How Abraham Learnt the Gospel – by Desmond Ford

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Dec 31, 2015 2121

God comes to Abraham (in Gen 15:9) and says, “Well, Abraham you have trusted me, you are righteous in my sight, and I am going to count you that way. But now, Abraham, I have a few things to teach you.”

And look what happens. God says to him,

And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him – Gen 15:9–10 (KJV).

So, God is saying to Abraham, “The reason you can have confidence in my love, the reason you can believe despite worldly enemies – those you have just fought – despite your own weak heart, is that things are going to be okay if you trust me. The reason you can believe that is because I am going to love you enough to give you my Son in sacrifice. So the sacrifice of Calvary is acted out by the sacrifice described in Genesis.

Associated with that sacrifice, suddenly, a terrible and dark night falls upon Abraham: a mystical experience, a horror of great darkness. That is a very impressive line. You cannot help but think of the darkness of Gethsemane, the three hours of darkness on Calvary, and the final plague of darkness at the end of the world before the sun of the world sets, when there will be a horrible and great darkness over the earth. When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on earth?

So Abraham is being shown the reality of existence. The first reality of existence is God. The second reality of existence is sin, and the third reality is faith. And then we see that all these revolve around the sacrifice of the Son of God

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32. Adapted from “The Night of Wrestling.”