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. 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.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” 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 birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 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. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” --Genesis 15:1-20 (NIV)
This whole passage can seem nonsensical to the average Western readers; the interaction between Abram and God, the slaughtering of animals, and the vision of fire. Their Eastern ritual, however, is the answer to the most essential question of the Christian faith: Why did Jesus have to die?
"A covenant usually included three main parts, and all three parts are observed in Genesis 15 and 17:
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Throughout the Bible God represents Himself by the symbols of smoke and fire. When a smoking fire pot passed through the animals first, it means that the greater party, God, agreed to the terms of the covenant and agreed to be slayed if He did not uphold His part.
...Now it is Abram's turn. His agreement is to uphold all the Laws of the Lord. As soon as he even touches that blood he gives the Lord permission to slay him like the animals if and when he is less than perfect and, according to the most renowned Bible verse--Romans 3:23 stating, "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God"--that failure is inevitable. Abram does not walk, though; instead a flaming torch passed through, which also represents God. Therefore, as soon as Abram sins the One who walked in Abram's stead will be slain by the greater party. God is now obligated to kill God, because of Abram's sin.
Hundreds of years later, the covenant was still not fulfilled and the animal sacrifices were still expected of the Jewish people, but God reassured them through the words of the prophet Isaiah that He has not forgotten the relationship and the curse. Isaiah 53:2-11 gives the details of how God will kill God because of human sin.
"He grew up before him like a tender shoot,and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray,each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities."
There have been many men in history that have claimed they were the Messiah (the answer to God's side of the bargain). The Jews are still looking for the Messiah, but the Christians believe that Jesus was the end of the covenant. Jesus fulfilled the old covenant, plus He also described our new relationship with God (this is the New Testament). The magnificent and terrifying conclusion to the Bible's message is that God stands before each of us and instructs us to choose who will walk for us--ourselves or God?:
"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" --Deuteronomy 30:19 (NLT)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil." --John 3:16-18
So, life's ultimate questions is this: Who do you choose to walk that bloody path for you; yourself or God?
Ancient Samaritan Passover Sacrifice Ceremony
Part 1 | Part 2 |
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- Cross, Michael. (n.d.) "Covenants". Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. http://www.coriesu.org/pretheo/Site/Covenant.html. Retrieved June 2012.
- Illustration: Lyons, Chris. (n.d.) Slaughtered Lamb. http://www.flickr.com/photos/45963061@N00/448534199/. Permission obtained June 2012.
- Padfield, David. (2009). Bible Covenants. http://www.padfield.com/index.html. Retrieved June 2012.
- Rabbi Milgrom, Shira. (n.d.) "Covenanting: God and Abram's covenant between the pieces raises issues of conditionality and obligation still relevant today." Union of Reform Judaism. Retrieved June 2012. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Weekly_Torah_Portion/lekhlkha_uahc5762.shtml.
- Richter, Sandra L. (2008). The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Downers Grover, Illinois. InterVarsity Press.
- Vander Laan, R. (2007). The Eastern Window. Address at Twin Falls Reformed Church, Twin Falls, ID.
- Verses found at BibleGateway.com.