God's Covenants in Genesis

 Genesis and Covenants

Genesis is the beginning.  We don’t know how long a day was in the beginning.  The sun and moon were not there in the beginning.  We can argue that the beginning of our world and existence began 6,000 years ago—actually 6,067 years ago—or we can say it was 50 billion or trillion years ago.

Where did I get that 6067 years ago number?  When I was born, people were already arguing that it was 6,000 years ago, so you add my last 67 years and there you go.

Maybe it was a bazillion years ago.  That’s not why we have Genesis.  Genesis is among other things a faith statement.  The chief statement of our faith is that God created.

No accidents.

No mysterious something from nothing. Nothingness can’t create.  God can and God did.

We have talked about what else came with Genesis but for the moment, let’s look at the 2 covenants that we find in Genesis.

The first is the covenant that God made with Noah.  If you need to sound official, you can call it the Noahic Covenant.   We know that God promised to never destroy the world again by water.  He put a rainbow in the sky to remind both himself and us of this promise.

That’s cool.  The covenant is about a rainbow? Not exactly.

The covenant followed the judgment of the entire world.  Sin had entered the world. Sin was running rampant in the world. God judged the world.  All but 8 were condemned to a death sentence.

Those 8 spent a year on an ark—a big ship.  It sustained them and the creatures of the earth that God told Noah to take with him.

Only these 8 people out of all of humanity survived. Do you know what else survived?

Sin survived.  Every human on the planet had been tainted by sin, even the remnant of 8. Sin survived the flood.

God promised Noah and all of us who came into this world after him, that he would not condemn and destroy the world in this way again.

Think about it.  Sin reached such a point where its stench reached heaven and God condemned those upon the earth.

Sin survived.  You might think that such a cleansing would be required every few hundred years. Every few centuries, the world would need a detox.

But God said, no.  He would not do this again.  There is a judgment coming. We all will answer to God. Those of us washed in the blood of Christ Jesus will not be condemned for our sins, but judgment is still coming.

A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties.  God’s covenants only require his approval.  There is no one who is his contemporary and qualified to sign the agreement. God may require a sacrifice or some act in the process of putting the covenant in place, but if God says this is my covenant with you, then it is what it is and that’s that.

It’s not negotiable.

That’s the first covenant.

The second comes through Abraham.  For much of the story, we know him as Abram.  Through Abraham, God will restore the relationship with humankind.  It doesn’t all happen at once, but the process begins in Genesis.

God works through Abraham and his descendants.  In this covenant, he sets Abraham and his descendants apart from the rest of the world.  He does this with a sign in the flesh, a land promised to Abraham’s descendants, the law that would come through Moses,  and a seed—a descendant—that one day would make the one and only sacrifice that could atone for the sins of humankind for all eternity.

Directives that we often refer to as the law would come to these descendants though the law is not mentioned in the covenant.  It does shape what we will come to know as God’s Chosen People.

The story of Abraham begins near the end of chapter 11 and continues with his descendants through the end of Genesis.  The covenant is affirmed with Isaac and Jacob.  It is the sons of Jacob through which this chosen people will begin to take shape.

It will take shape in Egypt, not in the Promised Land. There are 3 more main covenants to come.

The Mosaic Covenant is the first that is mainly conditional.  God said if his people obeyed God’s commands, he would bless them.

The Davidic Covenant promised one whose reign would not end.  That descendant of David is Christ.

The New Covenant was poured out in the blood of Jesus.  It is atonement between God and humankind. It completely restores the relationship.

So, why are covenants important?

If you want to trade with a country or end a war with another nation, you make a treaty.

If you want to hire someone to do some work and can agree upon the scope and price, you make a contract.

If someone lives within your sovereignty and violates your rules, you give them a warning or a sanction or a punishment.

If you encounter an unknown army, you conduct reconnaissance and prepare for battle or negotiation.

If you desire a relationship without end, you make a covenant.

If you value the relationship so much that you would give your life for it, you make a covenant.

If the relationship should be unbreakable, you make a covenant.

