A God of Covenant
Genesis 15:7-17
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. {a burning...: Heb. a lamp of fire}
How many, this morning, know that we serve a God of Covenant?
When I say that we serve a God of covenant we serve a God of promise.
What God has done, He still is able to do, we just have to come to a place in our walks where we believe that He can.
God has made many precious promises to His children, we just have to learn that what He has revealed is ours to obtain.
God revealed to Abraham that he would be the Father of many Nations.
In order to be a Father of something, you have to have seed, and in this instance Abraham had no children.
Abraham was going to trust in what the Lord spoke and believe that with God all things were possible.
The Lord had already shown Abraham this Revelation, but now He was going to expand the Revelation.
We find from the examples of the Bible greats, and our experiences as well, that the Lord has to constantly reaffirm His Promises to us and to strengthen our faith. It does not take much to weaken our faith, despite our claims to the contrary.
Genesis 15:8
8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Abraham ask two questions,
1. What will you give me? Genesis 15:2
2. And whereby shall I know?
Christ is the answer to the first question and the Covenant to the second.
Genesis 15:9
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
The Covenant is founded on grace for five living creatures are sacrificed to establish it.
Five in the Scriptures is the number of grace and these five sacrifices set out the fullness of the great Sacrifice of Calvary.
Genesis 15:10
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
The dividing of the three larger animals in sacrifice meant that their bodies were literally cut in 2 pieces, with one piece on one side and the other piece on the other side.
This signified the depth of sin which the cross alone could answer.
Genesis 15:11
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
The fowls represent the opposition to the cross by demon spirits.
Abraham drove them away. In the Name of Jesus Christ, we have power over demon spirits and as Abraham we must drive them away.
Genesis 15:12
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
God, during this time of sleep, showed Abraham what would be in the future, but also goes on to show that there would be a great deliverance.
God was making a Covenant with Abraham.
Genesis 15:17
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. {a burning...: Heb. a lamp of fire}
When it says, “when the sun went down, and it was dark”, it represents the state of the world now filled with sin.
Then it says, “behold a smoking furnace”; this proclaims the furnace of affliction that Israel will have to pass through, as well as every believer.
Then it says, “and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces”. {a burning...: Heb. a lamp of fire}
The burning lamp passed between the pieces of sacrifice, and proclaims the Word of God.
God went through the pieces.
I have entitled this today: “A God of Covenant”.
How many know, this morning, when something is revealed to us by the Lord, that it can be ours?
Deuteronomy 29:29
29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
What is revealed to us can be ours when we do what The Word says to do.
Obedience to the things that Christ reveals to us to do is the key to receiving these blessed promises.
What things have been revealed to us this morning?
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
God wants us to be partakers of His Devine nature; He wants us to escape the corruption of this world through lust.
I’ve entitled this: “A Covenant Of God” and here’s the reason why:
About 36 years ago, my mother died and she made me promise that no matter what, when I got older I would go to church. She said to me, “Joe, promise me that you won’t forget the promise.”
I told her I promised I wouldn’t forget.
My mom died, and I remember the night she died so vividly.
My dad came home from the hospital. I remember that the wind was blowing hard outside.
Dad opened the door and the Lord gave me a vision, even though at the time, I had no idea what was going on.
I saw a vision of my mom walking through the door in the very dress that she would be buried in.
Satan does not know the future so this had God’s fingerprints all over it.
I was having a hard time understanding why dad was so upset.
I remember that when I saw her, she walked in the bedroom and I followed her there.
Minnie and Junior took us kids in to live with them.
Dad was also there during this time.
God gave me a second vision, even though I never really knew anything about Him at all. I saw different colored boxes; I have always called them power boxes, falling from the ceiling in the living room.
I told my dad, but he thought I was crazy. The only one who believed me was Minnie.
The next day I had a vision from God. At this time, I was only 7 years old.
I saw the power boxes falling from the ceiling, and I saw a vision of my mom going from one corner of the room to another corner of the room in her night gown. To me, it was like she was an angel. During this time, the power boxes from heaven were continuing to fall.
I told my dad what I was seeing, he thought I was crazy, and he was going to take me to see a doctor.
The only one, again, who believed me, was Minnie.
I said all of this to go where I am going now.
The other day I was down at the church praying. I said to God, “God, I would love to have a dream of my mom walking with Jesus.
On 6-24-08, God gave me a vision. The Lord woke me out of sleep and He showed me a vision of my mother. She was wearing her old nightgown, the same one I saw when I saw the power boxes.
I went to sleep and the Lord spoke to me again. I dreamed that I was talking to Minnie and Mary. I was telling them how I had a vision of mom. I told them that I looked up in the sky and God rolled back the clouds. I told them that I didn’t see Jesus, but I saw my mother standing there. She was wearing her old nightgown. As I was telling them, I could literally see her standing behind the clouds. I knew that she was waiting for me. Minnie started to tear up.
35 years later the Lord confirmed what He had spoken to me as a child, mom is waiting on me.
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Deuteronomy 29:29
29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
What promises has God made to you?
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
We serve a God of Covenant, a God of promise, a God who is speaking to us if we will only learn and apply what He is saying.
I keep going back to this dream, I can’t get it off my mind.
Dream 6-9-08
I dreamed that Susan and I were in this room with Jesus, this room must have been in Heaven. All of our needs and wants were provided in this room. Jesus just knew, we never had to say a word. Susan looked at my finger where my wedding band used to be and I said, “Well, at least I still have the imprint there.” I knew that we were not married in the sense of the way that we were when we were on Earth. But yet we were together and we were a family. I walked up to Jesus. He was sitting at a desk. I never said a word and He didn’t either. He looked at me with love in His eyes. He opened the desk drawer and He gave me a wedding band. I knew that we were married to Him. He gave me the desire of my heart.
You see we are not married to this life, but we need to see beyond to eternity and see who we really are married to.
Are you married to this life or are you married to the King?
Are you seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness or are you seeking your own desires?
Closing
Has God made a promise to you?
Keep doing what Jesus says to do and it will come to pass.
God made a Covenant with Abraham and He will do the same for us if we believe.
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams go to our church website:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
Go to the new text page for the dreams.
