Genesis 17, Circumcision, and...wait, you want to do WHAT do my WHAT?

Rabbi Tuckman, giving an example of circumcision. Robin Hood rejects his offer.

The last blog focused on Genesis 16...and Bert's uni-brow. I'm not sure if I got more views than ever because of my brilliant writing or because people liked looking at Bert's uni-brow. I'm going to pretend it's my incredible writing style...let's just move on.

In Genesis 16, Abram involved himself in a major soap opera by sleeping with his wife's female servant, which was his wife's idea, (you want me to do what?), which resulted in him impregnating said servant, causing his wife to get upset, (big surprise there). All this was due to Abram and Sarai not trusting God's plan and promises, recreating the Fall of man, (see Genesis 3). The result was an offspring, (Ishmael), who is prophesied to grow up and create descendants who would forever be set against the children of Abram, (see also Israel/Palestine, Israel/Iran, Israel/everyone else who hates Israel, etc). Other than that, it was a pretty ho-hum story. Now we're in Genesis 17. Let's hope this chapter involves more of trusting God on the part of Abram and less soap opera type fooling around with the wrong sort of women. The lesson as always: women will get you in trouble. JUST KIDDING! (My wife and daughters are now going to kill me).

Ahem, let's move on...Genesis 17:1-14

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.' Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 'Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." (V1-8)

Okay, sorry to quote a chunk there, but I felt like it was important. Let's take some notes:
- Notice how many times God uses unconditional and unilateral language, I will, I shall, etc are used six-seven times in the verses. God is again showing that HE will accomplish the promise of the covenants. It is a guarantee, a done deal. God is the one who initiated the covenant with Abram and God is the one who will make sure the covenant is fulfilled. See also the previous blog about the unilateral covenant of God.
- The covenant is for Abram and his offspring. God is going to be the God not only of Abram, but of his children and his children's children. It is an everlasting covenant. God has chosen a unique person to create a unique people out of all the peoples of the earth. Through this unique person and people there is going to come a unique and singular Savior of men. See also the previous blog about the importance of family trees in the Bible.
- God again promises to give Abram and his descendants the land he mentioned to Abram previously. The covenant promises of God are very important because Abram's children, (at least the good ones), are going to walk by faith in the promises of God. Some of these promises are not going to find fulfillment for 400 years. But the fact is that God has spoken, God has promised, and his words can not be undone.

This has nothing to do with Abraham, but it is an awesome name card.

- God changes Abram's name, (which means exalted father), to Abraham, (which means father of a multitude). If the Almighty Creator of everything on earth decides to change your name, you say "Yessir" and move on. Abram meant exalted father. That sounds nice for the father of one son who you got through your female servant, (weird). But God is foreshadowing and promising that Abraham will not just be the father of one son, but he is going to be the father of nations. It's a reminder to Abraham that God is going to be faithful to his promises.

I hear you right now asking yourself, "So what?" (Clever how I slipped that in, huh?) "What does Abram/Abraham, and his promises have to do with me, my broken dishwasher, and my angry two year old in the 21st century?" First of all let me say I am sorry you have an angry two year old. I have one myself and I know how unpleasant that is. Secondly let me say I understand your question. This chapter of Genesis seems very vague and unconnected to everyday life. But I want you to remember the purpose of this blog series is to give you, my dear readers, a groundwork for understanding the Bible story. The covenants between God and his people are very, very important. So even if we have to get in passages which are not nearly as entertaining as Bert's uni-brow, we're going to have to do it in order to make sure we understand the Bible correctly. How you and I view Israel and the people of God is incredibly important and will impact how you read the Bible for the rest of your life. So hang with me and we'll get through it.

Alright, as one pea said to the other, let's keep rolling...
"And God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant...every male among you shall be circumcised...You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you...He who is born in your house...shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations...shall be circumcised...Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (V9-14, abbreviated by me).

