Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 17 – January 1976

 

Vultures Around The Covenant

 

Sermon by Rev. N. Teekens, L.Th., Th.Grad. on Genesis 15:11+17

Scripture Readings: Ephesians 2:1-10, Genesis 15

Psalter Hymnal: 111; 385; 273; 394

 

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Old Abraham could not yet be called “ABRAHAM”.  Neither God nor he himself was ready for this name-change to “father of a multitude”.  That was to happen later.  In fact, Abram could hardly believe he would be father at all!  The Lord had made promises…but…..!  How is one to know for sure?  And so we have Abram utter the question in vs.2 about the son he would receive, and in vs.8 about the land he would inherit.  Questions of DOUBT, stated by a…… a believer!

We may ask our questions.

Some of the questions of doubt expressed in Scripture have drawn from God some of the greatest answers and statements!  Thus WE CAN IDENTIFY ourselves with these men, for WE have OUR questions, do we not?  “HOW shall I know?”  Don’t YOU ever ask that?  Is it not so, that we need CONSTANT re-assurance to set our hearts at rest?

So today we place ourselves amongst God’s questioners, Abram, John the Baptist, Philip and Thomas.  Questioners who are in need of re-assurance.  It was hard for Abram to accept God’s promises, for as yet he had SEEN so little of them coming true.  Lot had left him; Sarah was hardly young anymore; old age was not approaching, it was THERE!  All he could see was old age, forgetfulness, and physical weakness.

AND IN THAT SITUATION GOD COMES TO ABRAM IN A VISION TO CONFIRM HIS PROMISES WITH A SIGN!

God MEETS that need in Abram’s life, and offers – next to His WORD – a SIGN.  A sign which says: “I TOLD YOU, and now you can SEE it also!”  SEE and BELIEVE!

The Lord commands Abram to slaughter three animals, and place the halved carcasses in two rows, each piece opposite each other.  Added are two birds, which are not divided.

Then Abram waits for the Lord to act.

This action is very unusual to us, is it not?  But Abraham did not find this SO unusual.

You see, it was custom in those days to ‘sign’ a contract by dividing carcasses in this way, and then the two people making the agreement, or contract, or covenant, would together walk between these pieces.  That was the official way to ‘sign’.  Their habits differ from ours, of course.  They had no rubber stamps, or big red seals.  They walked between the divided animals.  It meant that, as SURELY as we walk between these divided pieces, SO SURELY WE HAVE ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT, A COVENANT, TOGETHER.

You may remember that in the days of Ruth, another custom is mentioned, where the two men made an agreement official by exchanging their SANDAL (Ruth 4:7,8).

So also here, God is going to MAKE A COVENANT, a contract, with Abram.  Typical of the Old Testament, blood is shed to ratify this agreement.  A SACRIFICE has to be made in the separation of these animals.

So Abram, in the vision, has done all this, and awaits God’s next action.  As he waits, birds of prey come from the sky, to feast on the meat.  Abram chases away these – shall we call them – ‘vultures’?

Then, with a change in the vision, when a frightful darkness comes upon Abram, the Lord predicts the slavery of Israel in Egypt.  The dreaded darkness is a fitting background for this oppression, yet the Lord promises also their return to Canaan.

Then, in verse 17, at the evening hour, a new event occurs.  The Lord God makes Abram see a smoking fire-pot, a flaming torch, pass between the pieces Abram had prepared.

GOD reveals Himself in these signs.  They are symbolic of His Being; as a smoking fire-pot, a cauldron, God reminds Abram of His REFINING which can also purify metals to bring out their sterling quality.

The Lord Jesus uses a different picture, with a similar meaning, when He speaks of the Lord pruning living, fruit-bearing branches, so that their fruitfulness increases; and the fire which devours unfruitful branches (John 15).  But these symbols of the Lord God are also used in the Bible in a different way, when the Lord leads Israel through the wilderness by day with a cloudy pillar, and by night in a column of fire.  When He is their light and their protector.

But our attention is not so much drawn to HOW God appears to Abram, but THAT HE APPEARS!

That God passes through the pieces ALONE!  Yes, THAT ought to SURPRISE US.  And it ought to DELIGHT US also!  THAT is the WONDER of the Covenant; that GOD establishes it BY HIMSELF – with US as His UNEQUAL PARTNERS!  That GOD HERE GUARANTEES the Covenant by Himself.

For….. WHO could enter into covenant with God?  WHO can place himself on equal footing with Him, and guarantee he can keep it?  WHO can say, “Lord, I will keep MY part”?

