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EFAC National Leadership Consultation
  Gen 15 
  Paper for E.F.A.C. Conference 2001 by Paul Blackham
  Genesis 15
  Jesus Christ, God the Son, stands at the very centre of history. The Church of God before His incarnation looked forward to His earthly ministry, sustained by clear and certain prophecies. Those after Pentecost look back to what He did during His earthly ministry sustained by the teaching of both the prophets and the apostles.
  Even though we know Christ lives and reigns at the right hand of the Father right now, yet our faith is fixed on HIM – on what He did for us in His death and resurrection. Faith is trust, and our trust is in Him.
  In the same way, although the Old Testament Church knew that Christ was living and active in their history, yet they looked forward to the cosmic redemption He would achieve in His death and resurrection. Their trust was also in Him.
  All this is simple and plain, the teaching of the Bible accepted by the Christian Church down the ages. What we intend to do over the next three mornings is simply refresh ourselves in these truths by studying 5 chapters of the Book of Genesis.
  If I may be permitted to tell a little of my own story as an introduction…
  I come from a very strongly evangelical home and I never had the experience of the Old Testament that many Christians seem to have done – that is, it was never an odd collection of pre-Christian books to me. It was always a lively prophetic presentation of the gospel of Christ. I never imagined that the Church of the Old Testament was saved by works or were lost in a maze of ignorance or anything like that. I am very grateful to God for such an upbringing.
  This is not to say I understood everything in the Old Testament, but my expectations were different than those I met when I began theological study in London. I was fairly disillusioned with the historical-critical approaches to the Old Testament that I was trained in, simply because they didn't take the texts sufficiently seriously as the prophetic words given by God to His ancient Church. I didn't realise the urgency of the situation until I began to go to Speaker's Corner in London with my wife every Sunday.
  We intended to simply speak to a few regular western pagans and deal with the normal kind of questions and issues that had occupied our apologetic horizon. However, we discovered that Speakers Corner was heavily dominated by Islam and many of the Muslim Speakers were well-thought out and knowledgeable about Christian doctrine. They knew what the Bible said and how most orthodox Christians understood what the Bible said.
  For the first year we got wiped out every single week. There was no point in pretending that we were winning, because we weren't. We simply couldn't answer the questions they were throwing at us. So many of the pat answers we had relied upon were insufficient, if not ridiculous. As followers of Abraham they had very simple and basic questions to ask.
  What has the doctrine of the Trinity got to do with the God of Abraham?
  Why didn't Jesus just say 'I am God'?
  Why doesn't Jesus know everything?
  Why does He say that He cannot do anything at all of Himself? Is that what God is really like?
  How could the powerful God of Abraham be born as a baby and die? What kind of a God is that?
  There were no end of questions like that. Sure we had answers of a kind to these questions, but it was at Speakers Corner that we realised how unbiblical and how very philosophical our answers were to these very simple and basic questions.
  The standard answer to any questions about the Trinity is simply, "I don't know – the Trinity is a mystery." But that is a rubbish answer. It isn't a statement of awe and worship, but simply a statement of ignorance.
  The truth about the One True and Living God of the Bible is the gospel, as Bishop Lesslie Newbiggin always used to say. The doctrine of the Trinity is good news to be announced to the world, not an embarrassment to avoid.
  The gospel of Christ depends upon the fact that the Real God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There simply is no gospel at all without that fact. There is no gospel in the Old Testament or the New Testament without that fact.
  It took us that first year to realise that we were at least functionally and practically unitarian ourselves with respect to the Old Testament. Effectively we had one doctrine of God for the Old Testament and a different doctrine of God for the New Testament. When we were reading the New Testament we would always be keen to think about what the Father was doing, what the Son was doing and what the Spirit was doing. We were careful and detailed in our thinking about God. But, in the Old Testament we just said 'God' or 'Lord' and didn't bother noting all the details and titles and contexts for each of the Divine Persons.
  We needed to get a much clearer focus if we were to present the gospel from the Old Testament to those who had a very different understanding of the history of the world. Since then we realise that it is not just Muslims who have such a different view of the history of the world. The New Age has many such stories.
  Presenting the gospel of faith alone in Christ alone from the Old Testament is the pattern that the apostles set us in their own evangelistic work. As the apostle Paul said in Acts 26:22-23 – "I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen – that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles."