Quick, what is the theme of this section? You guessed it, circumcision. Ouch. If you don't know what circumcision is I will just let you Google that one yourself. There are no adequate explanations here or cute pictures I could use. I'll just say it involves cutting off something from a very sensitive area of a man's anatomy. Nuff said? Good.
By the way, for those of you who want to learn how to study the Bible for yourselves here's a great tool. You should always note when the Bible uses a particular word or phrase over and over again because it usually means that particular topic or word is important. We see that in the previous section where God said over and over again, "I will" or "I shall" about 19 times. Here the word circumcision is used six times in five verses, so it's probably important.

Circumcision. Why does God tell Abraham to do this? I mean this is alright for a newborn boy, but to do it to a 99 year old grown man. Sweet Georgia Brown that would hurt! Questions aside, here's what we know:
1) Circumcision was meant to be a sign of the covenant God had given to Abraham. Every male associated with Abraham, his descendants and his male servants, had to be circumcised. Remember when God gave Noah a sign of a rainbow to confirm his covenant to Noah? Abraham and all those after him are given a sign to confirm the Abrahamic covenant. I'm sure Abraham would have preferred something more rainbow-like rather than cutting his...but I digress.
2) Circumcision was a sign of the covenant, not an act that entered a person into the covenant. For Abraham and the Israelites after him, circumcision signified a relationship with God that already existed. Israelites were set apart because of their relationship to God through Abraham. Circumcision did not earn them anything in relation to God, it simply signified what was already there. This is very important. The apostle Paul builds on this in Romans 4, (which is in the New Testament), saying that circumcision was a sign of the covenant relationship that Abraham had with God by faith. It was not a work that earned him anything before God. Remember, Abraham was already counted righteous by God because of his faith, not because of his works.

3) Biblical circumcision has nothing to do with whether or not you circumcise your baby boy. Personally I've seen what a circumcised (ahem) looks like and it looks painful. I've never seen an uncircumcised (ahem) so I don't know but I hear there are health benefits. If you have any further questions, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY AND NOT AWKWARD ask your doctor or anyone else but me!
4) God is serious about this circumcision thing. Like I noted before, he mentions it 6 times in 5 verses. He also concludes the section by saying, "if you're not cut, (you know, down there), then you'll be cut off from the people of God", (my translation). This was not an optional choice if you wanted to be part of God's people. It's mandatory. God takes this very seriously.

All this talk of circumcision and male...parts. Wow. And you thought this blog would be boring. Shame on you.

More could be said about this, but I think I've had enough of this conversation for now. Hopefully you've learned more about the Abrahamic covenant. Next time we get to talk about old people making babies. How exciting. Stay tuned.

Genesis 16, Emotional Women, and Bert

Shouldn't that read: Uni-brow? I"m just saying...

Hello. I'm Travis Hendley. Welcome to SoWhat Blogstreet. Today's blog is sponsored by the letter T, the number 52 and Bert's uni-brow.

When we last left Abram, God had unequivocally and unilaterally promised to bless Abram. God said that Abram's descendants would inherit a specific land. God also promised that he would give children to he and his wife from which would come a great nation. Abram believed God's promises, becoming the father of righteousness by faith. It all is going so well. Abram trusts God. God promises to bless Abram. Surely now for the rest of his life Abram will walk with God in uninterrupted faith, obedience, holiness, and surrender, right? At this point it is a safe bet that Abram is going to set the standard for trusting God and obeying him, right? Right?!

Uh oh. Bert and his creepy uni-brow tell me that's not how it works out. Dang! I knew I should have invited Ernie instead. Bert's such a buzz-kill. Oh well. Let's see what happens in Genesis 16:1-16

"And Sarai said to Abram, 'Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.' And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai." (v2). 

