"God's Promise"

"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself," (Hebrews 6:13 KJV)

  "This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant: "I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession."" (PSALM 105:9-11 NLT)

  We have here today something that I believe I have shared many times, both in church, in this blog, and privately with several people. It is the covenant that God made with Abraham, which we witness taking place in Genesis 15:5-21. In this Contract between the two, as was the custom with those who made any binding contract, God told Abraham to gather certain animals, cut the large animals in half, kill to two birds, and leave them whole; and then he was to lay them out on the ground. 

 This contract was meant to represent their promises to one another, of anyone that was making a binding contract together; the whole point of which, was that both parties would walk through the slain animals, making their promises together, saying, 'May this happen to me, and more, if I do not keep my promise!' 

 I know it might sound rather much; but back in the day, a promise was meant to be a promise! However, Abraham did not walk between the slain animals! No, God signed the Contract for both Abraham and Himself! God took on the responsibility of the Promise, knowing full we that only He was capable of keeping a promise, unconditionally! 

 What was also interesting within this story, before God had signed the Contract, He caused Abraham to fall into a deep sleep, and then He showed him the fate of his descendants, as if to open up his heart to the reality of His promise, that through him a nation would happen. It was God's way of giving him a heart that cared for those descendants, which made them a reality within his heart. 

 As Abraham woke, he saw that God was moving among the slain animals, signing the Contract for the both of them...

"After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River - the land is now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."" (Genesis 15:17-21 NLT)