Abraham believed God for His promise concerning the seed (v. 6), but he lacked faith to believe God for the promise concerning the land. In order to strengthen Abraham’s faith, God was compelled to confirm His promise to Abraham concerning the land by making a covenant with him (vv. 9-21). The extraordinary way in which God enacted this covenant implies the way in which Abraham could fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

The covenant God made with Abraham was a covenant of promise that would be fulfilled through God’s power in His grace, not through Abraham’s effort in his flesh. The new testament is a continuation of this covenant (Gal. 3:17 and note Gal. 3:17¹; Gal. 4:22-26 and note Gal. 4:24²).

See note Rom. 4:3¹. Here Abraham did not believe God to obtain outward blessings for his own existence; he believed that God was able to work something into him to bring forth a seed out of his own being for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. This kind of faith is precious to God and is accounted by Him as righteousness. Abraham was justified by such a faith (Rom. 4:1-5 and note Rom. 4:1¹).

See note Gen. 22:17^1b.

Lit., inward parts. The seed needed for the fulfillment of God’s purpose could not be anything Abraham already possessed (Eliezer — v. 2) or could produce out of himself (Ishmael — Gen. 16:15). Only that which God worked into Abraham could bring forth from Abraham the required seed. Likewise, only what God works into us through His grace can bring forth Christ as the seed to fulfill God’s purpose.

Lit., a son of my house.

For the fulfillment of God’s purpose two things are required: the seed (vv. 1-6) and the land (vv. 7-21). The seed is first the individual Christ (Gal. 3:16 and note Gal. 3:161e) and then the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), composed of Christ as the Head and all His believers (Gal. 3:29 and note Gal. 3:29¹, par. 1) as the Body. The land is Christ as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, in whom the believers live (Deut. 8:7-10 and note Deut. 8:7¹); it is also the church as the enlargement, the expansion, of Christ. In order to fulfill God’s purpose, we need to receive God’s grace so that Christ can be wrought into us as the seed and lived out of us as the land to be our church life, that we may enjoy God’s rest, defeat God’s enemies, and establish God’s kingdom with His habitation for His expression and representation.

After defeating the four kings (Gen. 14:13-17), Abraham might have feared their revenge. Thus, God came in to tell Abraham that He would be a shield to protect him. He would also be Abraham’s reward for his rescue of Lot.

Prior to this chapter Abraham had experienced God as the One who protected him and blessed him in material things (Gen. 12:16) to maintain his existence outwardly. Beginning with this chapter God came in to show Abraham that he needed God’s grace inwardly for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, which is to have a people to express God with His image, represent Him with His dominion, and possess the earth for His kingdom (Gen. 1:26-28).

A furnace is for refining, and a torch is for enlightening. To enact His covenant with Abraham, God passed through the sacrifices as a smoking furnace and a flaming torch in the dark night. This signifies that when God’s called ones are suffering affliction, He will come in to refine and enlighten them that they may fulfill His purpose by the seed and by the land.

See note Gal. 3:17^3a.

God’s foretelling the sojourning, slavery, and affliction of Abraham’s seed in Egypt was a confirmation that Abraham would surely have a son, an heir (v. 4), and that God in His faithfulness would keep His promise, given in Gen. 12:7 and Gen. 13:14-17, to give to his seed the land from the Nile to the Euphrates (v. 18 and note Gen. 15:18¹).

The birds of prey coming to devour the sacrifices signify Satan and his angels coming to make Christ of none effect for the church life (Gal. 5:2, 4).

God’s asking Abraham to offer the cattle and the birds to Him implies that Abraham had to identify himself with and be one with all the things that he offered (see note Gen. 3:21^2a and note Lev. 1:4¹). This indicates that in order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, we must be crucified in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrected in Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 6:5, 8; Gal. 2:20). Only in this way can we practice the church life in Christ as the promised land.

God made His covenant with Abraham through the crucified and resurrected Christ. The three kinds of slain cattle here signify Christ in His humanity being crucified for us, and the two living birds signify Christ in His divinity being the living, resurrected One (John 11:25; Rev. 1:18). Christ was killed in His humanity, but He lives in His divinity (John 14:19; 1 Pet. 3:18 and note 1 Pet. 3:18³).

The heifer was for a peace offering (Lev. 3:1), the female goat was for a sin offering (Lev. 4:28; 5:6), and the ram was for a burnt offering (Lev. 1:10). That they were all three years old signifies that Christ was offered to God and was crucified in resurrection (John 2:19; 11:25; Heb. 9:14).

In typology, the turtledove signifies a suffering life, and the young pigeon signifies a believing life, a life of faith. These are two characteristics of the Lord’s life on the earth. Since two is the number of testimony (Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1), the two living birds bear testimony of Christ as the resurrected One living in us and for us (John 14:19-20; Gal. 2:20).

Five is the number of responsibility (see note Matt. 25:2^1a). Hence, the fact that there were three cattle and two birds, making a total of five items, signifies that Christ as the crucified and living One is now bearing all the responsibility for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.

In His covenant with Abraham God set the boundaries of the good land, the land of Immanuel (Isa. 8:8), the territory of Israel, from the Nile to the Euphrates (cf. Exo. 23:31; Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:3-4). This is the land that Christ, the unique seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:7a; Gal. 3:16), will inherit for the establishing of His millennial kingdom. See note Deut. 11:24¹ and note Matt. 25:34¹.

A race of giants (Deut. 3:11).