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Genesis 15.1-21 ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars’


This sermon was first preached at the 10:00 service on Saturday 20 February 2016.

Important things

Some things are more important to hear than others, aren’t they?

If someone tells you, ‘this candle is lit’, you might think, ‘oh lovely, I like candles’.

But if someone tells you, ‘this house is on fire’, you would respond differently, presumably by making a swift exit out of the window.

If someone tells you, ‘I love sausages’, you might think, ‘what a sensible person you are’.

But if someone tells you, ‘I love you’, you sit up and take notice.   And hopefully you are able to reply, ‘I love you too’.

I wonder how you felt when you heard our reading from Genesis this morning.   Hopefully you didn’t think ‘oh great, another boring reading from the Old Testament’.

Because, friends, the events of Genesis 15 changed history.   Here God made with Abram the covenant that leads like an arrow to all Christians today, through the cross of Jesus Christ.

This is the passage that gives the two halves of our Bible their names: the ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Testament, or ‘covenant’.   The ‘Old’ Testament is about God giving the Law, and the ‘New’ Testament about God giving his Son – but both begin here, in Genesis 15.

‘Do not be afraid’ (1)

Abram was a prophet, the sort of man to whom the word of the Lord came, in a vision (1).   I confess I get a bit jealous of these women and men who had visions and spoke to God as if face-to-face.   But then I remember, they didn’t have the Bible.   Sometimes they had to wait years to hear what God had to say to them, when all I need to do is open my Bible and start reading.

And what did God say to Abram?

‘Do not be afraid, Abram.
        I am your shield,
        your very great reward.’

Genesis 15.1 (NIV)

‘Do not be afraid,’ the words that echo through Scripture like a golden thread.   It’s almost as if God knows our greatest weakness.   Fear of the unknown.   Fear of future.   Fear of old age.   Fear of poverty – the world is full of fear.   Fear is the opposite of faith, because it exposes a lack of trust.

And so God tells Abram, ‘Do not be afraid: I am your shield, your very great reward.’   In other words, ‘I am your protector, and I am all you need – so don’t worry about everything else.’

You see, God had promised Abram back in Genesis 12 that he would be a great nation, promising him, ‘all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (12.2-3).   Abram had been clinging to that promise, but here he was, years later, almost old enough to get his telegram from the Queen – and he had no son.

In addition to that, in Genesis 14 there had been a big battle where Abram had needed to bail out his nephew Lot.   Although Abram had won, he was now all too aware of his enemies surrounding him, and the lack of an heir should he be killed.

I think he had good reason to be afraid!   But God said, ‘Do not be afraid: I am your shield, your very great reward.’   Look at me, God said, and you will see there is no need to fear.

‘Count the stars’ (2-6)

Now, Abram was a pretty great guy – but even he was prone to that old human response of, ‘Yes, but...’

The thing is, it’s a really silly thing to say to God, if you think about it.   Abram said, ‘Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ (2).

Did he think God had forgotten?   Did he think he needed to remind God that he and Sarai were childless, so God could smack his forehead and say, ‘Oh yes, I forgot, what a plonker!’

But we human beings are good at saying silly things to God.   And he doesn’t mind, really.   I find it comforting when people do that in the Bible, it gives me permission to be silly as well.   And I’m encouraged that God responds with such patience.

God’s reply is to restate the original promise he made to Abram years earlier: ‘Don’t worry,’ he says, and then, he took [Abram] outside (5).   I love that little phrase.   It’s so intimate, as if he reached out, took Abram’s hand and gently led him out, like a parent teaching their child to walk.

So [God] took [Abram] outside, where it was night-time.   (I’m pretty sure it was night time, because otherwise the answer to God’s next question would be, ‘1’.)

‘Look up at the sky,’ God said (5), ‘and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.   So shall your offspring be.’   God showed Abram the stars in all their magnificence, beauty and multitude, and said, ‘Look, I made all of these.   Do you not think I can give you a son?   You don’t need to know how – you simply need to know me.’

That’s something we all need to hear when we are afraid: God says, ‘You don’t need to know how, you simply need to know me.’

Is it any wonder that Abram’s response to this, is to stop talking?   As he gazed up at the stars, Abram believed the Lord (6).   In that moment, he trusted everything God had told him, and he believed that God could – and would do it.

And that’s why God credited it to him as righteousness (6).   Abram didn’t do anything – instead he trusted that God would do it.   That is the essence of faith: trusting in the faithfulness of God to follow-through on what he has promised us.   Even though it may feel to us like he’s taking ages, faith says, ‘God will do it’.