Sarai, seeing that God had not given them the child that was promised, figures out a way to make God's plans come to fruition on her own. Sarai assumes that if Abram just has a child through someone in the household, (in this case, Sarai's servant), then God's covenant promises will still find fulfillment, (even though the Lord never mentioned anything about impregnating the hired help). Abram, instead of reminding his wife of the promises and faithfulness of God, listens to his wife. Abram sleeps with the servant girl, Hagar, (who by the way is an Egyptian, and not of the covenant people of God. Oops). Voila, Hagar is pregnant.

If you're taking notes at home, or just copying my notes, pay attention to what happened here:
- We can get ourselves in trouble when we start figuring out God's will on our own. In other words, you may have a horrible job, (ahem), you may hate your day to day experience at work, and want something better for your life. You figure God wants you to be happy and have a better job with better pay so you can better provide for your family and be more satisfied in the process. So...you decide to suddenly quit your job and become an artist in the assumption/hope that God will make it all work out for you in the end. That's not faith, that's presumption.
Or, you may be deeply in love with your significant other. You know sex outside of marriage is against God's command, but you figure, 'Hey, we love each other and we're going to get married eventually," so you have sex, hoping/trusting/assuming God will be cool with it. The lesson to learn here is don't act outside of the known and revealed will of God and don't act in the hope God will bless something he has not condoned.
- Do you remember anywhere else in the Bible, in Genesis, in the beginning, where a man listened to his wife instead of following the voice of God and it got everyone into a whole big pile of trouble? I'll give you a hint: their names rhyme with SmAdam and SmEve. Adam listened to the voice of his wife, who had listened to the voice of the serpent and the whole world fell apart because of sin. Adam and Eve didn't listen to God and look what happened. Now, Abram, given a chance to trust God, lead his wife, and remind Sarai of God's promises and faithfulness, fails. He listens to Sarai and sleeps with her servant and it's about to become a huge problem. Now I'm not saying it's wrong to listen to your wife, or your spouse, or good friends. Lord knows I listen to my wife a good bit because she's smarter than me, (it's true). The problem is when you start listening to others, whoever they may be, whose council is contrary to the revealed will of God. Abram had the promises of God that he would give life to Sarai's womb and give them both a child who would receive the blessings and promises God had given. God never said anything about impregnating their servant. Sarai tried to outsmart God, tried to help God, and gave bad council. Abram failed to lead and correct her and bad things happened. So we have here a replica of the original fall of Adam and Eve. Surely replicating the Fall of man will lead to good results, right?

Bert and his angry eyebrow say "no." Let's see what happens.

"And he, (Abram), went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. And Sarai said to Abram, 'May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!' But Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.' Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her."

Abram has sex with Sarai's mistress, Hagar. Hagar, now carrying Abram's child looks contemptuously upon Sarai. Sarai gets upset and demands Abram do something. Abram, exercising leadership in his household, (NOT), tells Sarai to do whatever she wants to with the poor impregnated servant girl.

Trav's thoughts:
- Funny how circumventing the will of God doesn't work out, huh?
- Funny how letting your husband sleep with another woman is a bad idea, huh?
- Abram is caught in the middle of an angry wife and a pregnant and emotional concubine. O.M.G. Now Abram has an angry and jealous spouse. I'm sure Abram's thinking, "THIS WAS YOUR IDEA!" Abram, in classic guy form, tells his wife he'll do whatever she wants to do. Let it be noted that Abram fails to lead his wife and care for the mother, (Hagar), of his child. Again, three cheers for rebellion against God's plan and trying to figure things out on your own!!!

Up to this point man, woman, and servant girl have all handled the situation poorly. Sarai didn't trust God, Abram didn't trust God and lead his wife, and Hagar disrespected the woman of the house, (which is always a very bad idea). All of this is a mess worthy of a daytime soap opera.

