran before going to Egypt he was 75 years old, after that, he went to Egypt, lived there for a period of time and returned to Ur.  God just gave him a seemingly unlikely possibility.  I would remind you though, it had not been long since the long lives of his ancestors had been normal.  In other words, several generations earlier (before the flood), it was not unusual for an old man to have children. 

Abram believed God, and God credited him with righteousness.  Abram exercised faith, believing God's word to him. 

Hebrews 11:7-12 (NASB95)
⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. ⁸ By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; ¹⁰ for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

Romans 4:3 (NASB95)
³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

James 2:23 (NASB95)
²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ^[2]

Abram believed God, and demonstrated that belief by exercising faith in his life.  One note on the word believed, the word in the Hebrew is not a word that means that Abram believed from that point forward, it means that Abram had already believed God, and was acting upon and exercising belief that was already a part of his life.  We aren't talking about a new information, where Abram acted upon a whim, we are talking about a relationship of belief where Abram acted upon belief that had already been a part of his life.  Abram made a habit of believing what God told him. 

God made a covenant with Abram, and sealed the covenant with a blood sacrifice.  Notice though, God did not promise Abram that everything would be easy and that his descendants would be wildly rich, they were promised four hundred years of slavery.  To validate this projection, Abram stood to protect the sacrificed animals and the birds of prey were trying to get at the sacrificed animals.  This may symbolize the way that the Egyptians would mistreat the Jews. Then they would leave egypt rich.  Later a smoking and flaming torch passed between the pieces, it is easy to connect that with the Red Sea splitting and Israel being led by a cloud during the day, and a column of fire at night.  God indicated through this vision what the immediate future of Israel would be. He also indicated to them that they would have to drive out the inhabitants of the promised land.   Abram was promised a good long life.

Isaiah 6:3-7 (NASB95)
³ And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. ⁵ Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”^[3]

Also note that the fire represented the holiness of God.  This covenant that God had established with Abram is still in effect because God is still alive.  The land of Israel was promised to them, and God will continue to restore His people. 

I am going to close here, any questions or remarks are welcomed.

Questions for thought:

1.  Later in the Bible, sacrificed animals were completely burned and consumed by fire, why did God pass the torch through the pieces instead of consuming them?

2.  What is your take on the birds of prey?

3.  In the New Testament we are referred to as children of Abraham because we are children of faith, how does this tie into the vision?

Father, as we consider Your word, open our minds so that we can understand and apply the principles to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.