The Abrahamic Covenant The serious nature of covenant relationship The Abrahamic Covenant

Keeping Our Promises Whenever we make a promise to someone we have entered a covenant with them. Whenever we take a wedding vow, we have entered a covenant. Covenant making is serious business.

Jacob’s covenant with Laban Genesis 31:44ff Heap of stones raised as a “witness” between them. Covenant meal shared to seal the agreement. Stones form a boundary. Idea: My the Lord make me like this pile of rubble if I break this covenant.”

What Is The Value Of Your Word? We need to understand the serious nature of covenant. When we give our word, we should keep our word, even if it hurts.

God’s Covenant with Abraham Genesis 12:2-3 – The promises of the covenant "I will make you into a great nation        and I will bless you;        I will make your name great,        and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you,        and whoever curses you I will curse;        and all peoples on earth        will be blessed through you."

The Difficulty of the Promises Abraham is 75 years old. Sarai is apparently 65 years old and they are childless and have been unable to have children. (Genesis 17:17) Yet God insists He will keep His promises: Genesis 13:16 -- I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Genesis 15:5 -- He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars …. So shall your offspring be."

Abraham Tries To Help God Genesis 15:2-3 – Abraham suggests since God has not given him children that a servant, Eliezer of Damascus, could be his heir. God has another plan. Genesis 16:1-4 – Sarai gives her servant Hagar to Abraham and he sleeps with her. She has a son and Abraham tries to make him the heir. God has another plan. A decade has passed and still Abraham doesn’t have a child. How is God going to keep His promise?

God’s Plan Is Superior Genesis 17:1-22 Abraham is now 99 years old. Twenty-four years have passed since God’s first promise of the covenant. He is still called Abram at this point, but will soon change his name to Abraham – the father of many nations. God establishes an everlasting covenant with Abraham.

God Binds His Covenant Genesis 15:8 -- But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" Abraham asks for a sign that God will fulfill His promise.

Genesis 15:9-10 -- So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."  10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.

The “Cutting” of a Covenant The symbolism of the rite is important. The Lord God, represented as two different symbols of fire, binds Himself in covenant to Abraham. He uses imagery common to Abraham – the dividing of carcasses and walking between them. The image is that if either party breaks the covenant God will do to them what they have done to the animals.

Vows, Promises and Covenants Psalm 50:14-15 -- Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,  15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;        I will deliver you, and you will honor me.“ If we make a vow, we must keep the vow

Don’t Take Vows Lightly Proverbs 20:24-25 -- A man's steps are directed by the LORD.        How then can anyone understand his own way?  25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly        and only later to consider his vows.

God Never Fails to Keep His Promise Joshua 23:14 -- "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” At the end of his life, Joshua could proclaim to all Israel that God fulfills all His promises.

Broken Covenants Are A Plague Hosea 10:4 -- They make many promises,        take false oaths        and make agreements;        therefore lawsuits spring up        like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

God Made Promises To Us! 2 Peter 1:3-4 -- His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.