Genesis chapter 15, and let's
begin reading in verse 1. After these things, the word
of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram,
I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abraham said,
Lord God, what wilt thou give me? Saying, I go childless. And the steward, the heir of
my house, is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold,
to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one barn in my house
is mine heir, my servant is my heir. And behold, the word of
the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir,
But he that shall come forth out of thine own vows shall be
thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord,
and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto
him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of error of the Chaldeans,
to give thee this land, to inherit it. And Abram said, Lord God,
whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto
him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of
three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle
dove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these,
and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against
another, but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came
down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And the sun
was going down, and a deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and, lo, a
horror of great darkness fell upon him. And the Lord said unto
Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger
in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they
shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom
they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards they shall come
out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity
of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass when the
sun went down, and it was dark. Behold a smoking furnace and
a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day
the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed
have I given this land from the river of Egypt. and to the river,
the river Euphrates. Here in this 15th chapter we
look at some very interesting things and one of the first things
that I noticed as I was looking at this, a peculiar way that
this begins and what is said here in verse 1 of this word
You'll notice how it was put here, the Word of the Lord came
to Abraham in a vision, saying. Now, if it would have said as
it usually does, the Word of the Lord came to Abraham saying,
then that would have been one thing. We could have said, you
know, the Word of the Lord spoke to Abraham. The Lord spoke to
Abraham in His Word or by His Word. That's usually the way
it's written. But here it says it like this,
the Word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. So he saw
a vision of the Word, and it was the Word speaking to him.
I don't know what farm it appeared to him in, what shape it was
like, but the Word appeared to Abraham here in a vision. Now, Abraham saw somebody, or
he saw something. And I know that when you and
I go over to the New Testament in Revelations chapter 19, I
know who's called the Word of God. And we know in John chapter
1 who is called the Word of God, and that's the Son of God. His
name is called the Word of God. So it seems little doubt here
that Abraham saw the Son of God in a vision. Whatever form He
appeared, Abraham saw Him And he spake to Abraham. Now, you
that have read Revelations, there in the first chapter when John
saw this vision, it sort of reminds you of this. John saw this vision
of the Son of God. He was there in the Isle of Patmos
and he heard a voice behind him as the voice of many waters.
saying, I'm Alpha and Omega. And John turned to see who it
was that spake to him. And here's what's said of the
vision that he saw. John said, I saw one like the
Son of Man. And he was clothed with this
garment from his neck down to his foot. And he had this golden
girdle upon his chest. John noticed that his head and
his hair was white as wool, as white as snow. And his feet was
like fine brass, as though they burned in the furnace. And when
he spake, his voice was as the sound of many waters. And John
said in his right hand he had seven stars, and out of his mouth
went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was shining
like the sun in his stream." Now that was a vision that he
saw. And he tells us who that was.
That was the Son of God. That was Jesus Christ. But the
thing that reminded me here of Abraham, John said, when I saw
him, I fell at his feet like I was dead. All the breath went
out of me, and I fell right at his feet, and he put his hand
upon me. And remember what he said to
John, fear not. Fear not. The same thing that
he says to Abraham. And this tells us that those
prophets in the Old Testament and those believers in the Old
Testament, they knew the Son of God. He made Himself real
to them. As you and I read, as we've already
read up to the 15th chapter here, and as we go through this book,
and you look at Exodus and the five first books of the Bible,
And it's very evident that whatever they knew of Christ and His work
that He was going to do when He came to this earth, it's very
evident that they did know Him. They did know the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the very reason that Abel
bought that blood sacrifice and offered it there to God for his
sin. And Enoch, the Sabbath from Adam,
prophesied that Christ was coming with 10,000 of His saints. And
when Noah built his altar, you remember he is the first one
that offered burnt sacrifices? He saw Christ. He knew Christ. And one of the most marvelous
verses concerning this is found over in Hebrews chapter 11. You
remember what was said of Moses. that when he had come to age,
he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And he
chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than
to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And then he makes
this wonderful statement, choosing rather to suffer the reproach
of Christ. He counted that, the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. And the
Lord Jesus said, Moses wrote to me, He wrote to me. Abraham
rejoiced to see my daddy. So what I'm saying here that
in some fashion or another that the Son of God made Hisself real
to those Old Testament saints. I don't know how He did it, but
this Word of the Lord came to them to Him in a vision, rebuilding
Himself. I don't, you and I don't know,
we don't have to figure out all these things. People ask us questions,
you know, and some think that Christ never was heard of until
He appears on the scene in Matthew chapter 1. Nobody ever knew Him
before. How did they know Him, they say?
Well, that's not for us to figure out, is it? But they did know
Him. They knew Him. And that's enough.
