Tonight I want to consider a strange but essential idea that
can be seen in a few places throughout the Old Testament and all through Paul's
writings in the New Testament. It's the idea of the 'one-sided covenant'. I
will be considering specifically Genesis 13 - 15 and Romans 5.
A little background first on what's going on:
Genesis 13 begins soon after Abram and his family have
finally come to live in the land God had promised to give to Abram's
descendants. Abram and his nephew Lot (the son of his dead brother who Abram
had charge over and had raised from a boy), had become very rich in livestock,
Abram among the wealthiest and most powerful in the land. They decided to part
ways because they had outgrown the ability to stay together. Their servants
were fighting with one another daily and Abram grew tired of the squabbles.
Abram gave Lot his pick of the land and Lot chose the fertile Jordan valley,
where the towns Sodom and Gomorrah happened to be. After Lot and his
family and possessions move on, Abram received a visit from God who confirmed
again that He would give Abram and his descendants all of the land he could
see. Abram went to settle near Hebron.
In very brief summary (of extremely important events), Sodom
and Gomorrah became involved in a war and the citizens of Sodom were carried
off as P.O.W.'s, including Lot and his family. Abram heard about it, got
pissed, and sent his fighting men (yes, he had a personal army) to rectify the
situation. Abram's army routed five kings and their armies (I told you he was
powerful) and brought Lot and the other citizens of Sodom home. Abram was met
at the battlefield by Melchizedek, the priest of God Most High and king of
Salem (Jeru-Salem?) who told him he was blessed of God Most High and gave him
bread and wine. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all of the plunder of the
five kings (interestingly, that tenth, or tithe, was Abram's entire portion of
the plunder, so while it was a 'tithe' of the entire expedition, Abram gave
100% of his share).
When Abram returned to Hebron, he was met there by God who
reassured him that he would have a child and that he would inherit the entire
land of Canaan (now Israel). God wanted to make a covenant with him. Abram cut
some 3 year old animals in half and laid the halves across a path from each
other. Then he waited. A long time. So long that he had to drive the buzzards
away that had come to snack on the dead animals. At nightfall, Abram fell into
a deep, unnatural sleep. In his sleep, he was filled with terror. God
reiterated his promise to Abram, foretold a 400 year slavery in a foreign land,
and then "there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed
between" the animal halves (Genesis 15:17). This sounds an awful lot like the pillar of
fire and pillar of smoke which led the Israelites out of Egypt several
centuries later.
So what's the big deal? What's with all the blood an gore?
Why the animal halves? What's a covenant anyway? A covenant can be loosely
defined as a promise of mutual action between two individuals. Examples of
these mutual covenants abound in the Hebrew scriptures. The giving of the Law
in Deuteronomy and the calling out of the blessings and curses from the two
mountains is a good one. The people agree to behave in certain ways and God
agrees to bless them. If the people disobey, God agrees to curse them. Abram
will later make a covenant with his servant Eliezer in which he makes Eliezer
place his hand on Abram's "thigh" (you can let your imagination run
with this one) that he will not allow Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman, but
will get a wife for him from Abram's hometown.
These days, we shake hands. In those days and
handshake was not enough. Covenants were always made in these rather
threatening and somber ways. In the most common type of covenant, the parties
would cut animals in half, lay the halves facing each other on opposite sides
of a path or road, and then both would pass through the middle of them,
symbolizing what would happen to either party if they were to break the
covenant and not do as they had promised to do. Abram was quite familiar with
this bloody practice. He had probably done it several times before.
In this instance, however, the important thing is that God
puts Abram to sleep before he can walk through the midst of the gored animals.
Instead, God alone (in the form of a flame of fire and a column of smoke)
passes through. So what does it mean that only one of the two
parties consummated the covenant? It means that only one of the two
parties is responsible to keep it, that party being God. Abram had no part in
this covenant. God made a promise to bless Abram's descendants and give them
the land of Canaan, and that Abram would have a son through his wife Sarai.
Abram had no role to play, and no covenant to keep. It is an unconditional
covenant and does not depend at all on what Abram does or does not do.
Moving on to Romans 5, we see the language of a second one-sided
covenant (or maybe the true fulfillment of the first?). Romans 5:6 says, "For while we were still helpless,
Christ died for the ungodly." The sacrifice of the Messiah (on the same
mount that Abram almost sacrificed his son Isaac) for lost sinners is this same
kind of covenant. "While we were still helpless" is a great way of
describing Abram in his deep supernatural sleep. He could not walk through the
midst of the broken animals if he wanted to, just as we are helpless to have
any say in Christ's cleansing sacrifice for us. Jesus' body, broken for us (see
the connection? broken body?), did not require our vote. God did it alone,
while we were still sinners. There is nothing we can do to earn what God has
done. We have no part to play in this one-sided covenant. All we can do is
accept His grace and mercy as Abram did and receive the blessings that He wants
to give us.
The covenant has been made. God wants to bless you richly.
Will you let Him?