Enter God in verses 7-16, (thank goodness). Hagar runs away, pregnant and nauseous. (Okay I made up the nauseous part, but it's a fair assumption). She's worried, scared, and alone. She has no where to go. She is the victim of bad choices of many, including herself. But as always, just like in the garden, just like with Cain and Abel and every other time man messed things up, God enters the picture to try and help and save humankind. God finds Hagar and blesses her. He tells her to go back to Sarai and submit to her. He also tells her that he will make her offspring a great nation that cannot be counted. Her offspring will have a similar blessing to Abram's offspring, but her offspring is going to be set against Abram's descendants in a very violent way. So God intervenes to help and care for Hagar, because he is a gracious and tender God. On the other hand, Abram and Sarai's lack of faith and obedience is going to produce big problems down the road for all parties involved. Lesson to be learned: Sin has consequences. You cannot spite God's will and escape without reaping the consequences of your actions. Ouch.

Wow. What a downer of a blog that was, right? You know what we need? We need a happy story about God and Abram. We need something to get us back on track. Stay tuned for the next blog and we'll see what happens. In the meantime, let's see if we can't find a funny picture that messes with Bert's unibrow...

Ahh, that's better.

A Recap for all the millions (ahem) who have now joined the blog.

My very passionate staff.

If you're just joining us at the SoWhat blog, me and my staff are doing an extensive review of the foundational stories and structure of the Bible. As in all good accounts, we've started at "once upon a time" or in this case, Genesis. Lately we've been looking at the life of Abram, particularly the covenants between Abram and God. Today, however, we are going to look at how Abram messed up in the outplay of that covenant and how God responded. You may notice, as you read this, that but for a few exceptions I'm not making a whole lot of tie-ins to the New Testament, Jesus, the church, and how this affects the Christian. The reason why is I am trying to teach the multitudes of people, (read-less than 10), who read this blog the basic structural story lines in the Bible about God, man, sin, salvation, etc. The staff and I are not focusing on the details of everything within the Bible, but are trying to provide a framework for the reader to study and read the Bible for themselves. Now that you know let's get back to Abram.

My staff, hard at work.

When we last left Abram in Genesis 15 he and the Lord just had a really good meeting together. God, in dramatic fashion, promised Abram that his descendants would indeed inherit the land God had promised. God had also previously promised Abram that he would make him into a great nation. Abram, seeing that he had no children, (and realizing having no children is typically necessary to produce a great nation), he asks the Lord how this is all going to happen. God promises Abram that his own offspring would be his heir and the means through which God would build the nation. Now Abram and his wife, Sarai, were very old. Old people typically do not produce offspring. What's more, Sarai is barren, which is typically a hindrance to producing offspring. Abram, knowing all of this, decides not to trust in what he can see and understand, (i.e. his oldness and his barren wife), but to trust that God, the Almighty, is able to bring life, (children), from what is dead, (an old lady's barren womb). God sees Abram's faith and counts it as righteousness. Thus Abram becomes the father of those who would believe in God, (Romans 4, but we're not there yet), and the example of how God grants righteousness to men. It's not granted through works, effort, good deeds, giving, sacrifice, accomplishments, or sending money to shady preachers in Arkansas. Righteousness with God comes through trusting in Him and in His revelation. If you want to read more, check out the prior blog on this subject.

Not how God rolls.

(Cue dramatic and inspirational music) So Abram has had a dramatic encounter with God. He has believed God will do the impossible in his life. He has seen God, through dramatic visions and burning pots, (prior blog), promise that HE will fulfill the covenant unconditionally in Abram's life and through his descendants. No one has ever had such a dramatic personal experience and encounter with God! Surely Abram will be the standard for faith in God, righteous living, and unconditional obedience, right? RIGHT!?

(Cue farting sound).

No. It doesn't quite work out that way. Fortunately, God is faithful. Tune in to the next blog to see how this all plays out and to see the first cat-fight recorded in Scripture.

Now you know, and

I wish I was Francis Schaeffer.

Francis Schaeffer: a really smart Christian thinker.

