Genesis 15 - the Sacrificial Covenant of the Lord

Genesis 15:

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.”

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.”                                                                        

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. 

Already the Lord is directing Abram not to look within himself but outward, upward and forward - to the promised Seed - and all who will come to faith through Him 

To believe (have faith) in the Lord is to be counted as righteous. (Romans 4:1-3)

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 The LORD 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. 

Only through sacrifice (the shedding of blood for sin) can any connection - and consequently any covenant - exist between the Lord God and humanity. Genesis 4:4; Hebrews 9:22

This marks the beginning of the Lord’s sacrificial covenant with the nation of Israel - leading to the ultimate sacrifice: His Only Begotten Son.

It was customary in those times, when a serious covenant was cut, for both parties to walk through the center of the carcass halves together. However, as we will shortly see, the Lord God Himself will walk through the sacrifices alone, showing that the fulfillment of this Covenant will not be down to Abram - nor to any man: The Lord Himself will fulfill this Covenant: all that he requires of Abram - and of us - is to simply believe. As soon as Abram “believed God” his side of the covenant was complete. (Romans 4:4-5)

The LORD will put Abram into a deep sleep while He seals this Covenant because: 

“you cannot see my face, 

for man shall not see me and live.” Exodus 33:20

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. (see Exodus ch. 1-14)                      

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.”

During this time the Amorites will have opportunity to repent: Just as with the Earth during the time when Noah was building the Ark, the Lord will give transgressors time to repent. Once the cup of iniquity has become too full for the Lord to ignore (because he is righteous and just) he will bring down his judgment. (See Joshua ch.10&11) It will also be this way at the end.(Revelation 16)

vs.17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

Here we see the Lord literally providing the fire and the altar for this sacred offering. This is such a mysterious scene and always brings to my mind the fire and the wood for the sacrifice of Genesis 22…the fire that burned perpetually on the great Altar of Sacrifice in the Tabernacle of Moses…and even the fire that came down and consumed Elijah’s offering (1Kings18) After all, every sacrifice…every blood offering under the Old Covenant points forward to the One final and all-encompassing Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. See also Isaiah 62:1.

vs.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,

What is this Land? 

The Land where the Lord will provide the Sacrifice that will end all others - forever; for those who will receive him (John 1:11-12)

is also the very same Land to which He will return to rule and reign in righteousness:See Jeremiah 30:8-12, Revelation 20:1-6

So the Sacrifice was made - and the LORD cut a covenant with Abram on behalf of all of us who would believe as he did - right there in the Land where 3000 years later, it would see its fulfillment. This is the most serious covenant ever cut in history: And the Lord himself will make it and keep it. (Genesis 3:15)

But, as always happens after a move of God, there is trouble ahead…

Genesis 16 

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 

2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” 

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 

As we read this, we will quickly realize why the Lord himself had to cut this covenant - with no involvement from Abram to uphold his side (the one act of faith in ch.15:6 was all the Lord required) It is the same scenario with all of us.

Who can ever make a covenant with the Lord?

Who could ever keep it? 

Who is capable? 

(Matthew 5:33-37)

The Lord made this covenant with Abram - without any interference from him, because He knows that Abram - and all of us - are incapable of keeping our side of it.

Compare this with Genesis 22:1-18

Abra-h-am, now walking in (and with) the fulfillment of God’s promise (Isaac), is not afraid to offer him back to God. (Hebrews 11:17-19) And this time, the Lord will have Abraham play his part, providing the fire and the wood for the altar: Because Abraham now trusts - he now knows - that just as the Lord provided the Promise - He will also assuredly provide the Sacrifice.

For further reading:

http://sarahshalom777.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-tail-of-two-covenants-and-he-brought.html