(3) Abram's Covenant

ABRAM’S COVENANT

Now we will examine the first recorded Blood Covenant Ritual in the Bible; the Covenant with Abram in Genesis 15:1-19.

First, however, let’s look at who Abram was, and was he, from a human standpoint, a good candidate for an intimate covenant relationship with GOD?

Abram was called out of ancient UR, an idol worshipping culture, in fact his family worshipped the moon god.(Joshua 24:2,14).Abram was called to leave his father, his father’s house and go to a land that God would show him.

ABRAM’S COMMISSION Genesis 12: 2-3

1. God would make of him a great nation

2. God will bless him.

3. God will make his name great

4. God will make him a blessing

5. God will bless those who bless him

6. God will curse them that curse him

7. In him all the families of the earth will be blessed

Abram, however, initially does not obey God totally.
He goes with his father and his nephew Lot to the city Haran and stays there until his father Terah dies.. Haran also was a city of moon god worshippers. 

Abram’s father’s name was TERAH, lit in Hebrew it means DELAY.

After TERAH dies Abram finally moves on.

Abram arrives in Shechem in Canaan, builds an altar and is now promised the land. (Genesis 12:4-9)

THE COVENANT

1.Announced in Gen 12:1-4

2.Confirmed in Genesis 13: 14-17(After Lot leaves);                       15: 1-7

3.Ratified in Genesis 15:8-18

METHOD EMPLOYED; THE BLOOD COVENANT

FEATURES: A PROMISED LAND AND A PROMISED PEOPLE

TERMS: UNCONDITIONAL

During this time a famine was in the land, and Abram takes his entourage and moves to Egypt, While there he, in a move of fear allows Pharaoh to take his wife to Pharaohs’ harem, lying and telling Pahraoh she was his sister, fearing Pharaoh would kill him to have her.

God intervenes and Sari is rescued, and the group is sent back to Canaan, where he finally ended up between Bethel and Ai, where he built his first altar.

After Lot chooses the fertile plain of Jordan and leaves, God again confirms His covenant with Abram.

Amazing! Gods’ choice is a procrastinator and a liar! Yet He stands by His choice and His word.

To finalize the covenant, God approaches Abram in a way he can culturally understand. He establishes a BLOOD COVENANT with Abram.  The same covenant he established with Adam and Eve to cover their sins and promise a future redeemer.

Now God reveals it most clearly through Abram. The ceremony is described in Genesis 15: 1, 9-18.

We have seen before the steps of this ritual, but here God does something totally unexpected.

Abram cut the sacrifices that God commanded.

Note: (The usual sacrifice was a calf) Jer 34:18-19

THE SACRIFICE

1.   A heifer of three years

2.   A she goat of three years

3.   A ram of three years

4.   A turtledove

5.           A young pigeon

Abram was to cut the animals in pieces, but he did not cut the birds.

A PREVIEW REVEALED

In Leviticus the offerings proscribed by God under the Law are revealed:

SIN OFFERING: Bull, lamb, goat, turtledove, pigeon (Lev.:1-17)

FELLOWSHIP OFFERING: May be a heifer, female goat or lamb (Lev 3:1-17)

GUILT OFFERING: doves or pigeons, must not be divided, only bled out at the neck; female goat (Lev 5:5-10)

GOD HAD ABRAM PREPARE A SACRIFICE FOR THE CEREMONY THAT PROVIDED COVERING FOR SIN, GUILT AND FELLOWSHIP.

GOD WILL REESTABLISH THESE OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES AT MT SINAI.

In the Law, no age was stated for the sacrifices, Why did Abram pick animals of three years old? Could it be that it pointed to the ministry of the coming redeemer who ministered for three years before his death for all, ratifying the Blood Covenant made before the world began?(Rev 13:8;1 Peter 1:18-20)

REMEMBER, IN THE CEREMONY THE CUT FLESH SYMBOLICALLY REPRESENTED THE FLESH OF THE ONE WHO WALKS THROUGH THE PIECES. GOD WILL ALONE WALK THROUGH THE PIECES!

