Back to Abraham… Genesis 15.
First a quick recap of parts 1 & 2…
1. Abraham chooses to believe God – Abraham chooses to believe God’s promise to him despite the natural fact that Abraham (and his wife) are completely incapable of fulfilling that promise.
2. Abraham keeps it real – Even though he’s already chosen to believe, Abraham is still honest enough with himself and God to ask a perfectly honest question.
3. God responds to Abraham – God answers Abraham’s question, “How can I know?”, by having him prepare for the all-to-familiar covenant-cutting ceremony. As Abraham goes about preparing for the ceremony, his work is attacked by “birds of prey”, and then a thick and dreadful darkness comes over him.
After this darkness comes over Abraham, God speaks to him in a dream. He describes the future of Abraham’s descendants as “strangers in a country not their own”, “they will be enslaved and mistreated”, but “afterwards they will come out with great possessions.” Finally, it says that when the sun had set and darkness had fallen, “a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces… on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.”
This is weird. Seriously. What in the world is God saying to Abraham!?!? This is where historical context helps us. Remember, Abraham was perfectly familiar with the covenant-cutting ceremony that God had instructed him to prepare (just before the birds and the darkness and the dream.) In this ancient suzerainty covenant ceremony, what would normally happen is the inferior party would walk between the bleeding pieces of split animal, taking an oath of loyalty to his superior. But in this case, God voluntarily humbles himself to accept the role of the inferior party of this covenant. This is a foreshadowing of God the Son condescending to die on a degrading cross for us!
4. God takes all the pressure onto Himself – Even though he’s already chosen to believe, Abraham just can’t fathom HOW God is going to fulfil His promise. Just like the rest of us, Abraham, being the human that he is, just can’t seem to grasp the fact that God really is beyond capable enough to fulfill His promises through the most broken, messed up, totally inadequate people. God passes through the bloody mess of slain flesh Himself, to say to Abraham, “I will do this. I will fulfill my promise to you. The pressure is on Me… not you. This is My gift to you.”
Final thoughts on Total Inadequecy tomorrow…
