“Bible places: a covenant place”
Genesis 15:9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
What do Ray Kroc, Priscilla Presley, and Thomas Jefferson, all have in common? They all know a pretty good deal when they see one!
Let’s start with Ray Kroc. Back in 1954, he visited a little hamburger stand out in San Bernardino, California, run by a couple of brothers--Dick and Mac McDonald. And when he saw they had a good thing going, (with a short menu, good quality, and fast service), he bought them out for a little over $2 ½ million. Today, the company’s worth right around $100 billion. That’s a pretty good deal!
And how about Priscilla Presley, former wife of “the King” himself?
Apparently Elvis had quite a lot of trouble managing his own money, and so did his daughter Lisa Marie. When he died in 1977, she probably would have spent all $5 million on herself.
But that’s when Priscilla stepped in. And thanks to her and some pretty savvy financial advisers, today Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. is worth more than $400 million. That’s a pretty good deal!
Then there’s Thomas Jefferson. You know him as one of our nation’s founding fathers, the author of the Declaration of Independence, not to mention our third president. But he was a pretty good wheeler and dealer too!
You see, back in 1803, there was a little chunk of land down south, first owned by Spain, and then by France, that he really wanted to have. So he sent his newly-appointed Secretary of State James Monroe over to Paris to talk it over with Napoleon. And though, at first, he only asked for the city of New Orleans, he got it all, doubling the size of the United States, for a cool $15 million. Today, it’s worth a bit more.
That was a pretty good deal too!
And in the book of Genesis chapter 15, we hear about one of the best and most important deals of all time.
Please turn in your Bible to page 13, to the words of Genesis chapter 15. I’ll start where it says, “God’s Covenant with Abram.”
“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.’ 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?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’
“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.’ 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.’
“And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.”
The story of Abraham is truly an amazing story! God took him and promised to make him into a great nation. He said, back in chapter 12: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
But that first son was a long time coming, so long, Abraham began to wonder if he would ever come. He was, after all, nearly a hundred years old!
That’s when the Lord came to him again and said, in verse 5: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them...So shall your offspring be.”
Then in verse 9, we see one of the deepest and strangest passages in all of Scripture we could ever find. But, if truth be known, it’s on these very words that all of the Bible rests.
Look at verse 9: “He said to him, ‘Bring Me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought Him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”
I told you it was strange.
Now let’s unpackage it to see what’s going on. You see, in those days, if you made a deal with someone, some sort of important treaty or agreement, this is exactly what you’d do. This type of ritual was done to “seal the deal” on any promises that were made.
As one commentator put it, “While the scene would look quite ominous to modern-day observers--five bloody animal carcasses on the ground, three of them split in half, with the halves separated a short distance from each other--in Abraham’s time it would not have been so menacing. In fact, it would have been instantly recognized as the set-up for making a blood covenant.”
So what’s a blood covenant? To put it simply, when two people wanted to make a deal with each other, they would cut an animal into pieces, then lay them apart on the ground. Then each person would walk between those pieces while they stated their oath. And the meaning of the ritual was clear--if I don’t keep my end of the promise, you can cut me into pieces just like these animals.
Just to make sure you get the point--it’s one thing to break a contract. You might lose a home or a car or that nice TV you rented from the Rent-to-Own store. It’s an entirely different matter to break a covenant.
To get out of that, someone will have to die.
No wonder it says in verse 12: “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.”
If I knew I’d have to walk through the middle of a bunch of dead animals, and might end up dead like them, a dreadful and great darkness would fall on me too.
But you know, there was something different about this covenant, different than any other covenant that’s ever been made.
Look at verse 17: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.”
What’s that mean? Now remember, when two people made a covenant, each of them would walk down the middle. But in this covenant, only one walked down the middle, and that was the Lord Himself.
And what does that mean? It means that the Lord knew there was no possible way Abraham could keep this covenant and, for that matter, neither could we. That’s why He, and He alone, walked down the middle Himself.
It’s been said that the Bible is a bloody book. Cut it anywhere, and it’ll bleed.
Think back to the Garden of Eden. Just as soon as Adam and Eve fell into sin, God killed an animal, then skinned it to cover their shame.
Think of the Exodus from Egypt. What saved the people from the angel of death? Not diamonds or rubies, or gold and silver. Instead, they smeared the blood of the lamb on the lintels and doorposts of their homes.
And think of the temple sacrifice. Day after day, month after month, and year after year, priests spilled the blood of thousands of bulls and lambs and goats and turtledoves.
As the writer to the Hebrews said: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.”
And when it came to us and our salvation, there was only one blood that was good enough and strong enough to wash away all our sin--and that’s the blood of Jesus.
That’s what He said to His disciples on that first Maundy Thursday night: “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Have you ever noticed that there is one major difference between Christianity and every other religion in the world?
The only way a Hindu can hope to go to heaven is to devote himself to one of over a million gods, understand the nature of the universe, and, through a countless series of reincarnations, become one with god.
Buddhism grades your life on Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Only if you act and speak and live in the right way, with good intentions, can you ever hope to go to heaven.
Confucianism teaches you to make this life the best that it can be, to honor ancestors, and respect elders. Besides, who knows if there’s a heaven after all?
And Taoists don’t worry so much about the afterlife. Instead, they hope to align themselves with the cosmos and pray to receive aid from supernatural immortals who live on mountains and islands across the earth.
Each religion, no matter what it’s name, is man’s religion, a way to try to please God.
But Christianity is the one and only religion where God took our place, where He walked our path, where He shed His blood, where He kept His covenant, His agreement, His promise, that we never, ever, ever could.
And that’s what the grace of God is all about.
Andre Cassagnes was a French inventor, electrical technician, kite designer, and toymaker. And one day, when he was installing a factory light switch plate, he took off a sticker, then wrote on it with a pencil. That’s when he noticed that the picture on the sticker had transferred to the other side.
And that’s when he had an idea. Why not create a plastic device with a glass screen and fill it with aluminum powder? Then add a couple of knobs to move a stylus deep inside?
And after some trial and error, he made one, and called it, “L’Ecran Magique,” or “the magic screen.” You know it as an “Etch A Sketch.”
Like an Etch A Sketch, sin makes its mark on the screen of our lives. The hurt and the pain of the things we think and say and do is all too clear.
But as we trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the blotches of sin on the screen of our lives are erased and we, by His grace, are made brand new.
Before we leave this text, there’s one more thing we should do. Look again at chapter 15, verse 11. It says: “And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.”
Now at first glance, we might wonder why that’s even there. Why not spend more time talking about the Lord and the blood and the covenant, than some birds of prey?
Because, maybe, there’s something He means to teach us.
As Christians, we have the privilege to work and to worship and to serve the Lord. Our lives bring Him praise and glory.
But at the same time, all around us are the troublesome birds of doubt and disappointment and despair that keep us from living for Him. And time after time, those birds of prey come to pick and tear at any opportunity to rob us of our “covenant place,” our fellowship with Him.
So just like Abraham did, take a stick, the Word of God, and drive them all away.
As Paul wrote to the Romans: “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
We thank You Father, for the covenant You’ve made, the one we could never keep. And we thank You for the blood of our Savior Jesus, who’s washed all our sin away. We pray in His name. Amen