The Life of Abraham (8): God Appears to Him in a Vision (Genesis 15:1-6)

The previous chapter tells us that Abram had gone to war against the kings of the east and defeated them. Some time after this the Lord appeared to Abram in a vision. A vision is a divine appearance when a person is awake. In a vision a person observes things, although his eyes have not been stimulated by certain objects as it normally happens. Webster says of a vision: “Something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy; specifically: a super natural appearance that conveys a revelation.”

Often the Lord has used visions to reveal His will to mankind. The Lord showed different things and persons to make known what He had in store for that person or country. In several parts of the Bible a vision is mentioned and so it is in the history of Abram. There is a difference of opinion whether the whole chapter is one vision or if we have two visions. It seems to me there are two visions, each on different days, but this is not the most important.

The chapter begins with, “After these things.” These words point to the events of the immediate past. Abram pursued the invaders and defeated them. When he returned from the battlefield, he first met the king of Sodom. He refused any alliance with him and did not want anything of the spoil that was offered him. Then he met Melchizedek to whom he gave tithes, a tenth of all the spoils. At that moment Abram was standing alone again and most likely there was unrest in his heart; he feared, because the Lord said to him, “Fear not.” This is also written in this verse.

Was there reason to fear? Did he not defeat those mighty kings with the help of the Lord? Yes, it is true, but do we not find the same in the life of God’s children? After a victory of faith very likely spiritual weakness or decline follows. And was there not the possibility that the kings of the east would return and seek to take revenge on him, a voice said inside. Another reason that Abram feared could be that he had hoped Lot would return to him after he has been in captivity. Did Lot not see that the Lord was with Abram? This did not happen, since Lot returned to Sodom. When Abram thinks how he had spoken to the king of Sodom, would the king not be offended by his refusal? Add to all these reasons, the Lord did not yet fulfill His promise to give a son to him. Can you not understand how Abram was sorely in need of this word of the Lord, “Fear not, Abram.”

In these words of the Lord it is clearly stated that Abram did not have to fear anything, because the Lord was with him. Did not the Lord say to him, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward”? A shield is used to protect the body and to keep the enemy at bay. Thus, the Lord would be the Protector of Abram. He should not be afraid because the Lord is the Almighty. The apostle Paul speaks of the shield of faith behind which the Lord protects His Church and there they are safe. This shield is a protection against the fiery darts which the Prince of Darkness shoots at God’s children.

When you read Pilgrim’s Progress, then you find that this was also the experience of Christian in the Valley of Humiliation, when he fought against Apollyon. This strife is not unknown to the Church, because every time they are confronted by the three-headed enemy. Do we know these attacks in our life also?

Not only will the Lord be a shield to Abram, which is also a great blessing for him because he feared, but above this God will bless him richly. He did not accept anything of the king of Sodom, but the Lord will reward him with temporal and spiritual blessings: “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

In Genesis 15:1 a reward is mentioned; this is not a wage. When we are hired for a certain job, then at the end of the week or at the end of the month, we expect our wage. For that purpose we have worked. But when a child is asked by his father or mother to do something, then this boy or girl cannot expect a wage because a child will do this out of love. It is possible the father will give something when the job is done. We call this a reward. How is it now with man?

Since we have left the Lord, we are condemnable before God and it has become impossible to merit salvation ourselves. So we cannot expect a wage, but it is possible that the Lord will give a reward out of free grace only. Let us keep this in mind: We do not receive a reward of the Lord because we deserve it. If this were the case, then all would be lost forever. But for Christ’s sake the chief of sinners can be saved. Christ received a wage on His labor: Father, they were thine, but Thou gavest them to Me.

How does Abram react to these comforting words of the Lord? He has a question for the Lord: “Lord God, what wilt Thou give me?” It seems that God’s comfort is too little for Abram. This happens more often in the life of God’s children. Think of Jacob; he could not believe Joseph was still alive. It was too great for him. For so many years he had thought Joseph was dead and that’s why he could not believe this. The same we find with Job: “If I had called, and He had answered me; yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice” (Job 9:16).

So surprisingly we find it with Abram also: “What wilt Thou give me?” Although he had come to such a high age that humanly speaking it had become impossible to yet receive a child, he still could not forget the promise of the Lord that he would receive a son. He asked the Lord that when he dies, will one of his household, one of his servants, receive his possessions? He was thinking especially of Eliezer who came from Damascus. He had an important place in his house. Should he adopt this man as his son before he dies?

We are inclined to say, “But father of the faithful, where is your faith now?” But we have to be careful. Why? Because the apostle Paul writes to the Romans that Abram did not doubt in unbelief: “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief (Rom. 4:20a). Abram’s problem is that he does not see God’s way in how this promise will be fulfilled. He knows that the Lord will give fulfillment, but he does not know the way and the Lord has never revealed it to him. Therefore, the Lord gives him a nearer revelation: Not Eliezer, but your own child will be your heir. How impossible it seems to be for Abram! He knows that for the Lord nothing is too wonderful.

Abram’s heavy struggle is related to the promised Seed of the woman. If this child will not be born, how is then salvation possible? Then there is no way to be saved. All the earthly riches will be too short. Abram confessed: Without Christ I am a poor creature. This is the same experience of the church. How many temporal blessings we have received that vanish in comparison with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. What is the profit if we gain the whole world, but lose our soul? This happens when Christ’s Person and His merits are not applied to our heart. Is this sometimes also your problem, young people? We have to work so hard to get a place in society. Is this the main goal in your life? I hope there will come a time in your life that you feel: When my soul is lost, then I have nothing, really nothing. Something else is more important.

