The covenant cut
Genesis 15 is one of the most stunning passages in the whole Bible — and most of us have been taught it badly.
Abram has been waiting for the promise. The Father said his offspring would outnumber the stars, but Abram has no son. “Lord GOD, what can you give me, since I am childless?” (Gen 15:2)
God takes him outside. “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them… your offspring will be that numerous” (Gen 15:5). And then one of the most important sentences in Scripture: Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). From the beginning, the Father wanted to be trusted, not earned.
But what God does next should ruin our religion of works for the rest of our lives.
He tells Abram to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, a pigeon. Cut them in half. Lay the halves in two rows. In the ancient Near East, that meant covenant ceremony. Both parties would walk between the pieces and say, in effect — may this happen to me if I break this covenant.
Then God puts Abram into a deep sleep. We have heard that word before. Genesis 2 — when God put Adam to sleep and built a bride from his side. The deep sleep is never random.
While Abram sleeps, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals (Gen 15:17). That is God. Walking between the pieces. Alone.
Abram never walks through.
The Father binds himself to a covenant Abram cannot keep, and says — by his own action — if anyone breaks this covenant, the curse falls on me.
Centuries later, on a hill outside Jerusalem, that exact thing happens. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13). The covenant Abram could not keep, Jesus kept. The pieces Abram could not walk between, Jesus walked through with his own body. The fire pot and the torch were always pointing at the cross.
Today: notice one place where you have been quietly trying to earn what was always meant to be given. Stop. Sit down. Let the Father do what he has already done.