< Genesis 15 >

Abram was 75 and his wife 65 and childless when they entered the Promised Land and, with the passage of time it looked more and more unlikely that they would ever have a child. Nevertheless, God reassured him that he would have his own son and heir, and that through this son his descendants would become a great multitude, “as the stars of heaven”. And Abram believed God, therefore God counted him righteous. This is a vital lesson, drawn by the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4, that the only people God will consider righteous are those who have Abram’s faith which is the complete conviction that God will perform his promises.

Abraham asked how he would know the covenant the LORD had made with him, by which he would inherit the Promised Land and God confirmed his promise in the way men in those days fixed agreements between themselves - by sacrificing animals, separating them, and then walking between them, (Jeremiah 34:18-19)Waiting for response for Jeremiah 34:18-19 God himself being represented in this transaction by a burning lamp. This, however, was only a typical confirmation of the covenant, the true confirmation being the sacrifice, not of animals, but of Christ.

The animals, cut in pieces, were the ones God required Israel to offer for their sins: a bullock or heifer for the whole congregation; a lamb or a kid of the goats for an individual; a ram for an individual when a more serious offence was involved; and turtledoves and pigeons for the poor. And, as these represent the offering of Christ, together they show how comprehensive his one sacrifice was. Also, the animals were three years old, and this period is often used in Old Testament prophecies to indicate how long Jesus would be active in Israel before laying down his life for the sin of the world. Abram guarded the animals and small birds from fowls (Heb. hawks or other birds of prey), no doubt representing the requirement on him and his seed to keep (guard) the covenant from those who would destroy it (Genesis 17:9).Waiting for response for Genesis 17:9

Abram fell asleep into an horror of great darkness to represent the death of Jesus when he was crucified with darkness falling on the whole land at noon for three hours until he sank into the sleep of death (Luke 23:44-46).Waiting for response for Luke 23:44-46 During his sleep, Abram was informed by dream what would happen to his natural descendants over the succeeding four hundred years. They would live in “a land not theirs”, which turned out to be Egypt, where they would be afflicted until they would return to the Promised Land. Thus, during those centuries faithful men and women would be able to look forward, even when under cruel bondage, and anticipate God’s intervention to deliver Israel from Egypt and take them back to Canaan. In the same way today we, with the knowledge God’s declared purpose, can anticipate the return of the Jews to the Promised Land not only from Egypt but also from all the countries of the world (Jeremiah 16:14-15).Waiting for response for Jeremiah 16:14-15

Although he was told that he would die in peace and be buried in a good old age, he knew he would be raised from the dead to inherit the promises, and this would be, as it was for Jesus, through the blood of this same everlasting covenant (Hebrews 13:20)Waiting for response for Hebrews 13:20

It is significant that the delay in God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt was because the iniquity of the Amorites, the inhabitants of the land, was not yet full. This illustrates the LORD’s longsuffering. People are inclined to think when they see great wickedness in the earth that God does not see, or even does not exist, yet he does and in longsuffering (2 Peter 3:9)Waiting for response for 2 Peter 3:9 is awaiting the time when he will pour out his righteous judgments as he did upon Egypt and the Amorites long ago. And all the signs indicate that this time of judgment is very near at hand.

The covenant which God made with Abram was to give his seed, which is Christ, the land of Canaan and the extent of this promised land was revealed to Abram at this time: from the river Euphrates in the north to the river of Egypt, running into the Mediterranean between Sinai and the Negev, in the south, being occupied then by the peoples listed.