When we read this like here, the Word of the Lord came in
a vision. It's enough to know that's Christ.
That's Christ. And Abraham knew it. Abraham
knew it. So He appears here to Abraham
and He makes this statement, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. And then in the light of that
statement, in verse 2, Abraham asked this question. The Lord
made two statements in this chapter, and in the light of those two
statements, Abraham asked two questions. The Lord said, I am
your exceeding great reward, and Abraham asked this question,
Lord God, what will thou give me seeing I'll go childless? What will thou give me? And it's
evident here that Abraham didn't want riches. He was already rich. He didn't want God to give him
more cattle or more silver. He's rich already. But it's evident
from verse 2 and verse 3 and even verse 4 that what Abraham
was seeking for was a child. He wanted a son. Now, was he
seeking a son just so he could have an heir to inherit his riches? Just to carry on his name? Well,
that was part of it. I'll confess that was part of
it. Who doesn't want a son or even daughters to carry on our
names? The older I get, the older I
get, the more I see. It's a good thing to have grandchildren,
whether sons or daughters, because they're going to carry on your
name. Abraham wanted that. I want that. You want that. Especially
these Jews wanted that. Remember Anna? She wept because
she was barren. And she said, Lord, if you'll
just give me a son, I'll give him back to you. Elizabeth and
Zachariah, they'd prayed for years for a son. Rachel, if you
don't give me children, she said to her husband Jacob, I'm going
to die. I want children. This was part of Abraham's request. He said, what will you give me?
In other words, I want a son. I want a son. I want a seed. I want an heir. The Lord had
already promised Abraham in the 12th chapter in verse 2 that
He'd make of him a great nation. That's what He said. He said,
I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make of you a great
nation. The Lord had put this hope in
Abraham's heart. You're going to have a son. You're
going to have some children. You're going to have grandchildren
and great-grandchildren. I'm going to make a great nation
of you. He promised him that. And he
put Abraham hoping for this. And when the Lord puts you hoping
for something, you know what you're going to do? You're going
to start praying for it. It always happens that way, doesn't
it? The Lord calls Abraham and says,
I'm going to make a great nation. So here Abraham said, you going
to give me a son? You going to give me a son? That's
the first reason. And second reason, there's another
reason for Abraham asking a child, a seed, because he knew that
through his seed, God was going to bless the world. He already
knew that. He already knew that. Listen,
we've studied this over in Galatians 3. Let me quote these two verses
to you. The Scriptures, foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham. He did know Christ, didn't he?
He preached the gospel to Abraham, and here's what he said to Abraham.
In thee shall all nations be blessed. And then he goes on
in chapter 3 of Galatians verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. And he says not to seeds as of
many, but to thy seed, which is Christ. And what he's saying
here, Abraham, I'm going to bless the whole world through your
seed. And you know who Abraham knew
that seed was? It was Christ. When Abraham looked
at Isaac, He looked through Isaac and he saw Christ. This is my
seed, but through this seed is coming the Messiah, the seed
of the woman. And he's going to bruise the
serpent's head. Abraham here is asking for a
seed. He's asking for a son. But not
just merely that he may have a son, but he knows that out
of his son Isaac, Christ is coming, the true seed of the woman, the
redeemer of this poor fallen world. And you know, when we
think of this like this, this is what makes that a great trial.
When the Lord spoke to Abraham and said, take Isaac and you
offer him there upon that barrack for a burnt sacrifice. That's
a trial. And the book of Hebrews said,
Abraham, When God tried him, offered up his only begotten
Son, of whom it was said, In Isaac shall your seed be called.
And Abraham knew, if I offer him, then how is the Messiah going
to come? The Messiah is going to come through him. But you
know what he said? He distrusted God. He said, I'm
going to kill him just like God told me to. And I know that God's
able to raise him from the dead. I know that. So he went up there
and drove that knife back and would have stabbed his own son
if the angel of the Lord had not stopped him. But that was
a severe trial, wasn't it? That tried his faith. That tried
to promise. So when we see Abraham thinking
about this seed, there's three things, I think, in his mind.
concerning this seed. He prayed for a seed. One was
a natural son, Isaac. There's no doubt that was part
of it. He wanted a child, a son. And secondly, he prayed for this
seed because he knew that Christ was that seed. In thy seed shall
all nations be blessed. And thirdly, Abraham had another
seed. He had a whole country full of
earthly seeds, natural seeds. But he knew, too, he had a heavenly
seed. He had a heavenly seed. Listen to what Paul said in Galatians
3 again. Know ye therefore that they which
be of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. If ye be
Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise. Abraham knew that God was going
to make a great nation. They call the children the Hebrew
children. The Hebrew children. They're
going to inherit the land of Canaan. But he knew there was
another seed too. A heavenly seed. Believers. They which be of faith are the
children of Abraham. And now, here in verse 5, look
at this in verse 5. So there he asked the Lord. He
asked the Lord for a seed. And the Lord told him. He said,
this Eleazar, he's not going to be your heir. My seed ain't
going to come out of him. He's your servant, the one that's
born of you, come out of your own lawn. That's who the Messiah
is coming out of. In verse 5, God brought him forth
abroad and said, It must have been dark. It was
dark here when the Lord was speaking to them. Look now towards heaven
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, and he said,
so shall thy seed be. Boy, look here at the broadness
of this promise and the extent of it. I don't care if you're
talking about, if you're talking about the natural aspect of it.
