“And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 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. 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. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great sub-stance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth gener-ation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.”

Genesis 15:7-17 ( KJV )

4000 years ago God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants concerning their future. Abraham wanted evidence from God of his intent to honor this promise, so God told Abraham to make preparations for a blood covenant. At that time a blood covenant was the most binding of all covenants and was sealed by a sacrifice being divided down the middle, one half laid on the right and one half laid on the left. Two parties would join hands and walk between the sacrifice. This formed an unbreakable agreement between the two parties. It was understood a partner who broke the agreement would certainly be killed by the other. After Abraham had the preparations ready for the blood covenant, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abraham because God's blood covenant with Abraham was going to be slightly modified. God was going to pass through the sacrifice alone. God did this because he knew Abraham and his descendants would fall short many times over the next several hundred years. God made this unconditional promise requiring only faith from Abraham.

2000 years later God once again made a one-sided covenant with mankind, this time on a cross. God knew, just as He did with Abraham, that we would not have the ability to hold up our end of a covenant. He again made an unconditional promise requiring only faith on our part. From the start of this covenant man has tried to add holy living, baptism, church membership and many other duties to our responsibility. We should rejoice and find rest knowing God loved us so much he was once again willing to make a one-sided covenant with mankind, requiring only faith from us.

JOHN SACK