Why Jesus?
To understand Jesus and His mission, you must understand some of the basic foundations of the OT that prepare for Him. I would like to refer to just two of these.
The first is the vision of Nathan (2 Sam 7, and 1 Chr 17). In it, King David, in following the tradition of the ANE, decides to build a temple to honour his God after his successes in battle. So he shares his plans with the court prophet, Nathan, who agrees and wishes him well.
That night, however, God appears to Nathan and tells him to correct his message. Nathan was to tell David that He didn’t need a house, and that never in any previous instance had God ever asked any of the leaders of Israel to build Him one. Instead, God says that He will build David a house—in order to provide a place for the people to live where there was justice from within and rest from the enemies without.
More than that, God told Nathan to tell David, that he would have a son that would reign after him, and that his throne would be established forever—and that he would be regarded as God’s son—despite emphasizing that this son would come from David’s body. This was a safeguard, as all other ANE cultures regarded their god-kings as sexually engendered by the gods themselves. Even though this son of God would be the son of a man, he would always be human. And as Father to this son, God would have the right to discipline him if he needed it, rather than rejecting the dynasty, as He had with Saul.
We see hints of this special promise in Jesus’ life, when the children enthusiastically sang their hosannas (literally a song pleading for and thanking the king for political deliverance from the oppressing powers), and when He was referred to as the son of David. The people were reading into Jesus’ ministry the fulfillment of the promises God made to David. Jesus became the fulfillment of the everlasting dynasty (house) that God had promised to David—an issue taken up in the book of Revelation, where Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and where His people live and reign with Him for 1000 years.
But an even more remarkable story is found in Genesis. The story commences with the words “after these things” (Gen 15:1). The previous chapter describes Abram’s extraordinary efforts in freeing his nephew Lot and a handful of other captives, and restoring not only their stolen property but also all the loot stolen from the five cities of the plain by a 4-king confederacy. With the 318 “trained men” of his household, Abram stages a daring rescue and succeeds where the armies of 5 allied kings failed. The story ends with Abram paying tithes of his share of the proceeds to the enigmatic Melchizedec. But that is another story.
So it is after this that the events of chapter 15 occur. God had assured Abram on at least two previous occasions (Gen 12: 2 and 13:16), that he would have many children. It appears that that promise was made too long ago and Abram’s hope is growing cold.
Now God appears in a vision and says to Abram, “I am your shield, Abram. Your reward will be very great” (Gen 15:1). The mystified patriarch considers how that could be true while he remains childless, and he’s not getting any younger—to say nothing of Sarah, who was moving from grandmother to great-grandmother vintage. So Abram has begun considering that maybe the promise of a gazillion descendants would be fulfilled through an adopted sonhis young servant, Eliezer. So he suggests this option to God.
But God is adamant. He reassures the aging patriarch that his “very own son” would be his heir, not Eliezer. And he repeats the promise that this heir will be the firstborn of a great multitude. The promise will be fulfilled. To drive the point home, God takes Abram outside and tells him that his children will be as numerous as the stars. Yes, you have heard that story before, but have you ever considered what time of day it was? As soon as stars are mentioned we immediately think “night time.” But was it dark? Later in the story, we are told that the sun was going down (v.12) and later still it was fully dark (v.17). So apparently it was daytime when God asked Abram to count the stars.
The point is made. Although Abram probably cannot see any stars, he just knows that as the night deepens, stars rapidly appear until the whole sky is full. The penny drops. God had promised Abram many descendants, but Abram could not see how there could be any. Until now. Stars may not be visible in daylight, but when the sun goes down, the sky is filled with them. Countless billions. And just as fading daylight enables a person to see more and more stars, so Abram would see increasing numbers of his descendantsin God’s good time. Obviously the time was not yet right for Abram, but when it was, God would come good on his promise. At this insight Abram falls on his face in worship, now knowing by faith that God will fulfill His word. This was not only an “aha moment” for Abram, but “the Lord counted it to him as righteousness” (v.6) as well. Trusting God to fulfill his promises, especially at a time of greatest discouragement, is pinpointed here as an integral part of salvation.
This part of the story gives us insight into why Abram is recognized as a major hero of faith. His struggle is ours. Maybe there has been a time when each of us wanted something desperately. We may even have been convinced that God would answer our prayers. But God’s schedule is not our schedule. He is not some convenience item that we can manipulate to make our life more comfortable. He is the Sovereign Lord. He upholds the worlds by his powerful word (Heb 1:3). We need to trust him to work out the unknowns in our own lives in His time, not ours.
