God’s covenant with Abraham gives a fantastic insight into the Lord. As the Lord unfolded the covenant with Abram, we see that it depended on God’s grace. Grace is God’s undeserved love. When the Lord came to Abram, he was seventy-five years old, and Abram waited another twenty-five years before the child of the promise was born. God was making it very clear that for His Covenant to be fulfilled, it depended on Him, not Abraham. The Lord, through this process, showed that Abram had to rely on God for the covenant to be successful.
The Lord Reassured Abram
After the Lord made his promise to Abram, he came to God, asking Him how this could happen because he did not have any descendants. Genesis 15:5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” 6 And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. [1]
Soon after this, the Lord made His covenant with Abram. When they made a covenant in the Near East, the parties would cut up animals and lay them side by side so you could walk between them. Then the parties would walk between the cut animals calling curses upon themselves if they did not meet their obligations.
In the covenant between Abraham and the Lord, only one person walked between the cut animals: God. This meant that God alone would be responsible for the covenant. Genesis 15:17 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. 18 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day.[2] As Lord walked between the cut animals, He showed that He alone would achieve the purpose of the covenant.
Jesus Makes a Covenant with Us
The Lord makes a New Covenant with humankind in the New Testament era. In this covenant, as we believe in Him as Savior, He will forgive our sins and restore our relationship with God. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross at Calvary is the basis of the promise. On the cross, Jesus defeated death and restored life for all who placed their faith in him by His resurrection.
Hebrews 9:15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant. [3]
To learn more about God’s covenant with Abraham, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/beginnings-promise
[1-3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.