Genesis 15: God's Covenant with Abraham - A Different Takeaway

In Genesis 15: 1-6, the Bible reads,

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: ‘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.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

First and foremost, we see that God appeared to Abram in a vision and tells him not to fear. Why does He tell him not to fear? Because God wants us to not lead with fear, but with faith. Faith in God overcomes all fear.

The question now is: why must we not fear? God tells us the answer in verse 1. He is our shield. He will protect us as we remain faithful. God continues to promise Abram that his reward will be very great and Abram is waiting on that promise.

In verse 2, we see that Abram is skeptical of what God had just told him. And he tells God about his skepticism with complete honesty. Abram has the nerve to question God by clearly stating the obvious (that he doesn’t have any children), as if God didn’t already know that.

With this being said, yes, Abram questioned his faith and when we read that, we’re all thinking the same thing: How on earth could this guy question God like this? But we do it every. single. day.

But guess what? The good news is that this is healthy! I can say with complete confidence that questioning your faith is healthy and good for your soul.

When I was counseling at Alpine during the summer of 2021, I spent the 5 months before camp preparing for biblical counseling. I read books on apologetics so that I would know how to answer questions the campers might have and books on God’s love and character. So about 3 weeks before camp started, I was thinking to myself I am so prepared for this summer. I can answer so many questions about God and the Bible and I am ready to tell these campers about Jesus! That very next day, I started asking myself some crazy questions about God – questions that I couldn’t read about in books and find answers for. These were personal faith questions that only I could answer. My top question that I kept asking myself was “How do I know that God is real?” This is a super tough question to ask yourself and I couldn’t really think of an answer off the top of my head. I went into camp a few weeks later still thinking about how I had that question and I felt so ashamed because I was supposed to be this camp counselor who had her stuff together and provide biblical advice and counsel to hundreds of girls. I was supposed to be able to answer their questions, but I couldn’t even 100% answer the question I had for myself.

A couple weeks into camp, I was still feeling a little discouraged because I was still pondering on this question. Then, a pastor named Nathan Allen got up to speak at camp on that very first evening of the week, and he preached on this exact scripture. And when he got to the verse about Abram being skeptical, he told everyone in the room that it is healthy and normal to have questions about your faith and God. When you do this, you are growing your faith by asking questions. You ask God a question, you dig into scripture, then you pray, after that you find your answer, and then you grow your faith even more. It’s okay to have questions about faith and God! Take those questions to Him! He wants to hear about them!

Side note – I had never heard anybody say that it is healthy to be skeptical and ask God questions, so when I heard him say this, I thought it was the most profound thing I had ever heard.

If Abram wasn’t skeptical, however, he wouldn’t have had all the opportunities God gave him to grow his faith later in this chapter.

In verses 5 and 6, we read about how God told Abram that he will have offspring. He not only told Abram this, but he also illustrated it. We read earlier that God illustrates to Abram how much offspring he is going to have by using the stars to help him understand better. And what’s cool is that one of these relatives of Abram will be known as “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16). You can infer who that is . And in that moment, Abram believed God and had faith.

This kind of faith that Abram had was not just believing in God, but it was believing God. These are two very different things. In James 2:19, the Bible says,

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!”

In verses 8-11, the Bible says,

“And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”

These super weird instructions from God are what’s known as an old-world contract. In verse 8, Abram asks God how he knows that he is going inherit it. Knowing what we now know about what the animals symbolize, we know that God answered his question by saying, “Let’s make a contract so that you will it is going to happen.”

So, what is the symbolism with this covenant?

This covenant is so serious that it is sealed with blood. Abram and God are saying that if the contract is broken by one of them, let the same bloodshed that is poured from the animals be poured from them. Back in this day and age, if you break a contract, your life will be taken from you; therefore, blood is shed.

In verses 12-16, we read,

“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgement on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

So what is God saying here? He is telling Abram the future. He tells him about how the Israelites will be slaves in Egypt for 400 years. He tells Abram about the judgement that He will inflict on Egypt, which are the 10 plagues. He also tells Abram about how he is going to live a long life with good health, prosperity, and peace.

Verse 17 says,

“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.”

The smoking fire pot and flaming torch are a description of God’s presence. And what does it say God did in this verse? The Bible says that God passed through the animal carcasses. Think about what Abram is doing this entire time – he’s sleeping, so he didn’t get to pass through with God.

With only God passing through the covenant, God is saying to Abram, “Hey, if you break this contract, that’s okay. I know you’re going to mess up, so I don’t want you to have to sacrifice your blood. I’ll take all the blame if and when you mess up so I will sacrifice My blood.”

Do you understand where this is going? God says that when Abram breaks the promise, God will pay for it, not Abram.

This is where we start to see little footprints of Jesus in the Old Testament!

Thousands of years later, God ends up fulfilling this covenant by sending Jesus Christ to earth as a humble baby, who ends up paying the price that everyone deserves to pay – death on a cross.

Romans 3:23 says,

“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

We are just like Abram! We are skeptics and doubters and God understands that. He knows that we need to ask questions and He loves it when we come to Him with our questions and concerns. Please don’t be embarrassed or ashamed when you question something relating to God. He knows that you’re going to fall short, and that’s why He offered the sacrifice for our shortcomings! Don’t just believe in God, believe God!