Review of the Promises to Abraham and His Descendants up to this Point
Genesis 12:1-3
Now the LORD had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Promises:
- Land.
- Great nation.
- Great name.
- Will be blessed.
- Will be a blessing to others.
Within these promises, God references a curse to those that curse Abraham.
Genesis 15, Read entire chapter.
Verses 1-3 Comments
After Abraham delivered Lot, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. LORD God told Abraham basically He would be his shield and his exceeding great reward. Abraham asked LORD God about being childless…no ‘seed’; and said that the one born in his house was his heir which was Eliezer of Damascus.
Promises:
- Would be a shield to Abraham.
- Would be Abraham’s exceeding great reward.
Verses 4-5 Comments
…And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Promises:
- A biological heir, by deduction this would be through Sarah (Sarai) his wife.
- Abraham’s descendants would be great, as countless as the stars.
Verse 6 Comments
Abraham believed what the LORD promised him. The LORD credited Abraham’s faith for righteousness.
This verse remains one of the most profound statements in all Scripture. It helps establish the crucial truth of biblical religion, that of justification by faith alone, and it does this long centuries before Paul wrote about it in Romans. All of which helps prove the point that from Eden onward, salvation always came the same way.
The immediate context of the verse helps us understand just how great Abram’s faith was, believing in God’s promise of a son despite all the physical evidence that would seem to make that promise impossible. It is the kind of faith that realizes its own utter helplessness, the kind of faith that demands a complete surrender of self, the kind of faith that requires a total submission to the Lord, the kind of faith that results in obedience. This was the faith of Abram, and it was counted to him “as righteousness.”