Jun 19
30
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 15:7-21
“And he said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.’ But he said, ‘O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.’” (Genesis 15:7–21, ESV)
New Testament Reading: Galatians 3:29-4:7
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 3:29–4:7, ESV)
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Introduction
I think you would agree that most of the days of our lives are ordinary days. If a history were to be written of our lives, most of our days would not be mentioned because they are so common — nothing particularly noteworthy happens on most days. I’m sure the same was true for Abram. Most of his days were ordinary days. What he did with his time I do not know for sure, for the historical record does not say.
Now from time to time we will have an extraordinary day. These are those days where something unusual and significant happens. For illustration purposes I will give the example of a couple being engaged to marry. That is a very significant moment, for in that moment two individuals promise to wed. That day would probably be mentioned if a history of our lives were written, for that day is rightly considered to be an extraordinary day, and the proposal a significant moment. And Abram had plenty of those, didn’t he? Those days in which God called Abram and promised to give him land, to make a great nation of him, and to bless the nations of the earth through him were extraordinary days, and so the scriptures tell us all about them.
But there are some days that are more than ordinary and extraordinary. These are the days in which something truly transformational happens. To use again the illustration of marriage, the proposal is an extraordinary event, but the wedding itself is transformational. The engagement is a promise wed, but its does not form a marriage. It is on the wedding day that a covenant is transacted — and it is the covenant that changes everything. The promise to wed is a wonderful thing, but it does not make a marriage. Only a covenant made before God and in the presence of witnesses makes a marriage. When the marriage covenant is transacted, the two before one; a man becomes a husband, and a woman a wife; a new family is formed. That moment is transformational. Ordinary days, and extraordinary days pale in comparison to transformational days. For transformational days change how things are by forming something new. The history books tend to focus on transformational moments and days.
Abram certainly experienced some transformational moments. And I would argue that this moment — the one that is described to us in Genesis 15 — was transformational, for it was in this moment that God entered into a covenant with Abram. Look at verse 18 and read: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land…’”
By no means do I wish to minimize the promises that were made by God to Abram earlier. They are very, very important. They should not be minimized. But note this: they were promises, and not covenants.
And by no means do I wish to separate the promises that were made earlier — the promises of Genesis 12:1-3, 13:14-18 and 15:1-6 — from the covenant that was transacted with Abram here in this passage. They certainly are related to one another. Just as the engagement and the wedding are intimately related (the one leads to the other) so too the promises made to Abram and the covenant that was made with him are related. The two things go together. The promises made to Abram earlier help us to understand the covenant that was made with him.
Here I am only saying that promises are promises, and not covenants. Covenants are more important than promises, for covenants formally change things. They are transformational. They establish new relationships formally.
Brothers and sisters, covenants are very, very important in the scriptures. I’m sure of this — if we do not have a correct understanding of the covenants that God had entered into with man we will not be able to understand the message of the Bible correctly.
God has made numerous covenants with man. He made one with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel through Moses, David, and with us through Christ. These covenants formally establish the relationship between God and his people. It is imperative that we understand them. (I preach like this (teach; see 1 Timothy 4:13), because it is important for you to understand the message of scripture. So please don’t grow weary!)
Let me say a few words about covenants in general before moving on to consider the Abrahamic Covenant in particular.
Covenants in General
What is a covenant? A covenant is a “divinely sanctioned commitment” (Kline). I am of course talking about Biblical covenants here — covenants made between God and man. God is always the one who takes the initiative in these relationships. What right does man have to say to God, “God, we are going to enter into an agreement”? Only God has that right. Only God has the right to say to man, “man, we are going to enter into an agreement”. And man, because he is God’s creature, is bound to respond. That is why we say that a covenant between God and man is a “divinely sanctioned commitment”. A covenant clarifies the relationship between God and man. It established the terms of the relationship. And threatens punishment upon the violation of the terms.
There are different kinds of covenants, of course. Some we call a covenant of works, and others we call a covenant of grace or promise. They are not difficult to identify. In a covenant of works God says to man, do this and you will live, or if you do this… then this will be the result. What is required of man to receive the reward in a covenant of works? Obedience! The covenant that God made with Adam in the garden was a covenant of works. In fact, it was the Covenant of Works. Do this and you will Iive, do this and you will die, was the arrangement made with Adam in the garden.
