God assured Abraham that He would give him the land of Canaan by cutting a covenant with him. Likewise God gives assurance to us that we will possess our heavenly inheritance through the New Covenant. The glory of the New Covenant is that it is not an “if…then” covenant like the Old Covenant. Rather it is a unilateral, unconditional, “I will…they shall” covenant in which Christ Himself binds Himself to fulfill all the terms of the covenant.
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Christ – The Smoking Oven and Flaming Torch
Genesis 15:7-18
In our time of worship this morning we sang a song entitled, “You Have Been Raised.” The song begins like this, “How do we know we’ve been forgiven? How do we know that we have been made clean? How do we know we’ll go to heaven? How do we know we’ve been redeemed?” That’s what I want you to think about this morning – how do you know you’ll go to heaven? What does your assurance ultimately rest in?
Abraham was a man with the same kind of questions. You see, God had appeared to him and said in a vision, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” Now, when God appears to Abram and tells him not to fear, it’s probably because Abram was afraid! But what was he afraid of? I’ve got a pretty good hunch, it had to do with his fear that he was going to die without a son, an heir, someone to carry on the family name. In fact, in the very next verse, Abram says, “O Lord God, what will you give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Well, God very graciously, takes Abram outside and tells him to look up at all the stars in the sky, and then says, “Try to count all those stars, because your descendants are going to be as many as that!” How does Abraham respond? He believed God. How did God respond? He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Here we have the first instance of the doctrine of justification appearing in the Bible. Abram was justified through faith alone. God followed this by telling Abram that He was the Lord who brought him out of Ur to give him this land to possess it.
You’ll notice that chapter 15 is really comprised of two questions. Abram asks the first question in verse 2, and God answers him in verses 4-5. The first question had to do with a son. Then Abram asks the second question in verse 8, “O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it?” God answers his question in verses 9-21. The second question had to do with the land. A seed and the land. These were the two promises that God had made to Abraham, and he need reassurance concerning both of them.
You see, although Abraham was a man of faith, he did not possess full assurance of faith. It’s one thing to have faith. It’s quite another to have full assurance of faith. Right after God told Abram in verse 7 that He was going to give him this land to possess it, Abram replied, “O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it?” Now, this was not the question of an unbeliever. We know that because verse 6 tells us that Abram believed in the Lord. It was the question of a believer who has a little faith, but needs to grow strong in faith, and be assured of what God had promised. Notice, that God doesn’t rebuke Abram for asking the question. When Zacharias asked the angel who told him that he and his wife would have a baby boy, he asked, “How can these things be?” And for that unbelieving question, he was struck dumb until the baby was born. Abram was more like the fellow that cried out, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” In this instance, God graciously helps Abram to come to full assurance that what He had promised He indeed would perform.
So, how does God bring Abram to full assurance of faith? He cuts covenant with him. Notice verse 18, “On that day the Lord made (cut) a covenant with Abram.” God’s answer to Abram was a covenant which would provide Abram a guarantee that he would inherit the land. The reason companies offer a money-back guarantee is to take away the customer’s fear of buying the product and than not being happy with it. But with a money-back guarantee we know that if something goes wrong, we can always get our money back, and we haven’t really lost anything. This covenant provides a guarantee to Abram that he would inherit the land. This was what the Lord would use to bring him to full assurance of faith and remove the fears he was experiencing. It’s also what the Lord can use this morning, to bring you to full assurance of faith.
This morning, we are going to look at three elements of this covenant: a bold promise, a bloody sacrifice, and a binding commitment. As we do so, I think you’ll see some direct parallels with the covenant God has made us through Christ.
1. A Bold Promise:
We have the promise listed in two places, verse 7, and verse 18. Let’s look at them. “And He said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it” (Gen. 15:7). Then in verse 18 we read, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.”
This was the term, or promise of the covenant. God pledged to Abraham that He would give him the land of Canaan. Now, I called this a bold promise, because when God made the promise Abram didn’t own a stitch of land in Canaan. In fact, wherever he traveled, he saw other peoples populating and owning that land. In fact, they are listed for us in verses 19-20, “the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jubusite.” This would be like God appearing to you in a vision and telling you, “I’m got something I’m going to give you. It’s actually some land. It’s actually the whole state of California! Yeah, I know there’s a lot of other people living there right now, but I’m going to drive them all out, and give it to you and to your descendants.” See why I called this a bold promise?!
