How Serious Does God Take His Covenants Promises?

Genesis 15 has the account of a covenant between God and Abraham.  The chapter starts with God speaking to Abraham to not be afraid and that God would be with him. God continues and tells Abraham that he will have a son through Sarah and that his descendants will be as numerous as the star in the sky.  What was Abraham's response?  He believed and God commended him and was counted as righteous because he believed.  After which God told him that the land which he was living would be his and his descendants forever.

The story continues with Abraham asking God how he can be sure that will be true.  What follows is a strange story upon a cursory reading.  Abraham was to cut up some animals and lay them out and wait.  Abraham waited all day long in the hot son and chased away carrion birds.  After sunset, Abraham fell asleep and God spoke again, prophesying what we now know as the time of Egyptian slavery.  Then Abraham saw in a vision a smoking pot and a torch passing through the animals.  Seems sort of gruesome and strange.  But if we can understand what is really happening here, it makes sense and shows what is really at stake here.

After some research, I found that in the ancient Middle Eastern culture, when two people(s) entered into a covenant/promise/treaty, they would perform what was known as the 'cutting of a covenant' or Blood Path.  Those taking part in the ceremony, those that are making the covenant or treaty, would take some animals and cut them apart and arrange them is such away the blood flowed to form a path in between the pieces.  Then to make the covenant a legal and binding, both parties making the agreement would walk through the cut apart animals down the path of blood, signifying that they agree to the terms.  They also agreed that if they did not fulfill their part of the agreement, then the animals represented what would happen.  They were in reality saying "May it be done to me, like what happened to these animals, if I do not fulfill the terms of this covenant."  That my friend is serious business.  To agree to be ripped apart if they broke the Promise Covenant/Treaty, was a sign of the seriousness of the ceremony.

But if you notice, In Genesis 15, Abraham did not pass through the blood path.  In this case it was God who was signifying it was on His part to keep the promise, and Abraham had no part in the terms being fulfilled.  Not only that, God passed through as a smoking fire pot  and a blazing torch (the meaning of these are not agreed upon in my research).  So in a sense God passed through the blood path two times, meaning He is doubly serious about the Covenant.  He was saying, like the people of Abraham's day that performed this ceremony, that may He be ripped apart if He does not fulfill His part.  He was also demonstrating that when He makes a promise, or covenant, then we can be sure He will do it.  In this case Abraham had nothing to fulfill, only God had His part to fulfill.  (There is also reference to this ceremony in Jeremiah 34:18: "Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.")

What else can we learn from this passage?  God knows what makes sense to us when He tells us or shows us things and puts them in terms that we recognize.  If Abraham was alive today, the treaty would have the same terms, but may be played out in a way that makes sense in the culture he lives in.  For example, in the USA, they may have the promise/treaty notarized, or go before a lawyer or judge to have the promise legal and binding.  That is a something we can understand in our culture.  It's not that God is in the business of being gruesome, but He is in the business of speaking to us in a way that we can understand. 

One thing we can count on, if God promises us something, He will follow through.  It may not be like we picture it or expect, but the end result will be exactly as God said it would be.  It may not happen in the time we want it to, but you can be sure that God will do it in His timing, not necessarily ours. God takes His promises seriously; He will do what He says He will do.   Our word and promises may fail, but God's never will.

Was Job the only one?

If you have read the Old Testament in the Holy Bible, you will have read the story of Job and the rough time he encountered in his life.  As a synopsis, Job is believed to be the oldest book of the Bible.  It recounts the story of a time when God was on His throne and appearing before Him was Satan.  God asked him where he had been and Satan stated he was roaming the earth.  God asked him if he had come across Job.  Satan then started accusing God of protecting him, so God gave permission to first take all he owned, and then to take his health.

But many have wondered if Job was the only one that this sort of thing ever happened to, that being God giving permission to Satan to do certain things to that person.  If you look in the New Testament, in Luke 22: 31-32 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”  So, just like Job, Satan asked (in fact the Greek here could also be rendered demanded instead of asked) to mess with a person.  From the context, he asked to mess with all of the disciples, not just Peter.   Interesting isn't it?

So again, the question can be asked, were Job and the disciples (Peter in particular) the only people Satan has asked to sift like wheat, o mess with, or make life miserable for them?  Since there are more than 1 example, I would say that no, they were NOT the only ones that God gave permission to Satan to do what he wanted (but I do believe as in Jobs case, there are limits placed on what Satan can and cannot do).  For both Job and Peter, it all turned to for the greater good of not just these two men, but for those around them they came in contact with. 

So a few questions must be asked here. 

1) Does this mean that EVERY bad thing is at the request of Satan?  I don't think so.  Sometimes its a direct result of our or others poor choices.  Sometimes, it is just the results of sin operating on our world. And sometimes it's because of the natural course of things.

2) Does Satan only ask to do this to individuals?   I would say no since in the Luke example, the Greek for you in 'sift you like wheat' is plural, meaning the disciples.  So from inference, why not an entire neighborhood, or church, or city or even a nation? 

3) For what purpose does God allow this?  In the stories of Job and Peter, it is clear that the reason is to not only strengthen the person, but others as well.  Jesus tells Peter that when he (Peter) comes back again, that he strengthen his brothers, meaning those around him.  In Jobs case, his friends learned more about how God works and where also strengthened in their faith.  And, everyone that Job and Peter came in contact with benefited from this rough times, and we are still benefiting today.