  Paul didn't have to radically reinterpret the Old Testament in order to present the gospel message. The gospel message is the prima facie message of the Old Testament – it is exactly what Moses and the prophets were teaching. The idea that the true meaning of the Old Testament was actually something unknown to Moses and the prophets not only sounds pretty unconvincing to the Muslims and Jews at Speakers Corner, but it also is directly against the teaching of Jesus and His apostles.
  The issue that we were forced to face was this: did Jesus and His apostles correctly understand the Old Testament? Did they faithfully exegete the Old Testament text? Were they true to the original authors?
  How can the OT be appealed to as the proof of Jesus being the Christ if the meaning given to the OT by Jesus and His apostles is not the original meaning of the OT writers? Surely wouldn't the Muslim or the Jew be justified in saying that it is better to stick with what Moses intended rather than change his meaning to something else?
  Genesis 15-19 have been described as Moses' primer on Bible study. The humblest man who ever lived sets us up with the basic starter pack of truths that explain the basic titles of the Eternal Christ, the doctrine of God and Christ as the object of justifying faith. Equipped with these truths the perspicuity of the Bible is manifest. Over the next three days as we study these chapters together we will see how they set us up for an understanding of the whole Bible.
  Genesis 15 is a very exciting chapter because we meet a Person who is called the Word of the LORD and we learn that faith in Him is what constitutes a person as righteous before God.
  Let's see how it all begins.
  Genesis 15:1-9
  After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward." But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
  The chapter begins with Abram having a vision. It is probably the least direct of all his encounters with the Living God so far. In Genesis 12:7 the LORD had appeared to him to preach the gospel of to him. We should use the word 'gospel' to describe what is promised to Abraham because that is exactly what Paul does in Galatians 3:8.
  Abram already had such a clear grasp of the gospel that he had left his home and family behind to go to a strange land. In Genesis 12:7 Abram receives the clear statement that the seed of Genesis 3:15 will be one of his descendants. The promise that had sustained and excited the Church of God for hundreds of years, the Promised Seed, the Messiah, is given to Abram. Ever since Adam and Eve received the gospel that the Seed would triumph over Satan through suffering, the ancient Church had longed for His Birth. Abraham found himself at the centre of the Coming of the Messiah.
  The Messiah would be of Abram. Abram had been so moved by this that he had built an altar.
  Why build an altar? Was he still locked into the pagan mentality of his grandfather? Hardly – just as Noah had offered a burnt offering of clean animals after the Flood, so Abraham too had to make a concrete statement of his confidence in the sufferings of the Promised Seed, particularly after the Visible LORD had appeared to him to speak of the Messiah.
  Abram decided to live in tents in the Promised Land, not because he was part of a resurgence in nomadic culture, but because, unlike compromised Lot, Abram had his eyes firmly fixed on the New Creation, the city with foundations. Abram knew that it was important to keep his mind on the real meaning of the Promised Land – not only for his own sake but also because of the watching world.
  Lot's compromised living got him in trouble with the local pagans, and in chapter 14 Abram had to rescue him. As the king of Sodom came to make an alliance with Abram, the King of Peace and Righteousness met him to give him bread and wine. We won't spend time on the identity of that Person right now… suffice it to say that the outcome of the meeting is that Abram would not make any alliance with any pagan king. He is allied to the King of Righteousness and Peace rather than Sodom.
  Now, when we get to chapter 15 it is important to remember that Abram has had at least three specific divine promises pertaining to the Messiah as one of his descendants. But, how can he have such an interest in the Christ when he has no kids of his own? That is clearly the issue on Abram's mind – and he is a little uncertain of how he can possibly be the ancestor of the Messiah when he hasn't got any kids of his own. How can the redemption come if there is no Seed?
  So, Genesis 15:1, Abram has a vision of the Word of Yahweh, and in this vision the Word of Yahweh tells him that He, the Word of Yahweh is Abram's shield and very great reward. Abram had refused the rewards that the king of Sodom was offering, and now the Word of the LORD reassures him that he hasn't lost anything. In fact, the Word of the LORD is personally the very great reward of Abram. How wonderful that beyond all the benefits of salvation -- the forgiveness of sin, the rescue from Hell and a place in the New Creation… beyond and far above all that is the greatest thing… The Word of the LORD gives us Himself, that we are united to Him as the bride to her husband. Nothing in life or death matters more than this -- to receive the Word of the LORD as our very great reward.