You know, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and the
number that came out of those people. Look over at them now. They're gathered back over in
Israel now. That's the natural seed of Abraham. And when Abraham
looked up and saw those stars, he couldn't count those stars.
And he said, that's how many seeds you're going to have. You're
going to have a multitude of people. Naturally. But boy, if
you consider it spiritually, I mean, there's going to be a
number of people in heaven that no man can number. That's Abraham's
seed. Can you count the stars? Nobody
can. You can't count the souls in
heaven either. That's Abraham's seed. And boy, this is just a
tremendous promise. I don't know how much of this
Abraham understood it. I really don't know how much
he understood. But I know some things he understood. I know
this, he understood this, that he was getting old. And Sarah
was barren. She never had a child. And I
know secondly this, he understood that if this was to be brought
to pass, it wasn't going to be him to bring it to pass. He couldn't
even have a son. And he knew this, if it was done,
God was going to have to do it. Can you imagine, can you imagine
how this would have overwhelmed you? Here Abraham was, he was
getting old. Sarah was old and barren. And
the Lord takes you out and says, you don't know how many kids
you're going to have. Look up to the stars. Could you have
believed something like that? You know the only thing Abraham
could do, and he did it too. He just put all the doubting
to rest. And here's what he said in verse
6. Look at this. And Abraham believed in the Lord. He just put it to rest. Lord,
I believe you. You know how I'm going to do it? I have no idea
how you're going to do it. I don't know, but I believe you're
able. And tell me what he said. Look over in Romans. Paul dealt
with this whole situation here in Romans chapter 4. Look over in Romans chapter 4,
what he says about this. He says you're in Romans chapter
4. Look at it. Just look at some places in this chapter. Look
how Paul starts out with it. Abraham believed in the Lord
and he counted it to him for righteousness. In verse 1. Start here in verse 1. What shall
we say that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh has
found? Abraham knew some things. He found out some things. If
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him, imputed
to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that
worketh not, but simply believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith, his faith in Christ, is counted for righteousness.
David talked about it. Blessed is the man to whom God
imputeth righteousness without works. David said, Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. How does this
blessedness come to us? How does this righteousness come
to us and justify it? Look what he said in verse 9.
Comest this blessedness upon the circumcision only, the Jews,
or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it reckoned to him? When
he was in circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision. We never
read one thing. We have studied now up through
the 15th chapter of Genesis. We've never read the first thing
about circumcision. It's never been mentioned. How
was Abraham justified? How did God give him righteousness
and impute righteousness to him? It wasn't because he circumcised.
It wasn't because he took Isaac up and offered him on Mount Moriah.
Isaac wasn't born yet. How did God count him righteous? Not when he was circumcised,
but in uncircumcision. He received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being
uncircumcised. that he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed to them also. And the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of faith, that faith of our father
Abraham, which he had yet being uncircumcised. For the promise
that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham
or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness
of faith. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect, because the law works wrath. For where no law is, there
is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace, To the end the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, the
Jews, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I made thee
a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God
who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as
though they were. Who against hope believed in
hope. that he might become the father
of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall
thy seed be. And look at this, being not weak
in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was
about nine hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's
womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able to perform, and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. The first place imputed righteousness
is mentioned, and how is it obtained? By faith. Abraham believed in
the Lord. It's received. It's not worked
for. It's not merited. It's given us by faith. Now look back over again in Genesis
chapter 7. Genesis chapter 15, I'm sorry,
verse 7, verse 8. Look in verse 7. And the Lord
said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of the
air of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, to inherit it.
This is another statement the Lord made. And that prompts Abraham
to ask the question, Lord God, wherefore shall I know that I
shall inherit it? The Lord makes this statement
that Abraham asked this question, how can I know? Now, Abraham
wasn't doubting. If the Lord had said to him,
this is the way you can know, you just believe my word. I've
told you and that's it. You know what Abraham would have
said? That's enough. That's enough. I believe that
you're able to give me this lamb. But Abraham was simply asking
here, Lord, are you willing to give me a token? Would it be
in your heart to give me a sign? And it was in God's heart to
give him a sign. And in verse 9 and verse 10,
here is the token that he gave him. Here is the evidence. Here
in verse 9 and verse 10, he told him to take these five sacrifices.
