In the previous part of this chapter the Lord has reassured Abram of what he has promised him: "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward" (verse 1). Still, all his problems were not solved, because he is childless. To take this problem away, the Lord has shown Abram the stars of heaven – so his descendants will be. Abram believed the Word of God and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness. This is the end of the first part in this chapter in which this appearance or vision is described.

In verse 7 the Lord spoke again to Abram: "I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it." The Lord confirmed to Abram it was His work; otherwise he would not have left Ur, but would have stayed in that idolatrous country. It seems it was a question in the heart of Abram, "Did I not go my own way?" The Lord had given so many promises to him, but he did not know the way anymore. This is not unknown to God's children, especially when their faith is not in exercise and the prince of darkness comes with his dangerous attacks against them. All God's children know about it. The devil knows the weaknesses in our defense very well.

By nature it is the same with us as it was with Abram. We do not want to leave the worldly pleasures, notwithstanding all the callings which come to us. We do not want the Lord as our King. Therefore a gracious act has to take place in our life. Has this already happened in your life, young people? Have you already experienced that the world does not give true happiness as Abram experienced it? The Lord promised to him the land of Canaan which was so great for him that he asked in all meekness, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" (verse 8).

Whereof do these words of Abram testify? Was it because of unbelief in his heart that he asks this? No, it is not unbelief; but why did Abram ask for a sign, because this is really what he asked? He does this to the strengthening of his faith. In the Bible we find several people who have asked for a sign. Zacharias the priest did it in unbelief, after the angel of the Lord had promised he would receive a son who would be the forerunner of the promised Messiah. He asked in unbelief since it was impossible what the angel said, humanly speaking, "Whereby shall I know this?" As a consequence of his unbelief he went dumb over the earth until after the birth of his son. The neighbors wanted to call the child Zacharias, but Elisabeth and later on Zacharias confirmed that his name should be John. At that moment his mouth was opened and he began to speak to the honor of the Lord and about the future of his child.

Zacharias has not been the only one who went dumb over the world. So many of God's children are in the same condition, because of unbelief. Still the Lord will not forsake them. It is very well possible that Zacharias learned more in those nine months than in the nine years before, as we read in Proverbs 30:33, "Surely the churn­ing of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood." Still, Zacharias paid heavily for his unbelief.

On some occasions God's people have asked for a sign to the strengthening of their faith, but in general we have to be careful with this. Why is this necessary? Because the Lord has given us His Word, wherein His whole counsel is revealed. Our spiritual life can be tested whether it is according to the Word or not. Is our experience according to the way it is written in the Bible, or is it something we have made up? The serious warning we can find in Isaiah 8:20b we should take to heart: "If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." When we hear a different explanation of the way of conversion, than is written in God's Word, this means they are strangers of the life of grace. They do not know it themselves and therefore they cannot explain it rightly.

The desire of Abram to receive a sign to confirm his faith has been fulfilled by the Lord in a royal manner. What follows in this chapter is nothing less than a solemn covenant of the Lord with His servant Abram. In answer to his question Abram receives the commandment of God to prepare animals and birds, to make a covenant with him. This was the usual outward, symbolic act which was already known in old Babylon. It was also done in the same way by the Greeks. According to Jeremiah 34:18-19 this was also in later times still the custom among Israel, as a sign of making a covenant.

According to this commandment Abram took three animals of three years old – a heifer, a she goat, and a ram, plus a turtledove and a young pigeon. Later on among Israel these were all sacrificial animals according to the law. Abram must slay these animals and divide them and place their parts over against each other. Also the birds were killed but not divided, but placed over against one another.

All these animals had to be killed. They pointed to Christ, since without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. All the sacrifices brought to the Lord were a symbol of the fullness of time when the Lamb of God would come to take away the sins of the world to the welfare of the elect only. Christ's body and soul were separated in His death to make it pos­sible that the breach between God and our soul could be restored. Here only is rest for the soul, when we may rest in the perfect mediatorial work of Christ.

