God's communications to humankind have been of a variety of forms. At times he has spoken
directly to a man or by an apparition or angel or in a dream or by a prophet. The familiar rainbow
arc is a sign from God. It confirms his unconditional promise or covenant to mankind. Never
again will he engulf us in a worldwide catastrophic flood despite a continued state of human
rebellion against him. God has determined to be patient and merciful giving opportunity for us
men and women to turn to be reconciled to him. (1 Tim 2:3-6)
Many times God made promises of commitment and special provision specific to particular
individuals. These were commitments he held to despite failures in their trust and response of
obedience. In a similar way today when a man and a woman get married they make promises of
commitment and faithfulness which are not conditional upon the total faithfulness of the other
partner though they merit such faithfulness. In particular God spoke to Abraham with a promise
for him and for his offspring.
The Bible as a written record is full of exclusive promises God made to those who trust in him.
God made these promises over a long period of years and they accumulate towards the arrival of
Jesus Christ in whom they find their primary fulfilment. An outstanding example of one who
received promises from God is Abraham, the ancestor of both the Jewish and Arab peoples. Again
and again God promised him a multitude of descendants even when he was an old man without
children. In due course a son was born to his elderly wife, whom they named Issac.
We see the full intent of this promise to Abraham in the New Testament revelation where it
explains this promise as having a universally inclusive scope, ie. people of all races and
circumstances, young and old, rich and poor, healthy and sick, educated and not-so-educated are
included. The necessary qualification to benefit from the promise was trust in God, ie. to have
faith.
We first see this in God's call to Abram (as he was then called) to leave with his family the town in
which he lived, to go to the land God would show him (Gen 12:1-9). God was to make a great
nation of him, he was assured. Abram believed God & this was counted to him for righteousness
(Gen 15:6, Rom 4:1-3, Gal 3:6-9, Jas 2:23). God accounted Abram worthy of intimacy &
friendship with himself. He is referred to as God's friend (Jas 2:23). This was in no part due to
anything that Abram had done or would do but purely because he had believed God's promise.
God confirmed his promise with a covenant solemnly made by the sacrifice of animals (Gen
15:10-11,17-21). At this time he also prophesied to Abraham (as he was called from this point)
that his descendants would be slaves & ill-treated for 400 years in a foreign land before returning
to the promised land. This was fulfilled by the slavery of Issac's descendants in Egypt and the
exodus and desert journeys during the time of Moses.
Despite the freely given nature of the righteousness Abraham received, this saving faith inevitably
resulted in obedience to God's call (Gen 17:9f). Abraham did as God instructed and from that
point on Abraham was willingly bound to keep the covenant God had made with him. It was a
voluntary agreement of a permanent nature.
Abraham was called upon to obey God by apparently having to offer a sacrifice of his own son.
He was ready to do so. At all times God is fully trustworthy & in the event rescued Abraham by
providing an alternative sacrifice himself. This was Abraham's greatest test.
Though this trial may seem grotesque to us, we should remember that God both gives life and
takes it away. And he had already provided to save Issac from death. Ultimately each person must
face death at the time God chooses. However God's promise is about life for all those who trust
him, as Abraham did. Though God's command seemed to contradict his promise, Abraham
obeyed - still believing the promise. He believed God could resurrect Issac if need be (verse 5 cf.
Heb 11 : 17-19). By this active faith, fallible, sinful Abraham was considered righteous by God
(Jas 2:21).
The remarkable faith
Sacrifice was commonplace in ancient religions. In Israel before the coming of Jesus there was a
sacrificial system administered by the priests. These sacrifices anticipated the only truly effective
sacrifice which was to be made by Jesus Christ. In a trivial example, as a husband, breaking his
promise to his wife to be home early for dinner, might return with a gift of chocolates or flowers,
so men would offer sacrifices to God to remove his anger. All the earth belongs to God and
depends on him day by day. We cannot offer any gift to God of something that he needs or that of
itself can win favour with him. Yet God was to teach people to bring such offerings, to be a
teaching aid to them, representative of the one sacrifice alone which could remove God's anger at
man's rebellion and disobedience (Heb 10:4, 12-14). That one to be sacrificed was to bear the
heavy burden of the punishment deserved by guilty men and women, boys and girls. Only God
himself was able to bear such a burden, only he could rescue us from terrible judgement.
In fulfillment of his promise God counts as righteous all those who have trusted in him for their salvation (Rom 4:1-3, Gal 3:6-9, Jas 2:23). This renders all credit to God for his sufficient and free provision, at terrible cost & sacrifice to himself. At the same time it excludes any thought of personal merit commending an individual for forgiveness & reconciliation to God. It makes us totally dependant on God who, after all, is the source of all that is. Christians see God as patient, generous, sacrificial, non-discriminatory even on moral grounds. The promise made to Abraham gave an early example of faith in God that overcame all moral failure prior and subsequent to his faith (Gen 16, 20). It was also a faith that characterised all his subsequent life & choices, not one that sought justification ever after in terms of his obedience & morality. We are encouraged to trust in God and believe his promises whatever our past or future.
Read about God's Law
GENESIS 9:11-16
I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every
living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the
clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring
clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant
between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a
flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and
remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the
earth."
GENESIS 22:1-18
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
8 Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram* caught by its horns. He went over
and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that
place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be
provided." 15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I
swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your
son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars
in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of
their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have
obeyed me."
ROMANS 4:13-25
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all
Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith
of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: "I have made you a father of many
nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the
dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
22 This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.