NOTHING DEPENDED ON ABRAM! God took him out of the way, God put Abram to sleep and a dreadful darkness came over him. Then, God appearing as a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch passed between the pieces.

GOD CUT THE COVENANT WITH HIMSELF! THE FATHER, AS A SMOKING FIRE (He would appear as a smoking furnace on Mt Sinai) THE SON AS A BLAZING LIGHT (Jesus is the Light of the world). REMEMBER THIS AS WE GO ON. This was decided before the earth began, between The Father and Jesus.

THE RACE OF PEOPLE TO BRING FORTH THE MESSIAH WAS ESTABLISHED HERE BY A BLOOD COVENANT…A COVENANT THAT ABRAM HAD ONLY TO BELIEVE TO BE COUNTED RIGHTEOUS!(GENESIS 15:6; ROMANS 4:1-3)

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited to him as righteousness,” Gen 15:6

“What shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about-but not before God. What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” Romans 4:1-3

While Abram was asleep he received a prophecy of the slavery and deliverance of his seed in the future. A deliverance preceeded by another blood covenant, now known as PASSOVER.

On a distant future Passover, darkness would again cover the scene of a Blood Covenant, so that no man could even visually participate in what transpired between The Father and the Son on the cross, a “horror of great darkness” Gen 15:12 KJV;MT 27:45;Luke 23: 44-45(in the darkness the veil of the Temple was torn in two, announcing a New Covenant.)

Let’s now examine the steps of the Covenant as we have seen last week, do they fit?

STEP ONE: God has no physical robe to give Abram, but he clothed him in righteousness. Abram gave up his filthy robes of sin, casting them on God by his belief.

STEP TWO: God has no belt to give, but he promised Abram “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” God would protect and fight for Abram, as it is seen in Abram’s life.

STEP THREE: The Covenant was cut, both by Abram and by God and Jesus before the world began. Blood was shed and would many years later be shed, finally for all time.

STEP FOUR: Jesus would raise His right arm and receive the cuts that would seal the Covenant for us as His blood and ours, minus original sin, are the same. And as He came from the race of Abram, Jesus would one day announce; Abram “rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56)

STEP FIVE:  God would soon after give to Abram the ‘H” of His Name the Tetragramaton, YHWH, and Abram would become Abraham and God would become the “God of Abraham”.(Genesis 17:4-8) Abraham is now the “friend of God” (James 2:23; Genesis 18:17-19). The Original Hebrew letter for the H was literally a picture of a man with hands upraised, pronounced HEY! and was believed to stand for “Here I AM!”. God would now become the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. (Exodus 3:6)

STEP SIX:  In Genesis 17 God told Abraham that he was confirming the Covenant with him and that Abraham and all his male descendents were to bear the scar of circumcision.  In the New Blood Covenant Jesus bears the scars of whips, thorns and nails as proof of the Covenant, our circumcision is of the heart. (Romans 2:29)

STEP 7: The Terms of the Covenant were given to Abraham in Genesis 17. Abraham was to walk righteous.(a position he already has because of his faith) before God and remember the covenant and keep it, he and all his descendents.  The terms of the New Covenant are to have faith in our Covenant partner to “believe and be counted as righteous as was our Father Abraham”, remember the covenant and walk as our covenant brother walks.

STEP 8: In Genesis 18; Abraham has a meal with three visitors, one of whom he acknowledges as ADONI or Lord.

Our memorial meal started in the upper room and continues to this day in communion, and we need to realize it is the memorial meal of our Blood Covenant. It is sacred to God. Paul warned what happens if it is taken lightly or without true reverence.( 1Corth 11:27-32)

STEP 9:  God did this, he planted a tree spotted with blood on Calvary. A memorial for all time of the Covenant of our Salvation.

