14. Abraham’s Covenant Dream
Dream Setting / Backstory
* * *
Twenty generations after Adam and Eve things were in a really bad state. Fallen angels were breeding with the daughters of men and producing giants. God wasn’t happy. He said,
I will wipe from the face of the earth the
human race I have created and with
them the animals, the birds and the
creatures that move along the ground for
I regret that I have made them. [1]
God then judged the earth by a flood and began a new generation through his friend Noah. Four hundred years later Noah’s descendants had once again abandoned God and were worshipping the sun, the moon, the stars and the signs of the Zodiac in a tower built by giants in the land of Shinar. [2]
They all spoke the same language but none spoke with God.
Again God wasn’t happy. He destroyed the Tower of Babel, dispersed the people, confused their language and scattered their one world religion into a million pieces.
God then chose Abram, later renamed Abraham, for the purpose of launching His final plan for mankind’s salvation. Abraham’s descendants would later defeat the giant races inhabiting The Promised Land and one of them, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, would be the Saviour of the whole world.
God appeared to Abraham at least ten times. Initially He revealed Himself in a vision while Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. God said, Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you. [3]
At Haran, God again encourages Abraham aged 75, to keep moving towards his destiny. He said,
Go from your country, your people and your
father’s household to the land I will
show you. I will make you into a great
nation, and I will bless you; I will make
your name great, and you will be a
blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you. [4]
At their third meeting at Canaan after Abraham and Sarah had returned from Egypt because of famine and fear, God once again appeared to Abraham. He said,
Look around from where you are, to the
north and south, to the east and west.
All the land that you see I will give to
you and your offspring forever. At their
fourth meeting after Lot had left, God
said to Abraham, Look around from
where you are, to the north and south, to
the east and west. All the land that you
see I will give to you and your offspring
forever. I will make your offspring like
the dust of the earth, so that if anyone
could count the dust, then your offspring
could be counted. Go, walk through the
length and breadth of the land, for I am
giving it to you. [5]
Yet the clock was ticking and Abraham was still childless and landless. In Genesis 15, God intervened again to encourage Abraham and share new revelation. This time He used a vision and a dream. Initially they dialogued in the vision then God put Abraham to sleep and shared profound revelation through a dream.
The Dream Scripture
Genesis 15: 12-21
* * *
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, “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 who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky 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, “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.” 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. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 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. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
The Problem
* * *
Despite repeated promises from God about land and an heir Abraham was still childless, landless and anxious.
The Dreamer’s Metron
* * *
Abraham’s enormous metron has impacted all nations for all time. God chose Abraham as the channel through which He released the knowledge of His plans and purpose for world salvation.
Abraham is the only person in Scripture called a friend of God [6] and God specifically chose His friend’s seed line to bring forth Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Although far from perfect Abraham’s great strength was to believe and obey his friend. Abraham was 100% convinced God always keeps His promises.
Consequently he was able to surrender himself to God’s eternal plans and purpose and because of this Abraham is now called the father of faith and the faithful. [7]
Abraham essentially became the model for all believers by simply taking God at His word and trusting Him.
The Message
* * *
God’s communication concerned personal information for Abraham alongside future revelation concerning Israel, Egypt and Canaan.
The plain message spoken by God was, 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. (This was fulfilled when the nation of Israel was in Egypt for four hundred years)
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. (This happened before and during the Exodus from Egypt)
You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. (This was also fulfilled)
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. (Although this part was partially fulfilled the complete fulfilment of this promise still hasn’t happened. God promised land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites. Even though the Jews came back to their land in 1948 they’re still not in possession of all of this land.)
There was no interpretation necessary in order for Abraham to understand this dream though there are some things he probably didn’t fully understand. He wasn’t told the name of the nation who’d enslave his people. Nor was he told explicitly that the fate of Jesus Christ the Messiah was sealed because of this dream.
God’s Purpose
* * *
God’s purpose was to reveal that Jesus Christ the Messiah would die for the sins of the whole world. He also wanted to encourage and strengthen Abraham and give him revelation about his descendants and the present occupiers of the Promised Land.
Earlier God had promised to rescue humanity from Satan’s power through Eve’s seed. We now know this rescue occurred when Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross 4,000 years later because of the unfaithfulness of Abraham’s descendants.
Cutting animals in half and walking between them was a common way of making covenant. The symbolism was if either of the parties didn’t keep their end of the bargain then they’d suffer the same fate as the animals.
In Jeremiah, God says,
Those who have violated my covenant and
have not fulfilled the terms of the
covenant they made before me, I will
treat like the calf they cut in two and
then walked between its pieces. [8]
Here God is saying anyone who violates the covenant will be killed like the sacrifices. Normally both parties walked between the slaughtered animals signifying they were jointly responsible to keep the covenant. In Abraham’s dream only God in the form of a smoking pot and flaming torch passed between the animals. Through this symbolic act God was saying, I’ll be the one to suffer death if this covenant is broken.
By making covenant with Abraham and taking sole responsibility for it God was condemning Jesus to death for there was no way in this world Abraham’s descendants could ever keep the covenant. This meant God, through Jesus Christ, would suffer the death penalty.
Abraham’s dream is perhaps the most important dream in all of Scripture. Later Abraham is asked to sacrifice his own son for God and he too is willing.
Satan’s Purpose
* * *
Satan wanted to stop Abraham from believing God. His evil purpose was to hinder and prevent the Messiah from ever seeing the light of day. He would also be active in Egypt in enslaving and oppressing God’s people. He was also polluting and populating the Promised Land with hybrid Nephilim giants.
