#genesis15

Summary Abram was promised an heir and many descendants. He believed! He was told that they would be enslaved but would be freed.

The Abrahamic covenant 

“This chapter explained how the Abrahamic covenant was made and is the basis for the expectation that God’s promises will be fulfilled. God is free to choose when and how he will fulfill his promises, but he is faithful, and so his true children live by faith.

This truth is sealed by the ritual covenant action in verses 9–11. The slaughter and division of the animals was part of an ancient rite (cf. Jer. 34:18–21) according to which a sovereign makes a solemn commitment to fulfill certain promises. The ceremony amounts to a legally recognized “self-curse”; that is, God promises that if he forsakes his covenant, the fate of the dead animals—being cut in two—will be borne by God. The covenant is initiated by God, sovereignly administered by him, and kept by him independent of the actions of the party to whom he swears his commitment.

God also tells Abram of Israel’s future bondage, of their eventual exodus from bondage, and of how God will provide for them at that time (Gen. 15:13–14). These prophetic words would be especially important to the nation during its Egyptian travail, and to later generations during their wilderness wanderings—times when they would surely wonder if God had remembered his covenant and would be faithful to it.

In the generations that follow these events, God did keep his word (Rom. 9:6). It is we, the human covenant partner, who have failed. And yet at the pinnacle of human history God resolved nevertheless to undergo the curses of the covenant himself (Gal. 3:13). He sent his Son to bear the punishment of our sin. This mercy startles us into quiet worship. This is a God worthy of all our trust and adoration.“

God had the choice, to not make this covenant but He made it ultimately to fulfill with Christ coming for our sins. Thank you Lord, for Your mercy and love even when I fail to recognize Your grace, You show me again and again how deep, wide and great Your love is to me.

Genesis 15:1-21 (King James Version)

What kind of God would willingly bind Himself to sinful people? 

What kind of God would enter into a covenant dependent only on Himself, knowing that we will break and disobey it over and over again? Knowing that we will rebel constantly and choose to marry ourselves to sin that He so despises?