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12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." ~ Genesis 15:12-16
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 15 where the Lord has been reassuring Abram's faith. Abram needed the reassurance even though God had repeatedly told him that he would have decedents as numerous as the sand of the seas and the stars of the sky.
Our faith in the Lord is much like a seed buried deep in the ground. The seed has a shell of protection around it to shield it from the elements. When a sapling sheds the protection of the seed to poke its head above the ground, it is vulnerable to wind, rain, snow, and animals. But its roots keep it tethered to the ground. And the tugs of the wind and the rain actually help to strengthen the sapling into a tree that can withstand torrential storms without a shell. Our faith in the God of the Bible is much the same as that sapling, it is essential that we go through the hard times because it is through the hard times that we learn of the bigness of our God.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him."
The word used here for "deep sleep" was also used in Genesis 2 when God put Adam to sleep in order to take out one of his ribs to fashion Eve. Sometimes God allows us to go through some dark times in order to enable us to see what is of real value. At the place of self-despair, there comes revelation to the humble soul. When we run from God in seasons of challenge, all we are left with is our own limited ability to cope with our situation. On the other hand, it is through our trials that God invites us to draw near to Him that we might experience Him.
In Psalm 34:18 we read, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed."
Like our need for a surgeon to address our physical wounds, God desires to conduct divine surgery in our soul. God's scalpel is His grace and grace is tantamount to the Lord Jesus Himself. Grace lives because He lives, works because He works and matters because He matters. God placed a term limit on sin and danced a victory dance in a graveyard. To be saved by grace is to be saved by Him, not by an idea, doctrine, creed or church membership, but by the Lord Jesus Himself. And the role we play in all of this is to go belly up with Him as regular as we can.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Then He said to Abram: 'Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.'"
These unsettling things were used to reveal to Abram the future experience that his descendants would have as strangers in the foreign land of Egypt. God gave this revelation to Abram for his descendants benefit more than for Abram. There is nothing worse than thinking that our pain has no purpose. God pulled back the curtain here to reveal to Abram's descendants that He was fully aware of their plight and that there was definite purpose behind it all. Of course, this 400 year period was about the coming time that Israel would spend in Egypt from the birth of Isaac to the time of the Exodus.
In v.14 of today's passage we read, "And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions."
After Israel's time of slavery in Egypt, God led them out of their bondage. And, the Israelites left Egypt with a great amount of wealth. Much of this wealth was used in really goods ways; One way they used the wealth was when they built the tabernacle where God met with them while they were in the wilderness. But, some of that wealth from Egypt was used for the manufacturing of the golden calf that they worshipped at the bottom of Mount Sinai. This, of course, warranted them the wrath of God and Moses. This is the tug of war that we all know to be in us.
Having great possessions often leads to poor decisions on our part. Only when we use our wealth properly is it of any true benefit to ourselves and to those around us. God’s gifts may be a blessing, but we can use them in ways which are contrary to His purposes. The heart that knows the gracious touch of God will make eternal investments which will aid the Lord in the other heart surgeries that are needed in this world.
In v.15 of today's passage we read, "Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age."
God gave to Abram the promise of a long life on this earth along with a peaceful death. Abram lived to be 175 years old. Implied in the words that he would "go to his fathers in peace" is the idea that the fathers were still alive even though they had died physically. Even though they died physically, they were still alive spiritually.
In Luke 20:37-38 we read, "37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him."
God spoke of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the present tense. Since the dead are raised and they are always alive to God, then they are always alive. We are most alive when we are most alive to God.
In v.16 of today's passage we read, "But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."
There are several times in the Bible that we see the concept of sin building up in a land. As sins are committed, they reach a point where there is no longer a remedy for the people of the land and at that time they are destroyed. This is the case here in this verse. There is no atonement for the land which sheds innocent blood except by the blood of those who shed it.
At the same time, in this verse is also an understanding of the mercy of God. If one sin of Adam was enough to condemn the entire human race, then we can see the immense mercy of God in allowing 400 years for the Amorites to live, enjoy life, and hopefully search for God and find Him. Grace was seen in the fact that the Jews are trained as slaves in Egypt to cry out to God. It is when we cry out to God that our pain is our greatest friend.
Instead of destruction and immediately granting the promise to Abram, God allowed His own chosen people to suffer trials while the ungodly inhabitants of Canaan were given the benefits of enjoying the promised land. This was a display of God's grace and mercy to the Amorites. Sadly, the Amorite nation was the chief nation among those in the land who would eventually receive the first and full judgment for their rejection of the God of the Bible. God can be merciful and gracious to us all day long but if we do not take it to heart and turn to Him for His favor, He has no choice by to render His judgement on such a people.
