Last month was our 34th wedding anniversary, and I thought back to all the promises we had made. We were one of those couples that kept the love, honour and obey in our vows…although as an immature Christian, I may not have fully understood the implication of those words….but with God’s strength, faithfulness, and sound biblical teaching, we have tried to keep our promises…knowing full well that marriage is a model of Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32
The word that seemed to linger with me was “promise.” Have you ever noticed how many things in our lives are based on someone’s promise? It is impossible to organise a taxi to take you to the airport without trusting that when the controller says, “Yes, he’ll be there at 7.00 am,” the driver will arrive on time.
Not all promises are genuine; some are simply a ruse to persuade others to do something in the promise maker’s favour, much like a child who promises to walk and clean up after the puppy if only they could have one...or the rabbit hutch or fish tank they promise to clean out every week!
In essence, promises are covenants, and historically, covenants were established between two persons of unequal standing, such as a king and a subject. These parties were identified as the suzerain and vassal. The king, the suzerain, would provide certain safeguards, while the subject, the vassal, would pledge allegiance to the sovereign….but often there were penalties for breaking the covenant.
With the failures we are witnessing in the most trusted institutions, it is evident that we have lost sight of the concept of a covenant. Our society is sceptical of pledges, as even the best governments repeatedly fail to fulfil their promises.
… And so, the question most people ask when somebody makes a promise to them is:
“How do I know; how do I know they will keep their promise?”
The value or endurability of a promise lies in the fidelity, and the dependability of the person making the promise….it doesn’t depend on the promise but on the person making it.
But, regardless of how unfaithful people may be, God will never break His covenant promises.
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Early on in Genesis, we read of God calling Abram out from his home in Haran and telling him to go to a land that He will show him, but the move is fraught with obstacles.
God tells him to leave his people, but Abram doesn’t know where he is going. God promises him land, but he can’t find anywhere to settle and when he eventually does, his nephew takes the best plot. God says he will bless him, but Abram finds himself in famine. God tells him that the nations of the earth will be blessed through him, but Abram remains childless.
Despite these obstacles, Abram remains obedient, and as we read on, at the end of Genesis 13, God tells Abram his offspring would be as many as the dust of the earth.
After several exploits, including rescuing his nephew after four rampaging kings kidnapped him, we’re going to look now at what happens next in Genesis 15
Since Abram was so small and far away, the rulers had most likely first disregarded him, for nobody had attacked them…….yet. Amazingly, with a tiny force he had attacked, he had prevailed and retrieved what was stolen. The kings must have been enraged, and Abram must have been concerned about what would happen following his valiant attempt to save his nephew—would the kings now return to pursue him?
While he was wondering, God came to him with a promise he desperately needed; God came with a promise of protection.
In other words, “I will protect you against danger and reward you with far more than just material things.”
God had mentioned more than just material things, yet Abram remained childless despite being told that he would have many descendants—as numerous as “the dust of the earth,” as God had stated in Genesis 13:16
Abram expected God to keep his promise, but as time passed, he and his wife remained childless.
Abram begins to talk to God about his problem (always a good idea); his concern is that he still has no offspring to inherit his great wealth, and it looks as if his business manager would inherit his estate.
Abram wasn’t complaining or waving his fist at God; he merely wanted to know why he didn’t have any children, and he was perplexed as to how God’s promises could be fulfilled without them.
Do you and I do that? When we look at the promises of God in His word, and things don’t seem to be working according to those promises, do we shake our fists at God and demand an explanation? Do we run around asking anyone but God for an answer, or do we do what Abram did? Do we tell God that we want to know these things because we want to learn; we want to grow in our understanding of His ways so that we can be fully obedient.
God answered his servant and gave Abram a promise he depended on for many years.
“This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
God is so gracious to Abram; He repeats His promise and does even more. God clears any confusion about the promise; Abram has not misunderstood; it is a promise of a child…. it’s a promise of many children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren….and more….so many more that God has to take Abram outside to show him the stars…..in other words, God was effectively saying, “Abram, if you ever begin to worry about your offspring, go out and look at the stars, see how great I am and what my promise is to you.”
Previously, God had said look down at the dust and see how numerous your offspring but now God says, look up, Abram, look up and see my greatness and your offspring… don’t look down.
One of our problems is that we can sometimes look down. We look at ourselves, and that leads to doubt. We look at ourselves and say, “I don’t see how I can do that. I don’t see how I can believe what God is promising.” For example, if we were Abram, we would probably say, “I don’t see how I am going to have children at my age…. I’m way too old.”
The problem is that we are looking at ourselves. We are not the ones who give promises. God is the one who gives the promises.
So, we need to stop looking down and start looking up. We need to have our minds stretched by God’s greatness.
When I was considering these verses, I thought of the most recent sermon given in our church about God giving us more than we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). I wonder if Abram would have thought of asking for so many children at that moment? His immediate thought was for a son to inherit his wealth rather than his business manager….but look at what God eventually gave him.
