Genesis 15-16

What’s Happening?

God had promised Abram descendants as countless as the stars, a great nation that would bless the whole world (15:5). But Abram and Sarai were old, and Sarai was barren (11:30). It was impossible for them to bring about God’s promise on their own.

So, God appeared to Abram in a vision and bound his word in covenant. In the ancient world, covenants were sealed through sacrifice. Animals were cut in two, and the parties making the covenant would pass between them, declaring that the covenant was now sealed in blood (15:10). But when night fell, Abram watched as God alone passed through the sacrifice in a smoking fire pot and flaming torch (15:17).

This was not because Abram had no role to play. He was called to trust and obey. But God’s covenant promise was that Abraham and Sarah would have a child. This was something they could never accomplish by their own power. Only God could bring life out of their dying family line. By walking through alone, God pledged that he himself would bring about the life they could not.

Yet Abram and Sarai still struggled to wait. Instead of trusting God’s covenant promise, they tried to make one of their own. Sarai gave her servant Hagar to Abram, and she conceived (16:2–4). Conflict followed, and Hagar fled. But even there, God came to her, promising to bless her son. Ishmael would not be the child of promise, but God was still faithful. Even when Abram disobeyed, God kept his word—Hagar’s son would also become a great nation (16:10–12).

Where is the Gospel?

This covenant points us to Jesus. Just as Abraham and Sarah could not bring life into their dying family line, so we cannot bring life into our dead hearts. We are powerless to fulfill the covenant on our own. But in Jesus, God himself brings life to us. He seals the covenant with his blood and gives us his Spirit so that we can trust, obey, and partner with him in bringing his life into the world.

Paul later reflects that the story of Sarah and Hagar shows two ways of life (Galatians 4:23–24). Ishmael represents life “according to the flesh”—trying to produce God’s promises by human effort. Isaac represents life “according to the promise”—trusting in God to provide life where there was only death. In Jesus, we are invited to be children of the free woman, depending not on our own strength but on the Spirit who gives life.

The good news is that God is faithful even when we are not. Like Abram, our disobedience and faithlessness do not cancel God’s promises. He continues to form life out of us, even when we act like children of slavery. And in Christ, he makes us children of promise, filled with his Spirit, set free to trust and obey.

See for Yourself

I pray the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who brings life where there is only death and keeps his promises even when we are faithless. And may you see Jesus as the one who makes you a child of promise, filled with his Spirit to trust, obey, and bring God’s life into the world.