Perhaps even more important was the next lesson which Abram had to
learn. He was led to behold the covenant. I suppose that these pieces of
the bullock, the lamb, the ram, and the goat, were so placed that Abram
stood in the midst with a part on this side and a part on that. So he stood
as a worshipper all through the day, and towards nightfall, when a
horror of great darkness came over him, he fell into a deep sleep. Who
would not feel a horror passing over him as he sees the great sacrifice
for sin, and sees himself involved therein? There in the midst of the
sacrifice he saw, moving with solemn motion, a smoking furnace and a
burning lamp, answering to the pillar of cloud and fire, which
manifested the presence in later days to Israel in the wilderness. In these
emblems the Lord passed between the pieces of the sacrifice to meet his
servant, and enter into covenant with him. This has always been the
most solemn of all modes of covenanting; and has even been adopted in
heathen nations on occasions of unusual solemnity. The sacrifice is
divided and the covenanting parties meet between the divided pieces.
The profane interpretation was, that they imprecated upon each other the
curse that if they broke the covenant they might be cut in pieces as these
beasts had been; but this is not the interpretation which our hearts
delight in. It is this. It is only in the midst of the sacrifice that God can
enter into a covenant relationship with sinful man. God cometh in his
glory like a flame of fire, but subdued and tempered to us as with a
cloud of smoke in the person of Jesus Christ; and he comes through the
bloody sacrifice which has been offered once for all through Jesus
Christ on the tree. Man meets with God in the midst of the sacrifice of
Christ. Now, beloved, you who are justified, try this morning to reach
this privilege which particularly belongs to you at this juncture of your
spiritual history. Know and understand that God is in covenant bonds
with you. He has made a covenant of grace with you which never can be
broken: the sure mercies of David are your portion. After this sort does
that covenant run, “A new heart also will I give them, and a right spirit
will I put within them. They shall be my people, and I will be their
God.” That covenant is made with you over the slaughtered body of the
Son of God. God and you cross hands over him who sweat, as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground. The Lord accepts us, and we
enter with him into sacred league and amity, over the victim whose
wounds and death ratify the compact. Can God forget a covenant with
such sanctions? Can such a federal bond so solemnly sealed be ever
broken? Impossible. Man is sometimes faithful to his oath, but God is
always so; and when that oath is confirmed for the strengthening of our
faith by the blood of the Only-begotten, to doubt is treason and
blasphemy. God help us, being justified, to have faith in the covenant
which is sealed and ratified with blood.
Immediately after, God made to Abram (and here the analogy still
holds) a discovery, that all the blessing that was promised, though it was
surely his, would not come without an interval of trouble. “Thy seed
shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and
they shall afflict them four hundred years.” When a man is first of all
brought to Christ he often is so ignorant as to think, “Now my troubles
are all over; I have come to Christ and I am saved: from this day
forward I shall have nothing to do but to sing the praises of God.” Alas!
A conflict remains. We must know of a surety that the battle now
begins. How often does it happen that the Lord, in order to educate his
child for future trouble, makes the occasion when his justification is
most clear to him the season of informing him that he may expect to
meet with trouble! I was struck with that fact when I was reading for my
own comfort the other night the fifth chapter of Romans; it runs thus–
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” See how
softly it flows, a justification sheds the oil of joy upon the believer’s
head. But what is the next verse– “and not only so, but we glory in
tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience,” and so on.
Justification ensures tribulation. Oh! Yes, the covenant is yours; you
shall possess the goodly land and Lebanon, but, like all the seed of
Abraham, you must go down into Egypt and groan, being burdened. All
the saints must smart before they sing; they must carry the cross before
they wear the crown. You are a justified man, but you are not freed from
trouble. Your sins were laid on Christ, but you still have Christ’s cross to
carry. The Lord has exempted you from the curse, but he has not
exempted you from the chastisement. Learn that you enter on the
children’s discipline on the very day in which you enter upon their
accepted condition.
To close the whole, the Lord gave to Abram an assurance of ultimate
success. He would bring his seed into the promised land, and the people
who had oppressed them he would judge. So let it come as a sweet
revelation to every believing man this morning, that at the end he shall
triumph, and those evils which now oppress him shall be cast beneath
his feet. The Lord shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly. We may be
slaves in Egypt for awhile, but we shall come up out of it with great
abundance of true riches, better than silver or gold. We shall be
prospered by our tribulations, and enriched by our trials. Therefore, let
us be of good cheer. If sin be pardoned, we may well bear affliction.
“Strike, Lord,” said Luther, “now my sins are gone; strike as hard as
thou wilt if transgression be covered.” These light afflictions which are
but for a moment, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us. Let us make it the first point of our care to be
justified with Abraham’s seed, and then whether we sojourn in Egypt or
enjoy the peace of Canaan, it little matters: we are all safe if we are only
justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus. Dear friends, this last word,
and I send you home. Have you believed in God? Have you trusted
Christ? O that you would do so today! To believe that God speaks truth
ought not to be hard; and if we were not very wicked this would never
need to be urged upon us, we should do it naturally. To believe that
Christ is able to save us seems to me to be easy enough, and it would be
if our hearts were not so hard. Believe thy God, man, and think it no
little thing to do so. May the Holy Ghost lead thee to a true trust. This is
the work of God, that ye believe on Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent.
Believe that the Son of God can save, and confide thyself alone in him,
and he will save thee. He asks nothing but faith, and even this he gives
thee; and if thou hast it, all thy doubts and sins, thy trials and troubles
put together, shall not shut thee out of heaven. God shall fulfil his
promise, and surely bring thee in to possess the land which floweth with
milk and honey.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