Abram could not ‘sign’; He stood by passively whilst God proved HIS LOVE to him!  And to Abram’s descendants also!  For IN Abram, ALL believers are represented.

THIS is what Ephesians speaks of when it states we are saved “BY GRACE”; grace, UNDESERVED LOVE!  God’s faithfulness to sinful man.  GOD IS TRUE whilst WE DOUBT, STUMBLE, and struggle to get up again.  God faithful to His unfaithful children.

STILL He loves.

STILL He strengthens our faith.

STILL He is patient with our hang-ups.

STILL God comes to man, even when we have HIS WORD which tells us, I LOVE YOU, and WE dare to ask, “How shall I know……..?”

THIS grace is what makes the Christian JOYFUL.

THIS is what circumcision in the Old Testament, and BAPTISM in the New Testament so clearly affirms: I LOVE YOU and I make MY promises to you!

This realisation makes the Lord’s Supper sacrament a CELEBRATION; without blood of animals, without visions: I LOVE YOU, without your ability to BE LOVABLE.

Unbelievable.  That is what it is.  God loving man.  God signs by Himself.  BUT LATER, man DID sign.

Much later, a Man called “The Son of Man” came, to sign IN OUR PLACE, where we could not.  JESUS signed the Contract FOR us, with His blood on the cross.

When He cried ‘IT IS FINISHED’, He had signed for all believers.  IN HIM, WE HAVE SIGNED.

For He COULD stand IN our place, being fully man; He could also sign, being fully Divine also.

Jesus’ atonement (note the breakdown of this word means at-one-ment: He made us AT ONE with God) made us children of God.  By the cross we were allowed to enter the family of God and be called His children.  Again, a work of God BY GRACE, not because of works, lest any man should boast!

Is Abram’s question yours also?
  “Lord, HOW shall I know?”
 – Have you been baptised?
   THEN, if you have, you can know.
 – Have you professed your faith?
  THEN if you have, you can know.

The Lord has instituted SACRAMENTS for the strengthening of our faith, which at times can be very weak.  The Supper strengthens it, for as surely as we eat the bread and drink the wine, SO SURELY Jesus has cleansed us with His blood from all our sins!

As surely as we are baptised, so surely our sins are washed away, like water cleanses the body of dirt.  Just as surely.

This requires faith.  Faith, which Hebrews calls, as a fitting definition, “the assurance of things hoped for, the CONVICTION of things not seen” (Heb.  11:1).

But WATCH THOSE VULTURES.

Abram saw them trying to swoop down and spoil the signs of the Covenant.  They would desecrate what God made holy.  They would, with their dirty claws, tear at the holy signs which God had man prepare for the strengthening of his faith.

Watch the vultures.

They would pick the Sacraments to pieces, taking from them every spiritual content, leaving only a useless set of bones for us.  Leaving a dead FRAMEWORK for us to feast upon.

It is Satan’s speciality to do this.  Here he is pictured as a vulture.  Peter describes him in his first letter, chapter 5:8 as a “roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”.  He comes to spoil; to take away assurance and bring emptiness; to bring in intellectual debate where FAITH ought to say the YES and AMEN!

Abram chases them away.

Jesus was quite aware of these vultures, and HE did not leave us UNGUARDED after He ascended, but gave us……. the DOVE.  Yes, the Holy Spirit, symbolised as a dove, chases away the vultures!  The Spirit Who helps us to stand and to maintain our faith.  Who chases away doubts and fears.

The DOVE Who becomes, when vultures attack, the greatest enemy of Satan.  The DOVE Who has won and shall win WITH US as we rely upon Him to be at our side.

Then Abram knew.

He believed, and it was counted as righteousness to him.

He was now ready to become father.  His name would change, his family life would change.  GOD HAD COME to him, and he believed.

Brother and sister, are you asking questions?

God assures us in the Sacraments, as well as in His Word.

Believe.  Do not rely on how you FEEL, or by what you SEE of your faith.  We live by faith, not by sight.  We believe in this life, and afterwards our faith shall be turned into sight.  Believe what God’s Word promises.  Believe what the Sacraments promise.  BELIEVE what Jesus has done for you!!

And fight, in the strength of the Holy Spirit, the vultures off.  Do not let doubt and fears chase away the promises of God.  God’s promises stand, and never change.  WE can change, but He does not.

Believe, believe the promises God makes to you.

And chase away the vultures of unbelief, in the strength of His Spirit.

“Spirit of God, dwell THOU within my heart”!

Amen!