“And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark,
that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch
that passed between those pieces.” Genesis 15:17
In Genesis 15 God enters nto a covenant with Abraham. God promises to give him a son and make through him a great nation. Abraham struggles with God’s promises – he is old, his wife is old and he has no children. How could Abraham know these promises would come true?
God told Abraham to do something very specific He told him to bring to Him a “three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon”. We read in Genesis 15 that Abraham believed God, He brought the animals, divided them in half (except for the pigeons) and laid them opposite each other so that they created a walkway or path between them.
Abraham knew what was happening. At that time, if two people wanted to make a covenant (a binding oath with another person), they would gather the animals listed in Genesis 15, cut them in two, and then both would walk between the divided animals together. When they did so, the two parties were saying to each other that if that if either of them went back on their promise, then the one who violated his word would become like these animals – ripped and torn apart.
They would pay pay with their blood. Abraham knew this was an extremely serious matter. All day long the ravens attacked Abraham and the animals. (The ravens, a picture of demons, were likely attacking his mind also. They would try to create doubt – God told him to do something but nothing happened – God would not keep His word.) Then something amazing happened. Darkness fell on the land and God put Abraham into a deep sleep. Genesis 15 tells us this sleep was full of horror for Abraham. As he slept, God repeated His promise to Abraham. Then, as Abraham watched, God Himself walked alone between the divided halves of the animals. “There appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.”
What can we learn? In this single act on this one night there are amazing truths that God has for Abraham and for us. First, we watch God put Abraham in a deep sleep. He can do nothing for the covenant – he is unable to keep it as all men are unable to be faithful to God. Second God walks through the divided animal carcasses alone. This is an unconditional covenantal – God will keep His word to Abraham. He will be faithful no matter what. But there is even a deeper insight int God’s act. He is saying to Abraham, if you do not keep your word and are unfaithful to Me, I will bear your burden – I will be torn apart in your place.
As we know that is exactly what happened several thousand years later. Israel had been consistently unfaithful to God. They had broken their part of the covenant. They deserved to be ripped apart and pay for the unfaithfulness with rheir blood. But God steps in and takes their place, The Messiah goes to Calvary’s cross and was “wounded for their transgressions and was bruised for their iniquities”. (Ripped apart!) He suffered the horror in the darkness as the demons
attacked. The promise God made to Abraham millennia before, He fulfilled on that cross at Calvary. We had violated our vow, we deserved to be ripped apart furor unfaithfulness . Yet there was nothing we could do so the Lord Himself walked alone and suffered the horror so the debt was paid and His promise kept.