We consider marriage to be a covenant relationship. It’s our most intimate relationship with other humans, and it fails half of the time.

God’s covenants stand the test of time. We may fall short but God is faithful.

God’s covenants take humankind on a journey from brokenness to restoration and redemption.  We see 2 of those covenants in Genesis.

Is there a common thread among these covenants? Absolutely!

Love and mercy are common to each covenant. They take us to reconciliation, restoration, and redemption.

Anything else? Yes, sin.

God’s covenants come to us despite the grip that sin has on humankind.  Think to while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God’s love, mercy, and grace rescue us from sin and death.

Genesis is the prologue to a much bigger story, but it is in Genesis where we see God’s commitment to love us in spite of ourselves.

In his covenants, God says, I’m not letting go of you. You matter to me.

God loves you. His faithfulness continues to all generations. Believe in his promises.  His word never fails.

Amen.

 

Covenants

 Read Genesis 11-23

This week’s chapter is mostly about buying land and funeral arrangements, so for this service, we will look at the 3 covenants between God and Abraham.

What exactly is a covenant?  Let’s try this on for size.

When the Bible mentions a covenant, it’s referring to a strong, solemn agreement between two parties, but agreements seen in biblical times are somewhat different from what we know now. The biblical covenants make two into one. When two parties make a covenant in the Bible, they are joined together and identified with each other.

The parties don’t just have a business relationship.  They are joined.

Today, we believe that marriage is a covenant relationship.  Two—specifically a man and a woman commit to each other before God and become one.  That’s the covenant of biblical marriage.  Marriage means something entirely different to our modern world.

Give it a shot.  If it doesn’t work, move on.

The important thing in a biblical covenant is that two parties are joined together.  That’s a big bite to swallow when God says, I am joining with you.  It may explain a few things as to why God stuck with this knucklehead named Abraham. 

God joined himself to Abraham to accomplish his purpose.  He would form nations and kingdoms and bless the world through Abraham and his descendants.

The first begins with God speaking to Abram in a vision.

Do not be afraid, Abram.

    I am your shield,

    your very great reward.

You will recognize this as coming from chapter 15.  Abram is afraid that what he has will go to his servant Eliezer of Damascus because Abraham and Sarah have no children.  God assures him that this is not the case. His descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Abram believed him and it was credited to him as righteousness.  That faith seemed a little suspect at times, but we saw it fully manifested in chapter 22

And then Abram asked God, but how will I know? 

God prescribed the animals for sacrifice and Abraham arranged them and then as fire passed between the pieces of the animals, the covenant between God and Abram was formalized. OBTW—Abraham slept through the whole thing.  I think it was more like he was in a trance instead of catching some Zs.

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

I left out the Gigabytes and Terabytes, but they are addressed in the Book of Second Opinions.

But here we have the first covenant.

Over the course of the Torah, we see that covenant fulfilled.  Jacob is renamed Israel and the people come to know God before they enter the promised land. We see much of Israel being established as a nation in Exodus 24. 

We see God working with Israel as a nation of his people.  They are given direction and promises, but they are more than a collection of tribes, they are a nation.

Within this covenant, a land is promised to Abram’s descendants.  Let’s call it the Promised Land.

Now, on to the next covenant that we find in chapter 17.

As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.  No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.  I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

That sounds a lot like the first covenant, and it is very similar.  It could just be God expounding more on the first covenant, but we get a little more than being the Father of Many Nations.

Kings and Kingdoms will come from the line of Abraham.  They will not just be a group of tribes with genetic affinity.  They will be more than just a nation.  Kings will come from Abraham’s descendants.

God will make Abram—Abraham into a great kingdom—great kingdoms, but there is specifically one that gets our attention.

In 1 Samuel 16, we see the beginning of this Kingdom.  Yes, Saul was the first king, but David was the man after God’s own heart.

Saul became a footnote.  David was the beginning of the kingdom that God spoke of in his covenant with Abraham.

Let’s take on one more covenant.  This one is from chapter 22.

