There are several lights in which we may view death. It is the wages of sin. (Rom. 6:23.) It came by man. (1 Cor. 15:21.) It has a claim on all the children of Adam, and all such are liable to enter into it. It terminates a man’s existence upon earth, it cuts short all his plans in connection with this life, and manifests how really, because of sin, he is but a sojourner in the world. To the weary, the troubled, the distressed, it brings cessation from earthly toils, and earthly vexations. (Job 3:13-19.) To many it has come as the king of terrors. (Job 18:14; Hebrews 2:15.) To the unconverted, the impenitent, if at all alive to that which comes after it—judgment (Heb. 9:27), it is a most unwelcome intruder. The Christian, however, if at peace with God, without desiring it (2 Cor. 5:4), can yet quietly yield to it. For him its sting is gone (1 Cor. 15:55, 56), it is annulled (2 Tim. 1:10), and made subservient to his interests (1 Cor. 3:22); and, if called to pass through it, he will find it the door of exit from earth, through which he departs to be with Christ. (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23.) There is, however, another light in which we can view it, for it makes secure beyond the possibility of revocation or change, that which is based upon it. “For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” (Heb. 9:17.)
But this introduces the thought of the death of another by which we receive a benefit. The man of the world then may talk of the certainty of death, the Christian can speak of security which results from it; but the worldling will be thinking of his own, or other men’s death, the Christian of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the worldling, if he continues such, death is certain, “for it is appointed unto men once to die.” Death will come, and rob him of all that he possesses. Others may profit by his death as far as regards the things of this life, but to him death will be a robber, a spoiler, a captor. And it is the prospect of death which makes him feel, whether willing to confess it or not, how uncertain is his continuance on earth, and his tenure of the things of this life. Certainty of death, and insecurity arising from it, on these the man whose portion is in this life may sadly soliloquize, and descant. With the Christian how different! Of the uncertainty of his death he may speak, and on the security resulting from death, that his hopes shall be accomplished, he can confidently rely. If he thinks of death as affecting himself, he knows it cannot take from him one iota his proper portion. His inheritance lies beyond it, and is untouched by it, for it is “incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven, for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Pet. 1:4, 5.) If he thinks of the death of the Lord, he knows how secure is his future. Now the one who has taught us this is God, and in the darkness of night He gave His servant Abraham, and us also, to understand, that what is based upon death, can never be annulled, nor altered.
When Abraham first pitched his tent at Sichem (Gen. 12), God promised to give the land to his seed. When Lot separated from him, and chose the plain of Jordan, by Sodom, God renewed His promise to Abraham, that the land should be given to his seed, and accompanied the reiteration of His promise with the gracious addition of “forever.” (Chap. 13:15) In chapter 15 God came to him in a vision, and Abraham asked for assurances both as to the existence of his seed, and as to their possession of the land. As regards his seed God gave him a fresh promise, and he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. As respects the inheritance of the land, God entered into a covenant to reassure him of it. Now this was not the first covenant God had made with men. But it was the first which was ratified by death.
God established His covenant with Noah, when He shut him into the ark, and kept him in safety throughout the flood. (Gen. 6:18.) He made a covenant too after the flood with the whole human race, and with every living creature with them, from all that went out of the ark, to every beast of the earth, that a flood should never again cut off all flesh, nor destroy the earth. (Gen. 9:9-17.) It was nothing new then on God’s part to enter into a covenant engagement with man, when He graciously bound Himself to Abraham on that memorable night. But it was quite a new feature in any such engagement, as far as we are aware, for God to ratify it by death. In after years, too, God made covenants without any such ratification, for example, Exod. 34; Deut. 29:1 Sam. 23:5; but on this occasion He instructed Abraham as to what he was to do. When all was prepared, God bound Himself at sunset to bring back Abraham’s seed to that land, and to judge those who should have afflicted them. And when darkness had overspread the earth, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp passed between the pieces of the animals slain. The burning lamp was the token of the divine presence. (Exod. 20:18; Eze. 1:13; Dan. 10:6.) The smoking furnace seems to be the emblem of judgment (Psalm 21:9.; Isa. 31:9; Mai. 4:1); for judgment on their enemies, as well as deliverance of his seed, God bound Himself to Abraham to accomplish. We know how fully that was carried out. The same inspired word which tells us of the covenant, acquaints us will! its fulfillment.
But why did God act in this way with Abraham?
He had promised in chapters 12 and 13 that his seed should have the land, and that forever. Why then, did God pass, as it were, through the pieces of the animals slain? It was to give the most complete assurance of the fulfillment of His promise, binding Himself in the most solemn way to perform the promise to Abraham’s seed, after the patriarch’s death. But why were the animals slain? Men might make a covenant after that manner, in token that they deserved death, if they broke it, as Jer. 34:18-20 shows us. But on God’s part there could be no failure. Was not then God’s action on this occasion an intimation to Abraham of the immutability of the covenant thus made? For where death has come in, one cannot revert to the condition of matters which existed before it. The life given up cannot be taken back, hence there can be no change in the engagement solemnly entered into. What is based upon death must therefore stand forever. Abraham, it would appear, perfectly understood this, for never again, that we read of, did he ask from God for any fresh assurance that his seed should inherit the land. All was made sure to him, since the covenant was ratified by death.
Now, if we read this narrative only as a chapter in the life of the patriarch, we could not but feel an interest in the account of that night’s intercourse with God, when the Almighty was solemnly binding Himself to a creature to perform for his seed what He had already promised. But that would be all. Yet, surely no one, whose God is Abraham’s God, should turn away from that history as one in which he has no concern. Of course in the fulfillment of the promise then confirmed to Abraham, we have no direct concern. In the ways of God, however, and His teaching, we are intimately concerned; for we learn what He is, who is the unchanging One, from what He has said, and from what He has done. And here we are taught by God Himself of the immutability of that which rests upon death. In this principle then here first authoritatively set forth, we are all interested. For in the death of God’s Son, we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are now deeply concerned. All then that rests on His death must abide immutable, and secure. Is this man’s deduction merely? Nay. It is God’s own gracious teaching from His ways with Abraham on that night.
Have we then forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ? (Eph. 1:7.) That must stand good forever, for the blood, which is the life, has been shed, and the life so surrendered cannot be taken back. Death having come in there can be no going back to a previous condition of matters, and so no revocation of what has been affected by it. Are we justified by His blood? (Rom. 5:9.) Our justification must abide then forever. What has been done cannot be undone. Have we boldness to enter the holiest by His blood? (Heb. 10:19.) Of that right of entry we can never be deprived. All is secure and unchangeable which rests on death, and we can add the death of God’s Son. And who teaches us this, and would settle the heart in this confidence? It is God, who has written this history of that light’s intercourse between Himself and Abraham for our instruction, and the establishing, and joy of our hearts. C. E. S.