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【Bible Study】Genesis Chapter 15 - The Person Who Makes a Covenant with God, and the Covenant Made with God!

2022-12-23 73,770 Genesis Genesis 15 Genesis Chapter 15 Eternity Faith Benevolent Will Covenant with God

Introduction

Hello everyone! Let's look at Genesis, chapter 15. Genesis spends a lot of space talking about Abraham. Have you noticed that from chapters 12 to 15, the topics I've discussed seem to be related to you and me? That is to say, we have to learn from the characters in the Bible, these characters are written for us to read. I've given this chapter a title: The Person Who Makes a Covenant with God. The theme of this chapter is about what a person who makes a covenant with God is like.

God is Looking for People to Make a Covenant With

God is looking for people to make a covenant with. After searching and searching, He finally found an Abram. How precious is that! In our generation, God is also constantly searching, like panning for gold, with more sand than gold. God has been constantly searching for people who can make a covenant with Him since ancient times. Once He finds them, the covenant is made with them.

After Abram defeated the four kings, he was afraid when he returned home, not because he couldn't beat them. If it was a fair fight in the ring, without any tricks, Abram wouldn't be afraid. Abram was afraid that if the four kings gathered a group of people and ambushed him while he was sleeping at night, wouldn't that be devastating? It's easy to defend against a visible spear, but hard to guard against a hidden arrow. He was afraid of underhanded tactics. He wasn't afraid of open plots, but he was afraid of those playing dirty. The four kings might have been killed or driven away, but they could recruit troops and horses to come back and deal with Abram, which would be enough for him to handle. In the wars between China and the Xiongnu, how many returned from ancient battles? The Xiongnu were nomads, and they rode horses to snatch things and run away, just for money. So Abram was afraid.

This fear was significant, so he prayed, and when he prayed, God spoke to him.

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” (Genesis 15:1)

This is really amazing. Chedorlaomer and the four kings did not come back to seek revenge on Abram. I guess this is because God is Abram's shield. If God is your shield, that's great, incredibly great! When God said, "Abram, do not be afraid," he was no longer afraid. Some people are not like that. God says, "Do not be afraid." They say, "I have to be afraid." They have to be afraid, and their faith is gone. So, God is looking for people who can make a covenant with Him, and the most important thing is to believe in God.

You believe in the Lord God, and the Lord counts it to you as righteousness. This is the prerequisite for making a covenant. God said, "Abram, do not be afraid! I am your shield, your very great reward." Did you believe it? You might say, "Did I hear it wrong? Did God not say that to me?" Maybe He said it to you in a dream, maybe He said it to you face to face. Your reaction after hearing it is very interesting. There are all kinds of people in the world. Some give their faith a score of 1, some give it 99, some give it 2, and some give it 10. So, in the lesson of faith, you must be a champion of faith. You can be a top student, but if a top student doesn't have faith, it's also troublesome. You can be a champion in all aspects, but you must be a champion of faith. If you want to be the richest person in faith, a champion of faith is amazing.

Once you believe that God is looking for people to make a covenant with, that's extraordinary! In fact, in the New Testament, God is also looking for treasures. Actually, I'm thinking that God is constantly declaring faith here. In fact, there aren't that many people like Abram, right? I don't think there are many. But God says, "As numerous as the sand on the seashore, as numerous as the stars in the sky." God might be cheering Himself up! As numerous as the stars in the sky, why can't I see them?

I say this to let everyone know that if you are a person of faith, you are a treasure in God's eyes. God is looking for someone to make a covenant with. Think about it: God can make a covenant with you. If God is your shield, how good is that! God wants to greatly reward you, how good is that! You didn't take a shoelace from the king of Sodom, you didn't take anything, and then God wants to greatly reward you. Why don't you want this incredibly good thing?

Believe in the Lord, believe in what? God is our shield. Many people believe and believe, and as soon as something happens, they rush to the hospital. They even ask me: "Teacher, can I go to the hospital?" I say: "You must go." Why must you go? Because you want to go! If you want to go, why should I stop you? If you come back and accuse me of delaying you, what do I gain? If you believe, then go. If you believe in something, then go do it. If you believe in the hospital, then go to the hospital. If you believe in God, then believe in God.