But you know, God has made a very bold promise to you and I. It also concerns an inheritance to possess. In fact, it’s our eternal inheritance, our heavenly Canaan. It’s a heavenly country, a city which God has prepared for us, the new heaven and the new earth, in which righteousness dwells. You see, all who are saved will inherit this heavenly inheritance. Listen to these promises:
Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
Revelation 21:3-7 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
Those are some pretty bold promises, wouldn’t you say?! But just as God was faithful to fulfill His promise of the land of Canaan, so too, God will be faithful to fulfill His promise of Heaven to every believer in Jesus Christ.
2. A Bloody Sacrifice
This second element of the covenant is shown to us in Genesis 15:9-11. The Lord directed Abraham to take five different kinds of animals – a heifer, a female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon – and kill them in sacrifice. Then Abram was to cut these animals right down the middle, and lay half of the animal on one side, and the other half on the other side. Because the birds were too small, they weren’t divided. Instead, one dead bird was put on one side and the other dead bird was put on the other side. Between these bloody carcasses there was an aisle big enough for two people to walk between the bloody animal halves.
The animals are listed from the largest to the smallest. We have first a heifer (cow over a year old), a female goat, a ram, and then the two small birds (a turtledove and a pigeon). All of these animals point to Jesus Christ as our perfect sacrifice at Calvary. The heifer was the sacrifice for the rich man, and the birds were the sacrifice for the poor. The point is that Jesus Christ’s bloody sacrifice avails for all men. He’s within the reach of all, rich and poor.
Notice also, that the heifer, female goat, and ram were all three years old, while the birds were “young”. This shows that all the animals were fully mature, at the height of their maturity and strength. They weren’t newborns, and they weren’t so old they were about to die. They picture for us the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed at the height of his strength, being a man of 33 years old. Jesus died in the strength of his youth and health, a fully mature, strong man, who laid down His life for us.
These bloody animal sacrifices formed the basis of this covenant. So too, the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ forms the basis of the New Covenant.
Luke 22:20 “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
Hebrews 13:20 “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.”
In Luke it is called the New Covenant. In Hebrews it is called the eternal covenant. In both cases, the blood of the Son of God was required to confirm it.
The New Covenant that we have entered through faith, could never have been made apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and Him voluntarily laying down His life. It is the basis of the covenant.
3. A Binding Commitment
Today, to make an agreement binding, we have lawyers who draw up very complicated contracts which the parties entering the contract must sign. This contract becomes the binding document. It spells out the terms of the agreement, and the penalties if one of the parties defaults on the agreement. Well, in the ancient world, they didn’t sign contracts, and they didn’t have lawyers. Instead, they cut covenant with each other. They did what the Lord told Abram to do. They took animals, killed them, sliced them down the middle, and put one half over here, and the other half over there. Then, both parts clasped each other’s wrists, and walked between the pieces, as if to say, “May God do so to you, if you don’t fulfill your obligations of this covenant!” By walking between the pieces of the dead animals, the two parties were ratifying the covenant. That is, they were formally agreeing to the terms of the covenant and making it officially valid and binding.
Now, who ends up walking between the pieces of the dead animals? Verse 17 tells us it was a smoking oven and a flaming torch. What was this smoking oven and flaming torch representing? The presence of God! Don’t think of the smoking oven and flaming torch as two different things. The oven was cylindrical, and out of the top of it appeared a flaming torch. So, what did Abram actually see? He saw this cylindrical oven with smoke and fire coming out of the top of it. Does this remind you of anything else in Scripture? Sure, the pillar of fire and cloud that guided Israel through the wilderness (Ex. 13:21). Also, the smoke and fire that encompassed Mt. Sinai when God was about to enter into covenant with the nation of Israel (Ex. 19:18). In all of these, the fire and smoke are symbols of the divine presence. So, what is actually being communicated, is that God alone passed through the animal parts! It’s as though God was saying, “If I don’t keep My Word, let me be cut in pieces like these animals! If I don’t do what I said I would do, then you can unGod me!”
Where was Abram? Sleeping! No doubt, this had been a busy and exhausting day for Abram. He was up before dawn, gazing at the stars. Then he was killing and cutting up a cow, a goat, a ram, and two birds, and putting the parts a few feet away from each other. Then, when God didn’t show up, Abram spent the remainder of the day, shooing away the buzzards and vultures which were swooping down to eat the carcasses of the animals. However, Genesis 15:12 tells us that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. The phrase “deep sleep” appears only one other time in the book of Genesis, and it is Genesis 2:21 where the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, so that He could take one of his ribs and form the woman. My hunch is that Abram didn’t fall asleep on his own. I believe that God gave him some divine anesthesia and put him into a deep sleep. Why? Because God didn’t want him trying to pass through the animal parts. It’s as if God said, “Abram, go ahead and take a nap. This one is on me.” You see, God never intended for Abram to be a party in this covenant. Instead, He wanted him to be resting, a passive spectator.
