Gen 15:6 - Living on Credit

And that was the moment something amazing happened. In his heart, Abram said "ok". In the next few milliseconds his thoughts would expand into  a "yes, that will happen. I don't know how but I will. Wow. Good" but by that time the transaction was complete. 


I've come to what must be one of the most significant verses in the whole bible:

And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (ESV) Gen 15:6  

The LORD promised the sonless Abram more descendants than the stars in the sky, Abram believed him and got more than he bargained for. He received something that we all need but cannot get and that something is righteousness. I wonder if he realised it at the time? He must have come to know that it happened at some stage to pass this story on.

So what is righteousness? It's a right standing before a Holy God and it's lost when we do or think something unrighteous, ie wrong. Once its gone no amount of good will get it back. Having knocked a hurdle over in a race no amount of running and jumping will make it stand up again.

Now there are people described as righteous in the Old Testament such as Noah.

These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. (ESV) Gen 6:9  

Noah is described as righteous and blameless. A man who "walked" with God, that is he lived his life in the context of a relationship with God. That would have meant, at least relatively speaking, he did the right thing a lot of the time but its still a puzzle as to how people like him are called righteous given they were not perfect:

as it is written:  "None is righteous, no, not one; Rom 3:10  

Here though we have the answer. Believing God puts all our fallen hurdles up, every one, and we are counted righteous.   

Where does this righteousness come from? In the accounting of heaven how can righteous be counted to us when we are not? Does God have an infinite supply that he can give away without diminishing his supply? No. For one I'm not sure that there are any actual infinites but in any case perfection cannot be shared out like that. God cannot print more righteousness in a kind of moral quantitative easing strategy without undermining his own goodness. So where does this righteousness come from? Jesus works to earn it. The Son of God becomes a man, and runs our race for all of us without knocking down a single hurdle. He gains the medal of  of righteousness and then hands it to us. 


But what about all our knocked down hurdles? Well, as he places us on his podium he stands in our prision and takes the wrap for us. What a shame to run and jump to try to please God and gain his acceptance when Jesus has already gained it for us. All we need to do is take his word for it and his life and death are credited to our account. In a moment. Just like that.       

The new testament talks about all this a lot. One key verse is:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-- (ESV) Rom 3:21  

It's saying that the whole Old Testament points to and backs up the fact that there would be a righteousness made avaaiable from God to us. That there would be two ways to be righteousness. One is to obey the law fully in every way. In terms of gaining Gods approval, and love and riotousness, the law is like a climbers rope. If it is broken in just once place it becomes useless. Like a climbers rope, this way only helps us if it remains unbroken in every part.   

But instead of trying to inch our way up a rope that we have dropped in a blender, we are offered a hand by one who says "trust me". I remember trusting the LORD when I became a Christian at Uni. It was a simple act of faith, believing that what God said in the gospel was true. I trusted that Jesus' death on the cross had paid for my sin, that I would never be held to account for the trail of fallen hurdles behind me, nor the ones I would knock over in the future and I would know God has my loving heavenly father forever and ever, even through death. In fact especially through death. There was so much I didn't understand. My love for him and obedience to him went up and down over the following years but I never lost what I gained then. Righteousness. 

Abram's faith was not perfect or fully formed and he did seem to wobble a bit here and there as he walked with God and got to know him. It's been the same with me, but what has never faltered or faded is my God given righteousness. I believed God and it was credited to me as righteousness. I don't know about you but I love living on credit.      

Gen 15:2 - What is your "Eliezer of Damascus"

Abram's response to God's promise of a reward seems a little muted because there is a hole in his bucket. Since Abram is childless, whatever God gives him will end up with his servant Eliezer of Damascus.  

But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" (ESV) Gen 15:2  

This guy is lined up to inherit everything Abram had. He was not a stranger, he may even have been the chief servant, yet he was not a son and so anything that Abram had would pass from him to another not of his actual family line.     

I am sure there is some significance in this man Eliezer as he is mentioned here by name. There seems nothing obviously significant about Damascus except that it is the place where Abram chased the enemy kings too and took their treasure (Gen 14:15,16). Could it be that Eliezer of Damascus represents the the fact that we can't keep earthly gain and riches when we die? Even if that is a bit of  a stretch hermeneutically I think the thought still stands. Abram seems to have given all the treasure he gained away except what was needed to feed his men (Gen 14:24) and now Abram can't see how anything that God gives him will have lasting meaning to him as his family line will come to an end.

It's kind of a cliché but "you can't take it with you" is still true of most things. Money, fame, and power do not pass through the grave no matter how much we embalm or burry them with us. We may have a lot or a little in this life but there is a hole in our bucket and all of it will drain away in death. Like Abram we may have an Eliezer of Damascus that will inherit what was ours but it's not really ours anymore which makes them pleasant but pointless. We can pass our money on to a cat's home or a charitable trust, or even a blood relative, but it will no longer be ours. Others may speak well of us or remember us fondly, or put up a monument to us or make a documentary about us but what good is that to us? What therefore can we have that lasts forever? What can God give us that doesn't have to be passed on to another?   

Well, God did give Abram a son but that son in himself was not going to plug the hole as he too would one day die. However, he had a son who had a son and so on until in the person of Jesus God gave us his own son and in him we can live on through death and keep all that we have in him. Jesus has no hole in his bucket so God can give us things in him that will last forever. Anything in Christ will pass through death and be ours for eternity. Instead of an Eliezer of Damascus we can have Jesus of Nazareth and through him eternal riches, now and forever.

Gen 15:1 - Your reward

As well the reassuring protective truth that God is to Abraham as shield, there also comes the promise of reward. Not only is Abraham kept safe from harm, but he has promised good. For some reason I remember this verse reading "I am your shield, you're very great reward" (which it does in the NIV), but in the ESV, its "I am your shield, your reward shall be very great." So which is it?

Well, I can't read Hebrew and the commentators seem to favour the ESV version so I will run with that. Actually, one leads to the other. What is a "very great reward"? Every time you read a passage in the Old Testament it's good to turn the contrast up until you see Jesus. The greatest reward that God can give us is himself in the person of his son. All other promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

The New Testament says we have every spiritual blessing in Christ and so here in God's mind at least is none other than his beloved son. But Abram probably isn't seeing quite that far ahead. His most felt need is for a son and without a son nothing God could give him would have much value to him. It would simply be passed on to a relative stranger. Little did he know that God was looking to give his own son through a son he would give Abram and that through him Abram's decedents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

At first Abram's need seems very great, but God's provision is totally overwhelming. Not only will Abram get a son but innumerable decedents. The value of this gift is the life of God's own son and in him God's son Abram will have countless spiritual offspring. The great reward is indeed God himself. No wonder Paul says:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV) Eph 3:20-21