Many people have no faith, and they are afraid all the time. A few days ago, the husband of one of our sisters got COVID-19, and she called me and said: "I'm worried about infecting myself, so I have to be careful." As soon as she said, "I have to be careful," she got a fever. How careful can you be? I was thinking: Can you be careful enough? If you can avoid getting COVID-19 by being careful, then let's be careful and not have faith. I ask you, how can you be careful? Wear a mask every day? A mask can't stop it. That's not called being careful, that's called having very little faith. What's the use? I don't know how to be careful. If you know how to be careful, that's fine, let's do what you say, one mask is not enough, let's make a hood; if a hood is not enough, let's cover the whole body.

You can't be careful about this! It's best to have faith. Can a mask stop evil spirits? It can't! The Lord God is my shield, He will greatly reward me. If you look closely, a person who makes a covenant with God, you have to imitate Abram's faith. Abram's faith is a very, very interesting faith. He dialogues with God very well, he doesn't just talk nonsense.

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Genesis 15:2)

I don't lack anything. How much can I eat and drink in this life? In the end, everything you give me will go to Eliezer of Damascus. Is this called disbelief? This is not called disbelief, this is called clarifying things.

And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” (Genesis 15:3)

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:4-5)

When Abram is talking to God, he can raise his confusions to God. It's okay to raise your confusions, but after God really tells you, don't say, "That's impossible!" I've found that there are so many people like this in the world: Someone is sick, and I take them to pray. I say, "You will definitely get better." They say, "That's impossible." I say, "Why is it impossible?" They say, "There's a metal plate in my leg." I say, "The pain has gone away." They say, "That's impossible." I say, "Why?" They say, "There's a shrapnel from the Korean War still in his body, that's impossible." What kind of logic is this? If you want to be a person who makes a covenant with God, first get rid of the impossible in you. You are impossible, but all things are possible with God.

Abram's way of dialoguing with God is also very good. God also said to him: I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to take possession of it. Abram said: How can I know that I will gain possession of it? This is called dialogue, this is not called arguing.

What is arguing? That's impossible. What's the use of getting this land? I'm all vanity of vanities. If it's vanity of vanities, what's the use of God giving you this land? Wouldn't that be crazy? He said to Abram, go outside and look at the sky, can you count the stars? You say, what's the use of counting that? A punch in the head, and you see stars, you don't need to go out, I can see the stars. A punch in the eye, and stars fly all over the place. Isn't that arguing? God said, I want to give you this land to take possession of it. You say, what's the use of giving me that? Can that be eaten? I'm all vanity of vanities.

Many Christians are really like this, they do their work casually, anyway, they'll go to heaven when they die, it's all this kind of thing, this is not Abram's faith. When we speak, we must have an attitude of clarifying things with God. Do you know where I hate my employees the most? It started when I hired a Christian from my department. This Christian was also from our church. As a result, when he was working, he made his small boss very angry. So he came to me. The small boss came to me, taking a big risk! If I pick on his faults again, he won't be able to live, because that person was brought in by me. I felt like I had eaten a dung beetle in my stomach.

He said to me: Boss, this person you hired doesn't work hard. I said: How can he not work hard when I trained him? I said, what's going on? He said that the operating manual I arranged said: one, two, three, four, five, there are five steps in total, he only does one, three, and five, and skips two and four. I said, I understand, call him in. After this employee came in, I thought I could talk to him, I said: Why don't you follow the operating manual, follow one, two, three, four, five? He looked at me and said: Why should I do this? Oh my god! I almost fainted, I was about to see stars in the daytime. Why did he throw the why to me to answer? I packed up my faith, charged it up a bit, I said: That's your job, they asked you to do it like this, why are you asking why? There is no why, even if I tell you why, you won't understand.

