Genesis 15:1-21 • The key to salvation
- Steve Schott
- Aug 1
- 11 min read
► We come to a passage in Scripture that I feel is one of the most pivotal in the entire Bible. This one passage, in particular verse 6, ties the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT) together specifically with regard to how a person receives salvation. What must we do to be saved? What must we do to be reconciled to the Creator God? What must we do to be righteous before a righteous God? ► Today we will see the answer to those questions and will also come to understand that the OT and the NT do not differ in that regard. The path in the OT was and is not about keeping the law. The path in the NT is not apart from the law. So what is the purpose for the law? We will find out shortly.
► Today's passage starts with an interaction between God and Abram. Let's eavesdrop↓
• "these things" being the episode in chapter 14 where Abram kicked butt on the 4 eastern kings who came to stir up trouble in Abram's backyard. Once they put their hands on his nephew Lot, it was game on, then game over!
• "Do not fear,...". It seems like Abram has vacillated back and forth on the fear thing. Brave Abram moves 1,600 miles from home. Fearful Abram pawns off his wife as his sister just in case they want her so badly they might kill him. Wise Abram gives the first pick of the land to Lot, and is content living in the dryer, harder environment. Strong Abram gives chase to the miscreants from the east and delivers a devastating blow. But now it seems he might be teetering toward fear again.
• God reminds him who his protector really is - "I am a shield to you".
• And He also reminds him of the promises God has already made to him...
→ 3 parts to the covenant…
1st • Land – God promises that Abram the possession of land.
2nd • A Great Nation – i.e., lots and lots of family members. Abram the childless will have an uncountable number of descendants.
3rd • Blessing – both blessings received and blessings for others that will emanate from his family. Most importantly we understand that the most significant of those blessings is Jesus Christ Himself, and the salvation He provides for anyone who will trust in Him.
2Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”
• Abram responds to the most important aspect of these promises - they can't happen with no children.
• Eliezer must have been one of his servants, born in Abram's home. Abram is reminding God (like He needs to be reminded!!!) of this situation.
4Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
• God first reminds Abram, that the promised heir will be from his own body - his own son.
• He also tells him that it won't just be the one son, but eventually a uncountable multitude.
• Can you image Abram trying to get his imagination around all of this. I mean he is, after all, childless, AND at this time is about 85 years of age. And Sarai his wife, no matter how good looking she is is about 75. They should be great-grandparents by now, not the parents of a newborn!
••• And here it is. The magic formula for salvation. He "believed in the LORD (YHWH)". It's not about how well his behavior has been. It's not about how many times he's built an altar and worshipped. It's not about his ability to keep the Law - in fact it hasn't even been given yet, and won't be for another 600-700 years! It's that he "believed in the LORD".
• What does that exactly mean? This is more than just acknowledging some intellectual assent to the existence of God. This is a 2 part process.
→ 1st - you need to understand WHO God is and that He IS. What I mean by that is that you need to acknowledge that He really exists AND that He is the Boss. The Head Honcho. The Creator of everything. There is no one greater than God. He is in charge, and He is in control. Sometimes it may feel from our perspective that He's distracted or busy on a call, but I assure you, He is there and is paying attention.
→ 2nd - you need to realize that since He is in control, you need to trust that He will do what He says. And for Abram that means that he WILL have that family, and they WILL possess the land, and they WILL be blessed and be a blessing to all the world.
• That's a pretty big thing to give over to God and let Him handle it, but Abram chose to believe that God IS and that He would deliver on His promises.
• And God said that this trust that Abram placed in God is what made him righteous. Not obedience, not effort, not busyness, but trust.
• In the NT, both Paul and James made a point about this...
► Romans 4:1-3 → 1What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
→ Paul is making the point that it wasn't works (by themselves) that saved Abram/Abraham. It was Abram's faith that put him over the top.
► Romans 4:19-25 → 19Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 23Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
→ Paul is further explaining that the life changing faith that Abram/Abraham had that resulted in his justification, applies to us as well, in our belief/trust in Jesus Christ.
► Galatians 3:1-9 → 1You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 6Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. 8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” 9So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
→ Here we find Paul chastising the Galatians for the slipping back into trying to earn their salvation by works. His argument clarifies some of the points of the Abrahamic Covenant, in that by believing not only are we saved (declared righteous), but we (non-Jews) are also grafted into the family of Abram/Abraham. And we receive of the same blessing as him.
► James 2:18-26 → 18But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 24You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
→ We have to be careful not to misconstrue James' words here. He is NOT saying, as the English translation might seem to imply, that works are REQUIRED for salvation. What he IS saying is that real faith will be demonstrated by noticeable actions. I've always said that a change in thinking will produce a change in actions. Will we be perfect in our behavior? Absolutely not. Will we lose our salvation because we sin from time to time? No. Our God is strong enough to hang onto us no matter how much wiggling we do. James' point is NOT that works gets us saved. He is saying that if you are saved it will be evident, or proven, by our works. But we need to be careful when evaluating someone else's works. While it might not look like someone is changing into Christlikeness on the outside; we can't see what work God is doing on their inside. I think it's best for each of us to concentrate on our own rebuilding project.
• Suffice it to say, this is a huge subject. In all of the Scriptures, when we try to find significance for ourselves as to how this all applies to us, this is the crux of the matter. Do you believe God? Do you trust Him to do for you what you can't do for yourself?
► And before I forget - the purpose of the Law. Some tried to equate obedience to the Law as the path to salvation. Historically, Judaism was always functioning in a state of moving toward total compliance to the Law. This was understood to be the way to be with God. Even today, some groups within Christendom will tell you that you will either not be saved, or will lose your salvation if you are saved, if you don't observe certain aspects of the Law. Keeping the Sabbath. Not eating certain foods. Etc. Etc. But what does the Bible say about this?
► Galatians 3:24 says "24Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith."
► The entire purpose of the Law is NOT to help us be good enough to get into heaven.
► The entire purpose of the Law IS to show us how badly we CAN NOT be good enough. If we are going to get into heaven, we are going to need some serious help. And that help was provided by Jesus on the cross. Without His substitutionary sacrifice, NONE of us would ever enter heaven. The Law is supposed to show us that only God can save us.
7And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8He said, “O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
• Abram and God prepare a sacrifice, to ratify the covenant.
12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. 18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
19the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
• And so, at sunset, while Abram was dreaming in his sleep, God spoke to him about the future of his family. A future that included exile (in Egypt), slavery for 400 years, leaving slavery rich, and a return to the promised land.
• Then God performed the steps of the sacrifice BY HIMSELF, showing that God was making this an unconditional promise. Even if Abram/Abraham doesn't live up to his part, God will still deliver the goods.
• And then God elaborates on the breadth of the promised land. From the Nile to the Euphrates. And the space currently occupied by at least 10 civilizations.
► So God has His work cut out for Him. He needs to come up with a family for Abram. He needs to turn that family into a nation. He needs to give them a country of their own. And He needs to bless them so they can bless the rest of the world.
► It's exciting to read the Scriptures after-the-fact and realize, that all that Abram went through, and all that will happen in the future to his family, is all for me. Us. The blessing coming to Abram will be Jesus. Who comes as a blessing for the entire world. If we only believe, we can receive it.
Photo • 10/13/2024 - Sunset near the NM-OK border on US-64
“Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org”
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