COUNT THE STARS
“Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” Genesis 15:5.
Introduction
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The
Lord has already told Abram of His plan to make Abram “a great nation” in
Genesis 12:2. “You shall be a
blessing … And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:2b-3b).
So, what’s the problem? Well Abram’s wondering where his descendants are
going to come from. He has no children. He’s not getting any younger and
neither is his wife, Sarah. And to complicate matters we’re told
in Genesis 11:30, “Sarai is barren.” Yet the LORD
has stated that through his descendants, not only will Abram be blessed, but so
will all the families of the earth.
We see then that the Lord has already promised Abram a future blessing. He already knows something of the magnitude of this blessing. He already knows that this promised blessing has to do with making restitution for his sins. He already knows this because he’s been building altars of sacrifice around the place, (see e.g. Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:4, 18). He already knows his sin needed to be paid for. The sacrificial animal was a picture of that. He already knows that the animal he places on the altar is merely a substitute for himself. He already knows that the promised blessing has everything to do with the removal of his sin. And he already knows because the Lord has already revealed it to him. So, what then is the problem?
The Problem
Can’t Abram just believe the promise and get on with
it? Isn’t that how the Old Testament saints were saved, i.e.
through believing the promise of
salvation? So here we meet the problem face to face. It’s subtle,
so pay attention. I put it to you that there’s a difference between believing in
the things a person says and actually believing in that person. It’s
the difference between believing in a promise or believing in the one who makes
the promise. I said it was subtle, didn’t I?
Let me see if I can explain this further. New cars
come with a manual, don’t they? – an instruction book. If you follow the
instructions in that manual your car should run great. Follow the manual or
instructions for anything, washing machine, video-player, TV, automobile,
whatever, and you have a money back guarantee, you’ll have no problem. In
other words, the instruction manual is a sort of promise, isn’t it? It’s promising
that if you put the nuts and bolts on the right way and press the proper
switches, the thing will work.
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Now, I don’t have to tell you that the Bible is a
manual of sorts. And I don’t have to tell you lots of people use the Bible as a
manual. They get results, from a well-ordered family to a well-ordered
society. You only have to trust in the promises of Scripture and
put them into practice to see that they work. But here’s my point: Do you know
the person who wrote the manual for your car? Do you know the person who wrote
the manual for your washing machine, toaster, video-player? Maybe
you trust in the Bible as your manual. Maybe you’re just trusting in the
promises the Bible makes. Do this or that and you’ll be all right. But
are you trusting in the One who wrote the Bible?
If you’re still having a problem seeing how you can
separate the promise from the promise-maker, then consider the Mormons. You’d
hardly meet a nicer bunch of people than the Mormons. Some of you will remember
the Osmond family who were big in the 70s and 80s. They were a musical band of pop
singers (if you don’t know!). The Mormons exemplify a great deal of what the
Bible teaches, don’t they? But who would dare say that the Mormons know the One
who wrote the Bible? Jesus addresses this very thing where He says to the
Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify
of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John
5:39-40). The Mormons, (unlike Christians who are Trinitarian and therefore
worship one God), are tri-theists and thus worship three gods. Therefore, the
Mormons have another Jesus, i.e., a Jesus different to the One revealed in the
Bible.
So, what does all of this have to do with Abram?
Well, up till now he’s been trusting in the promises of the LORD.
The LORD has promised him land, and He has promised him descendants. And
the LORD has promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in
Abram. So, here’s Abram’s problem then: How is this promised blessing supposed
to come to pass without an heir, i.e., without a son from his own loins? His
redemption, his forgiveness of sins, his eternal life, his blessing depends
upon this heir. That’s what the promises are all about. That is how Abram
understood them.
Abram’s problem then is this: Where is the substance
of the promise? Where or who is the One in whom I’ve to put my trust? “I know
he’s to be somewhere in among my descendants. But how can this be since I personally
don’t have any?” So Abram starts going on to God about his servant Eliezer
having to be his heir. And that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to him. It’s
like when the angel Gabriel told Mary the mother of Jesus that she was going to
conceive. “How can this be?” she
asked, “Since I do not know a man.” Mary
was also reminded that Elizabeth her relative who was called barren conceived a
son in her old age. “For with God
nothing will be impossible” is what she was told. Abram, in our text, is
suffering something of the same problem as Mary. He knows what God’s planning
to do because God has already told him. However, he’s struggling to understand
how God is going to execute His plan. So the issue of offspring is weighing heavily
on Abram’s mind (e.g., Gen. 15:2-3).