God said to Abram, I want to give you this land to take possession of it. Abram didn't say: Why? We brothers and sisters have to get rid of the impossible, and then get rid of the why.

Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

This is a fundamental of making a covenant. Abram not only doesn't argue, but he also believes in God. He listens carefully to what God says, and asks questions if he doesn't understand. He's not like some of our Christians, who pretend to understand when they don't, which is really annoying. We have to get rid of all these problems. Don't do what Abram doesn't have; do what Abram has well.

Think about it, these words that God said to Abram, your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. If you say, what do I need so many for? Look at this brain. Have you ever encountered such a thing? I said, clean the floor. You say, what's the use of cleaning the floor? We'll all go to heaven when we die. Teacher, didn't you say that there's no sweeping in heaven? What's the use of me practicing this on earth? Hearing this, I almost ran out of power.

We believe in the Lord, God says He is our shield, and we believe; God says He will greatly reward us, and we believe that He will greatly reward us. Some preachers are so poor that they don't believe in God's reward. They think that talking about God's reward is loving the world. God said to him, I want to reward you. He said, don't give me a reward, if you give it to me, I will love the world. Don't think that if God doesn't reward you, you won't love the world. God doesn't reward you, and you still love the world. We have to clarify things.

The Content of the Covenant

The content of the covenant also requires faith. If you don't have faith, you can't accept these contents. Abram lived in hopelessness, he thought that living and living would die, and that would be the end, so he sought God. What was he seeking? Seeking the meaning of life. God said to him, I will bless you. You will also bless others, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

How did this blessing come about? God said that Abram's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. You say that Abram feels that living is meaningless, what does he need descendants for? Chapter 13 said: Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west; all the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I was thinking, we generally need a bed of one meter by two meters. Canaan is so big, what do I need so much land for? Because in the future your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth.

People can count the dust of the earth, then they can count your descendants. So much land is for the descendants to live in. In the future, there will be many spiritual children! If there are many spiritual children, these spiritual children must have a place to live. If 10 people are crowded into a 10-square-meter room, there will be a stampede. Isn't that troublesome? So the content of this covenant: your descendants will be like the stars in the sky, like the sand on the seashore, how good is that!

You say it should be vanity of vanities, this thing is not vanity! God, if you do this, will you make me love the world? So many descendants? Now, if you have a daughter, it's okay, if you have a son, you have to prepare a house for him, prepare a car, prepare a bride price. With my little bones, I think let's forget it. What do I need so many of those things for? Then God said: This land will be given to you. What do I need so many of those things for?

Abram didn't have these questions. Is it that Abram didn't see through it? No. Abram had already figured out the content of this covenant. If you give me some money generously, to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, that would be great. But you also give me some descendants, and after I die, there is still land, and it's still 400 years later, and my generation can't get it. And I still live a long life on this earth, and go to my ancestors in peace, and be buried, that's a long shot. But Abram doesn't live in the flesh, Abram lives in eternity, lives in the spiritual realm, because God is a spirit. So he trusts God, he believes that I am created by God, God created me and gave me a body, and in the future the spirit will return to the spirit of the Lord who created man.

So what is this land for? I tell you, God wrote Genesis for us, for fear that people living on earth don't know that God is the God of the living. That is to say: Abram has a set of logic in him, he will never die, his spirit will live forever. And in the future he will get this land, although his body dies and is buried, his spirit is still alive. So Abram is not only concerned about 400 years, but he is concerned about 4,000 years, 40,000 years, he is concerned about eternity. So, the content of this covenant is descendants and land.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:4-5)

He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” (Genesis 15:7)

Why is the content of the covenant these things? To allow people to live out the glorious image of God while they are alive. I can say that many Christians don't have this idea. Contemporary Christian faith is all about going to heaven after death, and only a few people are similar to us.

Chinese Mingding Destiny inherits Abram's faith, inherits Abram's set of not only will I live in eternity in the future, but in fact I am living in eternity now, and I can live out the glorious image of God on earth. Not only to get the promise, to get the land promised by God, but also to get the descendants given to us by God. In the future, we can see in eternity that the descendants of Chinese Mingding Destiny are like the stars in the sky and the dust on the earth. The effect of our service will follow us forever, until eternity, so this life is really real.

