We left Abram yesterday asking God how he would know that he would possess the land that God had already promised him four times. God’s response is worth contemplating:

So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds…Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land… (Genesis 15.9 – 18, NAS, emphasis mine)

It was a “cross my heart and hope to die” ceremony that God enacted with Abram. The idea was that two people entering into an oath with each other would divide the animals in half and each walk between the halves saying, “May I become like these animals if I don’t fulfill my end of the bargain.”

I will never forget T. L. Sheriden, a friend of mine’s father, preaching on this text. He told the story of the ceremony as I have and then, noting that Abram was in a deep sleep (so he couldn’t mess things up!) thundered:

And God walked between the pieces!

Some promises are unconditional. They don’t depend on my performance – a good thing.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace…In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1.7, 11 – 14, NAS)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1.3 – 5, NAS)