Standing on the Promises - Genesis 17-21

Abraham met God in a real way. God grants Abraham land and descendants, but does not place any stipulations.

• ·         To make of Abraham a great nation and to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him and all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham.
• ·         To give Abraham's descendants all the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. Later, this land came to be referred to as the Promised Land or the Land of Israel, however the land specified by the Abrahamic covenant also includes the modern nations of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, and several other nations in the Middle East.
• ·         To make Abraham the father of many nations and of many descendants and give "the whole land of Canaan" to his descendants.

Circumcision is to be the permanent sign of this everlasting covenant with Abraham and his male descendants.[Gen 17:9–14]  Covenants in biblical times were often sealed by severing an animal, with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant will suffer a similar fate. In Hebrew, the verb meaning to seal a covenant translates literally as "to cut". It is presumed by Jewish scholars that the removal of the foreskin symbolically represents such a sealing of the covenant.

17:1-2 “the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

What a promise!  It sounds so simple- “walk before me and be blameless.”  As Abraham received the promise, God already knew the events that would lie ahead for Abraham and his descendants.  Just as we do not have to do anything but “walk before” Christ, and freely receive the great gift of salvation, His promise does not require anything from Abraham in order to receive this blessing.    

What Does the Lord Require?

Micah 6:6-8

⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Are we known by our promise from God?  Yes, that is what I meant to say.  Are WE known to others by our promise FROM God.  We have been taught that we need to be different- set apart.  But why are we different? It is because of the promise made to us that our sins have been forgiven by the gift of His son.  Abimelech, the Phillistine King that took Sarah into his house because of Abraham’s dishonesty, realized that Abraham had something special.  After he and Abraham settled the matter, they meet later where he testifies in chapter 21, verse 22 “…Abimelech said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.”

“I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,…” “… O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”