Purpose, name, people, place. It’s not catchy but it is glorious.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 16, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called I Turned 8 Three Times. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 17, Matthew 16, and Nehemiah 6. Please open your Bibles to Genesis 17.
In the summer before I entered the third grade, I turned 8 three times. Ok, that’s not really true. I got to have three birthday parties to celebrate turning 8. That summer, my family moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania. My parents arranged a birthday party with my friends before we left. That was the first time I turned 8. Since we were on the road and in a hotel on the actual day of my birthday, my parents managed to arrange a special family birthday to make it memorable, so I turned 8 again. Then, when we got to Pennsylvania, there was a problem with the house we were buying so we had to go live for a few weeks with my uncle and aunt and cousins in New Jersey. They threw me a party and I turned 8 once again! Now, that all made sense to the 8 year-old version of me, but looking back on it, now I would just say that I was blessed to have several parties celebrating the same occasion.
Something similar happens across several chapters in Genesis. Last week, we looked at the covenant God made with Noah. We saw how that covenant started a new phase of the story of God’s plan of salvation for his people. We turned the page to chapter 12 and hit another new phase of the story: God’s covenant with Abram. I’m sure you already know that God made a covenant with Abram—a covenant that included many wonderful promises, including a miracle child, the father of many nations, and land to call home.
And kind of like I had multiple birthday parties that one summer, God celebrates this covenant he made with Abram several times. God announces the covenant in chapter 12, he comes back to it in chapter 15, and then he comes back to it again, here in chapter 17.
So, please follow along with me as I read Genesis 17:1–9,
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,
2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him,
4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Many Bible scholars have wondered why we have stories of the covenant in chapters 12, 15, and 17 of Genesis. There are a variety of ways to explain that but one possibility is that it was too momentous, too wonderful, to be contained in a single setting.
What makes this covenant with Abram so momentous? I think there are at least four reasons, just from this passage. I tried really hard to make these four things all start with “P,” but I came up short, so we will have to summarize the four things as purpose, name, people, and place. Maybe that will make it memorable for you!
First, there is a purpose behind this covenant. It is meant to be transformative, to have practical results in Abram’s life. It isn’t only a promise that will be realized hundreds of years in the future, long after Abram is dead and gone. It is that, but it is more. Look what it says in verse 1: God commands Abram, “I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be blameless.” There is not a conjunction between “almighty” and “walk”; we might expect a word like “so,” or “therefore.” But the logic of the verse seems clear enough: God is revealing himself to Abram and making a covenant with Abram so that Abram can walk before God and be blameless. Another way to say that is so that Abram can know God and obey God. And that is God’s intention for all his people from Abram all the way down to you and me.
Second, God changes Abram’s name. He doesn’t change it much: Abram and Abraham sound pretty similar. But the meaning of names was really important in the ancient world and that one extra syllable made quite a difference. There’s a little note at the bottom of the page of my Bible that explains that the name Abram means “exalted father” and Abraham means “father of a multitude.” So that small change in Abraham’s name has really large downstream implications, and it leads us to the third reason the covenant is momentous.
The third reason that God’s covenant with Abram is so significant is people. Look what it says in verses 5 and 6. God says, “…for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.” This is a pretty big promise to a guy who is really old and doesn’t have any children. How can this possibly happen? You don’t have to be a genius at genealogies to know that if you don’t have any children, you’re not going to have any grandchildren. Well, keep reading in this chapter and in the next to learn more about God’s promise to provide a son. Sure enough, it’s not long before Abraham’s son Isaac is born. Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob has twelve sons. And from there this family does what families do: it keeps growing and within a handful of more generations, Abraham surely had a LOT of offspring.
Finally, God promised Abram land. God promised to give to Abram the land of his sojournings, the land of Canaan. For the rest of the history of God’s people in the Old Testament the land is a place of special blessing for them and a reminder of God’s nearness.
This chapter is important for us because, like Genesis 11, it marks another new phase of the story. And it reveals these new features of how God is at work in the world to save sinners. For Christians today, this teaches us something about God’s saving plans for us as well. God’s purpose is the same for us: that we would also walk before him and be blameless. We didn’t change our names when we became Christians, but Christian was a new name for each one of us: we became followers of Christ! And now we’ve been made part of God’s people and given the promise of God’s place. In the Old Testament, God’s people was Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham. And God’s place was Canaan, the physical locale on the east side of the Mediterranean.
God eventually made a new covenant through his son, a covenant that is far greater in its scope, its promises, and its accomplishments. And every Christian is now in that phase of the story. And in that covenant, God’s people are the church and God has promised us a place with him in the new heavens and the new earth. As we read Genesis 17 today, let’s give thanks that God made covenants with his people, especially a new covenant through Jesus.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!