The Abrahamic Covenant and the Cross of Christ

Take a quick survey of Christians and you’ll discover that most of them don’t read the Old Testament. And who can blame them? One quick glance at Leviticus or Ezekiel, and it’s easy to see how readers get bogged down in all the obscure details. Readers ask themselves, “do we want to read details about Jewish dietary laws or the Sermon on the Mount? Sermon on the Mount please!” 

I understand the struggle. Reading through endless genealogies, detailed plans of the tabernacle, or the numerous ways to offer a sacrifice can be challenging. But this shouldn’t deter us. After all, the Old Testament was Jesus’ Bible that he quoted dozens of times in the Gospels. It’s also the Scripture Paul referred to when he said “all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16). You get that? The Old Testament is profitable. 

Contrary to what some think, the Old Testament is a gold mine. Not only does it tell us a great deal about the character of God, it anticipates his rescue plan. That is, the entire Old Testament points to the coming of the Messiah. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for missing this very point. He declares, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (Jn. 5:39).

In the remaining space, I want to highlight an Old Testament text that anticipates the coming of Jesus, but, because of its unusual nature, we often gloss over it. My hope is that in looking at this passage, you will see one small example of the immense value of the Old Testament.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

The opening portion of the Bible describes God’s creation, human’s rejection of him, and the subsequent curse on the world. As a result, the human population, as a whole, rejected God and pursued their own way of living. Instead of leaving them to their own destruction, God mercifully reached out to a pagan worshipper named Abraham in Genesis 12 and promised to establish his rescue plan through his family line.

The only problem was that Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless and already beyond the conventional child-rearing years. If God was going to keep his promise, he would have to perform a miracle. As you read the story of Abraham, you find that his trust in God was a bit of a mixed bag — sometimes he trusted, and sometimes he wavered.

In Genesis 15, God reaffirms his commitment to Abraham despite the fact that Abraham and Sarah still remained childless. We can imagine that after several years of infertility, Abraham and Sarah had their doubts and questions about God’s faithfulness surfaced in their minds. So Abraham asks God for another show of good faith. He asks, how is this going to happen since we’re only getting older and we still haven’t had a son?

God responds with a vision — an obscure one at that. In Genesis 15 we read:

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… When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot 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.”

What is going on here? Cutting up animals? Smoking fire pots floating between the animals? This is bizarre stuff.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT AND SMOKING FIRE POT EXPLAINED

I must confess, I missed the significance of this vision the first several times I read this text. In my mind, God had given a vision to Abraham, and that was enough to confirm God was going to keep his promises. But I discovered that much more was going on here.

What I failed to realize initially was that cutting animals in half and walking between the two parts was a common way ancients performed covenantal ceremonies. And the symbolism is hard to miss too. If either of the contractual partners didn’t hold up their end of the covenant, they would meet the same fate as the animals. 

We see an example of this type of covenant in Jeremiah 34:18. It states, “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.” Did you get that? Those who violate the covenant will be treated like those torn-apart animals.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT AND THE CROSS OF CHRIST

If you know the story, God fulfilled his covenant to Abraham. He gave him a son which ultimately led to the nation of Israel. But while God was faithful to keep up his end of the agreement, Abraham’s descendants weren’t faithful keep up their end. Instead, they rejected God and pursued idols repeatedly. Under normal circumstances, this would result in their death. But the Abrahamic Covenant wasn’t normal.

You see, it was customary for both parties to walk through the animals indicating that they both were going to hold up their end of the agreement. In Abraham’s vision, however, only God — in the form of a smoking pot — passed through the animals. It’s as if God was saying, “I will be responsible to make this covenant happen for the both of us. So even if you don’t hold up your end of the agreement, I will suffer the consequences.”

I hope you’re beginning to see the significance of the Abrahamic Covenant by now. Even though God remained faithful to Israel, they were unfaithful to him and, therefore, deserved to die. But, since God was the only one to pass through the animals, he would die in their place. In other words, by making this covenant with Abraham, God was pronouncing a death sentence on his Son. What an incredible act of love!

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT FOR TODAY

At first glance, this text is a bit obscure. Apart from cultural understanding of ancient covenants, we might miss its point. But once the point is clear, we see how significant the Abrahamic Covenant is for today. 

God made a promise that he would rescue the world through the line of Abraham. And ultimately, this is precisely what he did. One of Abraham’s descendants — Jesus of Nazareth — rescued the world from their sin and death while at the same time suffering the consequences for Abraham’s descendants’ unfaithfulness.

What a beautiful story. But sadly, if you never read the Old Testament, you’ll miss it and so many more just like it that point to the promised Christ. 

So the next time you’re tempted to skip over the Old Testament because you think it’s too difficult to read or irrelevant, I hope you’ll be reminded of the smoking fire pot. Because it was that fire pot that ensured that Jesus would die on the cross instead of you.