Thoughts on Genesis: 15:1-8

Not long after the humiliation of the Emperor and the blessing and tithing to Melchizedek, Abram was visited in a dream by the Lord. The opening words he spoke are amazing,

“Do not be afraid, Abram.

I am your shield, 

your very great reward.” (Gen. 15:1 NIV)

There is something about an encounter with Yahweh that puts men and women in holy dread. There is a reason that heavenly messengers and even the Lord himself are always telling us not to be afraid. Just look at some of these responses:

Gideon:

²² And Gideon realized that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, “Oh, my lord Yahweh! For now I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.”

²³ And Yahweh said to him, “Peace be with you. Do not fear; you will not die.”

(Jud. 6:23 LEB)

Job:

⁴ _⌊You said,_⌋ “Listen now, and I will speak.

When I question  you, you will inform Me.”

⁵ I had heard rumors about You,

but now my eyes  have seen You.

⁶ Therefore I take back _⌊my words_⌋

and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:4-6 HCSB)

Isaiah:

⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isa. 6:5 ESV)

John the Apostle:

¹⁷ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,  “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” (Rev. 1:17 NKJV)

These are just four examples of the overwhelming fear and despair that comes over sinners when in the presence of the holiness (literally the separateness) of God. So, it is no surprise that God would inform Abram that he should not be afraid as well.

It is interesting that God’s description of what he is to Abram corresponds to the two recent events in his life: 1) using Sarah as a human shield against homicidal jealousy and 2) the fact that he refused to be rewarded by the king of Sodom. One was a negative action and the other positive; Yahweh is asserting that he is what shielded him from harm and he is the one who will be Abram’s reward.

You would think that this would be a cause for worship; Abram, however, had other things on his mind.

² But Abram said, “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.” (v. 2-3 NIV)

Earlier I said that the tension between God’s grand promises and Abram’s real childlessness would be a key theme throughout the life of Abram (soon to be Abraham). God had promised him many descendants back in chapter twelve, but Abram still sees Sarai’s barren womb; his complaint is understandable.

Abram was not yet to the point of seeing God as his only necessary reward; God had promised him descendants and he could not believe God until he had some proof. If no son were to be born, all of Abram’s possessions would fall to his steward, a man by the name of Eliezer of Damascus. It would be this same man who would later go and find Rebekah, with God’s leading, to betroth to Isaac.

For a servant to be one’s heir in those days was a serious disgrace. God was making all of these massive promises about descendants and nations and yet the reality was still that Abram had no children.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (v. 4-5 NIV)

God graciously answered Abram’s doubt with a specific promise: he would have a son from his own flesh and blood. Before God had promised nations and peoples, great ideas but impossibilities in the face of childlessness; but then God promised a son, one son, that would be the guarantee of his promise.

Reminds me of God’s promise of one Son in Jesus Christ:

16        Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
(Gal. 3:16 NASB)

Isaac certainly was not Jesus Christ, but he was a type (a living symbol pointing to something greater) of Christ in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ was the promised Son of God who would ensure that the spiritual inheritance of Abram was secure just as Isaac was to ensure the physical inheritance of Abram was secure.

The author of Hebrews tells us the results:

¹² Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” (Heb. 11:12 NRSV)

Abram now had a choice: he could continue to doubt and miss the blessing, or he could believe and experience the power of God.

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (v. 6 NIV)

This verse is commented on by Paul twice and James once:

^4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ^4:20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. ^4:21 He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. ^4:22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.

^4:23 But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake, ^4:24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ^4:25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification. (Rom. 4:19-25 NET)

⁵ Therefore does the one who gives you the Spirit and who works miracles among you do so by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

⁶ Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, ⁷ then understand that the ones _⌊who have faith_⌋, these are sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the good news in advance to Abraham: “In you all the nations will be blessed.” ⁹ So then, the ones who have faith are blessed together with Abraham who believed. (Gal. 3:5-9 LEB)

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (Jam. 2:21-24 ESV)

Paul’s emphasis is on how Abram’s decision was a matter of faith and that if we are children of Abram, we will also follow in this example of trusting God. Just as Abram had to trust that God’s promised son Isaac would fulfill the physical promise of descendants, so must we trust that God’s provision in the Son is enough to fulfill the promise of us being spiritual descendants and thus heirs with Abram in Christ.

James on the other hand, points out that the Abram’s faith was genuine as demonstrated by his later willingness to sacrifice Isaac. Abram truly believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead if necessary to accomplish his purposes. In the same way, we show our faith in Christ by demonstrating our faith in ways that show we believe that Christ is indeed raised from the dead and that he will soon return to make all things new. We live in the tension of now-but-not-quite-yet, we are witnesses of the coming promises of Christ and his kingdom; James expects our life to match our profession.

So Abram gets this amazing promise from God but still, like all of us, asks that extra question:

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, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

(vv. 7-8 NIV)

Yahweh reminds Abram that he is the very same person who called him out of Ur back in chapter twelve and that his purpose is to give him the land that Abram is standing on. But Abram wants to know how he can be sure that he will possess it; what kind of promise or sign will Yahweh provide this time?

We will soon find out.