Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by plank part VII

 

Very briefly, I am going to jump 15 years ahead in our story, give or take...

Gen 18:13  The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 

Gen 18:14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 

Because this is the point of what comes next.  Now, revert back to where we were, to a time where God and Abram come to an understanding...

Gen 15:1  After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 

Now, Abram has heard this before; but water has gone under the bridge, and he knows the NORMAL time for these things is running out; so, he questions God...

Gen 15:2  But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

But God goes on to do a lot of sharing in this encounter.  Why is this time different?  Because of one change of heart:

Gen 15:4  And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 

Gen 15:5  And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 

Gen 15:6  And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 

God said the word- and now, when it was becoming (but not yet) impossible, he truly believed God could still do this, and "it was accounted to him for righteousness"- just as our faith gives us Christ's righteousness in our account!  The sacrifice Jesus would make so far in Abram's future now covered him, because he believed God could do the impossible.  And God was going to test that faith, and make things MORE impossible!  But now, with Abram firmly in God's hands, God was willing to do MORE...

Gen 15:7  And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 

Gen 15:8  But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 

What follows is a strange-to-us ceremony, to seal a covenant, in which God both proposes the deal, and seals it in His own Name, to assure Abram that what he said WOULD occur.  And after that, God gives word of the future nation Abram would sire...

Gen 15:13  Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 

Gen 15:14  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 

Gen 15:15  As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 

Gen 15:16  And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 

And God was good to his word.  After 30 years with Joseph, the Israelites would remain in Egypt another 400 years..

Exo 12:40  The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 

Exo 12:41  At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. 

But back to our focus on Abram.  So he had his "deal" with God (in quotes because was both the initiator and the guarantor), and it was time to await that child!  But there was yet 2 things God had to deal with before that happened.  One, as I have mentioned, God wanted to make it TRULY impossible.  Two, He had to deal with Sarai's lack of faith...

Gen 16:2  And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 

Next time, I will look at how this was not "Abram being taught not to listen to his wife", but Sarai being built into the mother of Abram's many nations...