As it is in the life of Abram, so it is often in the life of God’s children — that they need further instruction and explanation of what the Lord has spoken to them. Well-known is the example of Manoah, who prayed that the Man of God would come again to explain what to do when the boy would be born whereof He had spoken. Another example is Joseph, who received the dream about his future glory. Do you not think it was difficult for him to believe this promise when he was in prison? But we read that the Lord was with him and He fulfilled His Word at His time.

The Lord confirmed it to Abram, because He called him outside of his tent during the night and showed him the innumerable stars in the sky. He must try to count them, but it was impossible to do it. The Lord promised him: So your descendants will be. Before, the Lord had promised that his children would be as the dust of the earth. This points to his natural descendants, but when the Lord pointed to the stars, that was related to his spiritual descendants. The Lord assured Abram: “So shall Thy seed be.” What a wonderful promise Abram received! It was not only a comfort for this night, but for every night again through the long years in which he had to wait for the fulfillment of this promise. If he had times when doubt came up in his heart, then he had only to go outside and look toward heaven on a dark night. There the Lord gave him a visible assurance of His promise.

Think of it for a moment, Abram’s spiritual seed, God’s children, are innumerable like the stars of heaven. Among them is the Morning Star whereof it is written in 2 Peter 1:19: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” Every one who fears the Lord, small or great, will become partaker of this salvation and praise the Lord. I hope that also among our young readers there may be many who are a little encouraged by this vision that the Lord gave to Abram and pray daily that this blessing, belonging to His people, may also be given to them. As we see in the sky that there are big and small stars, if we may be one of them, even when it is a small one, then it is already God’s work in us.

Abram did not doubt. He believed, “And he believed in the Lord: and He counted it to him for righteousness.” The catechism speaks of this righteousness in Question 61: “Why sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only?” The answer is: “Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the worthiness of my faith; but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God; and that I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only.”

Our faith, whereby we appropriate the righteousness of Christ, is not as a working hand to merit our own salvation, but it is as a receiving hand which is empty, like that of a beggar. What is written about Abram in this text — “He believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness” — means that nothing, really nothing was included from Abram himself as the apostle Paul writes to the Romans in 4:5: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Abram was justified on the ground of Christ’s righteousness and he received this benefit by the hand of faith. Christ’s righteousness was imputed to the father of the faithful.

The Lord showed His faithfulness to Abram, but he also exercised his faith. He believed that the promised child would be born and out of him the Messiah would come forth. He believed also that in the Messiah his sins were forgiven, and being clothed with His righteousness could stand before the Lord. Faith is like a hand to receive. The apostle Paul has pointed to the special and gracious blessing which is given to Abram. At this moment Abram was not yet circumcised, which was the seal the Lord gave later on of his justification. The apostle asked the attention of the Jews for this fact, that the external sign of the covenant does not mean something of our righteousness, but it is a sign and a seal of it. Therefore, he writes in Romans 3:30: “Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.”

Justification is only possible on the ground of Christ’s righteousness. Christ paid the debt and fulfilled the law. He is perfectly righteous, also as our representing Head. What Christ has done was to the glory of His Father and the welfare of the Church. By faith, the elect sinner is united with Christ. For them it is true as it is with Abram: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).

These words, “And He counted it to him for righteousness,” speak of imputation. But this means also negatively, that somebody who does not believe stands before God as condemnable. “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18b). This is a serious warning for us, young people, to seek the Lord soon while it is yet possible. For Abram it seemed that so much was coming against him and so it can be also when we are young. To confess we do not want to go along with everything today is not easy, but it is required by the Lord that we be a people separated from the world and to confess God’s Name.

This does not mean we are able to merit salvation by our works. No, this is impossible. Then we go in the direction of Pelagius. He taught that the measure of our virtues would be valued to the number of good works we have performed. He taught that a person could come to a higher step than necessary to be saved, by first doing what was commanded; secondly, not to do what was forbidden; and thirdly, to obey the counsel of the gospel. Is this a good doctrine? No, in this way we would become like the rich young man who was a nice boy, but he missed the grace to deny everything for the service of the Lord and the welfare of his neighbor. We cannot be saved by the works of the law anymore, however much it is propagated in our days, but only by the merits of Christ who has given Himself willingly.

The Pelagians did not believe this and this has led to a bitter strife between Pelagius and Augustine. The immediate cause of it was a prayer of Augustine, who said: “Lord, give me what Thou commandest; and then command me, what Thou wilt.” Pelagius showed his aversion for these words and so it started. It is a warfare which has not yet ended in the churches, because man likes to work out his own salvation and he does not want to be saved out of free and sovereign grace. It has been probably a difficult lesson this time, but worthwhile to discuss with each other, doing this with a praying heart.

Questions for Bible Study

1. What is the meaning of “after these things” (verse 1)?

2. Mention a few reasons why Abram could have feared.

3. Give the different ways wherein the Lord revealed His will. Try to find some examples of each. (Read also the Belgic Confession of Faith, Art. 3.)

4. The Lord promised Abram to be his shield and reward. Try to find the importance and right meaning of these words.

5. Look for the differences between Augustine and Pelagius. Try to find in church history the influence of Pelagius.

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain;
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Rev. A.M. den Boer is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed congregation of Sunnyside, Washington.

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