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Genesis 17
When do people make
promises? Usually people make
promises when they’re in a position of weakness. Think about it: When do politicians
make promises? When they’re in
power or when they want to get in power?
They’re full of promises before an election. But once they’re in power, the
promises dry up.
But that’s not just
politicians, it’s the way human beings operate. I also make promises when I’m in a position of
weakness. “Sorry Emma, I’ll never
do it again.” “Please mum and dad
buy me that toy, I promise I’ll be good.” (That one was a few years
ago). Usually you make promises
when you’re in a position of weakness.
But into this way of
thinking, the God of Abraham appears (v1). He claims to be God Almighty. In the ancient latin translation of the Bible this word for
‘God Almighty’ is translated ‘omnipotens’ – the All Powerful One. He needs nothing. If there’s one Person who never needs
to promise anything it’s God Almighty.
Yet what does He do in this chapter? He makes 25 promises. 25 promises in the space of about 250
Hebrew words.
Already in this
sermon, I have spoken about as many words as the LORD speaks in Genesis
17. Can you imagine if in the
last couple of minute or two I’d made you 25 promises? The only human beings who act like
that are people pleading for their lives or desperate for drugs or
money. No human being makes
promises like this unless they are in desperate need. But God Almighty appears and virtually
everything He says is a promise. His sole topic of conversation is His
covenant which He mentions 13 times.
This covenant is a binding promise which flows from His
unconditional love – it is a promise to be God to us.
This chapter is
basically God saying over and over again ‘I promise I will be God to you,
I promise I will be God to you.’ And you might think, this is backwards!
Surely it should be
Abram who makes the promises to God Almighty. Surely in his position of total weakness Abram should
come to God Almighty and say ‘I promise I’ll be good to You.”
Because Abram’s been a
naughty boy – we looked at that last week as we studied Genesis 16. Abram had celebrated his ten year
anniversary in the promised land by sleeping with his wife’s servant. (Gen 16:3) Abram had failed to trust the LORD, took matters into his
own hands and slept with Hagar.
Now in chapter 17 it’s 13 years on. As far as we know there’s been no communication from the
LORD, Abram’s just been left with the consequences of this sin for 13
years and then, chapter 17, v1 – the LORD appears.
And we’re all
thinking, yikes! I know what’s coming to Abram. 25 rebukes. 25 wraps on the knuckles. Maybe a 25 point plan for how Abram
can right his wrongs and make peace with God. Is that what happens?
No – 25 promises. What
kind of God is this God Almighty?
Well He’s the God of
unconditional, unbelievable covenant love. Do you see the word ‘covenant’ in verse 2, this is the
great umbrella for all the LORD’s promises. They all spring from His covenant commitment to Abram.
We saw something of
this covenant two weeks ago when we studied Genesis 15. Do you remember how the LORD cut a
covenant with Abram then? There
were sacrificial animals killed and cut in half and arranged with the
halves opposite one another. And
the LORD passed between the pieces making His covenant oaths. And walking in the midst of these dead
animals the LORD was saying ‘So let it be done to me if I fail in my
covenant obligations. May I be
torn in two if I’m not true to My word.’
And of course the amazing feature of this covenant is that Abram
did not pass through the pieces.
Abram didn’t make any oaths.
Rather the LORD promises to uphold both sides of the covenant. He effectively says “If I fail, you
can kill me and if you fail, you can kill me.” “I’ll take responsibility if I fail, but I’ll even take
responsibility if you fail.” The
Covenant LORD loves us to death and nothing, not even our own
failures, will prevent Him from being our God.
That was the covenant
which the LORD CUT with Abram in Genesis 15. Here in Genesis 17:2 the LORD
re-presents Abram with the same covenant. Literally it just says in verse 2 ‘I will give you my
covenant’. There is a done deal
handed to Abram, and he finds himself already a member of the covenant.
It would be a little bit
like going into a bank to start up a new account and they hand you a
form. And you think, ‘Fine, I’ll
take this away and consider whether or not I want to join.’ But then you look at the form and all
the boxes have already been filled out for you. All your information is already entered, they’ve even
signed your name perfectly at the bottom. It’s been stamped and validated. You’re already on the mailing list, you’re already a
member. Abram here finds that he
is already a covenant partner of the LORD.
And what are the perks
of being a member. What are these
25 promises contained in the covenant?
Well the 25 promises refer to four major areas:
There is:
[SLIDE – four areas
of promise]
Offspring
Land
New Identity
Divine Help
Let’s just briefly get
a feel for these promises. First
the promise of Offspring.
Verse 4 is a good
example of this promise: “You
will be the father of many nations.”
It’s a bit of a weak translation that one. It’s more the idea of a multitude
of nations, a crowd of nations.
We’re meant to think of a noisy, jostling crowd. But instead of a
crowd of individuals, this is a crowd of nations. So imagine Wembley stadium, but for
every person at Wembley, substitute an entire country. That’s the magnitude of this promise. Now physically, genetically speaking,
Abram is not the father of a multitude of nations. He’s the father of two – the
Israelites and the Ishmaelites.
