2.3 The Abrahamic Covenant

Abraham is central to the salvation story. Through Abraham, God began to rebuild the world's dominion to faithful and obedient servants. It is important to realize that this is the partnership that God always wanted with man.

God devised a plan to redeem and reconcile humanity to Himself and to restore godly dominion over the earth. God is very crafty - much craftier than the enemy. He knows how to prepare a feast so that all the pieces come together simultaneously, but the enemy only knows how to prepare a feast that falls apart. God tests the hearts. He knew Abraham from the time that he was born.

If we follow the chronology from Noah to Abram's father Terah, we discover that Noah was still alive when Terah was born. Abram was born two years after Noah died. Terah and Abram were direct descendants of Noah's son Shem. Abram was 150 years old when Shem died. It seems that Terah was also already called out. That was the first part of the preparation for the feast: an anticipation and a sense of being called out by God to something new, different, and even HOLY.

The second part of preparing the feast would have been a holy fear and reverence for God: to be separate from the world. Maybe Terah and Abram had the opportunity earlier in their lives to listen to Shem's testimony, the family story about the wickedness on the earth before the flood, God's destruction, the mercy and favor that God showed them, and then of God's covenant with Noah. How cool would it have been to hear about Noah being instructed to build the ark.

Surely Abraham already had a mystical sense of divine purpose, anticipation, and adventure from his father Terah, who launched out from Ur with his family and traveled to Haran which was on the way to Canaan. Genesis 11:31-32 informs us that Terah was already planning to go to Canaan, but died in Haran:

2 Genesis 11:31-32

31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.

32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

Ur was the worship center of Sin, the Babylonian moon god, and Haran was a sister city with the same idolatry. When Terah died, Abraham was responsible for caring for his nephew Lot. Abraham was wondering what to do next. This was the third part of preparation of the feast, the first two parts of the feast were prepared by following the family recipe of availability to God. The third part of the feast was God responding to Abram. This is the first recorded time that Abram heard God speak in Genesis 12:1-7:

3 Genesis 12:1-3

1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you.

2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."

Part four was Abram's faith and obedience in verses 4-6. Everything that had happened before led up to this moment. God had planned it out very well and knew that Abram was willing and ready to taste the much-needed recipe, that is to exercise faith leading to obedience:

3 Genesis 12:4-6

4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother's son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. They entered into the land of Canaan.

6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time, Canaanites were in the land.

The last part of this feast involved a response in verse 7 from God to Abram for moving forward in faith. Faith and obedience lead to blessings:

1 Genesis 12:7

7 Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring."

Twenty-four years later, in Genesis 17:1-14, God spelled out his covenant with Abraham:

14 Genesis 17:1-14

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.

2 I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

3 Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

4 "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

5 Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.

8 I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God."

9 God said to Abraham, "As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.

10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.

11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you.

12 He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.

13 He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."

In short, they were told to walk before God blameless (holy and upright) and practice circumcision as a sign of covenant obedience. The challenge with this covenant is that it was to be everlasting. Still, the New Testament is dismissive of circumcision, especially because Paul says that what matters is the circumcision of the heart in Romans 2:28-29:

2 Romans 2:28-29

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

As a result, there has been much debate and controversy about dual covenant theology, in which God is expected to honor both Old and New covenants simultaneously.

Getting back to Genesis, God's covenant promises were contingent on Abraham and Sarah having a son, but Sarah had been barren for so many years that they gave up.

It can be very difficult to hold onto a promise from God. What we cannot manufacture must be built on what God says, but Abraham was a pioneer of faith, obeying God, and repeatedly seeing God come through. Little did Abraham understand how pivotal his life was in God's plan for reconciling the world to Himself by faith.

Finally, the birth of Isaac is explained in Genesis 21:1-7. After decades of developing character and faith amidst much marital drama, the promise came to pass. It was a miracle. Sarah's shame and reproach for her barrenness were replaced with laughter and joy:

7 Genesis 21:1-7

1 Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.

2 Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3 Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

4 Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.

6 Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me."

7 She said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

Solomon summarized the journey of patience and fulfillment in Proverbs 13:12:

1 Proverbs 13:12

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

End of story? No, more drama. God told Abraham to offer Isaac's life as a sacrifice. This was the ultimate test of faith and trust in God. Let's pick up the story in Genesis 22:1-14. It is a fair assumption that Abraham did not consult Sarah about it:

14 Genesis 22:1-14

1 God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

2 He said, "Now take your son, your only son, Isaac,  whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of."

3 Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off.

5 Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you."

6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.

7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, "My father?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

8 Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together.

9 They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

10 Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.

11 Yahweh's angel called to him out of the sky, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He said, "Here I am."

12 He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 Abraham called the name of that place "Yahweh Will Provide". As it is said to this day, "On Yahweh's mountain, it will be provided."

This must have been quite traumatic for Isaac. Still, after Abraham was willing to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord, Abraham received the following amazing promise from God in Genesis 22:15-18:

4 Genesis 22:15-18

15 Yahweh's angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky,

16 and said, "'I have sworn by myself,' says Yahweh, 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.

18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.'"

God was King and was in the process of reestablishing his dominion on earth through a people who would hopefully honor and obey Him. Abraham needed to be willing to continue to obey God for all his blessings to birth leaders, governors, and prophets who were willing to follow God wholeheartedly.

God began to turn people's hearts back to Himself through Abraham. It was God's plan to reassert His dominion over the earth through a people called by his name. Back in Genesis 15:13-21, even before Isaac was born, God told Abraham about His long-range plans for Abraham's descendants:

9 Genesis 15:13-21

13 He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.

14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth;

15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.

16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."

17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

God made a mighty covenant with Abraham, and He will see it through, but it also required submission and yielding to his authority. Taking the land was delayed because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full, meaning that God knew they were in a constant downward decline, just like humanity before the flood, but not fully given over to it. Iniquity is a pervasive turning away from what is right, which, when practiced generation after generation, makes a people group anathema to God. It wasn't until this time that the Amorites would be judged by God.

As indicated above, the Mosaic covenant took shape during the deliverance of Abraham's children from Egypt.