The Life of AbrahamSample

Acceptance: A One-Way Covenant 

Abram trusts God’s promise that he will have a son and take possession of the land, but he doesn’t understand how it’s all going to work. He asks God how he can be sure these things will happen. God does not chastise Abram for asking this question. He grants Abram’s request by giving him a contract, a covenant that guarantees the outcome. What happens next is an incredible scene.

In the tradition of the time, they exchange a “blood covenant.” Animals are slain, sliced in two, and set on opposing sides of a path, making an alleyway. Tradition dictated that the two covenant participants walk through the path, between the dead animal halves, representing each person’s agreement to the terms. The carcasses flanking them on either side testified to the penalty for breaking the oath: death.

God institutes a blood covenant with Abram, but with a twist. After the carcass-strewn alleyway is prepared, God appears in the form of a torch and passes through the path of promise—alone.

God’s message here is clear: this is all on me! This is not a conditional promise. I am making a covenant granting you this land, requiring nothing further from you. It is hard for us to understand it, but sometimes God’s promises are unconditional.

God’s acceptance is just like this. God promises that if we believe in Jesus, He accepts us as His children without further conditions. It is a matter of grace. Our relationship with Him as our Father does not alter based on how we behave. He grants this to us unconditionally through a blood covenant—the blood of Jesus.

Although the land has been granted unconditionally, Abram’s possession and enjoyment of it is yet in the future. It will require further obedience. It remains to conquer and live faithfully in the land to enjoy the blessings from it—but it is always his. 

God’s covenant with His children is not a promise of ease. It is a promise of ownership and heredity as God’s children. We cannot earn his acceptance—that is freely given.

God promised it. He passed through the valley of death on a cross to declare it for us. A one-way covenant that grants us a place in His family forever.