Footsteps #60

We will spend the next few days considering the background of Gal.4:21-31.

God’s initial promises to Abram (Gen.12:1-5) make up one of the more powerful pas­sages in the OT. These verses are all about God’s grace. It is God, not Abram, who makes the promises. Abram has done nothing to earn or merit God’s favour, nor is there any indication that suggests that God and Abram have somehow worked together to come up with this agreement. God does all the promising. Abram, in contrast, is called to have faith in the surety of God’s promise, not some flimsy so-called “faith” but a faith that is manifested by his leaving his extended family (at the age of 75!) and heading to the land God promised.

With the ‘blessing’ pronounced on Abraham and through him on all human beings, the Creator renewed His redemptive purpose. He had ‘blessed’ Adam and Eve in Paradise (Gen.1:28,5:2) and then ‘blessed Noah and his sons’ after the flood (Gen.9:1). This way God clarified His earlier promise of a Redeemer who will redeem humanity, destroy evil, and restore Paradise (Gen.3:15).

It is easy to glorify Abram as the man of faith who never had any questions or doubts. Scripture, however, paints a different picture. Abram believed, but he also had questions along the way (especially after waiting ten years.) His faith was a growing faith. Like the father in Mark.9:24, Abram basically said to God in Gen.15:8, “I believe, help my unbelief.” In response, God graciously assured Abram of the certainty of His promise by formally entering into a covenant with him (Gen.15:7–18). What makes this passage so surprising is not the fact that God enters a covenant with Abram but the extent to which God was willing to condescend to do so. Unlike other rulers in the ancient Near East, who balked at the idea of making binding promises with their ser­vants, God not only gave His word, but, by symbolically passing through the pieces of slaughtered animals, He staked His very life on it. Of course, Jesus ultimately gave His life on Calvary to make His promise a reality.