But I thought that was about God testing Abraham’s faith?  It is but consider what God told Abraham once Abraham proved his faith through his obedience.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Here we have the universal blessing.  Through your offspring, all the nations of the world will be blessed.  While Israel was blessed to be a blessing, the ultimate blessing was and is Jesus Christ.

We are living in this age now.  We have a part in this blessing in that we are commissioned to take the good news of life in Jesus Christ to the world.

We use the word covenant more than the world does and especially in the study of Abraham.  I thought maybe you should know a little more than the world does.

Amen.

Abraham Catch Up

 Abram Catch Up

Read Genesis 11-19

Note:  Genesis chapters and verses are noted not linked.

The 11 am service will have the main story from chapter 20, so for now, I want to do a quick flyover of the 9 chapters about Abraham that we have covered so far.  Don’t miss the 11 am service as it will address what happened in chapter 20.  I will put a few questions in here for those who remember the story. Here we go…

Abram comes from the line of Shem one of Noah’s sons. 11:10-26

Abram’s family lived in the land of the Chaldeans.  This was pagan country. 11:27-28

Abram’s father was named Terah . 11:27

Here’s a question for you. Abram’s father, Terah, had three sons.  Two of them were Nahor and Haran.  What was the name of the third son? Abram.  11:27-32

Lot was Abram’s Nephew.  Haran was his father. Haran died while everyone was still living in Ur in the land of the Chaldeans.

Abram’s father took his family from Ur in the land of the Chaldeans and moved north to a place called Harran. 11:27-32.  Terah, Abram and his wife Sarai, and Terah’s grandson, Lot, made the journey. We don’t hear anything about Nahor.

While in Harran, God called Abram to leave Harran and his father’s household and go to a land that God would show him. This is what will come to be known as the Promised Land, but that’s yet to come at this point. 12:1-3

How old was Abram when he left his father’s household? He was 75 years old.  Imagine living at home until you were 75.  If mom keeps doing your laundry that might be a sweet deal. 12:4

What other male relative came with Abram? Lot.  We don’t see that God called Lot to go with Abram, but he went anyway and will be part of several stories in the chapters ahead. 12:4

Abram next went to Egypt.  Why? There was a great deal on an AirB&B—No, that’s not it.  There was a famine in the land.  Turn your biblical clocks ahead to the story of Joseph and think on that one for a while. 12:10

In Egypt, Abram tried to pass his wife off as his sister for his own safety. 12:10-20

Pharoah discovered the deception as a result of serious diseases inflicted on him.  He sent Abram and crew packing but with great wealth. That’s quite the trick.  You deceive the Pharoah and surely are not much of an ambassador for the one true God, but you make out like a bandit. 12:10-20

Now we come to a point where Lot and Abram went separate ways.  Both seemed to be successful and had many flocks and their servants were always fighting over who got what pastures.  So Abram said to Lot:  You go where you want and I will go somewhere else. Who settled in the land around Sodom and Gomorrah?  Lot did.  It was that greener pastures sort of thing. 13

Here’s a cool fact for you. Abram had an army.  How many men composed his army? There were 318 men in Abram’s army and they defeated 4 undefeated armies.  Why did Abram go to war?  Because Lot was captured and taken away by these armies as part of the spoils of war. 14:1-16

To whom did Abram make a tithe following his victory? The tithe was made to God but Melchizedek was the priest, and also the king of Salem, which you know better today as Jerusalem. 14:17-20

Following this meeting and blessing, to whom did Abram say he would take nothing from him? The king of Sodom. Abram somehow knew that this whole Sodom business was ugly and he wanted no ties with it.  He probably couldn’t figure out why his nephew still wanted to live there. 14:21-24

Abram had been in the land for a while and still didn’t have any kids. He was worried that his estate would go to Eliezer of Damascus because Abram was childless. 15:1-3

God told Abram that his heir would be of his own body.  Abram believed God and God counted his belief (faith) as righteousness. 15:6

How was the Promised Land defined in this covenant? God promised Abram many descendants and told Abram that they would reside in a land promised to them. What land?

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” 15:17-20

I think he left out the gigabytes and terabytes and the smaller tribes of the megabytes and kilobytes.

