The Lord Gives His Promise

December 11, 2011


Background Scripture: Genesis 15
Lesson Passage: Genesis 15:1 – 6, 12 – 18

In our previous Sunday School lesson we looked at some elements of Abram’s calling by God. In today’s lesson, we take a look at four elements of the promise God made to Abram as part of the calling. In today’s lesson, the Lord appears to Abram after Abram and his servants had waged war against four kings who had taken his nephew Lot and others captive from the cities of the plains. Abram and his company of three hundred eighteen trained and armed servants had prevailed in battle. Abram had given a tithe of the war spoils to God’s priest, Melchizedek, and he also refused to negotiate with the king of Sodom and told him he could have whatever was left of the spoils of war so that the king would not have grounds to boast about making Abram wealthy. So after the war was over and Abram had given all the spoils of battle away, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord told Abram the reason he had been successful in warfare is that the Lord had protected him and also provided for him. Now, Abram’s calling became a little clearer. As the called of God, Abram was protected by the Lord and rewarded by Him. Abram’s success was not a coincidence neither was it because of Abram’s strength nor that of his servants. Abram’s success was totally because of the relationship he had been called into by God. The Lord spoke of being Abram’s protector and provider in the present tense and not just as a past action. To this statement, Abram adds the question of why the Lord had left him without an earthly heir. God’s response was that He would provide Abram an earthly heir that would be his true descendant. This is remarkable considering that at this point Abram was without a child and he was about eighty five years of age. His wife Sarai was barren and she was seventy five years of age. This provides a third element of God’s promise to Abram; Abram who was without child would have an earthly heir even though he was beyond the expected age to be capable of fathering a child. The fourth element involved the extent of Abram’s heirs. Abram’s descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the night sky. Although he remained childless for the first eighty five years of his life, his descendants that would be born through his bloodline would seem innumerable.

For a person who spent the first eighty five years of his life childless, the Lord’s promise to Abram was filled with grace. He would have a son of his own, his descendants would seem more than one could count, the Lord would provide for him, and the Lord would protect him. And to seal the deal, God struck a blood covenant with Abram. The blood was the assurance to Abram that as long as the Lord himself should live, God would honor this covenant and its promise.

Robert C. Hudson
November 30, 2011