Cross My Heart
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens 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
Genesis 15:5-6
There was an old radio program called "One Man's Family". I suppose it
was the prototype of today's family sit-coms on T.V.
But in a way it is an appropriate designation for a good bit of
Biblical history.
The history of God's dealings with us center around the history of this
one special family.
In fact it is the family of Abraham and Sarah that ties together
everything in the first eleven chapters of Genesis with everything
beyond the book of Malachi. In the first eleven chapters, we read
of creation, the birth of planet earth and its people, their
relationship with their creator and ultimate alienation from God. We
read of the consequences of life on earth estranged from God. We have
examples of that in Cain and Abel, among others. We read of the Tower
of Babel and God's decision to cleanse the earth in the flood. We read
of the repopulation through Noah and Noah's descendants.
And then the focus shifts from these cosmic themes to one man and one
woman, a fine example of the best of humanity at the time. God enters
their life and begins a plan. The plan is to start a family and through
that family, a nation, and through that nation a plan to restore all
humanity to God's grace.
But what a man and what a woman! They are fine people, but they
are childless and they are elderly.
No one but God would conceive of a family to restore God's grace
starting with an elderly childless couple.
But then no one but God would pluck a baby from the bulrushes to save a
nation, or choose a timid Gideon to become a great warrior, or anoint
David, the youngest and least significant in the family as Israel's
greatest king.
But God does visit Abram and Sarah and tell them they will no longer be
childless, but will be parents of a great nation.
The Genesis account says that God talks to Abram about this. He has not
yet given him the name Abraham.
Abram's response is how can this be. Sarah and I have no children.
Eleazer of Damascus my servant will inherit it all.
God leads him outside and shows him the starry, starry night and says,
if you could count the stars, you could imagine the size of your
family.
And then we read something quite remarkable.
The writer of Genesis says something that is echoed in Hebrews...one of
the last of the new Testament books. He says that Abram believes God
and that God counts that in favor of Abram as righteousness.
He has faith in the word of God.
What an amazing notion.
He doesn't even know who God is, really.
God is maybe the voice or the Spirit who speaks to him now and then.
Maybe a good part of his life he has sensed a presence leading him. Who
knows?
But he has none of the information about God that we have.
Remember this is hundreds of years before Moses and any of the written
scriptures.
How does he know?
We are not told, but we are told that he has faith. Remarkable.
But then something even more remarkable happens.
Perhaps the next day Abram asks God, "But how can I be sure?"
God instructs him to bring a heifer, goat and ram along with a dove and
pigeon.
Abram knows what to do and kills them and cuts their bodies in half,
but not the birds.
Then God causes Abram to fall into something like a swoon and as it
becomes dark, Abram sees God, not fully but as a burning torch passing
between the halves of the animals enacting a very primitive form of
covenant.
This was how covenants were made. An animal was sacrificed and then cut
in half. The partners to the covenant then walked between the halves.
The symbolism of it meant "may this happen to me if I break my word."
Kids say, "cross my heart and hope to die."
Even more amazing. It is God who is taking the oath.
God is saying, "This is my promise. May I be the one to die if I do not
fulfill my promise to you."
Abram had no idea of course about Jesus.
Because a covenant is between two parties, not just one.
And of course there is no way we completely keep our side of the deal.
So like the sacrificed animals, will we die?
No, Jesus says "cross my heart and hope to die".
But he does die to fulfill the final covenant made between us.
God walks between the halves of the sacrificed animals knowing that it
will be the blood of Jesus on the ground before the covenant with
Abraham is fulfilled.
And God kept his word. Abram and Sara did have children and those
children became the people from whom Jesus was born.
Clare read something for us as a devotional at our last prayer
gathering. I want to read it to you.
It is written by John Indermark, a Methodist minister in Washington
State.
One
of my seminary professors presided at his daughter's wedding. After the
prospective son-in-law offered his vow of fidelity, my professor turned
to his daughter and asked, "Do you believe him?" After his daughter
took her vows, he asked his son-in-law the same question--"Do you
believe her?"
That question cuts to the heart of
Abram's wonderings. Time has passes since the promise of child and
land. Sarai remains childless. The couple remains sojourners in tents
with no place to call home. How can Abram be sure God will fulfill
God's promises?
God offers that assurance to
Abram, sort of. A covenant is struck. An oath is made. But notice: God
does not magically produce and heir out of thin air. God does not hand
over a notarized deed for land. God says, "I give..." but the gift is
not yet in hand. The gift is in word. Which means, among other things,
the gift relies on trust. The journey forward by Abram, and us, is not
based on irrefutable proofs that remove all questions. The journey
forward is made by trust in the promises and in the One who promises.
Do you believe that?1.
I think if we could have asked Abram that question, do you believe
that?, he would say, "yes mostly I do."
But not entirely.
Whoa, the scriptures call Abraham the man of faith. So much so that God
counts it as righteousness.
Yes, but notice in the very next chapter. Abram and Sarai are still
childless and it seems getting discouraged at waiting.
So Sarai suggests that Abram have a child with her handmaid, Hagar.
Abram agrees and Ishmael is born, who becomes a total thorn in their
side, but that's another story for another day.
Abram, do you believe God?
Yes. Mostly. But not always.
Do we believe God?
Do we believe that through this final covenant, made not with the blood
of animals, but the blood of Jesus that God has opened the door to
eternity and total forgiveness?
On our best days we say, "yes, absolutely".
But on our not best days we admit, "Not always"
When we attend a loved one who is dying we might admit, I believe, but
sometimes it's hard.
Maybe we will feel that way when its our turn. We believe. We hope, but
we have moments we are not so sure.
When we put our faith in trusting God for the things of life, we
believe.
But sometimes those things we pray for are slow in coming.
Then we wonder.
Sometimes we become discouraged and even prone to feeling depression
and skepticism.
But remember what Abram saw. He saw God alone pass between the halves
of the animals.
Normally both parties did as a sign of the need for both to keep up
their end of the deal.
But only God does.
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
And Jesus does, alone.
He passes not between halves of an animal sacrifice. He is the
sacrifice and passes through death.
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
It's not always easy. In fact it is rarely easy.
But we hold on. We trust. Mostly.
And when we don't, we come back again and make our confession and ask
for the help to start again.
And God says "I forgive. I have not given up on you. My promises are
still good. Just keep having faith and living out that faith. You will
see. Cross my heart."
Preached March 4, 2007
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian
Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1.John Indermark, Disciplines
2007, A Book of Daily Devotionals, Upper Room Books, p. 71
Resources Consulted
Walter Bruggemann, Old
Testament, The Canon and Christian Imagination, Westminster John
Knox Press, 2003
Gerhard Von Rad, Genesis, The Old
Testament Library, Westminster Press, 1971
John H. Sailhamer, Genesis, The
Expositor's Bible, Zondervan, 1990
Online Resources Consulted
http://www.preachingtoday.com/
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