In the previous post, we ended considering the fact that the Kingdom of God is to be inherited and not earned. We saw that inheriting it was to be by grace which expresses itself by the shedding of the Blood of Jesus.
Establishing A Blood-Covenant
It is important to understand how blood-covenants were made in the world at the time. For this, let us read Jeremiah 34:18-20 and outline the five steps involved in a blood-covenant of old:
“And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it-”
Now these are the steps in ‘cutting’ a blood-covenant, just like what God did with Abraham. You know, this was prophetic of what He would do with our Lord Jesus Christ.
A sacrifice, say calf, is offered to God to secure His support.
The calf was divided or cleaved in two from nose through the spine
The parts were laid opposite each other, with a passage or walking space between them.
Contracting parties entered the passage at each end, met in the middle, and took an oath of death if they break the covenant, and by-passed each other to stand at where the other covenanting party entered the passage.
Lastly, they feasted on the victim or animal.
This helps to explain why Abraham divided three of the five covenant-animals into two parts, arranging them on the ground. The birds were not to be divided into two, even under the Levitical priesthood that was instituted later – See Lev. 1:17.
The Splitting Of Jesus
But, the splitting of the animals into two parts was prophetic of how Jesus, the perfect-sacrifice was to die later. Crucifixion of a human is a form of splitting into two, with the vertical bar of the cross dividing the person into two halves.
Yes, our Lord Jesus was split into two, ready for the contracting parties to exchange positions through the passage-way, which is His flesh, in order to enjoy each other’s benefit – Heb. 10:19-20,
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,”
The Kingdom Principle Of Waiting
Now, note that Abraham stood ready to pass through the pieces of the animals as he waited for the Appearance of God. In the meantime, he drove away the ‘unclean’ birds of prey, who wanted to feast on and contaminate the pieces on the floor.
It teaches us that until God divinely comes on the scene of your life, you should keep yourself uncontaminated from the world’s system or arrangements.
You know, there are some people who get so tired of waiting for a divine intervention of God that they start to misbehave in their walk with God.
Sometimes, God does not show up just to watch what we will do when He has not intervened in our undesirable situations – 2 Chron. 32:31,
“However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him (Hezekiah) to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, (Hezekiah) in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.”
Note the phrase “God with-drew Himself”. Beloved, it is important to keep faith when you have to wait for God to ‘show up’. Your waiting period is a time to drive away all the demonic elements that would want you to compromise on or during your sacrifice; but hold on.
Abraham refused to contaminate his sacrifice to God, by allowing the birds of prey to eat parts of his covenant-animals that he had split on the ground.
You should similarly keep your-self pure whilst you patiently wait for God to fulfil His side of a covenant with Him.
Sometimes the enemy will want you to reduce what you have decided to give to God in sacrifice. Maybe because God has not shown up in your circumstances as you expect.
But refuse to diminish the sacrifice you have decided to bring to God. Many times when you are eager for some-thing, it would seem that God does not seem to be as eager as you. But He is.
Only that, God so works in the background that you think He is not that keen on having you sacrifice for Him. It is because God wants your will to be active in your sacrifices for Him, so He seems to withdraw Himself to see whether you will carry out your resolutions ‘without His influence’.
So when you do not ‘sense’ God’s Presence and you ‘feel’ alone, God is trying to test you. You know, your real heart is revealed when God withdraws from you.
In other words, When God is with you, your real self is suppressed (or helped), so you are not who you really are. Wow!
The act of God ‘withdrawing’ from you is like when you have to write an examination in School. All your loved ones like your teachers, parents friend all withdraws from you, and you have to live by the strict rules of the examination (or Bible demands) in order to pass – 2 Tim. 2:5.
This is why Job said “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backwards, but I cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” – Job 23:8-10.
This is the same as God withdrawing Himself from you in order to test you. Just like Abraham, you must behave well (as in an exams) in order to pass the test.
An Evening Atmosphere
So, Abraham was there in eagerness for the covenant with God, until “the sun went down” i.e. the evening. At this holy evening, God caused an unusual deep sleep and darkness to fall on Abraham.
This evening atmosphere is important because it prophetically speaks of the time the True Sacrifice (Jesus Christ) would die to usher in all the inheritance and promises of God. It would be a time that God would put humanity into a situation where we are deeply asleep to our own righteousness or self-efforts.
You know, our dearest Jesus died in the evening at 3pm after three long hours of total darkness on the land – Matt. 27:45 “ Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land”.
‘Sleep’ To Your Best Self And Efforts
Yes, Abraham had to be put to sleep to teach us that, we cannot be in a personal active mode to receive anything from God.
In the Kingdom-scheme of Jesus, you have to sleep to your own ways and efforts and become alive to the reality of Jesus’ sacrifice and Kingdom-words.
This is so that you can inherit the ‘Kingdom-land’ and its unspeakable blessings of peace, prosperity, power, purity, protection, possibilities, Presence of God, passions of God, purposes of God, praises, pleasures or joy, persecutions on earth etc. that all pleases God.
Open Up To The Kingdom-Word
So, our father Abraham was put to an unusual physical sleep, and was only in a position to hear the voice of God about the darkness of slavery that his descendants would undergo in Egypt or the world’s religious system for 400 years.
This would be prior to enjoying the Kingdom system or scheme.
Beloved, opening up to the Kingdom-word is critical be-cause in order to enjoy the promises of God in your life, you should be like Abraham.
Whilst you ‘sleep’ to your own ways and ideas, you should be ‘awake’ to the Kingdom-word of God who is Jesus Christ and His work for you on the Cross.
Jesus Our Replacement
Now, the other important reason for Abraham’s deep sleep was that, our Lord Jesus was going to take Abrahams place to ‘cut’ the Abrahamic covenant with God.
This is because although Abraham was eager to enter into covenant, God knew that he was not capable of entering into a covenant with Him.
Yes, Abraham was imperfect and would not have been capable of meeting the righteous demands of a covenant with a perfect God, in order to enjoy the Kingdom and things of God.
