Genesis 15

1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield, your very great reward.”

(Don’t feel left out on the vision thing. Abram didn’t receive any that we know of until he was 75. Even at that , he received a total of 8 (that we know of) over the next 100 years.)




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“After this” ~ the rescue of Lot his rejection of all of the wealth of S & G his tithe to Melchizedek.

What did he fear?

Military security is no the issue. He had just beaten all of the bad guys. (Contractual, guaranteed protection)

Financial stability was not an issue. He was quite well off.

The idea is total “I’ve got your back”ing in all areas of his life.

But he was afraid nonetheless.




2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is

Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

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Note Abram’s view of God: Adonai Yahweh lord selfmaster existent owner eternal

He recognizes God as the one who holds his destiny.

Whatever meaning may be found in his life is in God’s hands.

Apart from this, life, by nature is meaningless and purposeless.






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Maybe this is the root question:

Is my life to be a waste?

What’s the point?






No son = no legacy personally. God’s promises are currently moot. Are God’s promises sure?

Perhaps 10 to 12 years have transpired since Chapter 12.

Eliezer would have been adopted as a son who would care for Abram in his old age. Eliezer would inherit Abram, Inc.

Something about carrying on of the family name.






4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.”

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Delay does not mean denial. The promise is still in force.

2 Peter 3:8-9: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.







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Many “guarantees” in life are delayed.

Paychecks

Engagements

Retirement

Babies!







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Romans 8:19-21

19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.







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Very few folks like to wait.

Understand the Big picture. (You are a part, not the whole)

Make the waiting profitable (bring a book)






4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars —if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

It will be better than you imagined!

There is an indefinable element.

Ephesians 3

For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in

Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

Amen.







It will be better than you can imagine!







6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.


Romans 4

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before

God.

3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.


Romans 4

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring— not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.


Romans 4

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old —and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Before this, we have to pass through Hagar.

He did waver before this.


Romans 4

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead — since he was about a hundred years old —and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” 23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.


Perhaps the issue is who we are becoming more than what we are doing.

Faith precedes and results in doing. It alone is redemptive.

Doing validates faith, but in itself is not redemptive.

Doing leaps from faith and can result in greater faith.

Progressive Sanctification

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7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

Does faith ever doubt?

Does faith ever stumble?

7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

Old school covenant form.

Vary serious covenant.

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

The number 400 does not have to be exact, although is could be. (318 is definitely exact)

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.


15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.


15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

The redactors missed another one!!

Fourth generation probably means a long time, or perhaps, the generation was measured in hundreds, like Abram’s.


15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

It is not that God is slow in keeping his promise.

Timing is critical.

Israel’s conquest is partially in judgment of evil people and societies. God give them time to get really “ripe”.

The Rahab option

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

The vast majority of commentaries hold that only God is represented by the fire pot (small furnace) and the torch.

Not that is really matters, but Hugonian thinking wonders if

Abram is the fire-pot and God is torch, which ignites the fire-pot. This way God and Abram symbolically enter into this covenant together.

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of

Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates — 19 the land of the

Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites,

Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

The emphasis here is that God enters into a covenant with Abram that is one-sided. God requires nothing of

Abram and his descendants here other than the implication to possess that land that they would be given, which would require faith/obedience.

Every promise is certain.

We need to be patient. (The big picture / not about you.)

It will turn out different and better that you think.

I Corinthians 2:9

However, as it is written:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”


Faith, not works is redemptive: Being verses doing.

The basis of God’s covenant is himself.

He provided all that is needed. We must accept it.

This applies to all of life in Christ, not just salvation.

Do we always want what he provides?

He is Adonai Yaweh


Faith, not works is redemptive: Being verses doing.

The basis of God’s covenant is himself.

Apart from God, life, by nature, is meaningless.

Focus on the fullness, not the empty.

He is Adonai Yaweh . . .

Genesis 15

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Genesis 15

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