GOD promised Abram an inheritance to which Abram replied, after years had already passed, “How shall I know…!?”
God promised inheritance and would come through…
Preparing the Bride for GOD’s Story
How do we prepare as the Bride of Christ? One aspect is to learn GOD’S STORY. He created us in His image…. Piece by piece, and peace by peace, we learn to walk as He has walked. And we learn His perspective.
Genesis 15:8-21
“And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
“Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
“And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
Between GOD and Abram, to complete the Promise
GOD invites Abram to make sacrifice. Interesting that the goat and ram are specified to be three years old… The term of Jesus’ ministry. Coincidence?
Abram brings the sacrifices, cuts each in half, and fends off the vultures.
As sun sets, Abram falls asleep and GOD speaks. He lists the time frame and the land of the inheritance. It is an unconditional promise even before Abram is renamed, even before he has a son to pass on the inheritance.
This is THE MOMENT in the life of Abram. This is THE MOMENT for who will become the Jewish People. This is THE MOMENT when GOD promises unconditionally, the land which will one day become the land of Israel.
The promised inheritance is not to be ignored. It is that on which the whole Judeo-Christian system of faith exists.
Why does this part of GOD’s Story matter so much to us? Because it assures us that GOD keeps His promises. And it is on this principle that believers can walk in the security of their faith in a good, good Father.