The Triumph and Trial of Trust

An exposition of Genesis 15

Who Do You Trust?

What would it take to get you to do something for someone based just on their promise? In business we have contracts, lawyers, courts, and police forces to enforce contracts because we don’t trust. Being unwilling to sign a contract is probably a sign of being untrustworthy.

Couples who live together without marriage don’t want to leave evidence of a commitment, which means they’re not really committed. Are we willing to be held to our commitments? Are we willing to make a covenant? God was.

In Genesis 15, we see God make a covenant, the Abrahamic covenant. To hear about the Abrahamic covenant:

The Triumph of Trust (Genesis 15:1-6)

“The Word of the Lord” came to Abram. God gave Abram His word. “I am your shield.” Your protector. Trust is to be in the Person of God.

“Your reward shall be very great.” But he doesn’t care about more wealth, only in having an heir. “Behold”, God promises “Your very own son.” He’ll have as many descendants as there are stars. Believers in the Descendent who came from Abram fulfill the promise.

By believing this word from God, Abram was judged by God as being right. The Lord set aside the guilt of sin and pronounced Abram innocent and right with Him, through his faith. Saving faith is in “the word of the Lord.”

The Lord counted the faith, like an accountant counts money, sufficient to be righteous.

To hear about the imputation of righteousness through faith alone, listen to the YouTube link above.

The Trial of Trust (Genesis 15:7-21)

“How am I to know?” Abram wants to know about the security of salvation. God proves it in a covenant, the Abrahamic covenant.

Cutting a Covenant: an agreement was made; these animals were taken and cut in half; men walked through the middle and say ‘May what happened to these animals happen to me if I so much as break one word of this covenant.’

Sometimes kings would cut a covenant, making a treaty between their two kingdoms. They would agree to the terms, then have the ceremony, with the cut-up animals, saying, ‘May I be cut, like these animals, if I break this covenant.’ If one king was more powerful, like an emperor imposing a covenant onto a small kingdom, he might make the weaker king go through the animals, saying to him, ‘If you break this covenant, this is what will happen to you.’

To hear about cutting a covenant, listen to the YouTube link above.

The birds of prey come down, trying to eat from the carcasses but he shoos them away. Abram’s driving away the birds shows he is expecting the Lord to come and do something. He has faith that the covenant cutting ritual was laid out for something. His scaring off birds showed faith.

A “dreadful and deep darkness” (15:12), induced by God, to show that God will fulfill it without human help. It’s “monergism”: one working. By putting Abram into a catatonic state in which he can see and hear but do nothing, God shows that the covenant will be fulfilled only by God’s own work. Salvation is entirely the work of God. Hence, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Amazing Grace!

Symbols of God’s presence go through the pieces: so God is committing Himself. Abram doesn’t go through the pieces, only symbols of God. This is a one-way covenant.

We are here given an iron-clad promise from God that no matter what happens, He will keep His word.

To hear about monergism, listen to the YouTube link above.

Dispensationalism Makes this Passage Irrelevant

Dispensationalists claim this passage is about how Abraham gets a promise for a large nation and literal land, thus making it all about the Jews and their land, not relevant to us or to the gospel. Because they believe this, they will likely pay little attention to this passage, or most of the Old Testament. But Covenant Theology makes this promise about God’s covenant that is fulfilled by Jesus and how we become children or Abraham by believing. Hebrews 12:22 says that Zion, the capital of the promised land, is fulfilled by the church. So this passage is about the gospel.

Also, the Old Testament teaches that this passage was already literally fulfilled.

The sovereign and free Lord, is willing to do the very thing that so many individualistic, me-centered people today don’t want to do: commit Himself. Grace comes to us through a covenant, from a covenant-making God, who was willing to commit Himself.

There will eventually be a complete victory over all the enemies of God’s believing people. The highest fulfillment of this incredible covenant is to Abram’s spiritual children, to all who believe.

Now would be a good time to seek the Lord for faith, true faith; to ask Him to speak His faith-giving word into your soul so you can trust the Lord so much you’ll place the weight of your life on Him. Now would be a good time for you to believe the Lord and be counted as right.

To hear about how to be right with God through faith, listen to the YouTube link above.

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Caswell County’s/Danville’s Reformed church.