# 121 The New Royal Land Grant

The Book of Genesis Day 121 Ge 15:7 Then He said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." 8 And he said, "Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. Abram’s faith had just been accounted to him as righteousness as he believed God’s promise of a child to be born to him and Sarai. Now, God reminds Abram of who He is. “I am the Lord (the Self-Existent one) who brought you out! That’s one of God’s calling cards! He brings out! In this case He brings Abram out of Ur, (the land of the heathen) to what we can call the “Promised Land,” which is symbolic of heaven. God does the same thing for you and I! He brings us out of the world (the land of unbelievers) and promises us heaven! (the land of believers) He brings us out in accordance with Eph 2:8,9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But what’s this? Abram wants some assurance? What’s that all about? It’s about the practice of Abram’s culture to make a covenant. God knows this, He knows how we fallen humans seek assurances and so He does an incredible thing! He says, “OK, I understand where you are coming from here Abram,” So he instructs Abram to prepare animals for the purpose of making a covenant in accordance with the custom of the day. The two parties involved in the covenant would split these animals in two, place them opposite each other, then walk between them. By doing so, both parties declared themselves liable to the fate of those animals should they break the terms of the agreement. Think about this! God, the Self-Existent One, was willing to stoop down to Abram and do this! He was willing to enter into this covenant with Abram in terms that Abram could understand. This was one of the types of royal covenants used in the ancient Near East. It was called a “royal grant.” And it was unconditional! It involved a king’s grant of land (in this case, God granting the land to Abram) to a loyal servant for faithful or exceptional service. The grant was normally perpetual and unconditional, and the loyal servant just needed to remain loyal. Abram understood this, and he knew that this land would be passed on to his heirs! “Be faithful Abram! If you and your children remain faithful, loyal, and serve the King of kings, the land (heaven) will be yours! Be unfaithful and the covenant is made void, the land will be taken from you! The entire Old Testament became a testimony to this covenant. God keeps His covenants and His new covenant will also be kept! His new covenant is simply this: Mr 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. This is the new royal land grant of the New Testament! This new covenant was spoken of by Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost when he said in Ac 2:38,39, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." You and your children can inherit the land! (heaven) Believe! Be baptized! Be saved! Pray: Father thank You that it was the blood of Jesus that was shed for us for the New Covenant. Let us, and our children, by faith, receive all the benefits of His shed blood through faith and water baptism.