So, Abraham’s faith in God took a leap forward. Through his growing confidence in Him, he recognised the Most High God as his source. He refused the spoils of the war he had won against the kings, choosing rather to trust God for his physical and material needs.
Genesis 14:21-23 NLT
[21] “The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.” [22] Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, [23] that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you. Otherwise you might say, ‘I am the one who made Abram rich.’ “
What a revelation for a man raised in unbelief and idolatry! He had confirmed his shift from the seen to the unseen, from a vain hope in the idols that never spoke or acted to the real God whose signature he recognised in creation and who communed and intervened for him.
Abraham’s next step of faith catapulted him into a new standing in God. His choice to believe what God said despite all the evidence against its fulfilment is the same criterion by which all who believe God’s promise are declared righteous.
Genesis 15:1-4 NLT
[1] Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” [2] But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. [3] You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” [4] Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
Genesis 15:5 NLT
[5] Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
Abraham and Sarah, a barren, elderly couple beyond the possibility of ever having children! A son! Descendants as numerous as the stars! A physical impossibility!
But….
Genesis 15:6 NLT
[6]…. Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
God’s response to Abraham’s faith – his decision to throw himself unreservedly on God’s promise – brought him into a new standing in God. Righteous… despite his times of disobedience, failure, unbelief! Abraham was now and forever in right standing with God no matter how often he failed.
Many of God’s people under the Old testament Covenant followed him by trusting God for a better life to come. They saw it by faith and lived in the hope of its fulfilment.
Hebrews 11:39-40 NLT
[39] All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. [40] For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.
This same standing in grace, in tthhe New Covenant, is offered to everyone who stakes everything on God’s promise. For Abraham, God’s promise was yet to be fulfilled. For us who believe, it has been fulfilled.
Romans 5:1 NLT
[1] “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
On that day, to cement this promise forever, in the custom of the time, God entered into a covenant with Abraham, guaranteeing the fulfilment of every promise in that agreement.
Genesis 15:9-10 NLT
[9] The Lord told him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” [10] So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half….
[12] As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness came down over him. [13] Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. [14] But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth….
[16] After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.” [17] After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. [18] So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— [19] the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, [20] Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, [21] Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Signed and sealed – God’s covenant with Abraham, sealed in blood, now to becomes the foundation of all His heart dealings with Abraham and His descendants to the end of time.
To be continued….