God Confirms His Promise - Genesis 15:7- 21

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God Confirms His Promise The Abrahamic Covenant Genesis 15: 7 - 21

Transcript of God Confirms His Promise - Genesis 15:7- 21

Page 1: God Confirms His Promise - Genesis 15:7- 21

God Confirms His

Promise

The Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 15: 7-21

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When God Confirms His Word

Genesis 15:6 (NIV)

6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to

him as righteousness.

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Even the Man of Faith Needs a

ReminderGenesis 15:7-21 (NET)

7 The LORD said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Genesis 12:1–3 (NET)1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. 2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”

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Even the Man of Faith Needs a

ReminderGenesis 15:7-21 (NET)

7 The LORD said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

He needed a reminder:

Of who God is : Yaweh-God of promise and covenant

from where he was called

to what he has been promised

Without constant reminders we fall into doubt.

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Even the Man of Faith Needs

Confirmation8 But Abram said, “O

sovereign LORD, by

what can I know that I

am to possess it?”

Has God not told him?

It has been over a

decade and Abram has

doubts.

Genesis 13:14–16 (NET) 14 After Lot had departed, the LORD

said to Abram, “Look from the place where you stand to the

north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give all the land that you

see to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make

your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone

is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants

also can be counted.

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God’s Word is Made Binding

9 The LORD said to him,

“Take for me a heifer, a

goat, and a ram, each

three years old, along with

a dove and a young

pigeon.” 10 So Abram

took all these for him and

then cut them in two and

placed each half opposite

the other, but he did not

cut the birds in half.

God makes his Words

binding in a Covenant

(legal contract) with

Abram.

In Abram’s day, legal and binding agreements were not drafted

by attorneys and then signed by the parties involved. Instead,

legal agreements were formalized by means of a very graphic

covenant ceremony: the dividing of an animal sealed the

covenant. The animal was cut in half and the two parties would

pass between the halves while repeating the terms of the

covenant. By doing so, the two parties were stating, “If I fail to

fulfill my commitments to this covenant, may I suffer the same

fate as this animal” "Fear Factor" (Genesis 15:1-21)

By: Keith Krell from Bible.org

Jeremiah 34:18–20 (NET)18 I will punish those people who have violated their

covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they

cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do so

because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they

made in my presence. 19 I will punish the leaders of

Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and

all the other people of the land who passed between the

pieces of the calf. 20 I will hand them over to their

enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will

become food for the birds and the wild animals.

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They Oppose God’s Contracts

11 When birds of prey

came down on the

carcasses, Abram drove

them away.

The birds are an evil

Omen. They are a

symbol of those

opposing God’s

Covenant.

There is always

Opposition to God’s

Covenants.

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Even the Faithful Fear

12 When the sun went

down, Abram fell sound

asleep, and great terror

overwhelmed him.

(ESV) 12 As the sun was

going down, a deep

sleep fell on Abram.

And behold, dreadful

and great darkness fell

upon him.

Terror:

Was is the darkness?

Was it the presence of

God?

Was it insight into

future?

Abram sleeps. God

writes and seals the

covenant.

God encourages Abram not to

Fear, but brings to Abram fear.

Genesis 15:1 After these things

the word of the LORD came to

Abram in a vision: “Fear not,

Abram! I am your shield and the

one who will reward you in great

abundance.”

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God’s Covenant Promise

13 Then the LORD said to

Abram, “Know for

certain that your

descendants will be

strangers in a foreign

country. They will be

enslaved and oppressed

for four hundred years.

Abram Sees the future

and it’s not pretty.

The sevenfold prophecy

for the nation of Israel.

1. You will be strangers in

another country.

2. You will be slaves in

Egypt.

3. You will be oppressed

for 400 years.

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God’s judgment is fair

14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

The sevenfold prophecy for the nation Israel.

4. God will judge Egypt.

5. Israel will come out with many possessions.

6. Abram will not live through this period of slavery.

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Why So Long To Fulfill

His Promise?16 In the fourth generation

your descendants will

return here, for the sin

of the Amorites has not

yet reached its limit.”

The sevenfold prophecy

for the nation of Israel.

7. The nation will return

to the land after the

fourth generation.

Why wait 400 years?

The sin of the Amorites

has not yet reached its

limit!

Amorites were

Abram’s allies, but

Deuteronomy 9:4–6 (NET) 4 Do not think to yourself after

the LORD your God has driven them out before you,

“Because of my own righteousness the LORD has brought me

here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of

these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner

uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land.

Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD

your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to

confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand, therefore, that it is

not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is

about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are

a stubborn people!

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It’s A One-sided Contract

17 When the sun had gone

down and it was dark, a

smoking firepot with a

flaming torch passed

between the animal

parts.

The smoking firepot and

flaming torch

represented the presence

of God, as the pillar of

fire did for Israel.

Point: The Lord passed

between the pieces. In

doing so, He obligated

Himself to fulfill this

covenant. It’s

unconditional

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God Defines the Land Promise

18 That day the LORD made a covenant with Abram:

“To your descendants I give this land, from the river of

Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River – 19 the

land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20

Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites,

Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

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Land Promised to Abram

Israel Has never

possessed the land

promised to Abram. It

is still future.

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Applications

Remember:

God is the God of Covenant – His promises are rock solid

Remember where you came from

Remember where God has promised to take you

Believers Sometimes have doubts. Take them to God.

The faithful fear. It’s not fear, but what we fear.

Watch out for the birds of pray that would rob you of the

covenant blessing.

God isn’t finished fulfilling his covenant promises.

Christ’s Covenant with us is founded on God’s Covenant with

Abram.

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Believe God’s Promise

John 3:16 (NASB)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His

only begotten Son, that whoever believes in

Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

It’s a Contract Made in Blood