Genesis chapter 17

Here, God confirms the covenant between him and Abraham, telling him that he and Sarah will have a son, Isaac, who is the child of the promise, the covenant. Whilst Ishmael, the child of the flesh, will be blessed also, it is through Isaac that Abraham will be the father of many nations.

This is not the first time that God has talked about the covenant with Abraham. It is mentioned in chapter 12 and chapter 15, but here, it is all about to take place, with Isaac's birth foretold sometime in the next year. This is something that Abraham at the age of 100, with Sarah now 90, thought impossible. And initially assumed that God was talking about Ishmael. Yet nothing is impossible for God and I am reminded of God telling Moses "The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:23, NIV).

All these chapters here are reminding me about having faith, about trusting in God, no matter what. Trust and believe, for the arm of the Lord is not too short and for Him, nothing is impossible.

So the Lord promises Abraham:

Genesis 17:1-8 Abram fell face down, and God said to him, 4 ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.’ (NIV)

The significance of the change of name is that whilst Abram means exalted father, Abraham means father of many.

But God isn't just promising Abraham a family, many descendants, He is also promising that He will be Abraham's God and the God of his descendants . This is God choosing Abraham above all men, and promising Him everything. Yet what has Abraham done to deserve this? He is no one special. Yes, he listened to God and moved with his family on God's command, but in reality, Abraham had done nothing before then to mark him out, to make him stand out above the crowd. He had certainly done nothing to deserve any preferential treatment, you might say he had done the opposite in view of the lying he did about Sarai and not telling Pharaoh she was his wife. Yet God had His hand on Abraham showed him His favour.

In the same way God has shown us His favour. Look at what we have because of Jesus. WE have eternal salvation as everyone who calls on Jesus' name will be saved. What have we done to deserve this? Why should God allow His only Son to pay the price for our sins, our mistakes, our errors? Yet He has. He knew from before the world began that this would be the only way, that this would be the price that had top be paid to give us salvation yet just like Abraham, we have done nothing to deserve this, nothing to warrant any special treatment. But Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith in God, and we are counted as righteous because of our faith too.

Then Abraham circumcises every male in the household, both free and save, born into the household or purchased form outside. This is a symbol, a sign, of God's covenant with Abraham, something that every Jewish male carries as a reminder of what God promised Abraham.