As our church thinks through the life of Abraham, we come to another example of how God relationally dwells with his people through a covenant. What is a covenant? In basic terms, when two parties enter a covenant relationship, they promise to each other to fulfill its obligations and if they don't there are consequences. We have already seen God's covenant with Adam as the representative of creation was broken by Adam when he sinned in the garden. The consequence of sin is death. God renewed his covenant with creation through Noah, and now as we look at Abraham, we find God initiating a covenantal relationship with Abraham that has in its view God's determined promise to bring blessing to the entire world.
In Genesis 12, we see God commencing his relationship with Abram (Abraham) by telling him what he will do. Genesis 12:1-3 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
As we go through the life of Abraham and his life with God, this covenantal relationship will become more specific. In fact, we will find that the promises that God gives will be realized in the obedience of the covenant partner. A few verses in Genesis help us to see this.
Genesis 17:1-2 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, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly." Abram was called to live with God as his God as he lived in this world in front of others. In his relational commitment to God, God's promise to him would be realized. The multiplication that God was promising was already something God said he would do back in Genesis 12 as he told Abraham he would make him into a great nation. Obviously, this relational commitment was not just for Abraham but for all that would come from him.
Genesis 18:17-19 The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him." God's promise in covenant relationship with Abraham would most definitely extend to his offspring. His promises would be realized in obedient offspring who keep the Lord's way. From God's covenant we are always looking for the obedient Offspring who would indeed realize and inherit all of God's promises.
Genesis 22:16-18 and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." Because of Abraham's obedience to God in not sparing his only son Isaac, God renewed his covenant promise to his offspring that they would be numerous and from them would come blessing to the whole world. Even in Abraham's faithfulness and God's promise we are still looking forward to the realization of covenant promises in a future Offspring.
In the disobedience of Israel as Abraham's physical offspring, the prophets point to a day when there will be a new covenant that will be given based on true obedience. They had disregarded God's promise to Abraham and forsaken God in his further covenant through Moses. But God is ever faithful when humans are not. Jeremiah 31:31-34 "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
How thankful are we for Jesus. He came in Abraham's line as his Offspring of promise to keep all the terms of relational covenant with God that we could not. He paid for our rebellion and sin by dying in our place on the cross. He has brought a new covenant that can never be broken because he has kept every term of covenant with God. In Jesus all the promises that come through the covenants with Abraham, Moses and David are realized. Luke 22:20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Where is our confidence to be in covenant relationship with God? ----- It's in Jesus Christ - alone.