A covenant of grace sounds different. In a gracious covenant of promise God says, I will, and nothing more. What is required of man to receive the reward in a covenant of grace? Not works, but faith alone. Good works and obedience are expected, but not as the grounds for receiving the promised reward. A covenant or works says, “Do this and live”, whereas a covenant of grace says, “live and do this” (Edward Fisher). The New Covenant ratified in Christ’s blood is a covenant of grace. In fact, it is the Covenant of Grace. What is required of us to receive the promised reward of this covenant, namely life eternal? Faith! We must believe upon God and the Christ whom he has sent, and even this ability to believe is a gift. There is nothing for us to do to earn the benefits, for Christ has earned it for us. When we obey his law, we obey because he has made us alive.
Listen to how our Confession talks about the Covenant of Grace in 2LBC 7.2: “Moreover, man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, wherein he freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.”
The Covenant of Works was made with all mankind with Adam functioning as a federal fead or representative for all in the garden. And the Covenant of Grace is made with all of God’s elect in every age with Christ functioning as a federal fead or representative for all who have or will believe upon his name.
The covenants that are made with man between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant Grace do not fit neatly into the categories of covenants of works or grace, for there is a mixture in them.
On the one hand the covenants transacted with Abraham, and later, Moses and David, are all by God’s grace. Think of it. Anytime God relates to fallen man, it is only by his grace. Anytime he promises blessing to fallen man — be it earthy blessing or eternal — it is an act of his free grace. There is nothing at all in the creature which deserves God’s kindness or blessing. When God enters into a covenantal relationship with fallen and sinful man, it is a gracious act. And these covenants — the covenants transacted with Abraham, Moses and David — do contain promises. Promises which will eventually be fulfilled by Christ and the Covenant of Grace of which he is federal head. All of this must be recognized. There is something about the Abrahamic, Mosaic and David that is gracious. It was by the grace of God that these covenants were made, and these covenants contain promises.
But on the other hand, these covenants do require works if the people in them are to be blessed in them. This will become clear as it pertains to the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 17 when the sign of circumcision is given to Abraham. There the “if… then” pattern appears. There the “do this and you will be blessed” principle emerges. There we will read, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly’” (Genesis 17:1–2, ESV). We will consider that passage much more carefully when we come to it. For now, understand that the works principle is there inserted into the Abrahamic Covenant. Clearly the Mosaic and Davidic Covenants have a the works principle within them.
This is why I say that that the covenants that are made with man between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant Grace — the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic — do not fit neatly into the categories of covenants of works or grace, for there is a mixture in them.
How can this be?
Do you remember last week how I said that we must get used to thinking of Abram in a double capacity? We must think of him in two ways — earthly and physical on the one hand, and heavenly and spiritual on the other? Here is why. The covenant made with Abram was a covenant of works as it pertained to his physical descendents and the nation that would be come from his loins, namely Israel. Soon we will see that if Israel was to be blessed in the land that would be given to them — if the people of Israel were to be blessed individually by God in an earthly sense — they had to keep God’s law. Circumcision was a sign of this. If they broke God’s law they would be cut off from the land. But the Abrahamic Covenant also contained promises. Promises that were unbreakable. Promises that would surly come to pass no mater what the people did or didn’t do. In fact, God gave these promises to Abram before he gave him circumcision, which points, in part, to the obligation that Abram’s descended to obey God’s law. And these promises all find their fulfillment in Christ and in the Covenant of Grace. Israel would be blessed in the land if they kept God’s law. But no one, not even the Hebrew, could be blessed spiritually and eternally by law keeping? How can a man — Jew or Gentile — be made right before God, blessed to all eternity? Only through faith in the promises of God.
All of that is contained within the Covenant that was made with Abram, and later Israel, through Moses and David. These covenants all have mixture in them. They are, at the end of the day, covenants of works that can be broken on an earthly level. But the promises contained within them can never be broken. The promises are not contingent upon the obedience of man. God certainly would bless Abram, make a nation out of him, and through him bless all the nations of the earth by the Messiah that would come from his loins. Nothing that Abram or Israel did, or failed to do, could disrupt that glorious plan, for it was set down upon the foundation of God’s promise, and not man’s faithfulness. God would establish his kingdom. He would establish the kingdom that was offered to Adam, but rejected; the kingdom that was promised to Abraham; the kingdom prefigured in Old Covenant Israel. This kingdom would be inaugurated by Christ at his first coming and will be consummated at his second. God will be king over his people. These he will bring safely home into the New Heavens and earth by a redeemer — Christ Jesus our Lord. Thanks be to God for his free and unconditional grace.
