A Brief Study on the Covenant with Abraham

Rev. Kim Seong-hun (Grace Gospel Church, Daejeon)

Jesus came as a descendant of Abraham and David. Scripture never records that He came as a descendant of Moses.

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1)

God had a reason for choosing Abraham as the ancestor of Jesus Christ. Through his faith, God prepared the gospel by which salvation is received. God said that through Abraham all nations would be blessed – that blessing being salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. To Abraham, God gave the promises of “seed” and “land.” There was nothing Abraham had to do to bring about this promise. God alone would accomplish it all.

“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)

There was nothing Abraham paid for his own righteousness. It was made entirely by God’s working. When we simply receive God’s working as it is, we too are made righteous, as Abraham was. When I become one who can do nothing, God’s working becomes my faith. Having given this promise, God formally certified it. God called Abraham and held a covenant ceremony.

“And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.” (Genesis 15:8-11)

Abraham asked for proof concerning the promise he had received. God told him to prepare a legal sacrifice of that era. For this, animals were to be cut in half. Birds were not cut in half but had their necks wrung. In the ancient Near East, animals were cut in half, birds’ necks were wrung, and a person would pass between the pieces. Whoever passed through that place had to keep the covenant on pain of death.

The offering is cut precisely in half. A covenant presupposes that the two parties become one. If either party breaks the covenant, the one who breaks it is promised to be cut apart like the animal. Both parties to the covenant join hands and walk between the divided pieces.

Both Abraham and God were to pass between the pieces. But a strange scene unfolds. In the text, it is God alone who passes between the pieces. Abraham’s covenant was a one-sided covenant of grace in which there was nothing Abraham had to do, and nothing he had to refrain from doing. Abraham killed a heifer, a female goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon, and cut them in half. The halves were laid facing each other. Blood flowed from the divided offerings. As the sun set, Abraham fell into a deep sleep. When darkness came and Abraham was afraid, the fire of God passed between the pieces.

“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.” (Genesis 15:17)

Abraham did not pass between the pieces. God alone passed between the divided offering. This means that God alone bears the obligation to fulfill the covenant. It was a firm, one-sided covenant that the LORD would surely accomplish exactly as He had promised. Because God alone passed between the divided flesh, Abraham had no obligation to keep this covenant. Only God had the obligation to keep this promise. On Abraham’s side there was no duty or condition to fulfill. There was nothing Abraham had to possess or achieve in order to receive God’s promise. Regardless of who Abraham was or what his circumstances were, this was God’s promise to bless him.

Every obligation to fulfill the covenant belonged to God. Abraham simply became the beneficiary of the covenant. He needed only to believe and enjoy it. Whatever Abraham’s ability, condition, appearance, or conduct, God had to keep this covenant without fail. Abraham had only to believe that God would give him a son as promised, and that Christ would come from his line. Strictly speaking, Abraham could not help but believe. However much he might try not to believe, once Isaac was conceived through Sarah, God was no longer merely an object Abraham ought to believe in, but a God he could not help but believe.

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” (Hebrews 6:13-14)

God truly wanted to give Himself to Abraham. It was God’s will to give him faith, to fulfill the promise, and through Abraham to let him find rest in God’s own embrace.

“For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:15)

“Seed” is singular – not “many children.” Isaac was a type of the Christ who was to come. For Paul, this seed was Christ Himself.

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16)

The promise God gave to Abraham was passed down unchanged to Isaac and Jacob. The words “his seed” spoken to Abraham are a covenant concerning one person – Jesus Christ. As promised, God gave the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed.

“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Genesis 15:18)

At first, God did not tell Abraham where or what this land was.

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” (Genesis 12:1)

Abraham set out following this word, moving forward without knowing where that land was. First his brother died. Then his father died. Abraham’s wife was a woman unable to bear children. Amid such difficult circumstances, Abraham had no choice but to leave his “country, kindred, and father’s house.” His nephew Lot went with him. A severe famine came upon Canaan. Abraham went down to Egypt and lied, saying his wife was not his wife. He grew rich by the price of his wife. Unrighteous wealth entered his household, and a great quarrel broke out between Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham’s herdsmen. Lot, who was like a son to him, left Abraham. At last Abraham was completely free of “kindred.” Nothing remained to him. Everything he could depend on had vanished. It was then that God came to the hopeless Abraham.

