Genesis 15: The Covenant With a Sleeping Man

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It's his word that transforms and you'll find more and see more than I could ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter and today's chapter is Genesis 15. God makes a covenant with man and it's extraordinary. It's called the Abrahamic covenant and what is remarkable is that the man the covenant is named after is sleeping the whole time. What in the world happened that night by the oaks of memory? How can you make a covenant with a sleeping man? We were seeing a foreshadowing of how God makes a covenant with the human race and the human race is not even involved. Here's what happened that night in Genesis 15, starting in verse 12. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold terror and a great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, "No for certain that your descendants will be strangers "in a land that is not theirs, "where they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years, "but I will also judge the nation "whom they will serve." And afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your father's in peace. You will be buried at a good old age then in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. Verse 17, it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants, I've given this land. From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river of Euphrates. A biblical covenant is a solemn oath between God and this people. It's about entering into a deeper and a profound relationship with promises, conditions and even consequences. The covenants were also between two equal parties. This means that the covenant relationship was bilateral. The bond was sealed by both parties vowing by oath that they would carry out their assigned roles. Herein lies the problem. How do you make a covenant with a sleeping man? You answer that by describing what happens in the covenant transaction. The Hebrew word for covenant berth often implies a cutting. That's important because sometimes it would be said to cut a covenant. God said to Abraham in Genesis 1510, then he brought all these to him and cut them into and laid each half opposite the other. Those were the birds. The process was bloody and very intense. When a covenant was cut, they would take an animal and cut it into. Blood would be all over the ground and then the two equal parties would walk a figure eight between the pieces, reciting the terms of the covenant. At the end of the recitation, each would stand to the side and say this. If anyone breaks this covenant, may it happen to him what has happened to these pieces. It was a serious promise. See, in a covenant, your assets become my assets. Your liabilities become my liabilities. Your enemies are my enemies and your allies are my allies. There was even a name exchange to bind the parties together. Each would take on the other person's name. This is powerful. God would take Abraham's name and be called the God of Abraham. Some say it like this, that Abram took on God's name when it was lengthened. The adding of the last syllable was what the Hebrews perceived the name of God to be. Yah, like breath, Abram Yah. So now the big question, how does the covenant even get off the ground with Abraham asleep? We were told a deep sleep came upon him. So who was the second party? Someone walked through those pieces. Let me read how the author, Genesis, describes the one who cut the covenant. Verse 17 says it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. We do know this was not Abram. May I propose that this was Jesus. I want you to see how Jesus' feet were described in the book of Revelation. John the Revelator has a vision of Jesus and here is his vision in his own words, Revelation 112. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of the lampstands, I saw one like the son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white like wool, like snow and his eyes were like flame of fire. Here it is, his feet were like burnished bronze as if it had been made to glow in a furnace. And his voice was like the sound of many waters. His feet were like burnished bronze glowing from a furnace. The feet of the covenant walker seems to match the vision of the risen Christ in Revelation. The covenant with the sleeping man was made by an equal. It was bilateral. Jesus made the covenant with God the Father because he is the only one that can make that covenant and keep it. What does all this mean? It's the beginning of God and his son doing for man what man couldn't do for himself. The covenant was made with man and it was made with an equal. It was made with the God man. It was made with Jesus Christ. And we will see that this is exactly what happens in the new covenant. It's promises between two equals in which I am not one of those equals. We are the topic of the new covenant, but we are not the covenant makers and thank God we are not. We couldn't keep these promises, but Jesus can. We have a covenant keeping Jesus. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book, the Bible, the Word of God, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.