Notes + Questions: God's Covenant with Abraham

Introduction: 

COVENANT - Definition

A Relationship between two parties who make binding promises to each other, and work together for a common goal.

COVENANT - Significance

The idea of Covenant is central to the very plot of the Scripture. It is the Backbone of the Scriptural Meta-Narrative.

“[covenant] is the architectural structure that we believe the Scriptures themselves to yield. … It is not simply the concept of covenant, but the concrete existence of God’s covenantal dealings in our history that provides the context within which we recognize the unity of Scripture amid its remarkable variety.” 

~ Michael Horton - ‘God of Promise’

The Storyline of the Bible: 

There is one sovereign and personal Creator God, who has created human beings to be co-regents of the earth in relationship with Him and each other.

The first man and woman rejected God’s rule by breaking His one and only commandment for them. Seeking to be autonomous from God, they abdicated their co-regency and became enslaved to sin and death, alienated from God and each other.

Chaos and Evil reigned the world and God brought judgment on all the earth and all living things through the flood. God restarted His divine program with one man, Noah, and his family.

God chose Abraham and his family as a ‘pilot-project’ of redemption.

Abraham’s descendants became the nation of Israel and they were to be a light to the nations and demonstrate what it meant to be properly connected to God and one another in covenant relationship. They were to display the dignity of humanity and experience the blessings of God for obedience and the curse of His displeasure for disobedience.

The people of Israel failed to keep the covenant of God and so God introduced the promise of the one who would come and perfectly keep the covenant - the chosen Messiah, the Son of David.

God promised to make a New Covenant with humanity, giving them a new heart and writing the Covenant on their hearts so bringing redemption and the possibility to experience the keeping of the covenant and the blessing of the covenant.

Recap: 

God’s Call of Abraham - Genesis 12:1-3

Abraham’s Obedience - Genesis 12:4

Abraham’s Follies - 

Abram in Egypt — Genesis 12:10-20

Abram and Lot — Genesis 13:1-18

Abram and Hagar — Genesis 16:1-16

Abram and Abimelech — Genesis 20:1-18

God’s Covenant with Abraham: 

God’s Promise - Genesis 15:1

Abraham’s Question - Genesis 15:2-3

God’s Assurance - Genesis 15:4-5

Abraham’s Faith - Genesis 15:6

God’s Promise - Genesis 15:7

Abraham’s Question - Genesis 15:8

God’s Promise enshrined in divine Covenant - Genesis 15:9-21

God’s Response to Doubt: 

Have you ever felt like the World has sold you a lie?

"Postmodern culture is deeply suspicious of all grand stories. ... We live inside the future of a shattered past because that "past" told grand stories of Marxist utopia, technological freedom, or capitalist paradise. Yet we have come to see not only that these stories are unfinished, but that they are also fundamentally unfinishable, for the simple reason that they are fundamentally lies. The postmodern ethos insists that stories such as these that have so shaped our lives are not stories of emancipation and progress after all, but stories of enslavement, oppression and violence.”

~ 'Brian Walsh, 'The Church in a Postmodern Age:’

God Himself is promising to keep the covenant!

Abraham and the Torch: 

Genesis 15:9-11

Karat Berit = To Cut a Covenant

Genesis 15:12-16

Exile and Redemption

Genesis 15:17

“suddenly in the darkness a searing streak of lightening appeared and held its shape. It spewed fire and smoke and sparks. It was the presence of God.”

Smoke and Fire 

The Burning Bush - Exodus 3:2

The Pillar of Cloud / Fire - Exodus 13:21

Mount Sinai - Exodus 19:18; 20:18 

GOD PROMISES TO KEEP BOTH SIDES OF THE AGREEMENT

May I be cursed if I don’t keep the covenant.

May I be cursed if you don’t keep the covenant.

JESUS CHRIST PAID THE PRICE

Isaiah 53:8

Mark 15:33-34

Application: 

All of my problems can be traced to one thing: I don’t trust the promises of God.

I worry because I don’t trust God’s wisdom.

I am angry because I don’t trust that God is in control.

I am bitter because I don’t trust God’s justice.

I hate myself because I don’t trust God’s love and grace.

I disobey because I don’t trust that God is better than anything I can get by disobeying.