“And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13:14-15)

At last the promised land appeared concretely. God told Abraham He would give him the land of Canaan as an inheritance. “Inheritance” means an eternal possession.

God did not give the land of Canaan to the people of Israel because they had kept the Law well. The Law was given through Moses 430 years after God had already promised the land of Canaan to Abraham. Therefore, the people of Israel did not enter the land of Canaan because they had kept the Law well. Canaan was promised by grace to Abraham 430 years before the Law came down, and it was later given to the people of Israel by that same grace. Therefore, God’s “inheritance” never “comes from the Law.” It is given solely “by promise” – the promise God made to Abraham. It was not obtained by the works of the Law, human effort, good deeds, or human zeal and merit, but received entirely by God’s grace.

“For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” (Galatians 3:18)

If the inheritance were given as wages for keeping the Law, it could not be grace.

“And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” (Romans 11:6)

By contrast, the Law God gave through Moses is not a one-sided promise but a covenant between two parties. Under the Law, if I “obey,” I am blessed; if I “disobey,” I am cursed. My obligation is obedience. God’s obligation is “to bless.” The Law is a promise that both sides must fulfill. But the covenant God established with Abraham was a one-sided promise – a promise of God rooted in grace.

The promise Jesus made to Peter, that He would make him a fisher of men, was likewise a one-sided promise. Therefore, the covenant God promised to Abraham is the gospel.

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” (Galatians 3:8)

God’s promise led Abraham to acknowledge and believe God regardless of his own limitations and circumstances. The gospel is the same. It is God’s one-sided promise that Christ would come, be nailed to the cross to atone for the sin of all mankind, and rise again. This promise is a promise of grace that God accomplishes unilaterally on behalf of sinners. That is why Christ was born of Abraham’s line. God’s coming into Abraham’s heart is the very same as Jesus Christ coming into the heart of one who, apart from Him, could do nothing but sin forever as an unbeliever.

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” (John 8:56)

The Jews did not understand this.

“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:57-58)

It was the Jews who sought to stand before God on their own terms. For them, even faith was a condition. True faith is believed only when God Himself keeps His promise. A willed determination to believe is the Law. The promise was one that God made unilaterally to Abraham, and Abraham stood in the position of one who simply heard the word of that promise. The covenant God made with Abraham was not because Abraham did some good deed or lived a godly life – it was a promise God established unilaterally. This covenant is an unchanging, eternal covenant.

The promise established with Abraham stands in sharp contrast to the covenant later established with Moses.

“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant…” (Exodus 19:5)

These covenants required the obedience of the children of Israel to come first before they could receive the blessings God promised them. This Law of Moses, unlike the covenant with Abraham, is a conditional covenant.

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2)

In order for Israel to become a nation exalted above all peoples, a kingdom of priests to God, and a holy nation, they had to keep the Law God had given. The outcome, depending on whether or not the Law was kept, is recorded in detail in Deuteronomy 28. The promised blessings for keeping the Law run through verse 14 of that chapter. The curses and punishments for breaking the Law are recorded from verse 54 onward.

One party to the Law given through Moses is God. The other party is the people of Israel. Because “God” would certainly keep His promise, there was no problem on His side. The problem lay with the people of Israel. If Israel “kept” the Law, they would be blessed. But if they failed to keep even a single provision of the Law, even once, they had to suffer the penalty prescribed by the Law.

The Law was never properly kept in the history of the nation of Israel. Indeed, no human being in the flesh can keep the Law. From the time Moses received the Law at Mount Sinai, it was never once fully kept. From Sinai until the people of Israel nailed the Messiah God sent to the cross – roughly 1,500 years – was one long continuation of unbelief and rebellion. Not a single person kept the Law.