I wish I was Francis Schaeffer. I wish I was Ravi Zacharias, C.S. Lewis, John Piper, Tommy Nelson, or any other smart, biblical thinker you could think of. I wish I had their ability to communicate truth effectively and brilliantly. I am so thankful to God for providing throughout history those who could think well and speak well about truth. As a culture we are desperate for good, Biblical thinkers who can communicate well with others. The reason I bring this up is because I am so internally burdened about a topic and I wish I could just switch into "smart person mode", (like those mentioned previously), so I could communicate well. It is one of the biggest burdens on my heart and mind and I want to communicate it well. Nevertheless, it's just me, my 'B' average Journalism degree, and whatever skills and talents God has given me. So I will just have to do the best I can. Here goes...

Big Idea: What you and I think and believe has tremendous importance. Your beliefs will produce corresponding actions sooner or later in your life and in the lives of others.

It sounds so simple and obvious, but what I am trying to communicate has enormous implications for our lives. Your beliefs are like the foundation or structure of a house. If the structure is unsound, it doesn't matter how nice the paint, carpet, or decorations are, your house is going to fall apart. If your belief structure is unsound then it doesn't matter how well you articulate your position, rationalize what you believe, how good things look, how successful you are, or how much money you have. Ultimately you have to pay the piper. Ultimately, your thinking and beliefs are going to produce results in your life. You can't sow tomato seeds and and reap pineapples. You can't sow lies and reap truth.

If you believe wrongly about the idea of truth, your life will fall apart.
If you believe wrongly about God, your life will be corrupted.
If you believe wrongly about the Bible, your faith will be grounded on lies.
If you believe wrongly about salvation, you will not be saved.

Christian politician who ended the slave trade in the UK.

Let's see how this plays out in practice. If you believe that man was made in the image of God, as the Bible says, you believe man has divine significance. In that case, a special needs child is significant, not because of what they can offer to society, but because they have are made in the image of a holy and almighty God. In the same way, an elderly person is significant because they have, to some extent, the touch of the divine on them. Maybe the people in these examples can't feed, clothe, bathe themselves or use the bathroom properly. These factors don't change the fact that they were made in God's image and have divine significance regardless of what they can do or offer to others. If you, like William Wilberforce, believe that men, (red and yellow, black and white), were made in God's image, then you have a problem with slavery, with abuse of Africans, with theft, mistreatment, and murder. (By the way, if you haven't watched the movie Amazing Grace, stop what you're doing and go watch it now).

On the contrary, if you believe man was the product of chemical chance or random design, (i.e. evolution), then man has no inherent significance. He is no more significant than a monkey, a slug, or a rock. He's just the product of chance. If that is the case then a special needs child or an elderly person has no value. They are a burden on society and are a waste of time, money, and energy and we would all be better without them. That sounds harsh, but it is a logical outworking of what you believe about the significance and origin of man. It should be noted that some of the bloodiest governments and rulers throughout history were atheists who had no belief in a personal God who created men. Therefore men were simply obstacles with no greater significance than a flea. Ergo you have men like Hitler, who slaughtered 600,000 Jews, men like Stalin, who killed and imprisoned millions of his own people to suit his ends. See also Mao Se Tung, brutal Chinese dictator, Fidel Castro, and on, and on, and on.

These same men mentioned above had no belief in divine morality. They didn't believe in God, so therefore there was no God given moral code for mankind to direct them in matters of life, death, goodness or morality. Therefore, their belief structure stated the ends justified the means. There was no right or wrong, there was merely good or bad, inconvenient or convenient according to each person's reckoning. The final say on what was good or evil did not rest with an outside standard, (God), it rested within themselves. And in that case the end justifies the means. If I don't believe there is a God who has spoken and a divine being I will have to answer to, then what do I care about how my actions affect your life or the lives of others? (Stalin, Hitler, ad infinitude).

On the other hand, if you believe there is a God who exists, who has given instructions on right and wrong, and to whom you will have to give an account for your actions on earth, you will act differently. You have a standard for right and wrong, for or against lying or stealing or cheating or lusting or killing. You may not always act according to that standard, but your life will be affected by what you believe about the existence of God, morality, right and wrong. What you believe about mankind, about creation, and about morality matters. Beliefs matter. Beliefs have consequences.