So, let’s look a bit closer at what’s going on and see if we can find the solution to the problem.
The Promise
We’re going to see, in the words of a couple of the
commentators, that, “Abraham’s faith was faith in the God who had promised,
[and] not merely in what had been promised.” The Lord has come to Abram in a vision. The whole of Genesis 15
records what happened in that vision. I’m not going to digress too long to talk
about the nature of visions in the Bible. We’re more interested in the contents
of the vision than the actual nature of the vision itself. However, we do need
to make a couple of general comments on the nature of this vision because it
does have an effect on the way we are to understand its content.
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Before His Church had His completed written
revelation, i.e., the Bible, the Lord used other ways to reveal Himself and His
Plan of Redemption to His people. The Plan of Redemption as it is revealed is
called the Covenant of Grace by theologians. God reveals Himself in His
Covenant of Grace. The Bible, i.e., the Scriptures, is the record of this. Jesus,
as stated earlier, says, “These are
they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). And as the Apostle Paul says
about Jesus, “All the promises of God
are in Him Yes and Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). And he also says, “There
is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1
Tim. 2:5). We should keep in mind that Christ is the go between between God and
men. Christ is the One who represents God before men. And He also is the One
who represents men before God. He alone is the Mediator.
So then, in the Old Testament Christ the Mediator
mediated between God and men in various ways. God was making Himself known to
Abram by that method of revelation known as vision. Let’s look at a portion of
Scripture which might help us. Then we’ll get into the more important content
of the vision. The Book of Numbers 12:6-8, “Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I,
the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream.
Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him
face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of
the LORD...’” So, we see then,
Abram is a prophet of God because the Lord has made Himself known to him in a
vision, (see Gen. 15:1).
The curious thing about this passage is that the Lord
seems to be making Himself known to Abram in a vision and in a dream. In
Genesis 15:12 we’re told, “a deep sleep
fell upon Abram.” However, there’s something we need to remember from
the Numbers 12 passage: When the Lord made Himself known face to face, (literally,
mouth to mouth in the Hebrew), the revelation was clearer than in a vision or
dream. Face to face revelation is plain as opposed to dark sayings or riddles
in vision or dream. It’s the difference between truth by parable and truth by verbal
proposition. However, the LORD is revealing Himself to Abram in a vision and
also a dream.
Abram’s mental faculties would be heightened and
intensified by a power-surge from the LORD. Yet because of the nature of the
revelation, Abram would still be straining his eyes to see. The Apostle Paul
says what I’m trying to say in these words, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face” (1 Cor.
13:12a). The element of mystery is gone when the LORD makes Himself known face
to face. We see then in Genesis 15 that the LORD is making Himself known to Abram,
as it were, in the dark. “Oh for a match to strike for a glimpse of my Lord’s
face!” Alas Scripture says, “The just
[i.e., the justified, the righteous] shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).
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We noted above that some wish to translate this: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield,
your reward shall be very great.” And we must admit that it is possible
to translate the Hebrew that way. But surely context has everything to do with
it? The question before us is this: Was it the LORD Himself that Abram wanted
or was it the LORD’s reward? Was Abram trusting in a promise or was he trusting
in the LORD? Did he believe the things of God or does he believe in God? Does
he have faith in the manual, or does he have faith in the one who wrote it? We’ve
already seen that this is not the same thing. It’s the difference between
believing God because He gives you things and believing in Him because of who
He is. It can be the difference between following the teaching but not the
teacher. This is why I don’t like the translation, “I am your shield, your
reward shall be very great.” Because translated thus, look at what it makes
Abram to be saying in the next verse, “Lord
God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless?” It makes Abram (whom
the New Testament calls the “Father of the Faithful” out to be interested
mainly in what the LORD has promised him and not so much in the LORD Himself! “Abram,
your reward shall be very great” “O goody! What am I going to get? Let me see,
I wouldn’t mind some of those descendants You promised me, seeing I’m childless.”