And this is amazing because these are the sacrifices they offered
under the ceremonial law. This was on God's heart all this
time. These five sacrifices. And Abraham offered these sacrifices,
and verse 10, he divided them up and laid them, each one against
another. And he kept the birds whole.
And look over in verse 17 and verse 18. Look at this. And it
came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, a
smoking oven, a furnace, and a burning torch passed between
those pieces. And the same day, the Lord God
made a covenant with Abram, saying, made a covenant. What was it?
It was a covenant of blood, wasn't it? A covenant based upon a sacrifice. How can I know? You take these
sacrifices. And God passed between those
sacrifices. And Abraham saw him, like a burning
torch, passing through there. And God said, I've made a covenant
with you, a covenant of blood. And notice when he says that,
how the whole tense changes. Up until this time, the Lord
had been saying, Abraham, I'm going to give you this land.
Abraham, I'm going to give your seed this land. But after the
sacrifices, He said, Abraham, I made a covenant with you, and
now look at this, unto thy seed have I given this land. See how it changes? No more I'm
going to. Now it's all finished. It's past
tense. It's sure, based upon this blood
sacrifice. And when you and I read the book
of Hebrews concerning this new covenant, I will be to them a God, and
they shall be my people. They all shall know the Lord.
Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And when
we read that we have full and free access into God's presence,
let us draw near to God with a true heart and full assurance
of faith. And when we read of the sheer
and steadfast promise of heaven, all of these covenant blessings
and these promises that we read about in the New Testament are
based upon this one thing. And as you read the book of Hebrews,
you'll notice all of that covenant and all its blessings and all
its promises is based upon this one thing, Jesus Christ and his
blood sacrifice. He is the surety of a better
covenant. Ain't that what he said? God
that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's what makes the promises
sure. That's the evidence we have of this covenant, the seal
of it, the surety of it. Not one promise will fail that
God's given His people. Why? Jesus Christ is the surety. That satisfied Abraham, didn't
it? How can we know the covenant stands fast? How can we know
that all the promises of God are yea and amen? We have a sacrifice
to prove. We have a sacrifice. And boy,
look what Abraham did here in the 15th chapter. In verse 11,
when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove
them away. And you know what? He probably
spent all day. This happened over a period of probably 24
hours or so. It began at dark because the
Lord took him out and showed him the star. And then he went
during the daytime and he killed the sacrifices and offered it.
And here come all these fowls down on the sacrifice. Ain't
that what's happening today? And we're going to drive them
away, aren't we? Coming down upon our sacrifice.
Paul said, we glory in one thing. I'm determined to know nothing
but one thing, and that's Christ and Him crucified. In verses 12 through verse 16,
and I'll close with this. The Lord tells Abraham here,
He said, Abraham, you're going to have a good end. You're going
to die and go to your fathers in a good old age. But you know before these promises
were fulfilled, before Abraham died and went to his fathers
in a good old age, and we're going to study about some of
them in the weeks ahead, before he suffered some more trials.
He faced some more temptations. Offered his son, fell into that
same snare we read about already about asking Sarah to lie for
him. Fell right back into that again. Some things he was tempted
with and tried. Great trials and tribulations.
And we're told here that this great horror of darkness came
over Abraham. It overshadowed him. And the
Lord began to teach him of some future trials that was coming.
He said, Abraham, it's going to be tough. You're going to
have some more dark days ahead of you. And your people, your
people, is going to be slaves in a strange land for 400 years
they're going to serve before I bring them out. And Abraham found a sure place
to rest his soul. and lay his head down in quietness
on his dying pillow. He found these two things. You
know what they were? Same thing you and I find rest
in. I don't know what we're going to face between here and the
end of our way. We don't know what we're going
to face. But there's going to probably be some dark days and
some trials. But there's two things that Abraham
had. He had his Word, the Word of
God. Abraham believed God. And he
had the blood of this covenant. He had those two things. And
that's enough. That's enough, ain't it? The
Word and the blood of the covenant. That's enough. This is my blood
of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission
of their sins. And there's coming a day, no
matter what we face in this lifetime, there's coming a day when we'll
stand spotless before God Almighty, without any sin, without any
taint or stain of sin, through the blood of the Lamb, through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that day we'll sing what
we often sing here, Dear Thine and Thine precious blood has
never lost its power. And never will, till all the
ransomed, Church of God be saved to sin no more. Saved through
the blood of the crucified one. Good place to lay our heads down
and rest at. We got His Word, and we got this sacrifice. The
surety of the promise. Oh, our Father.