Dreamer’s Eyes Enlightened
* * *
The prophet Abraham is clearly shown that God who cannot lie has unilaterally promised him children and land through an unbreakable covenant. Now nothing can stop this from happening, not even Abraham’s sin.
Abraham also realises God knows the future and is acting according to His own higher sense of justice and purpose.
Abraham was also comforted to know he’d die in peace at a good old age and his descendants would finally possess the Promised Land after enduring a four hundred year struggle.
I wonder how much Abraham understood about Jesus Christ dying for the sins of humanity. We know when Paul said the Gospel was first preached to Abraham he is referring to God telling Abraham, All the nations shall be blessed in you. [9]
There’s always a lot more happening in any encounter with God than we can fully understand and God isn’t always ready or able to spill the beans. Jesus was with his disciples three and a half years before God told Peter that Jesus was the Messiah. [10]
Jesus also wasn’t able to share all He wanted to with His disciples. Just before He left earth He told them,
I still have much to tell you, but you cannot
yet bear to hear it. However, when the
Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you
into all truth. [11]
Still it must have been hard for Abraham to learn his descendants would be slaves for four hundred years.
Dreamer’s Response and Application
* * *
Because Abraham’s metron included all nations God spoke to him about Israel, Egypt and Canaan. Abraham didn’t have to do anything apart from believing God. Scripture says, Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. [12]
Know God Better
* * *
God is kind and compassionate with Abraham. He doesn’t rebuke him for unbelief. Instead He reassures Abraham He hasn’t forgotten His promises. He also comforts Abraham by letting him know his life will be long and end in peace.
God is also shown as a righteous judge who knows the future. In time He’ll punish Egypt for her cruel treatment of the Jews. God always acts with a higher sense of purpose and justice. He knows just how long it will be before the sins of the Amorites cause them to lose Canaan.
The fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are always evident with God. In this dream encounter we also see something of God’s deeply hidden purpose. He is willing to die for the redemption of His creation in the form of His only Son Jesus.
The Dream Process
* * *
This dream encounter is mainly literal and can be understood as such by Abraham yet there are symbolic parts like the smoking pot and flaming torch, which symbolise God in the form of Jesus. All the Old Testament people who were reported as seeing God were really seeing Jesus in a pre-incarnate form because as John says, No one has seen God at any time. [13]
Paul confirms this when he says God the Father, alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. [14]
We also see God as fire from other scriptures. God appeared to Moses as the fire burning in the bush. God also appeared as a pillar of fire when He brought Israel out of Egypt. Moses said, The Lord is a consuming fire. The glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. God the Holy Spirit appeared like tongues of fire at Pentecost and Hebrews tells us our God is a consuming fire.
There is also the death sentence upon Jesus for those of us who can read between the lines. We don’t know whether Abraham fully understood this or not. We do know Abraham wasn’t told the name of the nation who’s enslave his people.
While the dream is mainly literal it still requires a lot of reflection on the part of Abraham in order to comprehend the enormity of the message.
Although this short dream contains important revelation for Abraham personally it also includes revelation concerning Israel, Egypt and for the inhabitants of Canaan.
We are reminded of Amos 3:7,
Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants
the prophets.
I wonder if Abraham ever shared this dream with his wife and children? Did Jacob ever hear about it? Did Joseph?
The Usual Suspects
* * *
The smoking firepot with a blazing torch reminds us of God in the form of Jesus who appeared as the pillar of cloud and fire, which led them out of Egypt. The ram also reminds us of Christ and the dove speaks of the Holy Spirit. The birds of prey and the land that will enslave Israel represent Satan and the gods.
Takaways
* * *
The first recorded Bible dream was sent to Abraham in Genesis and the last three recorded Bible dreams were sent to Abraham’s descendent Paul in The Book of Acts as he went about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to both Jews and Gentiles. God’s promise to Abraham of blessing the nations was coming to pass through his seed line.
God has been working out His plans and purpose from before creation. Here in Abraham’s Covenant Dream we see His purpose for the Messiah moving forward.
God knows all things, He understands all things, He knows the end from the beginning. God is full of the fruit of the Spirit. He is kind and gentle and patient with Abraham. He is also a righteous judge.
Although He is merciful and full of grace, in the end no one or any nation gets away with anything. As Peter says,
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness. Instead he
is patient with you, not wanting anyone
to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance. [15]
Reading between the lines there is also a sense of many future battles with the gods, the powers and principalities, before the Jewish nation will finally conquer all of the Promised Land.
We now know Israel had to defeat the gods of Egypt before they could escape their captivity. We also know the demonic giants and the gods within the Promised Land had to be defeated before Israel could take possession.
During Israel’s captivity in Egypt the fallen angels were still mating with the daughters of men for some of these giants terrified the ten spies sent by Moses to spy out the land.
We’re also aware, although the Jews have occupied a state in Israel since 1948, they still don’t have complete possession of the land as promised to Abraham in this covenant dream.
1 Genesis 6:7
2 Genesis 11:1-9
3 Acts 7:2-3
4 Genesis 12:1-3
5 Genesis 13:14-18
6 James. 2:23
7 Hebrews 11:8-9
8 Jeremiah 34:18
9 Galatians 3:8
10 Matthew 16:16-17
11 John 16:12-13
12 Genesis 15:6
13 John 1:18 (NKJV)
14 1 Timothy 6:16 (NLT)
15 2 Peter 3:9