The Sunday Conversation | with Pastor Luke Okoro | 13. 03. 2022
Genesis 12:1-3; 1
5; 17: 23-27.. Hebrew 9:12..
1’Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.
2″ And I will make of thee a great nation , and I will bless thee, and make thy name great , and thou shall be a blessing:
3, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. Genesis 12:1-3.
When God called Abraham in Genesis 12, as quoted above, to leave his country home to a foreign land, He promised to make him a great nation. And in Genesis 13, after Lot had separated from him, God also reaffirmed the promise to further deepen his trust in the Call. Perhaps God was happy that Abraham answered the Call, because as at that time, men had rarely called upon God. Indeed, Abraham may not have seen anyone who believed in the name of Jehovah as to have a reference or mentor. . But he still tagged along with God. So in Genesis 17, after the mishap of Ishmael during which God separated Himself from Abraham for thirteen solid years, God reappeared to him with an elevation of the promise to make him a father of many nations v 4.
And in verse 6, God added that nations and kings will be part of his heritage. In chapter 18, after He had stretched Abraham’s faith for some twenty four years, He told him hat he would become a mighty nation and that through him He would bless all nations of the earth.18:13. God finally graduated the promise in what is referred to today as a COVENANT. These promises are the covenant blessings of Abraham that Christian BELIEVERS talk about NOW.. In establishing this covenant with Abraham in Genesis 22, God told Abraham that through him ” all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” 22:18. God hightened or garnished the promises of the covenant with such a divine assurance that any believer who puts his or her trust in it would neither make haste , nor be put to shame or ridicule. Such a believer would remain immoveable like Jerusalem,which has remained firm in the midst of hostile neighbourhood. . Jesus is, indeed, LORD!
When you look at events that resulted to the promises emerging into a covenant , God was careful not to have released all its contents in one instance. He added the ingredients whenever Abraham passed its associated test. This is a challenge to us present day believers who claim the blessings of Abraham .This song: Abraham’s blessings are mine , can be sweet and the wordings great. But as we sing this song , it must be clear to us that Abraham worked hard for those blessings before God could trust him with them , hence leading to the fantastic Abrahamic Covenant blessings.
For instance, he waited for twenty five years to have his Isaac. And when he had Isaac, he was tested to offer him as a burnt sacrifice– which he did, but for God’s intervention with a ram. Today, as we sing that song, may the grace to also bear with patience the arrival of our Isaac rest upon us in Jesus’ name.
For a covenant to have meaning , it must be between parties. It must also be sealed with a sacrifice or a blood component which would be spilled to solidify the agreement. In some instances as it happened in the earlier case involving Abraham. Even then, blood was still spilled when Abraham offered a heifer, a female goat , a ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. The big animals were slain to spill blood to meet the demands of God that without the shedding of blood, there can’t be remission of sin. This requirement was fulfilled in Jesus Christ when His blood was shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the human race. Today, as many that put their faith in this simple work of grace are saved. There’s no blood sacrifice again for by grace ‘ are ye saved ” Ephesians 2:8.
What then is a COVENIENT?
A covenant is a spiritually binding agreement between God and other parties. The parties could be an individual, persons, groups, communities or nations. A covenant is usually sealed with a meal offering in which animals are sacrificed with blood spilled, or with blood sacrifice. Either case, blood is applied in it’s fulfilment. Every covenant has God as the Senior or Superior partner. And He is the one who initistes and sets the conditionalities of the covenant. Some have physical conditions , some have both spiritual and physical conditions. Every covenant has a demand of obedience on the part of the lesser partner if God must be obligated to fulfill the demands of the covenant.
What are the demands of the Covenant?
In the case of the Abrahamic Covenant, God demanded two physical elements from Abraham at it’s commencement.
23, ” And Abraham took Ishmael his son , and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money , every male among the men of Abraham’s house,; and circumcized the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had commanded.
24, ” And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcized in the flesh of his foreskin.
25, ” And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old , when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26, ” In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised , and Ishmael his son.
27, ” And all the men in his house, born in the house , and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.” Genesis 17: 23-27.
The covenant gave Abraham a physical promise that he would have a son to be an inheritor of this covenant. This was fulfilled in Isaac. The believers of today are like Isaac, the inheritors of the new covenant through Jesus Christ.
The above development was also the physical consummation and wholesome acceptance of the Covenant by Abraham and his household. This tallies with our Christian belief in the circumcision of the heart when a man becomes born again. Yes ,whereas we can be physically circumcised, the new covenant which was sealed with the blood of JESUS demands the circumcision of the heart, beyond the sacrifice of animals or the physical expression of the circumcision of man’s foreskin. Hebrews 9:12. Somehow too, our engagement in baptism when we receive Jesus Christ into our lives also typifies our involvement in the Abrahamic Covenant.
The other aspect of the covenant was the promise by God to give Abraham the land stretching between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Euphrates. This is also a physical imperative of the Abrahamic Covenant. And it does not matter how long it takes, God’s heritage would definitely possess Jerusalem, as their Promised home Land. The current rage by opponents of the kingdom is but for a time, because at the appointed time the VISION will come to pass.
(To be continued).
Happy Sunday. God bless.
•Pastor Okoro, a revivalist and marriage counselor, can be reached on:
08051000462.