Two is not a crowd. But
actually this promise refers to the spiritual descendants of
Abraham. The word for nations is
also translated as Gentiles elsewhere in the Bible. Abraham is the father of the Jews, but
he’s also the father of a multitude of Gentiles. Those from every tribe, nation, people
and tongue who no-one can number.
Or as Jesus taught, there will be many who will come from north,
south, east and west to dine with Abraham in the new creation. That’s the promise in view here. A whole international, spiritual family.
And notice that there
is an emphasis on the kings that will come from Abraham. Verse 6 and verse 16. The plural offspring of Abraham are,
kind of, summed up in the kings.
And you’ve only got to flick on to Genesis 49 to see that the hope
of these Old Testament saints was that the kings descended from Abraham
would be summed up in the One True King, the Christ. Genesis 49:10 says this about the
royal line that came from Abraham:
[SLIDE – Gen 49]
The [kingly] sceptre will not
depart from Judah (one of the tribes descended from Abraham), nor the
ruler's staff from between his feet, until He comes to Whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is His.
All the kings that
would ever come from Abraham and Sarah were only throne-warmers for the
True King from Judah. He –
Christ – would be the One to rule over all the multitudes of nations.
So with this promise
of offspring Abraham is promised spiritual descendants from all over the
world, who call on Abraham as their spiritual ancestor and on Christ as
their King.
The second area of
promise is the land: You can see that
in verse 8:
The
whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an
everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you.
Now we’ve stressed
again and again in our studies in Genesis that this land at the eastern
end of the Mediterranean is not the be all and end-all of Abraham’s
hope. As this verse says, he
lived as an alien, he lived in tents in the land, to show that his hope
was set on the new creation.
Canaan was a token of the whole world which Abraham was to inherit
(Rom 4:13). And that makes sense
– multitudes of nations cannot fit into the land of Palestine. As we know today, just having a few
Israelites and a few Ishmaelites in the land of Palestine is a bit
much! No, just as the promise of
offspring is not simply about Jewish people, so the promise of land is
not simply about Jewish soil.
There are cosmic intentions to these promises.
So offspring,
land. Thirdly, new identity. This is the chapter where Abram and
Sarai get their new names – Abraham and Sarah. Verse 5: Abram goes from being called ‘Exalted father’ to
being called ‘Father of a multitude.’
And, v15, Sarai is a name that means ‘my princess’ (presumably
that’s what her father and then Abram called her – simply ‘my
princess’). But now, as Sarah,
she becomes simply ‘Princess’.
Princess of many. A Queen
Mother if you like. And what’s
brilliant about these new identities is that the LORD gives them new
names well before they’ve done anything to earn them. It’s a bit like calling a red-head ‘Blue’
or calling a giant ‘shorty.’ It’s
just laughable. And Abraham
promptly falls on his face and laughs – verses 17 and 18. Abraham and Sarah haven’t had a single
child, he’s 99, she’s 89 and barren.
But through the LORD’s promise comes a new identity. And even before these new names are
shown to true – Abram and Sarai are re-named: ‘Father of a multitude’,
‘Princess.’
Now there’s a whole
sermon in what this means for us, but suffice it to say – the LORD gives
us a new identity FIRST. He
doesn’t wait for Abraham to sire a whole clutch of kids and then say
‘Good effort, you know I’m going to call you Abraham, you’ve earned
it.’ The LORD tells you who you
are first. And even when that
identity is laughably different from current form, when you live from
that centre, then you begin to live up to your name.
Lots to be said on
that topic but we must move on.
We’ve seen Offspring, land, new identity, and finally: divine
help.
This one is really the
sum of every other promise. Look
at the last half of verse 7: The
LORD promises “to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”
And then, Look at the last five words of v8: “I will be their God.”
God promises to use
all His God-ness in order to BE God to you.
If a crime has been
committed against you and a policeman tells you “I will use all of my
policing powers to be a good policeman for you.” And then a lawyer tells
you “I will use all my legal powers to be a good lawyer for you.” And
then the judge tells you “I will use all my judicial powers to be a good
judge for you.” That would bring
you some comfort. But here is God
Almighty. And He will use all His
God-ness to be God to you.
Jeremiah puts it like
this:
[SLIDE – Jer 32]
Jer
32:38-41: They will be my people, and
I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart
and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the
good of their children after them. 40 I will make an
everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and
I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from
me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly
plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
Can you even begin to imagine
what it is for God Almighty to rejoice in doing you good with all His
heart and soul. But that’s
the stupendous promise here given.
Our covenant God promises to be God to us.
So you add up these
four areas of promise and this is the future that is promised to Abraham
and therefore it’s promised to us, his spiritual descendants:
[SLIDE – back to
four areas]
Here is promised the
whole earth filled with a jostling crowd of nations united under Christ
the King. Peoples from all over
the globe, made new in God’s covenant, made co-heirs of Abraham’s
promise, cared for with the omnipotent power of God Almighty and ruled
forever by our King Jesus.