Everyone should know that the content of this covenant is all on earth. But I often see preachers not building on this foundation, and I feel that the gospel they preach is not the gospel of the foundation laid by Abraham. So, we must know that the foundation of the covenant is on earth. Later, in Revelation, people are still on earth. Do you think you went to heaven, in heaven? We don't need to manage those things in heaven. In fact, in the new heaven and new earth, people are still on earth, we live on earth as if in heaven. God is looking for a person to make a covenant with Him, you must know the content of the covenant. If a person who makes a covenant with God doesn't know the content of the covenant, it's troublesome, you must know what the content of the covenant with God is.

The Way of Establishing a Covenant

Brothers and sisters must know for sure that there is no gospel of poverty here, and there is no talk of success or failure. The content of God's covenant is indeed like this, but the way of establishing the covenant is a very miraculous way. Abram said: Lord, how shall I know that I will inherit it? As a result, he began to enter the way of establishing a covenant, a signing ceremony.

Abram said, “O Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. (Genesis 15:8-10)

The signing ceremony is: God said: Take for me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. Some people asked: Teacher, what does this three-year-old heifer represent? What does the three-year-old female goat represent? What does the three-year-old ram represent? What does a turtledove represent? What does a young pigeon represent? In fact, I tell you: a three-year-old heifer represents a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat represents a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram represents a three-year-old ram, that turtledove represents a turtledove, and a young pigeon represents a young pigeon. You think I didn't answer your question. What's the point of answering this? The Bible doesn't even say.

I tell you, God says this, you do this. If one day God says: I want to make a covenant with you, prepare a one-year-old heifer, then you prepare a one-year-old heifer. If God says you prepare a five-year-old heifer, you must not argue with God and say: Abram prepared a three-year-old one. God said prepare a three-year-old female goat. You say: I don't have a three-year-old female goat at home, I have a three-year-old female cat. That won't work. Why these? It's just that you must do as you are told. Don't be silly like the employee I hired who came to my office and asked: Why? Telling you why, you wouldn't understand.

Everything God told Abram was faith. Abram didn't say, why so much trouble, what three-year-old heifer, I just happen to have a cow at home, two years and ten months old, two months short; what three-year-old or five-year-old female goat, I have an old one, just so I don't have to fix it. If that's the case, then it's troublesome. Brothers and sisters, don't fall into this pit, do as God says, don't ask why.

God says this is to test you, you must do as God says. If Abram heard about the three-year-old heifer, and they just happened to have a cow at home, two years and ten months old, two months short. He said: God, you shouldn't care about these two months. God said: No. Why not just do as God says? If you don't have it, go to the neighbor's house to exchange one. Abram was in the land of Canaan, didn't the locals Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol make a covenant with Abram in the land of Canaan? If you don't have it, think of a way, don't be perfunctory, sacrifice is sacrifice.

Some people still ask when tithing: Teacher, for tithing, can I give ninety percent? What kind of brain is this! Some people also say: Teacher, is this ten percent before tax or after tax? That's to save money! Some people also ask: Teacher, does the housing fund count as ten percent, or does it not count as ten percent? It's like doing something very disadvantageous, isn't it just a little bit of money? Can't we not be short of money? Shouldn't we not lack this little money at home.

Making a covenant with God is a great thing! Making a covenant is such a glorious thing! You can't bear to part with a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, and you're thinking about turning this cow into a sheep, the sheep into a rabbit, the rabbit into a mouse or a hamster, how great that would be! I think this generation calculates and calculates, what's it all about? What's the point of calculating these? When we make a covenant with God, we must have a mindset that says: I live for God, everything of God is mine, and everything of mine is God's, just say what you want. How great that would be! We must be serious about the matter of sacrifice.