The ritual here described was well-known to Abram; this was an ancient custom. So men made a covenant with each other. The two parties would pass through the divided animals, and this was seen as making a covenant. The meaning is that the two parts of the animals belonged together. So also these two parties were bound together by the covenant they made. If they would not keep the covenant, then the same lot was awaiting them; they were worthy to be cut in pieces like the animals. This explanation is given about the divided animals.

When Abram had finished his work, the birds came down upon the carcasses, but he drove them away. Some think that these birds have no special meaning in this history. We believe it is more than only a historical fact. Where the Lord will confirm His covenant of grace with His people, there the birds of prey will try to hinder it; Satan will oppose the work of the Lord. Many birds of prey are found outside in the world, but they also live inside of us. Does it not happen quite often, when we have sweet thoughts about the Lord and His dealings with us, that it does not take very long for the birds of prey to try to disturb this and take the blessing away?

Probably among our readers some are found who have experienced this also. In church our life was explained. This means that we heard certain things we also have experienced and rejoiced in. But on our way home the birds came already to take it away. You meet someone who has no knowledge of spiritual matters and soon the sermon is forgotten and the con­versation is about worldly things or the weather, or politics, even on the Lord's day. The birds of the air are the devil, the world and all that can be used against the living church.

When those birds came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. It tells us about the temptations to which God's people are exposed. But Abram stood in faith and drove them away. We should not underestimate these attacks of Satan. He is not omnipresent or omniscient, but he knows much of what God's people are doing and receiving. He has an experience of six thousand years. Is this not clearly visible today, young people? Always Satan has tried to lead us away from the truth and toward the end of the world, Satan will be made loose. This seems to become reality in our days. May it be your daily prayer, "Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The only way to be delivered from Satan is: "It is written." This is what the Lord Jesus has done to drive him away. May we do the same!

"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram." All day he had been busy with the sacri­fice and watching the carcasses. When he slept, a horror of great darkness came upon him. It was not only dark in the realm of nature, but also in his soul. Out of this nightly darkness, out of this terror and anxiety, the salva­tion of the Lord broke through. This condition is symbolic how the Lord would fulfill His promise to him. The way of Abram's descendants would be very difficult, as we know from God's Word, especially towards the end before they were led out of Egypt.

In this deep darkness and terror during his sleep, Abram heard the voice of the Lord (13-16). God again gives the promise to Abram that his seed shall inherit Canaan, but first they would have a very difficult time. They would be oppressed for four hundred years. Abram himself would not take part in it, but die in peace. The fourth generation would return to Canaan, when the iniquity of the Amorites would be full. The name of Egypt is not mentioned in this portion of God's Word.

The Lord is the truth; therefore He does not hide the dark side of the future. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33b). Those oppressions are against our flesh and blood, but they are indispensable that we may need the Lord. At His time He will give deliverance. For four hundred years they were in that land, which is a rounded figure; actually it was 430 years.

When did these 430 years begin to count? Many believe at the moment when Abram received this promise. According to Galatians 3:17 the time of the promise to Abram until Israel was at Sinai was 430 years. This would mean that Israel was actually 215 or 225 years in Egypt. How do I come to these figures? The proof we have is from Galatians 3:17 and Exodus 6:20. In the last text Amram, the father of Moses, is mentioned. Jochebed, his mother, is an aunt of Amram but also a daughter of Levi (Num. 26:59). Levi was about forty-five years old when he came in Egypt. Joseph was then thirty-nine years old. (He was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh; seven fruitful years had past and two years of famine. This is a total of thirty-nine years.) Levi was six years older than Joseph and he became 137 years old (Exo. 6:15). This means that he lived ninety-two years in Egypt.