Looking forward to that future is Abrahamic faith – no
wonder Abraham falls on his face twice in this passage – it is
staggering. But this is the
essence of the LORD’s 25 promises.
And what does the LORD
want Abraham to do? Verse 9:
Then
God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and
your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant
you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11
You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant
between me and you.
The LORD wants Abraham
to be marked by the sign of the covenant. Circumcision is a sign – it’s a
signpost that points back to the covenant promises. And The LORD wants these covenant
promises to be cut into Abraham, to be engraved in his own person. The LORD asks nothing of Abraham
except that he own these covenant promises on a very deep level.
And you’re thinking,
circumcision is an an odd way to remind Abram of some promises. Wouldn’t a post-it note do? On the fridge or something. You go to get milk and you see it
“Don’t forget “I will be God to you.”
And you’d say ‘Oh yeah, Good one, I’ll remember that.’ Why not something like that??
Well circumcision was
a sign that really emphasises the cutting nature of the covenant.
The word for circumcision
is a word that means cutting off.
And cutting is at the heart of the covenant. Back in Genesis 15 we saw that the
covenant is not simply signed, the covenant is CUT. And then circumcision – this sign
of the covenant – is a cutting off.
And it’s a cutting off that comes awfully close to cutting off the
Offspring. (It’s a strange thing
isn’t it, when so much of the covenant depends on the Offspring, the sign
of the covenant is a cutting off that is very close to threatening the
Offspring). Well in fact it is a
sign of the cutting off of THE Offspring Jesus Christ. Something that happened on the cross
2000 years later.
And so essentially
here is what the LORD is saying through circumcision: I have cut you a
covenant and I have given you a sign of this covenant – a cutting off
which signifies the very cutting off which under-girds the covenant. It
will signify for you the cutting off of the Offspring. And so the LORD says: “Undergo the
cutting off of circumcision or you will be cut off.” To spiritualize the language, the LORD
is saying: ‘Identify with the cutting off of Christ. Or you yourself will be cut off.’
That’s just one aspect
of circumcision. There’s lots
more to be said about it, but that’s one basic element.
Now, of course we
don’t circumcise our infants – it would be wrong to continue this bloody
sign of the cutting off of the Offspring when Christ has already been cut
off. Instead we do something else
to our infants.
Paul speaks to a
largely Gentile audience when he writes this in Colossians 2:
11 In Christ you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the flesh
not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the
circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in
baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who
raised him from the dead.
Paul says that we were circumcised,
v12, having been buried with Him in baptism. Baptism is the new testament water
equivalent of the Old Testament bloody sign of circumcision. Now that the blood of Christ has been
shed, now that the Offspring has been cut off for us, it’s inapproriate
to have a bloody sign, so we have a water sign – but it’s still an
important identification with Christ in His death. We are buried with Christ in baptism –
we identify with Him in His death for us. Old Testament saints looked forward to that death, we look
back. The signs have changed but
the reality is the same, which is why Paul can say that a person who is
baptised has been circumcised.
And that’s why historically the Church does not circumcise it’s
infants, but we do baptise our infants.
There is, in baptism, a sign of the covenant
placed on a baby so that, from the very beginning, we live our lives
under the sign of God’s incredible promises. Now as we grow up, we must also know the inward reality of
this sign (just as the Old Testament saints were continually called to be
circumcised in their hearts). But
from the outset we are to live our lives within the covenant faithfulness
of God.
And so Genesis 17 finishes with Abraham eagerly
circumcising himself and all the males in his household. (And there’s 318 men in the household,
so I hope in his eagerness he was also careful!). But it’s an amzaing thing v23: Straightaway,
same day, he wants to own this covenant sign.
I wonder if we have a low view of the
covenant signs? When you read
Christians from the past, often they would encourage themselves by saying
‘I am baptised – the covenant sign is on me.’ When they were feeling down, they would remind themselves
of this truth:
“Before
I had ever made a single pledge to God, He has made cosmic pledges to
me.
“I
was baptised and that means, Before I had promised God anything, He had
promised me the world.”
Circumcision (then) and baptism (now) are
wonderful enactments of Genesis 17.
And they ought to be. They
are signs of His covenant love.
In Genesis 17 the LORD came to Abram in his sin, and He came to
Abram before Abram ever came to the LORD, and He gave to Abram a covenant
of gargantuan promises, and He included Abram in this covenant without
Abram having to lift a finger. So
with us, through baptism the LORD has come to us. And though we had nothing to offer, He
has offered us everything. The
covenant is given to us and in it, all those promises which we thought
about earlier. They are all ours
as the Offspring of Abraham. And
baptism promised us those things before we could even walk or talk. Let’s finish by looking at Galatians 3
26
You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27
for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free,
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If
you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, and heirs
according to the promise.
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