THE COVENANT TESTED

Years later, God tested Abrahams’ faithfulness to their covenant. (Genesis 2:1-2) God told Abraham to take his ONLY SON, Isaac, to a mountain that God would show him and offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God as a burnt offering. (In the lands around Abraham the sacrifice of the first born to pagan gods was a common practice, God wanted to see if ABRAHAM WOULD DO THE SAME FOR HIM. IT WAS A REQUEST THAT A BLOOD COVENANT PARTNER COULD NOT REFUSE!)

Abraham is 100 years old and all the promises that God has already given him depend solely on him having a son. It took 25 years for the promised birth of Isaac to occur but as the Scripture says:

Romans 4:20: “Abraham staggered not at the promises of God.”

In the culture of that time, to die without a heir was the most terrible thing that could happen, your life was considered a failure. A common saying of those ancient days was “Heaven awaits not one who is destitute of a son.” This was the ultimate sacrifice Abraham could make, would he be faithful to the covenant?

It was a THREE DAY journey to the mountain. For that entire trip in Abrahams’ mind Isaac was as good as dead.

On the THIRD DAY, God shows Abraham Mount Moriah.

Isaac is not a little boy at this time, since he was able to bear the wood for the sacrifice on his shoulders.

Jewish rabbis teach that Isaac was most likely 33 YEARS OF AGE at this time! The Hebrew age of final maturity was 30, so Isaac HAD THREE YEARS OF ADULT LIFE UP TO THIS TIME.

As they climb Mount Moriah, Isaac asks his father “where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” (Genesis 22:7)

Abraham replies in a prophetic moment, “GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB” (Genesis 22:7)

Did Abraham understand that God would give a substitute sacrifice? I believe that, according to HEBREWS 11:17;

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son. Of whom it was said, ‘that in Isaac shall your seed be called’. Believing that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from where also he received him in type.”

Abraham believed that since God called on their covenant relationship, that he could also call on his covenant partner and receive Isaac back from the dead, so that the promises could be fulfilled.

The altar is built and Isaac willingly offers himself to his father as a sacrifice. As Abraham lifts the knife, God intervenes and in Genesis 22:11-12 God gives an adult male sheep, a ram, with its’ horns caught in a THORN BUSH as the sacrifice in Isaacs’ place. God commends Abraham for his faithfulness to the covenant.

Abraham gratefully takes the ram and offers it as a sacrifice, calling the place of the altar, Mount Moriah, JEHOVAH JIREH, “as it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” (Genesis 22:14) THE LITERAL HEBREW HERE IS “IN THE MOUNT OF THE LORD HE WILL BE SEEN.” (RSV)

Where is Mount Moriah? It is the Temple Mount and Calvary! In the Mount of the Lord HE WILL BE SEEN!

To complete the picture of Isaac as a type of the ONE WHO WILL BE SEEN; SEVEN years later Abrahams’ faithful servant Eliezer goes to the pagan land of Haran and finds a BRIDE for Isaac and brings her out of the pagan land into the promised land to wed Isaac.

Seeing this incident through the eyes of the Blood covenant that Abraham and God were in reveals the power of the Covenant. 

God had taken Abrahams’ place in the Covenant ceremony. This was necessary since only God can enter into covenant with God, (The Father and Jesus, Jesus standing in for humanity). Abraham did nothing but believe, and act on his beliefs with deeds.

In Genesis 22:17-18 God tells Abraham that his faithfulness will cause “all the nations of the world to be blessed in Abrahams’ seed”. God reaffirms the Covenant with Abraham telling him that “In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your seed..”

Are we partakers of the covenant and promises of Abraham? YES! (Gal 3:29)

GOD IS THE INITIATER, KEEPER AND FINISHER 0F OUR BLOOD COVENANT, THROUGH THE LIFE AND BLOOD OF JESUS. THE TRUE LAMB GOD WILL PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF.