Genesis 15:11

And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses,....

But God ensures both to him; and that which made these two, the promised seed and the promised land, comforts indeed to this great believer was that they were both typical of those two invaluable blessings, Christ and heaven; and so, we have reason to think, Abram eyed them. God's Covenant with Abram.

WE might use this text, if we chose, as a picture of the ease with which faith repels all attacks that are made upon Christ, the great sacrifice of the new Covenant. Ainsworth tells us that the original word which we translate "drove" has in it the force of "puffed" them away. As if with a very puff of breath these kites and vultures and eagles, were at once driven away from the bodies of the victims.

WE might use this text, if we chose, as a picture of the ease with which faith repels all attacks that are made upon Christ, the great sacrifice of the new Covenant. Ainsworth tells us that the original word which we translate "drove" has in it the force of "puffed" them away. As if with a very puff of breath these kites and vultures and eagles, were at once driven away from the bodies of the victims. Faith knows how, when skeptical kites when blaspheming vultures, when speculative eagles come down to attack the sacrifice of Christ, to chase them away with but a puff of her breath. "We know whom we have believed." Let the earth shake, our confidence in Him cannot move. He is to us as real a Person as ourselves. No, we might doubt our own existence, but Jesus, His power, His love, His precious blood, His prevalent atonement we dare not doubt. One puff of the breath of prayer and questions and taunts are gone. One puff of the breath of holy faith in praise and every skeptical attack is scattered to the winds as far as we are concerned. When these fowls come down upon the body of Christ, like Abram by faith we "puff" them away. But I do not intend to use the text with such an object this morning, though one might legitimately do so. It seems to me to represent to us our duty when distracting thoughts invade the sanctity of our holy worship. Here is Abram. He has killed the victims according to Divine order. He has laid them in their places according to heavenly rule. He is waiting until God shall over those victims make and ratify the covenant. But meanwhile the buzzards and kites and vultures scent the bodies from afar and hasten to devour the flesh of the bullock and the ram. Abram chases them away that so his sacrifice may not be spoiled and he may have real fellowship with God.

ABRAHAM, when he was childless, received the amazing promise that his seed should be as the stars of Heaven for number. This he believed and his faith in Jehovah "was counted unto him for righteousness." Surely there is more righteousness in trusting the Lord than in all the works of the flesh! Those who speak lightly of faith are of a different mind from the Lord, whose judgment is according to truth. For the confirmation of the Patriarch's faith, the Lord resolved to give to His servant a gracious visitation which should be regarded as the solemn making of a covenant—and also as a prophecy of the future history of the promised seed. Abram was bid to bring victims—a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon. The language is peculiar— "The Lord said unto him, Take Me an heifer of three years old." And then in the next verse we read, "And he took unto Him all these." Thus God and His servant each took part in the sacrifice—and so they set forth in symbol the communion which the Lord God has with His people in the Covenant of Grace, as they meet together in that one great Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, which is the soul and essence of all the outward offerings. It was an offering taken for God which the Lord accepted, but it was, also, an offering taken unto Himself by Abraham, who saw Christ's day—saw it, and was glad. The man of God obeyed the command of God with great exactness and deliberation, laying the pieces of the sacrifice in due order and then waiting upon God until He should be pleased to further reveal Himself. But what is this? The solemn service is disturbed by foul birds! The most intense devotion is liable to interruptions of the worst sort. In the East, if a camel falls dead in the desert, the air is almost immediately full of winged things.

ABRAHAM, when he was childless, received the amazing promise that his seed should be as the stars of Heaven for number. This he believed and his faith in Jehovah "was counted unto him for righteousness." Surely there is more righteousness in trusting the Lord than in all the works of the flesh! Those who speak lightly of faith are of a different mind from the Lord, whose judgment is according to truth.