Abraham and the New Land (Genesis 12-15)

 

In the generations after Noah, the world again became populated with fallen sons of Cain and fallen (though covenantally more pure) sons of Seth. God had graciously given a covenant to Noah that offered more social stability. Yet, as the Tower of Babel shows us, the institution of human government was inadequate. It could only delay the destruction. 

 

This is how we must understand the next covenant mediator, Abraham. God was now going to administer his grace primarily to one man and his family who would become “the father of many nations through whom the whole world would be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). Implicit in that promise was a reaffirmation of the message of grace revealed to Adam and Eve; a promised son would come to crush the serpent’s head. This is how we can more fully appreciate the promise to Abraham that “through him all the earth would be blessed.” For through him the chosen son would be born.

 

Not quite as obvious is how closely this promise was connected to the announcement of a new land–what we now call the Promised Land. 

 

Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who treats you with contempt. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:1-3).

 

As I think back to my childhood understanding of this story I now realize that the broader significance of a “land’ was totally missed. There are reasons why my teachers and story books failed to emphasize this. I won’t dig into those in this lesson. Suffice to say, the promise of new land to Abraham was not limited to a piece of real estate in the Middle East. It began with that understanding but the fullest understanding in the covenant of grace would become more fully known after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  For the real estate promised to Abraham was always to be understood as pointing to an eternal “promised land.” This is what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, 

 

By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise  (Hebrews 11:8-11)

 

The promise of a new land was never fulfilled by a few hundred miles of desert. Abraham apparently had some sense of that because we are told “he looked for a city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Lest we still miss the point, Hebrews later tells us this “city” (and land) is none other than heaven: 

 

But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:22,23).

 

In other words, the “land” was always to be understood as an eternal dwelling place (“Mount Zion”) inhabited not only by men but angels and the “general assembly” of saints in heaven. 

 

Theologians will continue their debates over the specifics of the land in the Middle East we call Israel. However, limiting the promise made to Abraham in that way makes it almost impossible to see the covenant of grace in the larger plan of redemption. 

 

And in terms of application for us, only when we better appreciate the words of Hebrews–”you have come to Mount Zion–can the promise made to Abraham Issac and Jacob motivate us to greater service and obedience to God right now. 

 

Therefore, receiving a kingdom that can't be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God, with reverence and awe (Hebrews 11:28).

 

To better understand the significance of the land promise to Abraham and its eternal significance in the covenant,  I need to step back from the story for a moment to discuss the importance of biblical “types.” This is a huge topic and I will just introduce it here.  Paul said, 

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For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:1-6)

 

You will notice that there are several historical events mentioned here, from the Old Testament stories: “under the cloud”, “passed through the sea”, “ate spiritual food”, “drank from the rock.” These all refer to events described in the historical books of the Bible. They truly took place in time and space. However, they had a significance that went beyond the moment in history. 

 

The English word “examples” is literally “types.” If you are old enough to remember old fashioned typewriters you can appreciate what the word means. The tiny piece of metal was embossed with a representation of a letter of the alphabet (in reverse) and when the typewriter key was pressed, the metal type stamped an image on the paper. 

 

In covenant structure, types function similarly to “images” and “representatives.” They all point to something beyond themselves that is essential to the covenant purpose.  

 

Typology is a golden key needed to unlock the meaning of the Bible. For example, in the story of Adam I mentioned that God shed the blood of a sacrificial lamb to make clothing for their nakedness, replacing the fig leaves they made for themselves.  Those new clothes were not only for their present nakedness but were “types” pointing to an eternal “nakedness” brought about by their sin. The blood sacrifice further typified the coming son who would crush the serpent’s head. 

 

I do need to express a warning about biblical typology. It must be used correctly or it can lead to confusion and even heresy.  A case in point is the land promise to Abraham we are considering here. Failure to correctly interpret the typological significance has resulted in many false beliefs about Israel and God’s purpose in history. In addition to the land promise there were many other typological events in the covenant with Abraham. The more we understand their typological significance the greater we will appreciate the covenant of grace itself. I’ll just mention one more for now. The ratification ceremony of the covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15). 

 

In the passage God formalized the promise to Abraham in a covenant ceremony. Abraham expressed doubt about who would be the heir of the promise since he as yet had no son. God reassured him that he would give him a son and then to solemnize the promise God instructed him to  prepare a sacrifice. It involved splitting several animals in two and laying the halves opposite each other. As night fell a deep, terrifying sleep descended upon him and in that state God gave him a vision of the future, particularly what would take place to his children over the next four hundred years (events described in subsequent scripture). 

 

After this, God unilaterally ratified the covenant promise. In other words, Abraham simply watched as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch representing God himself passed between the pieces of the carcasses. Ratification ceremonies were part of the ancient covenant understanding. 

 

However, there was something extraordinary about it. Most often, both parties (king and subject) passed through the carcasses together binding themselves to their covenant obligations. Theologians call this a “maledictive oath.” Literally, “May what happened to these animals happen to me if I break the covenant pledge.” In covenant structure, the maledictive  oath represented the fourth section–covenant sanctions; the penalties for failure to obey. 

 

We see that Abraham did not pass through the carcasses. God alone did. This was a powerful testimony to Abraham that God alone would fulfill the covenant. But, in the broader typology of the covenant of grace, it pointed to the final fulfillment. As God had said in Eden, one day he would send a child of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. The message that his own heel would be bruised was the first maledictive oath in which God promised that he himself, through his son, would bear the covenant sanctions of the sins of the world. 

 

When we fail to see how the type is not the thing in itself but a temporary image pointing to something eternal, we will miss the greater purpose–like Paul said to the Corinthians, 

 

 Now all these things happened to them by way of example [literally, types], and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall(1 Corinthians 10:11,12)

 

As we work through the details of His Story we will see more and more types, pointing beyond themselves to a future fulfillment.   Indeed, each period of Bible history–from the historical to the to the prophetic was part of this typological revelation, pointing to the fulfillment of original promise to Adam.