What do you think about human sexuality and why? Do you believe man should act in the sexual realm according to his feelings? Do you believe that man has no one to answer but himself regarding how he behaves sexually? If so then the logical results of such thinking supports pornography, homosexuality, polygamy, bestiality, the sexual abuse of women and children, including child sex trafficking. You may say I'm going too far, but the belief structure listed above supports the listed behaviors. So I ask you, what do you believe, and why?

On the other hand, if you believe that God made them, male and female, in the image of God, then that belief will affect how you view marriage, sexuality, pornography and the like. If you believe sexuality, marriage and the individual sexes are sacred before God, then that means divorce is bad, monogamy is sacred, pornography is a corruption of the divine order, and sex is designed to be between a man and a woman as a married couple. Your beliefs have consequences. What you believe about sexuality and the sexes matters.

What do you believe about truth and the Bible? Do you believe that truth is relative to each individual? Do you believe that some parts of the Bible are true while others are not? Do you believe the Bible can mean one thing to one person and something totally different to another?  If so, then you can not make any proclamations about what is good or bad, moral or immoral, since the Bible can mean something totally different to you than it means to another. Your truth is not the same as another's, so you have no right to impose your truth or standard on another person. We must ask ourselves what are the ramifications of our beliefs about truth and the Bible?

Beliefs have consequences.

On the other hand, do you believe the Bible is all true and is given to man, without error, by a holy, good, and perfect God, who ensured the divine delivery of his Word to mankind? If so, then you have to submit to and honor what God has spoken, you have a structure given to you on how to live, think, and act. You have a God given map on life, salvation, sin, evil, goodness, marriage, money, and sexuality. You may choose to reject God's Word, but if you believe it is true, then your conscience will have a hard time escaping it. What you believe about the Bible matters.

I could go on and on, but I think I've said enough to stir the pot for now. I implore you, dear reader, to ask yourself what you believe, why you believe it, and what are the ramifications of your beliefs. This is not a casual thought for only the philosophical or heady to consider. What I am speaking about affects everyone, from my three year old daughter, a head of a government (ahem), the CEO of a company, or the teenager at high school. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and see for ourselves what are the results of our thinking. Beware the danger of bad thinking.

Ravi Zacharias.

I believe I am not this man. But God willing, I have hopefully thoughtfully and clearly expressed some truth.

God's Covenant with Abram, part 3, and why we're all happy about unilateral faithfulness...

This isn't creepy at all...

Genesis 15:7-21

How did we get here? Well son, when a man loves a woman...(just kidding).

God promised to give Abram a son and make him a great nation, (see previous blog). Abram, though an old man, trusted God's promise to make of him and his barren wife a great nation as numerous as the stars in the sky. So Abram believed God and his faith was counted to him as righteousness. Now God follows up with the promise, (again), that God would give Abram the land he promised him. Now Abram is still learning to trust the Lord and has trouble trusting such a substantial promise, (although if you trusted God to give you children at 80 something years old via a barren wife, you'd think you could trust God to give you some property, but I digress), so God is going to show Abram the trustworthiness of His promise about the land.

Abram says, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?' He (God) said to him, 'Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he brought them all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against the other." (v8-10).

Not as gross as pictures of blood, but close. 

God is going to make a covenant, or a sacred agreement with Abram. He is going to make a promise to Abram to keep his word to give him the land he promised to he and his descendants after him. Make a note here: when God makes a covenant with a person it frequently involves the shedding of blood. This was the case with Noah in Genesis 9, when Noah made sacrifices to God after surviving the flood. You could also argue that a covenant was involved with Adam and Eve when he killed animals to clothe their naked bodies in Genesis 3. In this instance, God had Abram kill some animals, cut them in half, and lay them on each side of the other. (I was going to put a picture of blood here, but it would just be gross. Kind of like these pictures of Michael Bolton).