4) What is a test for?  I would call what Job and Peter experienced a test.  Just like when we have a test in school, the results of the test are usually not a surprise to the teacher.  When I was a teacher and gave a test, I  could pretty much predict the outcome of the test, meaning I could make an educated guess on what each student would receive for a grade due to past history and how well each student does or does not take a test.  The test, therefore, was more for the student to discover what they still need to work on and what they do well on.  It is the same way with a spiritual test.  God already knows each of us better than we know ourselves and He knows what the outcome will be.  He is never surprised (unlike earthly teachers who CAN be surprised at the results, I know I was now and then).  Often times we are surprised when we come through a trial or test at how well we did and even how badly we did.  If we are careful and observant, we can learn just as much or more from a test than from everyday life lessons.  Another lesson we can learn from tests is how much we do or don't rely on God to help us through.

We may never know if the difficulties we face are a result of Satan asking to sift us, like he did with Job and Peter, of if it is just life.  But the good news is, we can learn from them and bring greater honor and glory to God as a result of our tough times.  We have the choice to do that, or we can refuse the lesson and grow bitter and angry with God and/or others.  But if we allow God to do as He sees best for us, we can learn great lessons that can impact many others and help others from falling into some of the same pitfalls we have.

As I close, I would like to say a prayer for those that are going through rough times and wondering the purpose and if they have done something to cause their situation. 

Father, I ask that all those who are in a tough situation, whether it be a short term or long term situation, that You would help to see You in the midst of their difficulty.  I ask that You would also help them to learn what it is that they can take with them to bring greater glory and honor to Your Name and can offer comfort later on to others that may be going through their own tough times.  I know that we will all go through tough times, no matter how strong or weak we are and no matter where we live.  I ask that You would help all of us to view tough times as a way of growing personally, emotionally, spiritually, and every other way that we need to because of the situations we encounter.  I thank You that You will never leave us alone in the middle of our tough times, and that You will always use it to further Your Kingdom and Your purposes.  In Jesus name, AMEN!

Revelations and the End of the World

Recently I was asked about my view of prophecy and how the original author viewed it and whether or not some prophecies like Matthew 24 and The Revelation had already been fulfilled or if it was still to come.  Below is my response to the question.

My view on prophecy is this.  The best way to explain it is to give you a picture.  When you look at a mountain range that keeps getting taller and taller, you see each peak, but you can't tell how far each peak is from each other or if they are separate peaks at times.  But if you could look at them from the side or from the top you could see the peaks and the distance between them.  Biblical prophecy is much the same way.  One prophecy may have many different fulfilling's and when and how they are fulfilled the multiple times, we cannot say or tell.  For example, Isaiah 7:14 says "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name will be called Immanuel."  Now traditionally we see this prophecy as the birth of Jesus.  But if you read the context of Isaiah 7, you will see King Ahaz is facing battle and wants to hear from God.  Right after that verse (not a different topic but continuing) Isaiah says that the before the boy gets to a certain age, the land will be laid waste.  A virgin not only meant a girl that had not 'known' a man, but it had another meaning, a young woman.  So this prophecy had not one but two fulfilling's.  At the time it was given, I am sure Isaiah had no idea he was talking about his present time and a time yet to come, but God gave him the words and God knew what He meant.  Also, Ecc. 1:9 says "What has been will be again,  what has been done will be done again"  There is evidence all through the Bible that this has happened.  You can look at any history book and see it as well.  The term "History repeats itself" has biblical roots and like the mountains has repeating peaks.  The best way to see that prophecy has been fulfilled is to look back. (Hind sight is 20/20)

So, your friend may be totally correct that Revelations and Mathew 24-25 have been fulfilled, but most reputable Biblical scholars believe that and also believe that it also looked forward to a much further time.  Will what scholars think be what those times in the future really look like? (i.e. The Left Behind Series, along with other works as well as commentaries) Maybe, but probably not. If prophecy being fulfilled was easy to spot, then people in Jesus day would have recognized Him instead of looking for someone else.  They expected the prophecy to be fulfilled in a much different way than it was.  So shall it be at the end of the age.

But at the same time, if your friend does not want to see or believe that Revelations is looking at time to come, (I do believe that it has more than one meaning as well), then there is nothing you can do to convince him otherwise.  My idea of prophecy, especially Revelations and the future, is that I may discuss it but I will NEVER argue with someone about it.  My philosophy is that the main things of scripture are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.  Those are non negotiables (such as salvation, creation, Jesus coming as a baby, etc.) Everything else is up for discussion.  How you believe about the other things, may not be how I believe and until God shows each of us where we are wrong or right, or until it happens, then we will be able to know for sure.

I know I didn't talk about the specifics about what your friend said but this is how I view Revelations and Matthew 24-25.  But there are things in Revelations that I will argue about, such as Revelations 4 ( clear picture of the throne room of God and His Majesty), and Revelations 22:18-20: "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.…"

As to WHEN Revelations was written, I tend to agree with most scholars that it was written in the AD 90's.  Many reputable Scholars argue amongst themselves, and even with their own thinking, that Revelations was either written in the 60's or 90's.  That would make the destruction of the temple (AD 70) either not happened yet, or old OLD news.  If it hadn't happened yet, it makes sense it wasn't included, if it was Old News, it also makes sense why it wasn't included.  But here is the biggest catch, Revelation 19:10 "Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he *said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (NASB)  This means that no matter what the prophecy says, or whether it is foretelling or forth telling, it MUST point to Jesus and bring honor and glory to Him.  No matter your current view on prophecy and end times, this must be the central focus.  No matter your view, keep Jesus the Son of God the central focus and worship God.  If you do this, you cannot be wrong.