At that moment Abram was eighty-five years old. It was the year 2093 B.C. Abram was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, which was fifteen years later. Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born: this was sixty years. Jacob was 130 years old when he stood before Pharaoh: this is 130. The total is: 15+60+130=205 years. This means that Israel was 430 less 205, which is 225 years in Egypt. Others believe that from Abram to the deliverance out of Egypt was 205 plus 430 years, but this is a contradic­tion of the texts which we have men­tioned. The four generations were according to the first explanation: Isaac, Jacob, Levi and Amram. Then the departure of Israel was in the year 2513 B.C. (or 2523). One generation meant about one hundred years, which we should not take literally, but again, a rounded figure.

The Lord punished the Egyptians, as we know the nation, for the oppression of His people Israel. They would depart with great treasures out of this land, which literally happened. At this moment Abram did not yet receive the land because Israel had to become a strong nation in Egypt, and the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. "Amorites" is the collective name for all the nations of Canaan.

The iniquity was related to the unnatural sin of homosexuality, whereby they made themselves ripe for slaughter. Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed already before the general judgment of the Lord came upon these nations by the hand of Israel, because their sins had risen to heaven already in Abram's days. The other nations still received time to repent. How great is the longsuffering of the Lord! Is this not also true for us as a nation, a church, but also for our families? If the Lord would deal according to our sins, who could then exist before Him? By the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, man will see he is not better than the Amorites, but some may also learn there is a way of deliverance in Christ who is the representative Head of the covenant of grace. He is the perfect Savior. Is there a need for Him in our life because sin has become such a burden for us that we cannot carry it anymore? Before the Lord made a covenant with Abram, it was a very dark night; he was fearful and this is also the way the Lord keeps His children and church.

Then we read: "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between the pieces." The oven of those days was a cylinder of clay, of which the bottom part was used for fire and the upper part for baking. Abram saw it as a smoking oven, from which the fire would shoot out. This is an expression of God's presence. The Lord passed between the pieces, when He made the covenant of grace with Abram. Not Abram, but the Lord went between the pieces. The making of this covenant was a one-sided work of the Lord. If Abram had gone between the pieces, then he would have been cut in pieces too, because he could not keep the covenant in his own strength.

What was the task of Abram in the making of the covenant? He may accept it and embrace it. Of this covenant Hellenbroek says, "What the Lord requires, He also gives to His people." We have to remember that the natural seed of Abram was not in the covenant, but his spiritual seed. The natural seed lives under the dispensation of the covenant, but they are not in the covenant. They are called "chil­dren" because of the outward relationship with the covenant, but really they are servants. They are also called holy, but they are unholy in the true sense of the word, because they miss the merits of Christ in their life. This teaches us that there are two kinds of children of the covenant. The one has only an outward relation with the covenant by baptism and the others are incorporated into the covenant in the moment of regeneration. As a child must grow up before he will receive an inheritance, so it is also spiritually necessary to grow up and be instructed by the Lord.

The goods of the covenant are given to the spiritual seed of Abram.

These goods are: calling, justification, sanctification and complete deliverance at the end of their life. It is an immovable covenant as the Lord has said in Isaiah 54:10. The Lord promises the land of Canaan as a pledge of the heavenly Canaan, which the Church will receive at the end of the race. They receive it out of free grace only for Christ's sake.

I hope, young people, that it may please the Lord to give you the desire to examine God's Word and your own heart in the light of this promise, because it is not enough to have an outward relation to this covenant; we need to be incorporated in it, will it be well.

Questions⤒🔗

1. Was Abram's question for a sign in unbelief or by faith? How was this with Gideon, Hezekiah and Zacharias the priest?
2. On God's command, Abram prepared the animals for covenant-making and then the fowls came. What are they?
3. God appeared to Abram in smoke and fire. Mention other occasions in the Bible where this happened.
4. When was the covenant of grace made? When was it first revealed? Mention the different dispensations of the covenant of grace.
5. Do you know other covenants men­tioned in God's Word?
6. It seems that the promise of Canaan is the main thing of the covenant that the Lord made with Abram. What is the deeper meaning of this?
7. Tell what the difference is between an external relationship with and an internal relationship in the covenant of grace.