‘Know for certain’ (7-21)

Now despite that moment of faith, Abram isn’t sure about God’s promise to give him the land to take possession of it (7).   ‘How can I know that I shall gain possession of it?’ Abram says (8).

And again, God is patient with him.   He says, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon’ (9).   So   Abram went and got all the animals, cut them in two and arrange the halves opposite each other (10).  

This may sound strange to us, but for Abram it was pretty standard when making a treaty with another powerful ruler.   The two parties would cut the animals in two, arrange the halves opposite each other, and then walk between them together, as if to say, ‘May this happen to me if I violate the terms of our treaty.’

But that isn’t quite what happened here.

Instead, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him (12).   And then, a smoking brazier and a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces (17).   The smoke and flame are a sign of God’s presence – centuries later God would appear to Abram’s descendants on Mount Sinai, with smoke, flame and thunder so that the Israelites were terrified.

But notice this: the blazing torch passed between the pieces on its own.   Abram was completely passive, whether awake by now or not, it doesn’t matter: he was simply watching.

In his day, both parties passed between the halved animals to say, ‘May this happen to me if I break the terms of our treaty.’

But here, God takes upon himself the curse of the covenant he made with Abram, who would have known exactly what God was saying: ‘If this covenant is broken, the curse will be on me.’

There are no terms and conditions here.   There is no small print, no lawyer popping up to say, ‘Aha, got you!’   Abram gets the very great reward (1), and God gets the curse.

Does that remind you of anything?   I told you at the beginning that in Genesis 15 God made with Abram the covenant that leads directly to all Christians today, through the cross of Jesus Christ.

People sometimes talk about the God of the Old Testament as if he is different to the God of the New Testament.   The one is all fire and brimstone, the other is all love and peace.

But that is complete and utter nonsense.   The God in the Old Testament is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, one and the same.   There is no other: there is one God, God is one.

Here, at the very beginning of the Bible, we see God the Father set the terms of the covenant that would one day lead to him giving up his only Son to die on a Roman cross.   Because Jesus took the curse, we can get the blessings of the covenant God made with Abram four thousand years ago.

Are you beginning to see that connection, the line, the thread that runs through the entire Bible?   We will be exploring it in more detail in our Lent Course this year – please come along.   There is only one God in the Bible, like there is really only one covenant: this one.   This promise, this covenant, stands once for all time.

Abram believed

It’s big stuff, Genesis 15.

And so what was Abram’s response?  Well, this time there is no further question.   This time, it is enough: he understands.   God says: ‘Do not be afraid, because it doesn’t depend on you – what a relief! – it doesn’t depend on you; it depends on me.  I made the stars, and now I make this covenant with you, so you get the blessing and I get the curse.’

And Abram believed.   Genesis 15 teaches us a lot about faith.

1: Faith is being sure of what we do not see

Even Abram, who spoke with God face-to-face, could not see the shield or reward that God promised him.   Faith is about being sure of what we do not see.   Although he wavered, Abram trusted God would give him a son, and a family like the stars in the sky.

2: Faith is dealing with our doubts

Even Abram, who spoke with God face-to-face, had doubts that he raised with God.   But – I can’t stress this enough – doubts are not ok.   Everyone has doubts at times, but that doesn’t make them ok.   Like Abram did, we need to share them with God.   We need to learn to focus our sight on him, rather than our troubles.

3: Faith is trusting in God’s faithfulness

When it says Abram believed, it means he trusted not in himself, but in God’s faithfulness.   When Abram doubted, God reminded him of what he had done, bringing him out of his homeland and giving him a new land to take possession of (7).

The psalms are another great example of this: the psalmist rants, raves and complains at God – but then reminds himself of God’s mighty power to save, of the goodness and faithfulness he has shown in the past.

Faith is not a shot in the dark, or a blind step.   Faith means trusting that this God is faithful, this God, who parted the sea, who spoke through the prophets, who rebuilt Jerusalem, who gave us his Son Jesus, who raised Jesus from the dead, who sent the Holy Spirit, who built and is building his church, who will one day renew his wonderful creation, and we will live with him forever.

That, my friends, is the God in whom we believe.

God said to Abram: ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars – if indeed you can count them’ (5).

Friends: don’t get stuck with your eyes down, focusing on the problems and fears of this life.   It’s tempting to go through life looking down like that, so we don’t stumble.

But that is not walking in faith.   Instead, ‘look up at the sky and count the stars’ – fix your eyes on God, and trust not in your own ability to walk, but in God’s faithfulness to keep you from falling.