  These are certainly wonderful words to hear – but they do not comfort Abram.
  Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
  Abram knew that the Promised Land was not his reward. He knew that money was the big issue in life. His faith and hope were fixed firmly on the Word of Yahweh… but how was such a hope to be realised without the Promised Seed? How were the Messianic prophecies to be fulfilled? Abram's impatience with providence has shown itself.
  Matthew Henry, the great early 18th century Bible scholar, puts the issue best:
  If we suppose that Abram, herein, had a eye to the promised seed, the urgency of his desire was very commendable: all was nothing to him, if he had not the guarantee of that great blessing, and an assurance of his relation to the Messiah. He has wealth, and victory, and honour; but, while he is kept in the dark about the main matter, it is all nothing to him.
  There is no rebuke for Abram's impatience. This is an impatience born of faith not unbelief. So, rather than another vision, an indirect mode of encounter, the Word of Yahweh comes to visit Abram personally – verse 4.
  Before we examine what the Word of Yahweh says to Abram, let's take a moment to appreciate the distinct and Personal identity of the Word of Yahweh. Abram meets a Divine Person who is the Word of another Divine Person.
  One theologian has said that there can be no revelation of the Trinity in the Old Testament because there is no Christ in the Old Testament:-
  This may seem disappointing to some, but… To admit belief in the Trinity without belief in Christ will be to confuse irretrievably the logic and purpose of revelation… To know the Trinity is to know the gospel... It is therefore not surprising that we find no clear evidence for such a doctrine in the Old Testament...
  What is so striking about this quotation is the correctness of the logic married to the utter error of the conclusion. Yes, the knowledge of the Trinitarian God is necessarily tied to Christ and gospel faith – therefore we are absolutely sure that the knowledge of the Trinity is an essential feature of Old Testament teaching. To say anything else is to say that the OT is devoid of Christ and the gospel!
  Here in Genesis 15:4-7 we see, without any special pleading, that the Word of Yahweh is a distinct person.
  In these verses we see the Word of the LORD walking and talking with Abram. In verse 5 we see that the Word of the LORD is referred to as 'He' - a Person. The Word of the LORD says of Himself, "I am the LORD…" Furthermore, this Person known as the Word of the LORD takes Abraham outside and shows Him the stars in the night sky.
  This is by no means the first time this Divine Person has been encountered in the Book of Genesis. The Word of the LORD was the main character in Genesis chapter 1. If we missed it when we read it ourselves the apostle John sends us back for a more careful look. Everything that God made in Genesis chapter 1 was made in and through the Word of the LORD. The Spirit of God awaits the revelation of that Word in order to bring life and light and order to the creation.
  Someone suggested that it is simply 'speculative' to identify the 'Word of Yahweh' as specifically Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity. If it is merely speculative then the apostle John seems guilty of doing just that. However, is it really such a strange thing to do? The second person of the Trinity is defined as the One who comes to speak and perform the words and works of the Father -- which is [within the Bible] nothing more than to call Him the Word of Yahweh.
  Again it has been suggested that it is simply impossible to read the Old Testament in terms of the Father and the Son before the incarnation. Although I have only recently followed the commentaries of Philo of Alexandria, already I am excited by the care and precision and trinitarianism of his exegesis.
  No material thing is strong enough to bear the burden of the world. But the everlasting Word [logos] of the eternal God is the firmest and surest support of the whole. He stretches to reach from the middle to the edges and from the heights to the midst, uniting and binding all the parts with nature's unfailing course. For the Father who begot [gennésas] him made him the unbreakable bond of all. [Philo, Noah's Work -- see especially http://religion.rutgers.edu/iho/allegory.html#interpretation for more of Philo.]
  Remember that Philo lived from c20 BC to c50 AD. There have been many explanations for the way in which he so easily and comfortably speaks of the Logos as the second God [the deuteros theos], the divine mediator between God the Father and the whole of creation. Some have argued that he was too influenced by Greek philosophy -- but the fundamental issue that confronts us is that when we see Philo's exegesis of the Pentateuch we see that in Philo's mind there is no conflict between the fact the Yahweh is one God and that Yahweh is more than one divine Person. The simplest explanation for Philo's work is that the Old Testament really does speak of God the Father and God the Son, the Mediator. Thus, when we read the New Testament we are not reading some new and bizarre eisegesis of the Old Testament, but the original meaning of the Old Testament that had been available to the OT saints all along.