God, who is rich in grace and mercy, was preparing to send the Messiah to Israel, who had failed to keep the Law. To grant them grace and mercy through the Messiah and so save them – this is the promise of the gospel.

“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” (Galatians 3:17)

The gospel Abraham received came before the Law. The promise given to Abraham was a gift. It was not something obtained through any effort, but a gift received by God’s grace.

Furthermore, even though Israel failed to keep the Law, God still made them His own people. This was God’s love, and His grace.

The Law demanded perfect conduct of the people of Israel. No one can be made perfect by such conduct. In the end, grace and faith are our only way. Through Jesus Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the demand of the Law, we have been redeemed from the curse of the Law. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the promise made to Abraham and his seed – a death in fulfillment of the very promise that through the “seed,” that is, through “Christ,” all the peoples of the earth would be blessed.

Even when Abraham, lacking faith, went down to Egypt to escape the famine, God still had to keep the promise He had made to Abraham. Regardless of any of Abraham’s conditions, God unilaterally fulfilled, of His own accord, the promise He had given to Abraham.

The Law cannot make us righteous, but it has an assigned role. The Law performed a very important function. Like a magnifying glass, the Law maximizes our sin. God confined everyone under sin through the Law, so that the promise, which comes by faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to all who believe. But with the coming of Christ, the Law’s role came to an end, and we are no longer under the Law.

If the Law of Moses could nullify the promise made to Abraham, then God would have done something to Abraham that He would come to regret.

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)

God’s promise is never annulled or added to, under any circumstance. Even after the Law came down, the covenant God made with Abraham beforehand remains valid. The promise made to Abraham is still alive.

In Galatians 3, Paul refutes the mistaken claim of the legalists – that the Law, being older, holds more authority than the gospel of grace given to Abraham. He shows instead that the covenant concerning Christ, the “seed of Abraham” who would bring blessing to all peoples on earth, existed 430 years before the Law. Nothing that happens after a covenant is established can change or nullify it. Since it is “God’s own work” to accomplish everything He has promised, no human zeal or effort is required.

That we receive salvation is grace God gives freely. It is never because we struggled and strove, or drove and disciplined ourselves into piety, that we are saved. The inheritance Israel received did not depend on the merit or works of the people of Israel. That we receive salvation is likewise grace, and does not depend on our merit. This plain fact was proven through the inheritance received by Abraham and his descendants.

In Genesis 15, cutting an animal in half and passing between the pieces was a promise that would surely be kept. In the Old Testament era, establishing a covenant required an animal to be taken and killed. Through the shedding of the animal’s blood and its death, the death of the offering signified that the covenant was established and confirmed.

That Jesus came as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of all mankind, bore the sin of the world, and died on the cross, was likewise a sacrifice made in fulfillment of a promise. Jesus’ death on the cross was a death as the offering of the covenant. Christ’s death on the cross was a death as the sacrifice that fulfilled the new covenant. Jesus’ body was torn open on the cross.

“Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” (Psalm 50:5)

God is not one who grants grace and blesses conditionally, based on our piety, purity, uprightness, faithfulness, or loyalty. This is because no one can be made perfect by the works of the Law, by good deeds, or by human merit. God does not look upon our weakness, our lack, or our faults. He looks instead upon Jesus Christ, who paid the price for all our sins and forgave all our sins, and so bestows grace. God blesses even sinners who are lacking and full of fault. This is grace. Grace was the world a parent longs to give a child. That God is truly our Father is what the gospel of the cross has shown and proven.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the promise made to Abraham was fulfilled. Now the Old Testament only guides us, through shadow and type, toward the Christ who was to come. Now that the gospel has been proclaimed to all peoples, God’s will to save mankind has been accomplished.

The new covenant of grace is far more powerful than the righteousness of the Law. The grace of Christ is far more powerful than the sin that entered through Adam, and far more powerful than the Law of Moses. God’s grace has done away with all sin and made us eternally righteous, clean, and complete.

“For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:26)