When they arrived in the wilderness, the Israelites followed Moses to build the tabernacle of the Lord God. It was said to use sealskin, dyed red. Would dyeing it blue work too? That's not the case. That is to say, whether we build a church or make sacrifices, we must have a serious habit. We must soar on wings like eagles, that's extraordinary. Those are all high-precision equipment flying into the sky, you can't be perfunctory. After you're perfunctory with high-precision equipment, what if you ride the engine and fly up and then come down? If you come down, you'll become barbecue, you'll become a mummy.

This way of establishing a covenant is a bit surprising, can't this be done without these? No, it must have them. Think of a way, if there's no way, you have to think of a way. I tell you, later Abram offered a burning torch and a smoking censer. The smoking censer and the burning torch are extraordinary. Walking through the sacrifices, he was accepted by God, and miracles and wonders were manifested because of people's faith. Later, I discovered that Moses really had pillars of cloud and pillars of fire when he led the Israelites. If your attitude towards sacrifice is right, it is Abel's attitude towards sacrifice, not Cain's attitude. Pillars of cloud and pillars of fire represent God's acceptance, represent God's shield, God is our protection, that's extraordinary. The way to establish a covenant is to sacrifice.

Until today, the way of sacrifice is to offer a person's attitude, if the attitude is not right, don't say anything. If you think making a covenant is a disadvantage, then let's not make it. I think God is too lazy to pay attention to you, and too lazy to pay attention to me, because he thinks it's a disadvantage. If he thinks it's a matter of taking advantage, do you think he would do it like this? He would have to be extremely serious. This is not a matter of millions or tens of millions, nor is it a matter of hundreds of millions, it is a matter concerning eternity. If the property you bought is a perpetual lease, then it concerns a perpetual lease. This covenant concerns the land, which is particularly good.

The Process of Fulfilling the Covenant Also Requires Faith

God and Abram not only established the covenant, but God also told Abram the process of fulfilling the covenant. You say where is Abram so great? Abram has too many great things, I just think I can't help but admire him, Abram is too great.

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. (Genesis 15:13)

If you were Abram, you would be thinking: What kind of covenant is this, why is this covenant so difficult? God! It's so difficult, I don't want it, let's just leave it at that. I came out of Ur of the Chaldeans, walked a long way, and then had a whole four hundred years, I thought you would give it to me tomorrow. God, what can't you do, you can give it to me tomorrow. No! This covenant has several things, it has a process of fulfillment. But because Abram saw four hundred years as a shadow of a day, God sees a thousand years as one day, four hundred years is one morning, Abram is too great. My descendants will be afflicted in this place for four hundred years, and that is how the covenant will be fulfilled.

You ask me why? There is no why. I can tell everyone that if God wants to fulfill his covenant in us, he must come out of a land of slavery. Don't just worry about this, after those four hundred years, God will bring them out, and bring many possessions out of there, this sentence is good! Whoever loves money comes out of Egypt, and God will punish that land. Then the descendants of Israel will come out of that place with many possessions to this land, because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (Genesis 15:14-16)

I tell you, even to get this land, you have to queue up, and we are now in the queue. Those people have lost God's Mingding Destiny, and their iniquity is not yet complete, so God is letting us queue up and wait there. What great faith that must be. But queuing itself is faith, what is queuing for four hundred years, four thousand years, four hundred thousand years is nothing, get in line. I go to the land of Egypt as a house of slavery, and it doesn't matter if I am enslaved and abused, I can afford this price, because this land is still occupied by someone.

In this generation, God has prepared many places for us. But after preparing it for Chinese Mingding Destiny, first get in line. When their iniquity is complete, God will take what he gave them and give it to us, it's all like this. Some people say, what if I die before I get it in the queue, it doesn't matter, you will get it in eternity. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were all great people, all died in faith. And the New Testament Bible says: They did not receive what was promised, but left this world with hope. But if they cannot share God's promise with us, it is really unreasonable, so they came out with possessions.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:39-40)

Some brothers and sisters get frustrated when queuing at McDonald's, queuing for a McDonald's hamburger, a KFC chicken leg, they stop queuing, stop eating, and get angry. You say you can't even queue for a chicken leg, a hamburger, then what are you going to do when you queue for an eternal promise? So brothers and sisters, when you have an eternal perspective, a year passes in the blink of an eye, and ten years also pass in the blink of an eye. Can we not let these things affect the fulfillment of God's good will in us because of our inner logical system? Our inner worldly logical system is basically: This matter has nothing to do with me. No! In eternity, it has a great relationship with us. I just hope that brothers and sisters can all become people who make a covenant with God, a covenant in eternity.