What creative solution to this childlessness business did Sarai and Abram concoct? Sarai told her husband that he should do the deed with her maidservant and make a child.  He did and Hagar, Sarai’s servant, got pregnant.  Hagar started pressing her luck and there was animosity between her and Sarai.  Sarai came to Abram and told him it was all his fault. Abram told Sarai to do what she wanted with her servant.  She mistreated Hagar and she ran away. 16

What name was to be given to this child? Ishmael.16

Was this the child of the promise? No.  God will fulfill his promise.

Did God tell Hagar that she was on her own? No.  The angel sent her back to Sarai but promised to provide for her and her son. 16

How did the angel describe this child that was to come? A wild donkey of a man. 16:12

Was Abram circumcised? Not until chapter 17.  This was not a medical procedure.  It was a sign in the flesh between God and Abram and all his Abram’s household and all of Abram’s descendants.  The covenant was that God would make Abram the Father of Many Nations.

God did one more thing that was a sign of things to come in short order.  He gave Abram and Sarai new names, names appropriate for the Father of Many Nations and his wife.  They were Abraham and Sarah. 17

Three visitors came to see Abraham.  They were the Lord and 2 angels.  They said that Abraham and Sarah will have the promised child in about one year.  Sarah laughed.  God heard her.  She said that she didn’t laugh. God said, “Yes you did.”  Imagine getting into a back-and-forth about what you did or didn’t say with God. 18

The two angels headed towards Sodom and the Lord told Abraham that he would destroy the city and surrounding area because of its wickedness.  Abraham bargains with the Lord for the city, asking will you destroy the righteous along with the wicked.  Abraham asked the Lord if he would spare the city if there were 50 righteous men in it.  The Lord said for the sake of the 50, he would spare the city.  A negotiation of sorts ensues.  What about 45. OK.  What about 40. OK.  At the end of this dialogue, the Lord said if there were 10 righteous men in the city, he would spare it, and he left. 18

We might wonder why Abraham cared about Sodom.  When he met with the king, he didn’t want to have anything to do with him.  Why did he care?

We don’t know for sure, but it might be because Lot lived there, and he had a family now.

Little did Abraham know that God had already set in motion a rescue for Lot and his family, at least those who were willing to be rescued.

The short version of this story is that Sodom and Gomorrah and much of the surrounding area were toast.  Burning sulfur started raining down at sunrise.  On that day, the best part of waking up might have been Folgers in your cup because the rest of the day was nothing but destruction.

The two angels had rescued Lot and his wife, plus the two daughters that were unmarried and lived at home.  There may or may not have been other daughters that were married.  Genesis only tells us of the two.

During the night, the angels grabbed these 4 people and got them out of the city, then set them loose with instructions.  Run for the hills (actually the mountains) and don’t look back.  Both parts of this instruction were important.

Lot convinced the angels that he couldn’t survive in the mountains and they let him take shelter in a small town near the mountains which would be named Zoar, which means small town.

Lot’s wife ran away for a while but at some point, after dawn, she looked back and became a pillar of salt.  There is plenty of speculation on why she looked back and why she turned into salt, but from this chapter we just get the account.  She looked back and turned to salt. 19

Most people remember the story up to this point, but there is a little more.  Lot and his daughters moved to the mountains.  That was where the angels originally wanted to send them, but Lot thought Zoar would be better.  As it turned out, he was afraid to live there.

So, they moved to the mountains and lived in a cave.  Apparently, they had no neighbors.  The solitude might have been good for Lot, but the 2 young women felt it was the end of the world.  They had no prospects for husbands or for children.

They could do something about the second part, so on consecutive nights, they got dad drunk and had sex with him and conceived.  Apparently, Lot was oblivious to the process.  That must have been some wine!

The older daughter had a son and named him Moab and the younger had son and named him Ben-Ammi. 19:30-38

And that little soap opera brings us up to chapter 20 and a story that sounds a lot like one we heard before.

So, that is the 10,000-foot overview—a quick flyover of 9 chapters with the son of the promise and the testing of Abraham’s faith yet to come.

Keep on reading.

Amen.