  The power and centrality of this Word of the LORD is impressed deeply upon our minds by the end of Genesis chapter 1.
  We meet Him again in chapter 3 – the Voice of the LORD walking in the Garden in the power of the Spirit. The Authorised Version of the Bible, the King James version, is better than the NIV when in Genesis 3:8 it simply says – "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..." The Voice of the LORD God is a distinct divine Person who walks and talks… according to the text of Genesis. Here in Genesis 15 He is given His more common title of 'Word of the LORD'.
  Abram believed the LORD - not the Father or the Holy Spirit, but the Word of the LORD, Jesus Christ. It was Christ who made these promises of the future Christ to Abram. Abram trusted in Christ, as both the Promised One and the Promiser.
  In Luther's unrivalled commentary on Genesis, in volume 3, he says –
  Here the Holy Spirit wanted to attest this expressly, since the promise deals with a spiritual Seed. The Holy Spirit did so in order that you might conclude… that those who accept this Seed, or those who believe in Christ, are righteous.
  There is huge difference between a 'faith in God' and a 'faith in Christ'. Calvin gets fairly worked up by this kind of thing.
  In fact, when faith is discussed in the schools, they call God simply the object of faith, and by fleeting speculations… lead miserable souls astray rather than direct them to a definite goal. For, since 'God dwells in inaccessible light' [I Timothy 6:16], Christ must become our intermediary.
  There is no justifying faith apart from the faith that consciously focuses on and lays hold of Christ. Luther says…
  Every promise of God includes Christ; for if it is separated from this Mediator, God is not dealing with us at all. Therefore the only difference between Abraham's faith and ours is this: Abraham believed in the Christ who was to be manifested, but we believe in the Christ who has already been manifested; and by that faith we are all saved.
  Both the Promiser and the One Promised were Christ. It is as if Moses wanted to double-underline the solely Christological nature of Abram's faith and experience. Genesis 15:6 is the verse that defines the righteousness of Abram – we can see why Moses wanted to be so crystal clear on the matter.
  Jonathan Stephen, in his excellent little book on Close Encounters with the Son of God, makes this observation in his study of Genesis 15:
  Not only is the subject of the Messianic line under discussion, the Messiah himself has been leading the conversation. Additionally, when it says here that Abraham 'believed the Lord', it is the Lord Jesus Christ, in theophany, that he is trusting!
  Abraham is the model Christian in the Bible. Even the unbelieving Jews recognize that Abraham is the standard, the definition of the godly man. Of course, they utterly misunderstand what his example is - yet, even they understand his significance.
  In John 8 Jesus refers back to Abraham as the model Christian - and of course Paul does this thoroughly in both Romans 4 and Galatians 3.
  Let's quickly notice how Jesus and Paul exegete the faith of Abraham.
  John 8:51-59 – "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
  At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?"
  Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
  "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"
  "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
  This is perhaps the most scandalous utterance in the ministry of Jesus. Throughout this conversation with interested fellow Jews Jesus has been expounding the fact that they are not true descendants of Abraham because they do not act as Abraham did. They differ from Abraham in their attitude to the One Sent from God.
  This comes to the climax of verse 54 when Jesus says, "Abraham was really looking forward to meeting me and when he did meet me he was thrilled."
  Some take verse 54 to mean nothing more than Abraham looked forward to the incarnation of Jesus - either in "types" or through some extraordinary insight. However, the response of the crowd in verse 57 makes it clear what Jesus means - "Jesus, how can you have met Abraham when you are not even 50 years old?
  Jesus replies that not only has He met Abraham but also Moses – He claims to be the 'I AM' of the burning bush. We will examine this claim more carefully tomorrow.
  Jesus' grasp of the faith and experience of Abraham is striking. No wonder He has to escape after He had spoken these words. When Abraham was told about the Christ or even met the pre-incarnate Christ, the great patriarch responded with trusting love – whereas in John 8 those who think of themselves as Abrahamites were nothing at all like Abraham. The so-called Abrahamites wanted to kill the One who Abraham trusted in.
