And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. Gen 15:12-14
An assured part of God’s pledged blessing to us is delay and suffering. A delay in Abram’s own lifetime that seemed to put God’s pledge beyond fulfillment was followed by seemingly unendurable delay of Abram’s descendants. But it was only a delay: they "came out with great substance." The pledge was redeemed.
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God’s pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart. -- C. G. Trumbull [Streams in the Desert]
God is going to test me with delays; and with the delays will come suffering, but through it all stands God’s pledge: His new covenant with me in Christ, and His inviolable promise of every lesser blessing that I need. The delay and the suffering are part of the promised blessing; let me praise Him for them today; and let me wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He will strengthen my heart. -- C. G. Trumbull [Streams in the Desert]
ABRAM’S VISION OF THE FUTURE
The Cross of Christ: its blessings and its trials
The Cross of Christ: its blessings and its trials
Here we notice--
1. The reason of the covenant (Gen_15:8). It was made in response to a request on Abram’s part for some visible sign or token which might prove helpful to his faith.
2. The signs of the covenant. These were such as to appeal to Abram’s outward vision.
(1) The laid-out sacrifice (Gen_15:9-11). Human covenants were wont to be ratified by sacrifice. In these victims we discern a type of Christ crucified—the sacrifice which forms the basis of the covenant of grace.
(2) The moving Shekinah (Gen_15:17). Abram had prepared the sacrifice in the morning” on God’s behalf” (Gen_15:9); and all that he had to do now was to wait for the completion of the ceremonial. At last, however, came the mystic and awe-striking confirmation. “The glory of the Lord” appeared in the form of a smoking furnace and a fiery torch, and glided slowly down the narrow passage between the divided carcasses. It was the same “glory” which Adam had seen at the gate of Paradise, Moses was to behold in the bush, and Israel upon the summit of Sinai, and which was to lead the march from Egypt to the promised land.
3. The blessings of the covenant. These were
(1) The friendship of God. Jehovah pledged Himself to be the God of Abraham—his shield, his reward, the almighty ally, And He became such not by reason of any personal merit on the part of the patriarch, but on the ground of the great sacrifice which He was pleased to appoint and accept as a propitiation for sin (Rom_4:1-25; Gal_3:1-29; Jas_2:23).
(2) The seed. Abram’s posterity is to be multitudinous as the dust of the earth and countless as the stars of the sky; the reference here being not to his bodily posterity alone, but chiefly to his spiritual children; that is, to all who shall share his faith in God.
(3) The land. The ideal and ample boundaries of the land of promise are now, for the first time, defined in the hearing of Abram (Gen_15:18-21), and all is typical of “a better country, that is, an heavenly,” which is the destined inheritance of the patriarch’s spiritual “seed.”
I. THE DIVINE PROOF OF THE FULFILMENT OF GOD’S PROMISES. The divided heifer, etc. Christ’s broken body the Divine proof.
II. CHASTENED HOPES. God has to close the avenues of nature to reveal the purposes of grace. And the hopes are chastened—a “horror of great darkness” and servitude for four hundred years: here is the dark background, and it is in every picture of earthly hopes. But the end is victory—judgment on every foe and great substance. We are in the tunnel now, but we are fast emerging into the glorious sunny landscape.
III. THE CROSS OF CHRIST AND ITS BLESSINGS. We look now at the nature of that sacrifice Abram had been told to prepare, and his connection with it. In it we behold the Cross of Christ, and the believer’s connection with it. First of all we see it is a covenant, and made by God with Abram—“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” And the promise passes over into a fact. The Lord does not now say “I will give,” but “I have given” (Gen_15:18). The “same day”—thus are the Cross, the covenant, and the believer all bound up together. And mark the three things—the “pieces,” the “smoking furnace,” and the “burning lamp.” The “pieces” represent the suffering Jesus. The “smoking furnace”—our portion in Him, the sufferings and trials of the Cross. The “burning lamp”—God’s light and promises and blessings in the midst of it all. Every believer is between those “pieces,” hid in the wounded side of Jesus. Every believer there knows it is a “smoking furnace,” a place of suffering and trial. Every believer too has his “burning lamp” there—the light of God’s presence and His joys. And observe, it “passed between those pieces.” This mingling of the joy and the sorrow is not abiding; it is “passing.” The “smoking furnace” will soon be over, and issue in everlasting joy. The “burning lamp” is quickly passing, and we shall soon enter into the glorious sunshine. Are you between those pieces—bearing Christ’s Cross—looking to that which is the spring and source of all your mercies? (F. Whitefield, M. A.)
