When God walked through the fire

We have all asked the same question as Abram. How do I know you will help me? How do I know you will keep your promise?

God doesn’t enter into a discussion. He does something that demonstrates vividly that He is committed to Abram’s life.  

“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.” ⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” ⁹ 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.” ¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” ¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadiof Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15 v 7-20)

Abram was told to prepare animals for what was a covenant ceremony, where two parties would walk between the dead animals and commit to the agreement. It was an ancient ritual that we obviously find hard to understand. It was binding.

Darkness falls, and Adam sleeps.

Then something remarkable – in the darkness and as Adam sleeps, God walks alone through the fire and the dead animals. He walks alone in the covenant ceremony.

What did this mean?

God was making the covenant regardless of whether Abram (who was asleep) would fail or keep his side of the agreement. This is a beautiful picture of grace.

You may feel tempted to walk through the fire of the covenant yourself. I mean, you want to show God that you can be a good enough Christian to receive the promises He has given. You want to demonstrate you are faithful. He can count on you. But it is never about your performance. You can never be good enough.

Here is the key point: Your salvation isn’t guaranteed because you have made a commitment, but because He has committed Himself to you. God isn’t concerned that you might be asleep or disciplined. The covenant has been made. He has walked through the fire. He is faithful.