“The Lord’s Handiwork – Covenant”

Scripture: Genesis 15:1-12; 17-18

Last week, we considered the ways that Satan works in human lives, and specifically, in the attempts he made against the life of Jesus. He never demands, never works great wonders, never solicits followers for his way – he simply attacks God’s ways through doubts, and innuendoes, and half-truths. And quite honestly, I’m surprised that it works! Are we really that gullible?
And since I have asked the question, I suppose that I should answer it for my own life – yes, I apparently am that gullible! I am no less a sinner than anyone else. There was a day when I was completely enthralled by earth’s call on my life, and even since I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I still find myself slipping back toward those un-Jesus ways from time to time. I guess it all comes back to Jesus’ words to his napping disciples in the Garden “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” (Mark 14:37-38)
Now please don’t take this as an excuse that we can use to justify our sin! It isn’t! The point is that we need to focus our lives on the rest of that verse – that we are to be vigilant for Satan’s temptations, and to trust the spirit instead of our fleshly desires.

So is that all that is needed – to just keep watch and pray? Hardly! That would put the entire onus on our own abilities, and as we all know, that has never worked out very well!

Read Genesis 15:1-6

Let’s step back for a moment, and take a look at the events that preceded this marvelous time in Abram’s life.
In Genesis 12, God promises Abram that he will become the father of a great nation, that the Lord Himself will keep him safe, and that all the people of earth will heap honors on his name. And things went well for the man – for a while. He would live in the Lord’s blessings, but soon, he would fail God when he succumbed to the ways of the world. In the first half of this chapter, we read of the Lord’s many blessings for the man Abram, and in the second half, we read of Abram’s weakness in protecting his beautiful wife from the Pharaoh of Egypt.
There was little difference between the Abram of old, and the people of today. We readily accept the Lord’s blessings, but when push comes to shove, how often do we strive to resist Satan’s lies?

As we catch up to Abram in chapter 15, he has aged a few years. He has tried to live the best life that he could, he had tried to bring honor to his God, and now, when the Lord comes to him once again, proclaiming that He will be Abram’s great reward, Abram’s only thought is “Why haven’t you kept your promise of many descendants? I don’t have any legitimate heirs!”

His concerns seem to mimic the rich man in one of Jesus’ parables. He had accumulated so much wealth that he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, but God tells him that they will do him no good, for he is going to die. (Matthew 6:13-21)
That’s Abram’s concern – he has wealth, but no one to pass it on to when he dies. But the Lord’s promise of great blessings wasn’t so much about preservation of his personal wealth, as it was in preservation of his faith.

But instead of chastising the man for his lack of trust, God shows him the heavens and challenges him to count the stars, for that is how many his family will become. Now, we probably could count a good deal of the stars that we see in the sky, but how many don’t we see? We can see only a small percentage of the ones that are visible from earth, and even less of those that exist in in our own galaxy. How many other stars, in how many other galaxies, are out there that we don’t know about, let alone can’t see?
And who is God claiming will be Abram’s “family”? Galatians 3:6-9 tells us that all who believe in Christ are his descendants, too! That’s a lot of stars! No wonder Abram couldn’t count them all.

But Abram would believe, and his faith was received in righteousness. In essence, we are being told that his faith was sufficient, and God was pleased. The relationship is firm. But this is a human being – how long will his faith stay strong?

Read Genesis 15:7-12

The first question we considered today is a matter of understanding “God’s giving nature”. But now the question is different – it is centered on Abram and “how he knows”. So maybe this is a question for each of us, too. How do we know that any of God’s promises can be taken for certain?

Scripture is full of promises, isn’t it! How do we know that they are all true?
“For God so loved the world …”(John 3:16-17); How do we know that God loves us – where is the proof?
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith …” (Ephesians 2:8) How do we know that faith is enough? That simply believing in Jesus is enough?
“That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow …” (Philippians 2:6-11) Every knee? Every tongue? Not even one that won’t?

How do we know? Throughout the Gospels and into the Epistles, we are told over and over again that it all comes down to a matter of faith, not one of proof. In John 11:25-26, Jesus is with Lazarus’ sisters, and they acknowledge that even though resurrection is a possibility, they also know that if Jesus had been there, their brother wouldn’t have died in the first place. But Jesus tells them “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and who ever lives and believes in me will never die.”

Whether it is life in the here and now, or life in the hereafter, it all hinges on our faith in Christ. It has nothing to do with having an understanding of God and his ways! It’s about trusting in the Lord’s word – that it is good enough for us.

But trust doesn’t have a chance without the basis of a sound relationship to begin with. The New Testament is filled with examples of people who had a solid relationship with the Lord, and from that had complete trust in his call on them. The evidence that comes from that trust and calling is the proof. The proof comes later.

But in Abram’s case, the Lord actually will seal his promise with a covenantal sign – His proof. The man is asked to help prepare the rite with a blood sacrifice of 3 animals and 2 birds. By God’s grace, and Abram’s faith, the divine work is about to prove the validity of the Lord’s promise of a great nation.

In those days, when a covenant was established, whether it was between two people or between two nations, a similar ritual would be performed. A blood sacrifice would be made, and each party to the agreement would then walk through the blood, indicating that if, at any time, either of them were to break the covenant, they would pay for the failure with their own blood. There were no loopholes, there were no ifs, ands or buts – it was simply “I will do this, and you will do that.” And if either one didn’t ,.. well, you get the picture.

This is the setting that Abram finds himself in. He knows how a covenant is sealed, he knows how weak his faith has been at times, and he must have been more than a little concerned over this most recent move by God. Would he ever survive the covenant?

Read Genesis 15:17-18

The covenant was made, but it was sealed only by the Lord. Abram never had to take a single step in the blood of the covenant. His part of the bargain was to believe. Remember John 11? “Whoever believes in me will never die!” But God’s covenant with Abram didn’t end the affliction that sin has on our relationship with him. The covenant has been broken countless times – as many as the stars throughout the universe, and probably even more.


As we continue our journey through Lent, coming ever closer to the Cross of Calvary, each of us needs to remember who it was who had to be the Blood sacrifice for the relational break that each of us has created. It was humanity’s sin that caused the break, but it was only God who could repair it. But God can never die - only Man could do that, so it must be One who is fully Man to take the death, and who is fully God to restore the covenant of life.

Satan’s only desire is to break the covenant, and Jesus’ only desire is that all will have faith in his ability to repair the damage. John 14:1 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled - you believe in God; believe also in me.”

By faith in Jesus Christ and the power of his sacrifice, all of the mischief that Satan has ever worked in our lives, and ever will work, has been shattered. COMPLETELY! PERMANENTLY! All by Christ’s work in and through our faith. Praise the Lord!