A covenant is a “divinely sanctioned commitment”.
There is a Covenant of Works (with Adam as head), and the there is a Covent of Grace (with Christ as head).
The covenants made with Abraham and Israel through Moses and David were covenants of works as it pertained to the people’s enjoyment of the land. But they were also initiated by the grace of God and permeated with the promises of God, which can never ever be broken.
The Abrahamic Covenant in Particular
Now that I have said a few words about covenant’s in general, let us consider the Abrahamic Covenant in particular.
If someone were to ask you, where is the Abrahamic Covenant found in scripture? The proper answer would be, Genesis 12, 13, 15 and 17. This might sounds strange at first, but it must be recognized that the covenant that was made with Abraham was established progressively and over time.
In Genesis 12 God called Abram, promised to bless him, to bless those who blessed him and to curse those who dishonored him. There God promised to make Abram’s name great, to make him into a great nation, and to bless the nations of the earth through him. In 12:7 the Lord specified that he would give his offspring the land of Canaan.
In Genesis 13 these promises were reiterated, clarified and expanded. The Lord was more specific about the boundaries of the land. Also, the Lord was more specific about the greatness of his decedents — they would be as the dust of the earth, if one could number the dust of the earth.
In Genesis 15:1-6 these promises were again reiterated, clarified and expanded. Though Abram and Sarai were childless and advanced in years, Abram’s very own son would be his heir, not Eliezer of Damascus. In verses 7-21 and actual covenant is made with Abram. Verses 18 says so: “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites’” (Genesis 15:18–21, ESV). This covenant corresponds to the promises made before, but it is more than a promise, but is a convent.
Notice that more information was provided to Abram when this covenant was transacted. In verse 13 “Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete’” (Genesis 15:13–16, ESV).
What was the LORD referring to here? The rest of the book of Genesis, the book of Exodus and Joshua will tell of the fulfillment to these prophesies. Abram’s offspring would indeed be afflicted as sojourners, beginning with his own son Issac. They would eventually go down into Egypt where they would become slaves, and they would be brought out again at the hand of Moses. After wandering for a time, they would eventually be brought into the land that was promised to them, with Joshua in the lead. All of this would happen after the iniquity of the Amorites (the current inhabitants of the land of Canaan) was complete.
Now, I ask you, was this part of the covenant made with Abram based upon works, or upon the promises of God and his grace?
Look again at verses 13-16 and consider the words carefully. Is there any promise that is contingent upon Abram’s obedience, or the obedience of his offspring? Is there any “if… then”? The answer is, no! Is only promise. It is purely a commitment from God to do something. God said to Abram, “know for certain…” The language used by God is “I will…” and “they shall…” and “you shall”. This part of the Abrahamic Covenant has the promises of God as it’s foundation. These things would surely happen, because they were dependent upon God keeping his word, and not the faithfulness of man. And the same is true for all that communicated in chapters 12, 13 and earlier in 15. These are the promises of God, nothing more and nothing less.
And there is something else in this passage that proves that the fulfillment of these promises are contingent only upon the faithfulness of God, and not the obedience of Abram or his descendents. That this is was a covenant founded upon God’s grace, and not upon the works of man was made made clear in the vision that Abram was shown.
In verse 7 The LORD spoke to Abram, saying, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (Genesis 15:7, ESV). This is nothing new. It is the promise of God again reiterated to Abram.
In verse 8 Abram replies to the LORD, saying, “ O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” (Genesis 15:8, ESV). This is not a lack of faith in Abram, but a request to have this promise confirmed and sealed.
And how did the LORD respond? He cut a covenant with Abram to confirm his promises.
The episode sounds very strange to modern readers. In verse 9 we read, and the LORD said to Abram, “‘Bring me a heifer [cow] three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’ And [Abram] brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away” (Genesis 15:9–11, ESV). What is this? It sounds so strange to us. These animals — all of which will be used in the worship of God under the Old Mosaic Covenant as sacrificed — were cut in two by Abram, and a kind of aisle way was created as one half of the animal was laid on one side, and the other half on the other. It must have been a very bloody and gruesome scene. Again, it sounds very strange to us, but those who lived in Abram’s day, and in Moses’ day would have know exactly what this was. This was a covenant making ceremony.