I wonder if he would have imagined that those of us who have embraced Christ as Lord and Saviour by faith are his spiritual children.
Galatians 3:7 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham”
I wonder if he could have imagined as he looked up at the stars that he was looking at…well, I suppose he was looking at you if you are a Christian. If you ever feel down and think evangelism is slow or God is beginning to look smaller to you, get away from the city lights, go out and look at the night sky, or better still, look at a photo from Nasa showing the galaxy with its billions of stars and see the greatness of our God, see the size of His family of which you are a member.
God then reiterates His promise about the land.
V7 “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But Abram asks for reassurance because he replies, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
Again, Abram asks for reassurance, and there is no condemnation in the Word of God for those who ask honest questions or are sincerely seeking reassurance.
In response, God said, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
The significance of this varies among different bible scholars, and some controversy remains. Some say that the pieces represented the trials that the Israelites would go through; others and this is how I understand it, say that this is a rite that most Eastern people would realise and that Abram would understand. This sort of ritual with the penalty for breaking the covenant can also be seen in Jeremiah 34:18
On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a covenant or contract, they would observe precisely the same rites as Abram did.
However, here there are some amazing differences:
The lesser in the covenant is usually given a list of responsibilities, but nothing is said about Abram’s responsibilities here. The focus here is on what God promised to Abram, not what Abram promised to God.
Usually, it was the lesser person who walked between the pieces (15:17). It was a symbolic demonstration of what would happen to the person who passed between the pieces if the covenant was broken….but here it was God who walked between them.
God caused Abram to have a deep sleep. And during that sleep, this burning oven and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.15:17
This was a representation of God. The symbolism of Him passing between the cut sacrifices implies that He would die before He would allow His covenant with Abram to fail.
It’s as if God is saying, “If I break this covenant, may this be done to me,” I am promising you and swearing by… but what can God swear by?....... by his creation? by the people of Israel? by his angels?
And because there was nothing greater than God, there was nothing God could swear against, so He swore by His own being, “I’m swearing by my holy character; I’m swearing by myself.” We will see God swearing this way again in Genesis 22:16 (and repeated in Hebrews 6) when Abram didn’t withhold his son.
On that day, the LORD made a covenant, a promise with Abram, promising Abram the land.
What of us? If you are a Christian, you act on the promises of God.
Because of his promises, you believe that your sins are forgiven:
1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”
You believe that you possess eternal life:
John 11:26—“Whoever lives and believes in me will never die”.
You believe that God hears and answers prayer, that God is providing for you now, and that he will also provide for you fully in the life to come:
John 14:1–3—“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
These promises touch on every aspect of our lives and are important.
And this one is probably one of my favourites.
This promise is a foundation for all the promises; it’s a real doozie of promises.
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
I love this verse because it's full of logic. What Paul is saying is because Christ died for us, because God gave his most beloved and cherished Son for our salvation, anything else will be that much easier, that much smaller, and will undoubtedly be accomplished for us — God will absolutely deliver to us everything that Christ purchased for us, everything that we require to be completely holy and joyful forever. This verse is like a blank cheque for the Christian. Consider all you need to be a fruitful Christian, to live the life God has called you to live, and God will meet that need.
God’s promises are established by God alone; they are eternal and irrevocable, and based on grace…no-one deserves the promises God makes. Whatever your current situation, there is a promise in the bible to cover it. God has made dozens of encouraging and uplifting promises to cover every eventuality.
Like Abram, you and I have done nothing to deserve His great promises, yet he makes them for us. He promises salvation, life, joy, and eternal security. He does so simply because it pleases him to do it.
We need to develop a habit of trusting God’s promises. Sometimes we come to church, we know we need God, we come, and we worship, and we praise, and we pray, and we listen to the sermon, and we say yes, yes I need God and His promises…..and then we go out feeling as depressed as when we came in.
Why not take a promise today, believe it, and trust it—not just with your intellect or your head, but with your faith as well? Once God’s power has entered your life and begun to work in you, you can put that belief into action and live as though you believe it. God hasn’t given us promises, so we can just sit around and look at them on posters or cuddle them on cushions. He’s given us promises so we can live a different life, a productive, witnessing, Christian life, a victorious life, a fruitful life, regardless of our limitations and situations.
If you believe 2 Corinthians 9:6 Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Then, believe it and resolve to give and live a generous life.
If you believe Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed, are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”
Then stop trying to get the last word in during an argument and bless those who curse you. The short-term thrill of getting that last word won’t compare to your eternal reward in paradise.
If you believe Matthew 10:19 “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.”
Then, decide in your heart to speak for Christ when the time comes, then the power of God will come to you to fulfil and empower you for that resolve.
Come on, ladies, let’s not just believe more of God’s promises, lets act on them and let them empower us to live the life God wants us to live. Amen
Happy Anniversary, by the way!!
Thank you for the generosity of your time and thoughts. Always eye-opening and affirming. Spirituality is such a gift...thank you for the reminders and baring your beliefs.
Love your blogs, they are such great reminders to us of what a GREAT God we have. Keep them coming.