But the Lord is not finished making his point. “Bring me a three-year old heifer, a three-year old female goat, and a three-year old ram, plus a young turtle dove and a pigeon.” Those animals and birds must have been in pens close to his tent, because it does not take him long to retrieve them, slaughter them, and, except for the birds, cut their carcasses in two. There is not much daylight left, but Abram is able to complete the task quickly. He then lines the pieces in two rows, opposite each other, forming an alleyway or corridor. This of course is an open invitation to the birds of prey in the area. The smell of freshly slaughtered meat attracts many of them, and Abram soon finds himself surrounded by hungry vultures. Again there is a delay in God’s schedule, and Abram diligently engages in “busy work” maybe wondering why God didn’t take the next step in this exercise. He vigorously (and successfully) fights off the birds of prey until at last collapsing in an exhausted sleep to the ground (v.11, 12). At least he has preserved the sacrifice that God had asked him to prepare.
Darkness is still approaching, but it has not completely fallen yet, so Abram’s sleep is only a power nap, maybe no more than five to ten minutes. He is startled awake by God’s voice, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be servants there…for 400 years.” God is giving Abram a fast-forward glimpse into the future assuring the old patriarch that even though his descendants will face tough times, they will return to their own land greatly multiplied in numbers and possessions (v.13, 14). It all adds weight to the certainty of Abram having children.
The descriptions of the slavery and affliction of Abram’s descendants bring a human face to the situationa reality check. God specializes in dealing with ordinary human beings with extraordinary struggles.
When it is fully dark (v.17), the most amazing thing happens. A “pillar” of smoke and fire passes through the alleyway of animal pieces, traveling slowly from one end to the other. It is surreal, and probably causes the hairs on the back of Abram’s neck to stand on end. He is observing something very strange and unexpected. Not only does he recognize the presence of the Almighty but also being a child of his times he is fully aware of the full significance of what he is seeing. And as the scene unfolds he is probably utterly dumb-struck. About the only familiar element to us in this story is the pillar of cloud and fire from the Exodus story (Ex 13:21), but that is hundreds of years later. The rest of the story seems very foreign. What is going on exactly?
In the ancient world at that time, there was a ritual (most clearly recorded by the Hittites) that formalized a treaty between two kings. In those days there were no countries, as we know them, just confederacies of city-states. If one of these smaller states was concerned about its “international” security, it had the option to join forces with a powerful neighbor. So a treaty was formalized between the king of a small city-state (a vassal king) and the king of a super-power (a suzerain king). Some of these confederacies grew quite large until they reached empire status.
The treaty was formalized by a series of festivals and ceremonies and a legal contract was drawn up. The climax of the ceremonial proceedings was when the vassal king (the little guy) would walk through an alleyway of animal halves, while the suzerain king (the big guy) surrounded by his officials, would look on approvingly. The point? The little king was signing his life away in front of the powerful leader (and many witnesses), that if he ever did anything to break the treaty, he deserved to be put to death—sacrificed like the animals he was walking between.
Abram had already shown himself to be a king of sorts, and a highly skilled military tactician. He was very highly respected by the kings of the Valley after he defeated Chedorlaomer and his confederacy of four kings of the East and had retrieved plunder taken by them. With his tiny force (Gen 14:14), he defied the odds and routed an enemy of superior strength. When Abram subsequently returned tithes to God instead of taking the spoils of war for himself, he was acknowledging God as his supreme commander. In other words, he recognized God as the suzerain, and himself the as vassal.
So why did the suzerain God go through the split-animal alleyway when it should have been Abram the vassal doing that? God was simply declaring that he has taken personal responsibility for the success of the plan of salvation. He assures us that the covenant is not based on human faithfulness. And we need to know that! As we read the history of Abram’s descendants we notice that they are known more for their failings than for their successes. And we know that it is not only Abram’s descendants that vacillated between the very bad and the very good. We need to be reminded that our salvation is not dependant upon human ability or action, but upon the action of One who came as a man to fulfill all the legal requirements of the divine-human treaty. And instead of each of us having to suffer the consequences of human infidelity, God promised that he would do that for us.
Although Abram’s faith in God was strong, that of his future children would be a lot less certain. If there was to be any future hope for the people of God there had to be something more definite than the good intentions of a weak-minded people. If God’s people are to have a glorious future, then God Himself must be prepared to take the consequences of the broken covenant. In other words, by passing between the pieces God sealed an oath with Abram that if ever the covenant between them was broken, God himself would put his life on the line.
And He did—at Calvary.
