Our covenant God

Sunday 2nd February 2025

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen,
a smoking brazier with a blazing torch appeared 
and passed between the pieces. 
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram

and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land …’

Genesis 15:17-18 (NIV)

Our covenant God

Well, that’s certainly a strange way to begin a ‘Thought for the Week’!  And I agree, but bear with me.

Have you ever read this passage in Genesis 15 and wondered what it’s all about?  Once we understand what’s going on, it’s the most glorious demonstration of God’s saving grace.  Let me explain.

Thankfully, we’re not left in the dark to figure it out for ourselves.  To start with, we’re told that “the pieces” which the brazier and torch pass between are pieces of animals: “a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and two pigeons” (verse 9), which God asks Abram to cut in two and arrange the halves opposite each other (verse 10).  Next, the smoking brazier and blazing torch surely represent God himself.

But the final and vital clue is given to us by the prophet Jeremiah: God says to Judah’s unfaithful leaders, “Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between the pieces” (Jeremiah 34:18).

This is apparently how ancient near Eastern covenants worked.  The two parties would walk between the pieces of slaughtered animals, saying in effect, “If I violate this covenant, may I be treated like these animals which have been cut in two.”

Here’s the magnificence of what Abram saw in his vision: who is it that passes between the animal pieces?  God (represented by the brazier and the torch).  And only God.  And definitely not Abram.  What’s going on?  God is saying, “If I violate this covenant, may I be treated like these animals.”  Of course, God isn’t going to violate his covenant, but this is a way of assuring Abram how seriously he takes it.

And God’s also saying, “And if you violate this covenant, may I be treated like these animals.”  Isn’t that brilliant?  God’s going to take care of both sides of the covenant, his and Abram’s.  That’s indeed wonderful news, because we know that God’s people, including ourselves, have a very poor history of keeping their agreements with God.

And so Jesus comes, both God and man, faithfully keeping both sides of the covenant, ‘torn in two’ as he bears the penalty for our covenant violation, and we are saved by putting our trust in him, and God treats us as the faithful covenant-keeper Jesus was.  Amazing grace!

Prayer
Lord, words fail me to express my gratitude that your Son should choose to become a curse for me so that the blessing promised to Abraham might come to me.  Praise you.  Amen. 

Yours warmly, in Christ, 
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)