12 THE COVENANT REVISITED

This teaching is about another visit by God to Abram. It marks a significant new depth in the developing relationship between God and Abram. We can use it for a model in our own attempt to move forward in a deepening partnership with God. God initiated the visit and Abram responded. How will you respond to God’s visits to you?

God visited Abram again when he was ninety-nine years old, thirteen years after Ishmael had been born. So long, it should seem that God as He does with us, did not communicate with Abram like this. All the communion he had with God was only in the usual sacrifices, prayer, proper behavior and walking by faith. There are some special miracles and exceptional comforts which are not our daily bread, no, not even of the best saints, but they (we) are favored with them now and then. On this side of heaven we have convenient food, but not a continual feast. So for a long time the promise of Isaac was postponed. Perhaps this was to correct Abram’s over-hasty marrying of Hagar. We don’t know. The comforts we sinfully anticipate are justly delayed. There is a reason. Abram and Sarai being so far stricken in age, this miracle was to show more clearly God’s power in this matter. The miracle would be the more magnified and spectacular and their faith the more tried. Jesus also did this. John 11:6 says, “So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days”, and verse 15 says, “and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  Isaiah 54:1 says, “’Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,’ says the Lord.’’

What happened? “. . . the Lord appeared to him.” God appeared. He experienced some visible display of God’s immediate glorious presence with him. As with Abram, God first makes Himself known to us, giving us a sight of Himself by faith, and then takes us into His covenant. First we must know Who He is and then what our relationship with Him is.

How did Abram respond? “Abram fell facedown,”  This was as one overcome by the brightness of the divine glory, and unable to bear the sight of it, though he had seen it several times before. Daniel and John did likewise, though they were also acquainted with the visions of the Almighty,  Daniel 8:17 says, “As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate. ‘Son of man,’ he said to me, ‘understand that the vision concerns the time of the end.’” And Daniel 10:9 says, “Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.” Daniel 10:15 “While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless.”  Revelation 1:17 “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.’”

As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to think of the honors done to one so unworthy Abram looks at himself with humility, and at God with reverence, and to show both, falls on his face, putting himself into a posture of submission and adoration. God graciously condescends to talk with those whom He takes into covenant and communion with Himself. He talks with them by his Word, Psalms 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” He talks with them by his Spirit, John 14:26, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” This honor is given to all God’s saints including you. Those that are admitted into fellowship with God are, and must be, as Abram was very humble and reverent in their approach to Him. If we say we have fellowship with him, and the familiarity produces disrespect or anything less than the highest respect, we deceive ourselves. Those that want comfort from God must set themselves to give glory to God and to worship at His footstool. If you want comfort from Him give glory to Him.

With Whom do we make a covenant? I am the Almighty God. By this name he chose to make himself known to Abram rather than by his name Jehovah used by Moses. Jacob used this name, El-shaddai, for God in Genesis 28:3, “May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.” It is the name of God that is mostly used most of the book of Job. After Moses, Jehovah is more frequently used, and this, El-shaddai, very rarely; it emphasizes the sufficiency and power of God the almighty power of God. He is a God that is enough; or, as our old English translation reads it, I am God all-sufficient One. The God with whom we have to do is a God that is enough. He is enough in Himself; He is self-sufficient; He has every thing, and He needs nothing, not anything. He is enough to us, if we are in covenant with Him: we have all in Him, and we have enough in Him, enough to satisfy our most enlarged desires, enough to supply the defect of every thing else, and to secure to us a happiness for our immortal souls. See  Psalm 16:5-6 “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;  surely I have a delightful inheritance.” And Psalm 73:25  says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. And Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.”

And what are we to do? We do have a part, an obligation. Walk before me, and be perfect, that is, upright and sincere; for in this the covenant of grace is well-ordered that genuine sincerity is what God is looking for—perfect in His sight. To be godly is to walk before God in our integrity; it is to set God always before us, and to think, and speak, and act in a way consistent with each other in everything, as those that are always under His eye. It is to have a constant regard to His Word as our rule and to His glory as our end in all our actions, and to be continually in His fear. It is to be “with Him, in all the duties of sincere worship, for in them particularly we walk before God  and to be entire for Him, in all holy conversations. I know no godliness but sincerity. Uprightly walking with God is the condition of our hearts as we rest in His all-sufficiency. If we neglect him, or leave Him, even in just our thoughts, we would forfeit the benefit and comfort of our intimate moment by moment relationship with Him.  Continual awareness of God’s all-sufficiency will have a great, strong and continuous influence on our walking uprightly with him.

The promise from God to Abram is introduced with solemnity: It is as though to say “As for me, behold, look and admire, behold, observe and be assured of it, here is my covenant is with you;”  I will make my covenant. The covenant of grace is a covenant of God’s own making; We benefit and glory in it, but He initiates it.

It is promised to Abraham that he should be a father of many nations; that is that his natural physical seed, his descendants, should be very numerous, both in Isaac and Ishmael, as well as in the sons of his later wife, Keturah. Also all believers in every age can be considered his spiritual seed, and that he should be called, not only the friend of God, but the father of the faithful. In this sense, the apostle directs us to understand this promise, Romans 4:16-17 say, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Abraham is our father and the father of those in every nation that by faith enter into covenant with God.

His name was changed from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This was an amazing honor and a test for anyone, but especially when Abram and Sarai’s ages were considered. It is spoken of as the glory of the church that she will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name. Princes dignify their favorites by conferring new titles on them; so Abraham was dignified by the God that is, in fact, the fountain of honor. You—all believers—have a new name. Revelation 2:17 says, “17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” If you as a Christian leader glory in your covenant relationship with God and fulfill your part of the covenant, don’t you think your disciples would too, by following your example?

Believers receive a new name from Christ “. . . from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name (Ephesians 3:15). A new name would encourage and confirm the faith of Abraham. While he was childless perhaps even his own name caused him grief. Why should he be called a high father who was not a father at all? But now that God had promised him numerous children—even nations!—and had given him a name which symbolized it, that name was his joy. God calls things that are not as though they were. “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Paul talks in Romans 4 about this very thing. It is the apostle’s observation on this very thing. He called Abraham the father of a multitude because what eventually happened would prove that in due time, even though as yet he had only one child.

What about you? If you are a Christian leader you should be able to “see” things that do not yet exist in the material world. Then we lead people towards the fulfillment of that dream. This is what it means to be a man or woman of faith like Abraham and lead others.

God is looking for Abrahams today. Will you be one?