Waiting on God's Promise Part II

Waiting on God's Promise Part II

Genesis 15:4-5 (ESV):

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

I. God's Promise (Gen. 15:4-5).

God addressed Abram's doubts directly. Once again a Hebrew particle, here rendered now (“behold,” KJV, ESV), was used to call special attention to what follows-in this case, the content of God's statement. The word of the Lord came to Abram, but we are not told how. Perhaps it came as an extension of Abram's vision (15:1). This time, “the word of the Lord” included a negation and a restatement. First, God negated Abram's understanding of how things would unfold. Eliezer of Damascus would not be Abram's heir. The Hebrew word order strongly emphasizes God's negation.

The negation of viewing Eliezer as Abram's heir was followed by a strong restatement of God's promise. This promise adamantly affirmed one who comes from Abram's own body would be his heir. The word body refers to the inward parts of Abram's physical body, a tangible way of stating that Abram would father a child at his advanced age and in spite of Sarai's similar advanced age and inability to conceive.

The promise, “will be your heir,” is emphatic in Hebrew. The Lord sought to dispel all doubt from Abram's mind. He knew Abram was an old man and growing older, He knew also that Sarai had been unable to bear children. God also knew He had promised to make of Abram a great nation. Abram did not need to remind God of His promises or worry about how He would fulfill them. Abram needed to believe.

In verse five, God reinforced His promise to Abram by quantifying it in a meaningful way. He took him outside. The ability to see the stars suggests the vision of 15:1 occurred at night, and the distinction between this vision and a dream was not wholly distinguishable. God instructed Abram to look at the sky and count the stars. How appropriate for God to use the grandeur of His creation to underscore the magnitude of His promise to Abram! The added conditional clause, “if you are able to count them,” hints at God's sense of humor. At the same time, however, God was impressing upon Abram just how great a nation He had in mind.

Abram stood gazing into “the heavens,” a literal rendering of the term sky. The star-spangled heavens were evidence enough of God's majesty and power. But God was not seeking from Abram a general affirmation of His creative power. God was seeking a specific confirmation from Abram regarding His promise to give Abram offspring. So God explicitly declared to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” Looking back from a 21^st century perspective, whether one thinks of the millions of Jewish people who have trodden the earth since Abraham's time or the billions of Christians, Abram's children by faith, God certainly has fulfilled His promise. Abram indeed became a great nation, just as God had told him.

II. Abram's Faith (Gen. 15:6).

V. 6, “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

Genesis 15:6 is just five words in the Hebrew text, but the scarcity of words amplifies the declaration it makes. Careful readers might notice some English Bible translations mention Abram by name here, while other translations render the statement according to the literal Hebrew text, “And he believed in the Lord.” The translations supplying Abram's name for clarity are following the Septuagint, the second-century B.C., Greek translation of the Old Testament.

The verb rendered believed is from a Hebrew term that is the basis of the English word amen. The basic thrust of the verb is to confirm something or to accept that it is reliable. When Abram saw those countless stars he confirmed in his heart what the Lord had promised about his countless offspring. All believers who are waiting on God's promises must be willing to say “amen” to them, accepting them as true even when they are yet unfulfilled.

How did God respond to Abram's confirmation? He credited it to him as righteousness (15:6b). The verb rendered credited carries the ideas of reckoning, accounting, or esteeming. Though Abram would live to be 175 years old and do many good things, he could not live long enough or do enough good to merit God's salvation. Yet one starry night Abram looked up at the heavens and decided to take God at His Word.

The term righteousness in this context refers to being in a right relationship with God. God's answer to how He would bring redeeming grace to lost humanity suddenly sharpened into focus. Salvation would come by faith in the word of God, a word the Lord offered by grace and not by anything Abram or anyone else had merited. Faith in God and His provision is the only path to righteousness.

The message of this verse reverberates through the pages of the New Testament. When Paul sought to convince the Romans that justification was by faith rather than by words, he referred to the event in Genesis 15:6 (Rom. 4:3). When Paul addressed the “foolish Galatians,” he spoke to them of being Abraham's sons if they believed as he did (Gal. 3:1-7). In James 2:21-26, James declared that righteousness resulted from believing God by faith. Faith, in turn, manifested itself in righteous works (James 2:23).

In summary, because Abram believed God, God declared him righteous. Righteousness is not earned but is Gods' gift to those who place their faith in God through Jesus Christ, “the source and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

Applying the Scriptures:

How would you compare what Abram did to what a person does when accepting Christ? Read Romans 4, Galatians 3:1-7, and James 2:21-26. Take note of the ways Paul and James used Genesis 15:6 in explaining salvation.