This is precisely how people, particularly rulers and kings, would make covenants with one another in Abram’s day. If one king were to enter into a covenant (treaty) with another king, the more powerful king would set the terms and then both would walk together down a bloody and gruesome aisle way such as the one described here in Genesis 15 in order to confirm the covenant. It’s kind of like a wedding ceremony, only a little more graphic.! And here was the message being communicated — may what has been done to these animals be done to me should I fail to hold up my end of the agreement. If I break this covenant, then I deserve death. And so in this way the hypothetical death of the covenant breaker was portrayed by the slain animals.
Cerimonies are powerful, aren’t they? Promises are great! But when promises are put into force via formal ceremonies, it is a very powerful thing. And the imagery of these ceremonies, bloody and gruesome as they were, are particularly impactful. May this happen to me if I fail to hold up my end of the bargain, the testators would say.
But notice this: It was not Abram and the LORD who walked between the slain animals together, but God alone. If Abram and his descendents were responsible to hold up “their end of the bargain” to bring about the promises of God, then Abram would have walked. But because God alone was responsible to fulfill his promises, the LORD walked, while Abram observed.
Verse 12: “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.’ [Verse 17] When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates…’”, etc. The smoking fire pot and flaming torch were a theophany — stood for the very presence of God, for he is a refining fire and all consuming fire.
Were the fulfillment of these promises dependent upon Abram or his offspring, both he and God would have walked. But because this was a unilateral covenant of promise, only God walked, for only he was obliged to uphold his end of the deal.
I won’t spend much time on this, but it is important to understand that the Abrahamic Covenant is not concluded in Genesis 15. In fact, the Abrahamic Covenant is expanded in Genesis 17. We will consider that passage in detail when we come to it in the text, but notice that in Genesis 17 conditional aspects are added to the covenant. To quote my fellow minister, Sam Renihan, “Genesis 17 is an expansion of the covenant because God expanded and enlarged it through a promise of royalty, and a demand for loyalty.” That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
What is he talking about?
Listen to Genesis 17.
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.’ Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ‘Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.’ And God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant’” (Genesis 17:1–14, ESV).
So much can be said, but it will need to wait for another time. For now, notice that God’s promise is enlarged in this passage. Kings would come from Abram. Also, a positive law is added — the law of circumcision. Abram and his offspring were obligated to keep this covenant. Every male was to be circumcised. It was to function as a sign of the covenant between God and Abram. God said, “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” This is a covenant of works. A covenant of grace cannot be broken, for their are no demands. This covenant — the Abrahamic Covenant in its full and final form — was a covenant of works. Aspects of it could be broken.
Again, how can a covenant be mixed? How can it consist of both law and gospel, works and grace, unconditional promises and stated stipulations? Put simply, in the Abrahamic the promises pertain to certain things, and the stipulations others.
There were some things that God simply promised to do. would have a son, would have many descendents, would, and would become a great nation. Kings would come from him. Abram would be blessed and would be a blessing. Indeed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. This would surely happen, for God had promised.
But circumcision was also given to Abram and his descendents as a sign of their required obedience to the law. This too was a part of the Abrahamic Covenant. Abram and his descendents were to keep the covenant. To fail to keep it would be mean that the individual would be cut off, separated from blessings of Abraham.
The promises pertained to the accomplishment of God’s plan for redemption.
The requirement of obedience to the law of circumcision was given to Abram’s physical descendents only and it pertained to their personal enjoyment of the blessings of God in the land that the LORD was giving to them.
Salvation, that is to say, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of life everlasting, has only ever been possible by faith alone in the promises of God concerning the Christ who would through Abram to defeat the evil one himself.
APPLICATTION: Brother and sisters, there are some texts of scripture that should move us to do certain things — to behave in a certain way. I suppose the practical application to be drawn from this text would be to say, believe! Believe upon the promises of God concerning the Christ that has come from Abram’s loins, for he is the Savior of the world. That is what you should do in in response to this passage.
But there are other passages of scripture that seem to engage the mind more than the will, the purpose of those texts being to effect the way that we think. This is one of those passages. My deepest concern as I minister this text to you is to have you understand what it saying so that you might know the message of scripture. I am thoroughly convinced of it — if we do not understand this text and this covenant that was transacted with Abram, then we will have a very difficult time understand the story of the Bible, the nature of the New Covenant ratified in Christ’s blood, and our salvation in him. And so today I urge, not to do this or that (besides believe), but to think and to understand.
Let me now conclude with three brief statements concerning the Abrahamic Covenant in an attempt to bring all that has been said together in a clear and understandable way.
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The Abrahamic Covenant was the Abrahamic Covenant, And Not the Covenant of Grace
First, please understand that the Abrahamic Covenant was the Abrahamic Covenant, and not the Covenant of Grace.
This needs to be said given that it is very common for reformed theologians of the paedobaptist variety to say that the Abrahamic covenant was the covenant of grace in substance. They claim that it was a unique administration of it (see Westminster Confession chapter 7). In fact, their argument for applying baptism to the children of believers hangs upon this idea. They reason like this: if circumcision was given to infants under the Abrahamic administration of the Covenant of Grace, then if follows that we should give baptism to infants under the New Covenant administration of the Covenant of Grace. The two things mirror one another, they assume.
There are many problems with this line of reasoning, but here I am content to say that the Abrahamic covenant was clearly not the Covenant of Grace in substance. It was something different. It was it’s own thing.
What is the Covenant of Grace? What are promises and conditions of if? To state it very briefly, in the Covenant of Grace God “freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved; and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.”
While we all agree that this promise is contained within the Abrahamic Covenant, the substance of the Abrahamic Covenat is different.
Abraham was the head or representative of the Abrahamic Covenant; Christ is the head of Covenant of Grace.
The promises made to Abraham applied to him and to his offspring in the a way that they do not apply to those who are partakers of the Covenant of Grace. You are in Christ you are under the Covenant of Grace, but to which one of you has God said, I will give you this land, give you many offspring, make you into a great nation and bless the nations through you. All that is substantially a part of the Abrahamic Covenant! And the answer is that that does not apply to any of us in the way that it applied to Abram and his offspring.
Furthermore, it has already been demonstrated that the Abrahamic Covenant was breakable. It’s members could violate it and be cut off. Genesis 17 says so. But this is not so with the Covenant of Grace. It is a covenant of pure grace, founded upon the work that Christ has accomplished for us. It cannot be broken.
Friends these two covenants — the Abrahamic and the Covenant of Grace, which is the New Covenant ratified in Christ’s blood, are substantially different. The Abrahamic Covenant was its own thing.
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The Abrahamic Covenant Would Give Birth To The Old Mosaic Covenant
Second, understand that the Abrahamic Covenant would give birth to the Old Mosaic Covenant.
I will keep my remarks about this very brief, for we will address this again when we come to Genesis 17. For now I want you to get used to the idea that the covenant that God transacted with Abram would grow or develop into the covenant that God transacted with Israel in the days of Moses.
Notice that circumcision was the sign and seal of the Abrahamic Covenant, and is was also the sign and seal of the Mosaic. This is because the two were organically connected.
Notice that in the promises made to Abram in Genesis 12, 15 and 17 mention the birth of the Israelite nation. The Abrahamic Covenant was pregnant with the Mosaic from the beginning.
All of this can also be said about the relationship between the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenant.
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The Abrahamic Covenant Would Give Birth To The New Covenant, Which Is The Covenant of Grace
Third, understand that the Abrahamic Covenant would, in the fulness of time, give birth to the New Covenant, which is the Covenant of Grace, ratified in Christ’s blood.
This is what the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant ultimately pointed to. They pointed to Christ, to the work that he would accomplish, and to the rewards that he would earn and freely offer to others. As Paul has said, “All the promises of God find their Yes in him [that is Jesus the Christ]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20, ESV).
Though the Abrahamic Covenant was not the Covenant of Grace (the two things are not the same in substance), the Abrahamic was surely pregnant with the Covenant of Grace. And know this for certain, “It is alone by the grace of this covenant the Covenant of Grace, which is called the Nw Covenant] that all the posterity of fallen Adam that ever were saved did obtain life and blessed immortality, man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which Adam stood in his state of innocency” (LBC 7.3).
Let us be found believing upon him.