[Biblical Illustrator]
1. The reason of the covenant (Gen_15:8). It was made in response to a request on Abram’s part for some visible sign or token which might prove helpful to his faith.
2. The signs of the covenant. These were such as to appeal to Abram’s outward vision.
(1) The laid-out sacrifice (Gen_15:9-11). Human covenants were wont to be ratified by sacrifice. In these victims we discern a type of Christ crucified—the sacrifice which forms the basis of the covenant of grace.
(2) The moving Shekinah (Gen_15:17). Abram had prepared the sacrifice in the morning” on God’s behalf” (Gen_15:9); and all that he had to do now was to wait for the completion of the ceremonial. At last, however, came the mystic and awe-striking confirmation. “The glory of the Lord” appeared in the form of a smoking furnace and a fiery torch, and glided slowly down the narrow passage between the divided carcasses. It was the same “glory” which Adam had seen at the gate of Paradise, Moses was to behold in the bush, and Israel upon the summit of Sinai, and which was to lead the march from Egypt to the promised land.
3. The blessings of the covenant. These were
(1) The friendship of God. Jehovah pledged Himself to be the God of Abraham—his shield, his reward, the almighty ally, And He became such not by reason of any personal merit on the part of the patriarch, but on the ground of the great sacrifice which He was pleased to appoint and accept as a propitiation for sin (Rom_4:1-25; Gal_3:1-29; Jas_2:23).
(2) The seed. Abram’s posterity is to be multitudinous as the dust of the earth and countless as the stars of the sky; the reference here being not to his bodily posterity alone, but chiefly to his spiritual children; that is, to all who shall share his faith in God.
(3) The land. The ideal and ample boundaries of the land of promise are now, for the first time, defined in the hearing of Abram (Gen_15:18-21), and all is typical of “a better country, that is, an heavenly,” which is the destined inheritance of the patriarch’s spiritual “seed.”
I. THE DIVINE PROOF OF THE FULFILMENT OF GOD’S PROMISES. The divided heifer, etc. Christ’s broken body the Divine proof.
II. CHASTENED HOPES. God has to close the avenues of nature to reveal the purposes of grace. And the hopes are chastened—a “horror of great darkness” and servitude for four hundred years: here is the dark background, and it is in every picture of earthly hopes. But the end is victory—judgment on every foe and great substance. We are in the tunnel now, but we are fast emerging into the glorious sunny landscape.
III. THE CROSS OF CHRIST AND ITS BLESSINGS. We look now at the nature of that sacrifice Abram had been told to prepare, and his connection with it. In it we behold the Cross of Christ, and the believer’s connection with it. First of all we see it is a covenant, and made by God with Abram—“In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.” And the promise passes over into a fact. The Lord does not now say “I will give,” but “I have given” (Gen_15:18). The “same day”—thus are the Cross, the covenant, and the believer all bound up together. And mark the three things—the “pieces,” the “smoking furnace,” and the “burning lamp.” The “pieces” represent the suffering Jesus. The “smoking furnace”—our portion in Him, the sufferings and trials of the Cross. The “burning lamp”—God’s light and promises and blessings in the midst of it all. Every believer is between those “pieces,” hid in the wounded side of Jesus. Every believer there knows it is a “smoking furnace,” a place of suffering and trial. Every believer too has his “burning lamp” there—the light of God’s presence and His joys. And observe, it “passed between those pieces.” This mingling of the joy and the sorrow is not abiding; it is “passing.” The “smoking furnace” will soon be over, and issue in everlasting joy. The “burning lamp” is quickly passing, and we shall soon enter into the glorious sunshine. Are you between those pieces—bearing Christ’s Cross—looking to that which is the spring and source of all your mercies? (F. Whitefield, M. A.)
[Biblical Illustrator]
Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered,
Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, "It shall be done"-- sometime, somewhere.
-- Miss Ophelia G. Browning
+++++++++
God's future promises to His people
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain those falling tears?
Say not the Father hath not heard your prayer;
You shall have your desire sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Nay do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you shall see sometime, somewhere.
Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered,
Her feet are firmly planted on the Rock;
Amid the wildest storms she stands undaunted,
Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock.
She knows Omnipotence has heard her prayer,
And cries, "It shall be done"-- sometime, somewhere.
-- Miss Ophelia G. Browning
+++++++++
God's future promises to His people
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