How many of you remember the game show that used to be on TV called “Let’s make a deal”? I believe it was Monty Hall who would tempt people with what was behind different doors, or he would show them a wad of cash and say you can have the cash or choose what’s behind door number 3.
He would always be trying to offer more than you had already won, but there was always risk involved. Many people think that God is not a deal maker, but that’s far from the truth. He was making deals and covenants with people and Satan since the beginning of humanity.
My way, or the fruit; my way or the flood; my way or hell. “Satan, you can do whatever you want to Job just don’t kill him.” God always gives choices but the difference is that his promises are reliable and there is no risk if we choose what he offers versus what Monty Hall or the world offers.
Today I want to give you what may have been Abraham’s experience as God made deals with him through chapters 15, 17, and 18 of Genesis. Let’s see what it might have been like from Abraham’s perspective as if he were alive to tell the story today.
Not long after I had defeated these kings with the Lord’s help, and received the blessing from this Melchizedek fellow, I began feeling a little worried that at some point they were going to gang up and try to get there stuff back and kick me out the country.
Then, right on cue, God came to me in a vision and said “don’t be scared, for I will protect you and your reward will be great.” Well to be honest I was getting a little tired of these promises and I said, “Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? You haven’t given me any kids so I’m going to have to give all I have to my servant Eliezer. One of my servants will be my heir.”
But God said, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own.” I was thinking, yeah right, do you know how old Sarai and me are? But then God took me outside and showed me the stars and said, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
I don’t know why, but as I marveled at the heavens something inside me made me believe him again.
Then he said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” But I replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that I will actually possess it and keep it?” I was really trying to keep hope alive in spite of what I was seeing and feeling.
So then he told me, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
So what was I gonna do? Well I went and got all these things and killed them. Then I cut each animal down the middle, and as per our custom, laid the halves side by side; everything except the birds. Then I just waited for hours while these pesky vultures kept swooping down to eat the carcasses, but I managed to chase them away.
I wonder if God was showing me that I must have patience, that the promise might not be fulfilled right away. I bet those vultures represented Satan’s attempts to ruin God’s promise, to make me give up.
The sun started to go down and I thought it was a good time for a nap, and wow did I ever zonk out, but this really terrifying darkness like death, seemed to come over me. Then the Lord said again, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.”
Little did I know that Moses would be bringing our people out of Egypt about 400 years later.
“But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
Whoa I thought, that doesn’t sound all great, but I knew that my doubt was going to catch up with me sooner or later. God has little patience with our doubt. Then all of the sudden a flaming torch and smoking firepot passed between the halves of the carcasses I laid out, and the Lord made a covenant with me saying, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River”
— the land now occupied by all these “ites” the Termites, Satellites, Parasites and a bunch of others.
Unbelievable that God was going to give these sinful cultures 400 years to repent, He really doesn’t want anyone to perish.
After this I was thinking, what do I have to do to make this come about? What’s the deal? Then I realized, that this was a one way covenant. God doesn’t need me to do anything, this is a promise that is completely dependent on Him.
Now I’m just going to skip over the whole Sarai, Hagar thing until next time, but let’s just say I made a whoops. Hey I’m was only 86, I didn’t know it all yet.
Let me jump ahead a bit, I’m 99 now and I hadn’t heard from the Lord for a while when suddenly he appeared and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”
I guess I did need a reminder to be totally dedicated to God. Then I thought, yeah that’s the deal you told me about twenty years ago, but this time I really felt he meant it and I fell face down on the ground in front of God Almighty. I knew that it would be impossible for us to have children now without him doing it miraculously. I guess deep down I still believed.
Then God said to me, “This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!”
OK, he means business now, he’s even changing my name. I knew that it meant Father of many Nations. Then he said, “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”
This time though he gave me some terms that I needed to obey. I had to walk before Him and be blameless, no easy feat. Then He said “you and all your male descendents must be circumcised on the eighth day after birth”. He said this would be the mark of the everlasting covenant. But I thought, nobody else is going to see this mark, but I guess that was the whole point, it’s between us and God.
I guess circumcision makes sense considering sexual sin is so rampant around here, this will definitely set us apart, but I thought to myself, couldn’t it be a rainbow, or maybe a tattoo, does it have to be circumcision? But I was smart enough to keep these thoughts myself.
Then he said, “Oh yeah, and from now on your wife’s name will be Sarah (she’s still my princess), and yes I will bless her and give you a son from her and kings of nations will be amoung her descendents.”
I just sat there laughing with joy and surprise, how can us old coots have children now? But now I really believed. But then I thought about Ishmael, he has been my only son, so I pleaded “May Ishmael my son from Hagar live under your special blessing.”
But God boomed out “NO! Sarah will have a son and you’re going to call him Isaac. My covenant will be confirmed with Isaac who will be born about this time next year.”
What did you say his name was going to be? God just laughed. No really what do you want me to call him? He just kept laughing. Then I got it, Isaac means “he laughs”. Good one God.
Then he also said he would bless Ishmael as well, like I asked, saying “He will be very fruitful and will be the father of twelve princes.”
Well let me tell you, the rest of that day wasn’t much fun. We all got circumcised, do you know what that’s like when you’re 99 years old? Believe me we didn’t have medical equipment like you do today. Not fun.