A little cultural background here is needed because otherwise this just looks really weird and gross and people are going to get upset, (kind of like the feelings you get when looking at Bolton, but I digress). There are dead animals lying all over the place for goodness sakes! What is going on here? Animal lovers everywhere are losing their minds! Why is God being so gross!? Calm down, let me explain.
In those days when men were making a covenant with each other, one of the ways they would confirm or ratify the covenant was through the sacrifice of animals. They would sacrifice the animals and then both of them would together walk through the middle of the carcasses. What they were essentially saying to one another was this:
1) This is a sacred agreement we are entering into, (ergo the dead animals).
2) If one of us fails to keep the terms of the agreement, may we be ripped asunder and killed, (like the dead animals).
In other words, making a covenant like this was serious business. (Aren't you glad you don't have to do this when buying a house? Then again if we did, maybe we wouldn't have had the housing crisis of 2008...oh no I didn't!).

Okay, with the background explained, let's look at what happens. For our purposes I am going to focus solely on v17-21.

"When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites." (v17-21)

 So God promises to give the land to Abram's descendants. I know all of the people groups here ending with "ites" are a bit confusing. Just take note that God promises to give Abram's descendants a certain area of land where currently all of these other peoples are residing. In other words, he will remove any opposition and anybody that is in the way to fulfilling the covenant. Here's what is so remarkable about this covenant. Remember a few scary Michael Bolton pictures ago where I talked about how dead animals were used in making covenants and how the two men would walk through the animals as a sign of the seriousness of their agreement? Well in this situation GOD, (symbolized by the smoking pot and flaming torch), ALONE walks through the animals. Abram is on the sideline. God is promising that HE will act, HE will bring the people into the land, HE will fulfill the covenant.

Does this remind you of any other agreements God makes with Abram? Remember the blog about Genesis 12 and Abram? God kept telling Abram, "I will". "I will make you a great nation", "I will give you a great name", "I will bless you". There, just as here, the agreement God makes with Abram is unilateral. It is not an agreement based on the cooperation of Abram. It is not based on Abram's faithfulness or unfaithfulness. It is not based on the faithfulness of Abram's descendants for that matter. It is based on God alone. God is basically stating, "May I become like these dead animals if I fail to keep my covenant." It's a serious deal.

Okay. I hear you saying, "That's neat Travis, but so what? What do a bunch of dead animals on the ground, an old guy who lived 4,000 years ago, and God's covenant in Genesis 15 have to do with me in the 21st century?" I get it, it's a fair question. Let me try to answer.

- God is going to make several covenants in the Bible. Some are going to be conditional where one party agrees to do certain acts and God agrees to respond in a certain way, (i.e. the Mosaic covenant, but we're not there yet). Other covenants in the Bible are going to be like the one with Abram where it is unilateral. God promises to do something. Period. The fulfillment of that promise is up to God.
- The way that we look at Abram and later, the people of Israel, his descendants, is very significant in how we read the Bible. We have to keep in mind that God is never going to forsake his people because of the unilateral covenants he had made in the past.
- Later in the Bible God is going to make a "new" covenant that is also going to be unilateral. It is going to be based solely on the faithfulness and grace of God. It is also going to involve death, blood, and separation. God is going to act, apart from the cooperation or actions of men, to save men from their sins and return them to a right relationship with him. We need to know about the unilateral faithfulness of God and take comfort that covenant as well.

- Finally we, just like Abram, can take part of that new covenant, by believing as well. We can believe, like Abram, that Jesus Christ, God's only son, paid for our sins on this cross, was separated from God, died and rose again, so we could be restored to fellowship with our Creator. If we believe God like Abram, (see previous blogs), it will be counted to us as righteousness as well.

Amen.

God give us men like Martin Luther...

This statement is made concerning Luther's writings, particularly his espousal of righteousness by faith alone apart from works.

"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Holy Scriptures or by evident reason, for I can believe neither popes nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves, I consider myself convinced by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen"