Part 2

To understand more fully God’s unbreakable covenant with man, we must understand why God’s covenant is unbreakable. During Jesus' days, covenants would be made by cutting animals and half and the two parties walking between to signify what would be done to the one who would not follow through with their part in that covenant. In other words, the person who did not follow through with the covenant would be assigned to certain death. But, when God made a covenant with Abram, Abram was put into a deep sleep and never walked between the pieces of flesh. Here’s the account.

Gen 15:12-17 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 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 ill-treated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.

Earlier on in the chapter, God had promised Abram that he would give him a son and that through that son, his descendants would be so many that they would be uncountable. To provide him with the picture of what would happen, he took him outside and had him look up at the stars 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.”

So, why specifically was God’s covenant with Abram unbreakable? If you’ll notice in the scripture above, Abram did not walk between the pieces of flesh. In other words, he was not a participant in the covenant but only a beneficiary of the promises of that covenant. So, who walked between the pieces? The Bible says that a smoking brazier (smoking pot) and a blazing torch passed between the pieces. Without a doubt, it was God that passed between the pieces, but more specifically, my study leads me to believe that it was Jesus and God. Also, according to God’s divine order, every matter must be established by two or more witnesses. (2 Cor13:1, Deut 19:15)

So, we see God making a covenant with Abram that was so powerful that Abram could not be included as a covenant partner, because of his fallen human nature, but rather as a covenant beneficiary. God, in his love for humanity, set up, through Abraham, an unbreakable covenant of blessing for all who would believe. God fully intends that you and I would, by faith, receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, tap into the blessing God gave to Abraham!

Don’t miss tomorrow as we dive deeper into the profound truths of…

GOD’S UNBREAKABLE COVENANT WITH MAN

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