The Big Story: God Makes a Covenant with Abraham


Genesis 12:1ff says that a man named Abram was minding his own business, when out of the blue the Lord said to him, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."  Abram was 75 years old at the time.  That may not be as old as we think, because he would live 100 more years!  

Knowing it would be bold and risky for Abram to move, God promised that if he went to this land, which turned out to be Canaan, he would bless him with land, descendants, and fame.  On top of these things, he would bless the world through him.  

Abram packed up all he had, gathered his family, and moved to Canaan.  There, he lived in tents.  He was semi-nomadic, settling in different places as he pastured his herds and flocks.  Abram prospered in Canaan, but became anxious.  Many years had passed since he left his homeland, and he still had no son.  God hadn't yet fulfilled his most important promise.

The Lord knew of Abram's fear of dying childless, so Genesis 15:1ff says that he appeared to him and told him not to be afraid.  When Abram told the Lord about his concern, the Lord assured him he would have a child from his own body.  The Lord took him outside and had him look at the night sky.  He said, "Look up at the stars and count them, if you can.  So shall your offspring be!"

Genesis 15:6 says that Abram believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.  God declared Abram righteous because of his faith.  After that, God went through a covenant ceremony with him, in which he promised to bless him and his descendants.  Later still, God established circumcision as the sign of that covenant.

God fulfilled his promise to Abram, as not long after that, Abram's wife Sarai conceived and bore Isaac.  To show Abram's new circumstance, God changed his name to Abraham.  Through Abraham God established a covenant people, and through them blessed the world by revealing himself and bringing Jesus through them.

In Galatians 3:6-9, the apostle Paul quoted this passage, and said that Abraham was our forerunner in becoming right with God through faith.  All those who put their faith in God are Abraham's spiritual children.  That means when Abraham looked into that night sky at the stars, we were up there too!  Now, we participate in God's Big Story by living in his covenant of faith!

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