Did Rebekah, Joseph's grandmother and Jacob's mother, know about the covenant God made with Abram? She knew. Rebekah was Abram's daughter-in-law, Rebekah was not yet born at this time, and neither was Isaac. But after Rebekah was born, she heard about the covenant God made with Abram, and read a section of Genesis 15. Why did she hope to get this, to be enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, happily marry Isaac, and also bring her nurse Deborah? When Jacob returned from his uncle Laban's house, his nurse passed away in the land of Israel. These people all left this world with hope in eternity.

And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth. (Genesis 35:8)

We should have this attitude. Jacob wanted this covenant, Joseph also wanted this covenant, Rebekah also wanted this covenant, and later Ruth and Rahab also wanted this covenant, these are all extraordinary people. Where are they extraordinary? They are all full of hope in eternity. I hope brothers and sisters know for sure that the covenant God made with man was not made after Abram died, but was made when he was alive. That is to say, God's will is to let people become people who make a covenant with God while we are alive on earth. To make a covenant, you must have this kind of faith, this is eternal faith.

May God bless everyone!

Genesis Chapter 15 Scripture

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
15:2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
15:3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
15:4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”
15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
15:6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
15:7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
15:8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
15:9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
15:10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
15:11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
15:14 But I will judge the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
15:15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
15:16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
15:18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
15:19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

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Isabelle
Thank you, teacher. Really, I've heard it many times before, that Christians are blessed, that they should be blessed, thinking that believing in God means abundance and prosperity, and that everything will go well. But in reality, when disaster strikes, they say it's for edification; when they get sick, they say it's for edification; when they encounter bad things, they say it's for edification, testing, and trials. They never think about whether their goals are wrong, their strategies are wrong, or their methods are wrong. Being self-righteous and self-justifying is really terrible. Today I heard why Abraham became the father of faith. He believed without seeing anything, and even when God said 400 years, he didn't get angry and quit. But what about us? We are impatient and eager for God to bless us quickly. Why? Thinking about it makes me feel ashamed. Thank God, if it weren't for God's grace, I would still be wandering blindly in the wilderness. God, lead me and my family out of the wilderness. Entering the promised land means honestly clearing the land, relying on God to turn barren land into fertile land, and relying on God to live diligently. Thank you, God, thank you, teacher.
Cher
Teacher Liu, can you systematically study the Book of Judges?
命定小助手
Okay, we are re-examining 2 Samuel. We can consider re-examining the Book of Judges later.
@Cher: Teacher Liu, can you systematically check the Book of Judges?
渴望
15:16 In the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Teacher, I don't understand this passage. Isn't the fourth generation Joseph? Didn't the Israelites return to Canaan in the fourth generation?
命定小助手
Reply to @ 渴望: The unit of this 'generation' remains to be confirmed. We cannot force it. We will not dwell on these words. If it is the fourth generation, it may be counted from the generation that went to Egypt. It may also be 120 years per 'generation.' But this does not affect our grasping the theme of the Bible.
@渴望: 15:16 到了第四代、他们必回到此地、因为亚摩利人的罪孽、还没有满盈。老师这段经文不理解,第四代不是约瑟吗?以色列人不是在第四代回到迦南地的啊?
If you want to see, to curse, such a logic, you are actually still in the discernment of good and evil.
@Desire: 15:16 In the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Teacher, I don’t understand this passage. Isn’t the fourth generation Joseph? Didn’t the Israelites return to Canaan in the fourth generation?