God's Covenant
CHAPTER FOUR: GOD'S COVENANT
In Gen. 15 we have the fifth appearance of our Lord to Abraham, when the Lord appeared to Abraham in order to test his faith.
In " the whole armor of God" we are given a shield of faith (Ehe.6; 16); for it is only by a strong living faith that we can defeat the enemy. In Mark.11: 11 the Lord himself calls it the faith of God, as we can see in the margin. In Galatians 2:20. It is only as we are in dwelt by God himself that we can have strong faith. God said to Abraham in this vision in Genesis 15;'Abraham believe Me and My word'.
God said further: " I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." In Psalm 84:11 God is described as a " Sun and Shield". The reward depends on faith, we cannot receive a reward. The Lord uses sufferings and trails to give us faith. (1Pet. 1:7). God had spoken so clearly to Abraham, yet it was hard for him to believe (Gen. 15:2,3). Abraham had waited for many years and finding that he was childless he went about to make his will leaving his property to his chief steward. God appeared to him to save him from making a mistake. Because of our limitations we often have many doubts. Sometimes we may have strong faith but doubts return to trouble us, and god in His Love and Mercy intervenes again and again.
At last God himself appeared to Abraham at the right time. He called him outside and said to him: "Look heavenward Abraham. Don't look at yourself, or your wife, or your limitations, or your wife's limitations. Don't look at circumstances but look upward, and then your faith will become strong. Look heavenward and count the number of stars, so shall your seed be."
Till today nobody knows the number of the stars. There are so many and so far away. God knew that he could not count the stars, but he purposed to strengthen his faith, and it is only by looking upward that we can have faith. The enemy will make us to look downward, upon our limitations, our shortcomings or our failures. Our eyes should be constantly on him, and we must take hold of His promises by faith. (V.13-17)
Jeremiah. 34:18 throws some light on this passage. In those days when two parties had to make an agreement, they would to take an animal and slay it and divide in two parts. Both the parties would pass between the parts of the animals, thus making a promise that could not be broken. In the same way God was making a covenant with Abraham; He told him to take two animals and two birds (v.10, 15,17) and slay them, and cut them into two parts. Then the Lord caused a burning lamp to pass parts. Then the Lord caused a burning lamp to pass between those pieces, thus making an unbreakable covenant with Abraham (v. 13-17).
Abraham was listening to God, and God was able to tell him beforehand how his seed as a nation would be in Egypt for four hundred years and would return to the land in the fourth generation. God was thus giving the Amorites and the Hittites, the people of the land, four centuries to repent of their sins. If they would not repent of their sins, they would be judged. Leviticus 18.23-25 is a description of the defilement of the land. When the children of Israel returned to it out the land of Egypt. God had waited for four centuries for the nations living there to repent, but because they did not repent they had to be judged. God told the children of Israel to destroy all the cities utterly, and their inhabitants.
The Lord Jesus Christ today has made a covenant with us through His blood and by that by that covenant we posses His inheritance. At the same time we will be used by Him to judge other powers. (1Cor.6: 2, 3) For such a privilege we must be given a strong active faith, a faith that overcomes doubts, and listens and obeys when He speaks to us.