This was what we would call a unilateral covenant. Or we might refer to it as an unconditional covenant. This covenant was completely one-sided. This would be like us sitting down with the bank representative to sign the loan papers, and finding out that the bank was making promises to you under oath, and not requiring you to make any promises back to them! Fat chance, huh?! At the bottom of the contract, there was only one place to sign, and it was for the bank representative’s signature. Under the Abrahamic Covenant, and under the New Covenant, there is only one signer, and it’s not you. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is what the smoking oven and flaming torch pointed toward. He is the One who binds Himself to fulfill the obligations of this covenant.
We see the nature and the terms of the New Covenant in Hebrews 8:6-13, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM UPON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, `KNOW THE LORD,´ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”
Jesus is called here the mediator of a better covenant. Jesus is the one who represents man to God in this covenant. Notice, that this new covenant is intrinsically different from the old covenant (the Mosaic Covenant), “not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.” So, how is it different? Well, the Old Covenant was an “if…then” covenant. “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Now, an “if…then” covenant is fine, as long as you are able to keep it. If you obey it, you get the blessings it promises. However, the moment you break it, you incur all the curses it promises. I think you’ll have to admit that an “I will…they shall” covenant is far superior. That’s exactly the kind of covenant we have in Jesus Christ. There is absolutely nothing in this New Covenant that depends on you! It all depends on the smoking oven and flaming torch, the Lord Jesus Christ, who assumed all the obligations of the covenant Himself.
You see, when this covenant was made you were out cold. You had no ability or desire to fulfill your part of the covenant. What was your part of the covenant? Well, you must be able to obey the law of God perfectly, and you must be willing to bear the awful punishment of the law for those times you have violated it. Truthfully, no human being has ever been able to do the first or willing to do the second. So, God puts the human race to sleep, as it were, and Jesus Christ assumes the obligations of this covenant, all by Himself. You see, the New Covenant is not a 50-50 proposition. It’s a 100-0 proposition. Jesus does all of it, you do none of it. That’s why the Bible says we are saved by His grace, not our works. And because Jesus perfectly obeyed all the terms of the covenant, all the blessings of the covenant are ours! The New Covenant is called the Everlasting Covenant because nothing can annul it. If it depended on our faithfulness, it would be a temporary covenant until we broke it. But, because it depends only on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, it is absolutely secure and unchangeable.
Life Application
You’re probably thinking, “So Brian, are you saying there is nothing we must do to receive the blessings of the New Covenant?” No, I’m not. There are things you must do. You must repent of sin and believe the gospel. However, both repentance and faith are gifts of God wrought in us by the grace of God. Notice how Paul describes repentance in 2 Tim. 2:25-26, “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” Repentance is granted to some by God Himself. Or notice how Paul describes faith in Phil. 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Not only is repentance granted, but faith is also granted. In fact in Acts 18:27 Luke speaks of those who “had believed through grace.” Yes, we must repent and believe, but repentance and faith are gifts of grace wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are gifts purchased for God’s elect in the death of Jesus Christ.
So does this mean that living the Christian life is going to be a piece of cake? No, not at all! Did you notice that the promises of the covenant between God and Abraham would not be fulfilled immediately. Back in Genesis 15:13 God told Abraham that his descendants would not possess the land promised to them for 400 years! In fact, they would be enslaved and oppressed for four centuries. Now, that doesn’t sound real good does it? Why was God going to wait for so long? Because the iniquity of the Amorite was not yet complete (15:16). What in the world does that mean? It means that when God brought the Israelites back into the land they would disposes their enemies by bringing God’s judgment upon them. However, they couldn’t do it for 400 more years, because God was going to wait until they had stored up the full measure of wrath. Yes, God has promised us heaven and everlasting life. But that doesn’t mean it’s coming tomorrow. No, you’ve got a long time on this earth in which you will face trials and suffering from the world, the flesh, and the devil. But in God’s own good time, He will bring you into the heavenly Canaan. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom.8:18). “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10).
So we end this message where we began. How do we know we’ll go to heaven? We certainly don’t know we’ll go to heaven because of our great obedience and performance. No, instead we look back to the New Covenant which Jesus sealed in His own blood. This is the only way you’ll ever make it. You must trust in the Mediator of the New Covenant. You must trust in the One who perfectly obeyed the Law for you, and then perfectly paid for the times you have broke the Law. Then, He proved He had met the terms of the covenant by rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, and sitting down at the right hand of God Almighty. If you will trust in Jesus Christ, you can say along with the apostle Paul, that “He saved me, not on the basis of deeds which I have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
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