A while later I was getting some fresh air at the door of my tent and the Lord appeared again, looking just like Melchizedek, and this time he was with two other guys. As soon as I saw them I couldn’t believe it so I ran to them and bowed before them.
I begged them to stick around and have some food with us and I would wash their feet. After all Scripture says “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels.” They said “why not” and had a seat.
This was so exciting, I’m not sure if the two men with the Lord were angels or not, but I wondered if this was the Trinity standing before me. Anyway I ran into the tent and told Sarah to quickly make some cakes, then I ran out to the herd and took a tender and good calf and had it prepared. I had so much adrenaline flowing through me, I think I could have butchered that calf with my bare hands. I was afraid they would disappear if I didn’t hurry, and maybe they had something to say about the covenant.
Soon enough I had curds and milk and the calf, and I stood waiting to serve as they ate under the tree. I was thinking to myself, these guys have those bodies that seem to appear and disappear, probably like our heavenly bodies will be, yet they still eat. Oh how I hoped that was true. The steak in heaven is probably amazing.
They said to me as if with one voice, “Where is your wife Sarah?” The one who I now know was Jesus who came as Melchizedek earlier, said “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.”
Sarah was listening at the door and apparently let out a laugh when she heard this. Hard not to when we were both so old. I couldn’t hear it but apparently God could because he then asked, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard or wonderful for me?”
But Sarah who hadn’t had as many run ins with God as I had opened her big mouth and said, “I didn’t laugh”, and the Lord just said “yes you did.” I was thinking, honey, you don’t want to get into an argument with this guy, and fortunately she didn’t say anything more.
The three men just sort of got up and looked down toward Sodom, so as they were leaving I went to send them on their way. The Lord said to the other two guys, “Should I hide what I’m about to do seeing that Abraham is going to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed in him?
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that I may bring Abraham what I promised him.”
Wow, God really does consider me His friend. Then he said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done what I have heard about. And if not, I will know.”
That sounded odd, this is God, doesn’t he already know what’s going on down there. I thought, maybe he’s giving me a chance to plead for Lot who is back in that cesspool. Can you believe these people? They saw the Lord spare them from the ruling kings through my tiny army, they heard Melchizedek’s testimony, but still they choose to disgust the Lord. I can’t believe Lot went back there, once you have tasted the drug it’s hard not to relapse I guess, but he is my kin and I don’t want him to perish.
The other two guys started walking but the Lord stayed with me for a while and I asked him, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked down there? What if there are fifty good people in the city, will you spare them? You wouldn’t kill them would you, are you not the just Judge of all the earth?”
God said, “If I find fifty righteous folks there, I’ll spare the whole place for their sake.” You know I really was just worried about Lot and his family and it seemed like the Lord was willing to deal so I humbly asked, “How about 45?” He said OK. It was starting to sound like an auction so I said, “Don’t be angry with me but what if there are thirty good ones?”
He was still looking pretty patient so I just kept going and eventually got him down to ten and then he took off. But you know what, I wasn’t sure there would even be ten righteous people in Sodom. I was really worried about my nephew Lot, hopefully I had pleaded enough to at least spare him and his family.
This made me realize though that God is merciful, and that if there is even a tiny remnant of righteous people who follow him, he is patient to spare the rest and give the remnant a chance to bring His message to them.
That night I had a hard time sleeping. I was thinking, who am I that God keeps coming to me and making these deals with me. Are we really going to have a son by this time next year, is this land really going to be ours, does God really make deals for people’s lives? What choice do I have but to believe Him? I might as well stop thinking about it and just trust Him, what have I got to lose?
You know later they write about me in the Bible and put me in this so-called hall of fame of faith. But the truth is, I always had a grain of doubt when I followed God and heard his promises. But really what else could I do but believe him?
I left everything behind when I chose to follow Him, then I got scared and decided to try my own thing by going to Egypt. What a disaster that was. But God always provided for me and my family even when we messed up. Where else was I going to turn? When I left my fathers house and followed God, I didn’t really know it then, but that decision meant I had to be completely in His hands.
I couldn’t say yes God, and then at some point turn back, he had already taken me too far, so I had to depend on Him. And I guess when I think about it, even with all my fear and doubt, He has always taken care of us. He is the only one who never failed us.
So do I deserve this label as a hero of the faith? I don’t think so, to be honest I see my screw ups more than my successes, but I have to say that as I have witnessed human history, and the coming of Christ, and the writing of the Bible, I guess I did show more faith with less evidence than most people who have called themselves children of God.
I’m up here in heaven praying for you with Jesus and the rest of the gang everyday, and I can tell you now without a doubt that you can trust the Lord with everything. I have seen what is being prepared for you, and believe me, you don’t want to miss it.
God has made a great deal with you folks. It saddens me to see so many take advantage of the deal or just kind of ignore it. I’m begging you, don’t do that. Your part of the deal is so tiny compared to what you have gotten and are going to get. Please just keep your part as best you can and I’ll see you soon.
Questions for contemplation:
Have you ever tried to make a deal with God? What was the outcome?
Do you believe His promises in the Bible beyond a shadow of a doubt? If not, Why?
How would you respond if Jesus showed up your house today?
How do you know for sure that you are a Christian destined for heaven?
