Last week, we saw how God called Abraham and made seven promises to him.
- Make him into a great nation. (God gave him a heritage. The Jews are all descendants of Abraham as are the Arabs.)
- Bless him. (God provided for him what was needed and more.)
- Make his name great. (Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish faith.)
- Make him a blessing to others. (God’s revelation of truth has come through the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham.)
- Bless those who blessed him. (God blesses those who are good to Israel.)
- Curse those who cursed him. (God is against those who are against Israel.)
- Bless all people on earth through him. (Salvation from Jesus came through the line of Abraham. There is no greater blessing to all the earth than what Jesus has given mankind.)
In this lesson, God appears to Abraham again, restates his promise of giving him descendants and makes a covenant with him.
Genesis 15:1-6
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
When God told Abraham not to be afraid he said he was His shield and very great
A shield was the symbol for a king. God was Abraham’s Lord or king, his protector and the provider of all that he needed. There was no greater treasure that Abraham could have than God himself. That was important for Abraham to remember just as it is for us.
Abraham’s response was to focus on what he didn’t have, which was children. Abraham seemed to be struggling to believe the promise God had given him before, as he still had no children. His focus was on what he didn’t have, rather than all that he did have in God.
To encourage Abraham God took him out to see the stars and declared his offspring would be uncountable, just like the number of stars.
Abraham believed God. His faith in God’s promises is what made him right with God.
Genesis 15:7-21
7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
8 But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
9 So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
God made a covenant with Abraham. A covenant is a promise or pledge between two people or parties. God said he would give the land to Abraham’s descendants.
To confirm the covenant, Abraham laid out a sacrifice and then God sent a blazing torch to consume it. God said that before the promise of the land would be received, the people would be slaves for 400 years in a land not their own.
God delayed the promise because the sin of the Amorites had not reached its full measure. God is patient and long-suffering. He was calling Abraham to be the same.
Abraham believed God’s promise to give him offspring and make him into a great nation even though Sarah was barren. It was because of his faith that God called him righteous. That doesn’t mean he did everything right. Abraham was a sinner just as we are.
Sarah had a hard time believing God and when she didn’t have a child she took matters into her own hands. Instead of waiting on God’s promise to give her a baby, Sarah did what was a custom at the time; she gave her maidservant Hagar to Abraham to be his wife.
There are always consequences when we do things outside of God’s will and way. Sarah’s lack of faith caused problems both for her family and the people of Israel. When Hagar got pregnant, there was big conflict between her and Sarah. The son who was born to Hagar was named Ishmael.
The angel of the Lord said this about Ishmael. (Genesis 16:12) He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” The descendants of Ishmael are the Arabs and to this day they are fighting with the Jews who are the descendants of the son who would later be born to Abraham and Sarah and other people of the world.
Throughout the New Testament Abraham is referred to as an example of being made righteous through faith. Righteous means to be right with God.
Romans 4:20-21 says, 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
If we waver in unbelief, we don’t have steadfast trust in who God is. If we are uncertain of who God is and what he is able to do, we won’t trust his promises.
The verse says that Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. Abraham knew who God is; that he is all powerful (omnipotent) and all knowing (omniscient) and able to do anything that is within his character and will. If we have faith like Abraham, we won’t be pushed around by doubts about God; we will trust his word and the promises he has made.
- Overview Questions: What was God’s promise to Abraham? How did Abraham respond to God? What did God do to show this was a lasting covenant?
- Thought Questions: Why does faith please God? Can we be faithful in some situations and not in others? How? What causes us to be faithful? What causes our faith to grow? Why would Abraham’s faith make him righteous in God’s eyes? What makes us righteous in God’s eyes?
- Prayer: Thank God that he is all powerful and all knowing and able to keep his promises. Pray that you would remember how he has kept his promises in the past. Pray that a lack of faith on the part of others wouldn’t cause you to doubt God. Thank God that through the sacrifice of Jesus for your sin you have been made right.
- The Big Question: Why did Abraham believe God’s promise?
- Memory Verse: Romans 4:20-21
Abraham was fully persuaded that God was able to do what he promised.
2[Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
Questions: What was God’s promise to Abraham? What does it mean to waver in unbelief? Why didn’t Abraham waver in unbelief?