  Abraham is the model believer in the whole Bible.
  He had a direct encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ which very few people have ever done – but that is not what he models for us. He models what it is to have faith in Christ. The same gospel that was preached to Abraham is also preached to us – and if we are the children of Abraham we must also believe as he believed. We will never have such incredible direct experiences of Christ as he had [at least before we die!]– but then only a tiny number of the OT saints ever experienced anything like Genesis 15 either. Rather, like Abraham they trusted in the prophesied Messiah – and were thus justified, clothed with the righteousness of that future Messiah. The faithful saints of the OT longed for the Messiah -- the divine Redeemer, who would suffer and die as an atonement for the sins of His people. They longed for the One who Moses and David simply call 'my Lord'.
  The apostle Paul asks us to meditate upon Genesis 15:6.
  In Galatians 3 verses 6 to 8 Paul tells us to "Consider Abraham - 'he believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Understand then that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham."
  The striking thing about this is that in Paul's mind the gospel, as it would be received and believed down through the whole of human history, had to be made known to Abraham if Abraham was to be the true father of the believers. He could not be the father of every Jew and Gentile who believed unless he shared the same faith as all his spiritual children.
  Thus, it is of great importance that Abraham had true Christian faith. As obvious as this sounds, it is truly amazing how often writers have attempted to deny this. Some argue that Abraham hoped for simply some land and lots of children, as if his faith and hopes were merely in terms of this passing age.
  This is very serious. If Abraham was not a Christian believer, that is a saint with Christ as the object of his faith, then we must say that Abraham did not know God at all. No-one has ever seen God at any time, but Christ the Only-Begotten God has made Him known. Apart from Christ there is no knowledge of God, and there is no salvation. Certainly there is no justification without faith in Christ. No-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son reveals Him.
  If this only applies to the New Testament, then the Old Testament seems better than the New Testament! If God the Father was known directly in the Old Testament without the need of a Mediator, then the New Testament seems a regressive step.
  John Calvin has written extensively on the Christian faith of the patriarchs in his Institutes, but it is to the great Martin Luther we will turn for a powerful quotation on this matter, as he comments on Galatians 3:6-7.
  All the promises of God lead back to the first promise concerning Christ of Genesis 3:15. The faith of the fathers in the Old Testament era, and our faith in the New Testament are one and the same faith in Christ Jesus... Paul writes in 1 Cor. 10:4 - "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." And Christ Himself declared in John 8:56 - "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." The faith of the fathers was directed at the Christ… Time does not change the object of true faith, or the Holy Spirit. There has always been and always will be one mind, one impression, one faith concerning Christ among true believers whether they live in times past, now, or in times to come.
  This great truth is the key to our study of the Old Testament. It was the Person known as the Word of the LORD who was the object of Abraham's faith.
  Hebrews 11 arrives at the same conclusion. It shows us that the faith by which we are saved today is the same faith that was exercised by the members of the Church all the way through the Old Testament.
  Moses is of particular interest, because of the amazing clarity of Christ as the object of his faith in Hebrews 11:26 – "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."
  Moses did what he did in life, giving up such incredible power and privilege in Egypt precisely because his faith and hope was fixed directly and specifically on Christ. There is nothing shocking about this verse if we have been paying attention to the actual text of the OT as we have been working through Genesis.
  As we read through the Bible we may find all kinds of different levels of understanding – but we never find any other object of faith other than Christ, the Promised Seed, the Angel of the LORD, the Word of Yahweh. Anyone who trusted in anything else, whether it was the temple, the sacrifices, the land or the king was condemned by the Old Testament itself.
  Genesis 15 stands as the paradigm for justifying faith. When we preach it, let's allow it to speak with the voice that the New Testament heard – rather than the vague and indistinct mutter that modernist biblical studies has heard. There is no excuse for the anaemic generalities that are all too often offered from Genesis 15 – especially given what the actual text says. When Islam wants to know about Abraham's faith, let's turn to Genesis 15 and say what it says, the original intention of Moses – that Christ and only Christ is the object of saving faith. Faith is not an assent to information, but a personal relationship with Christ, a trusting knowledge of Him.
   
  Rev Paul Blackham is Associate Minister, Curate Theologian at All Soul's Church Langham Place
 
              
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