There are people who treat God like the great ATM in
the sky. They punch in their secret code while they make sure no-one’s looking
over their shoulder. They make the impersonal transaction and they’re off to
spend their inheritance. However, like wanting the personal touch in talking to a bank teller face to face, so real Christians want to talk to God face to
face. They’re interested in Him. They want to talk to Him, and God in turn, is
interested in the real Christian. 
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Notice in our passage that the Word of the LORD is
conversing with Abram. He’s concerned about Abram, “Abram, do not be afraid.” Does this sound like someone you know? The
One who says to His disciples, “Fear
not!” The One who says, “Lo, I
am with you always. I am your shield.” The One who is called Immanuel “God with us.” It is He who is talking
to Abram. It is He who is Abram’s exceedingly great reward. He is the Word who
would become flesh and walk on this earth for some thirty-three years. He is
the One who would one day say to Thomas, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those
who have not seen and yet have believed.” He is the One talking with
Abram in this vision. He is the One who makes known God. He is the One in whom
Abram is trusting. He’s the One who is making Himself known in this vision and
speaking to Abram in a dream as God.
So, how do we know positively and absolutely Abram’s
trust is in the writer of the manual rather than the manual itself? “And he believed in the LORD, and He
accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Your Bible might have decided to
leave out that little insignificant word. But believe me, the word “in” is in
the Hebrew without dispute. And as we’ve seen, it makes the whole difference
between Abram believing in the promises, and believing in the One who makes the
promises. Abram, as we’ve seen before, didn’t put his faith in riches, even when
those blessings and riches came from, or were to come from, the LORD. No, Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed in the LORD.” Here
is that great doctrine taken up in the New Testament, i.e., the doctrine of
Justification. The great doctrine which was rediscovered at the time of the
Reformation. It’s the doctrine which is the very heart of the Gospel of
Salvation.
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Lots of people the world over know what Jesus did. But the question is not: Do you know what Jesus did? But rather do you know Jesus Himself? And of course, we learn more about Him through the things He did while on earth. We learn things about God through the things that He has made, which is to say that we can know something of the Creator by studying His creation. However, Paul in Romans 1:25 speaks of those who worship the creature or creation rather than the Creator. So, subtle as it is, using the same line of reasoning, I believe we need to be careful to believe in the One who makes the Promises, and not just the promises themselves. It’s not “Whosoever believes Him’ but rather it’s “Whosoever believes IN Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Abram believed IN Him and the LORD accounted it to him for righteousness.” He believed because the LORD had made Himself known to him, which is to say that the One who wrote the Book appeared to him, albeit in a vision and a dream.
The Profusion
We have a question left unanswered. Why was Abram so concerned that he
was childless, i.e., that the LORD had given him no offspring? Well, I put it to you that Abram was
keen as mustard to share his reward. He
wanted EVERY family on earth to be blessed with his blessing. Abram loved God
and he loved his neighbor as himself. But he needed a son in order for the
blessings to flow to all the nations. Because that’s the way the LORD had
already promised to him that it would happen.
“And in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed” (Gen. 12:3b). The blessings on the families or nations would come
through Abram and his offspring. As
the Apostle says, “Those who are of
faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:9). Abram’s champing at the bit to see
the promised blessings poured out on the whole world. As Jesus said, “Your
father Abram rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Keep
in mind that father Abraham was a non-Jew. The Day being spoken of was when Jew
and non-Jew, (i.e., the ethnoi, meaning all the nations including the Gentiles),
yes, ALL the nations, would know his God, the God in whom he was presently trusting.
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And Abram along with all the saints in heaven long for
the day, “When the earth shall be covered
with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14). Had
Abram been interested more in the promises than the LORD Himself, surely the
LORD would have rebuked him? But instead, look at what our gracious LORD did
for our father Abram. In Genesis 12:4 the LORD reassured Abram that Abram would
produce a son from his own body. And
in the very next verse says, “Then He
brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if
you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”
And you thought heaven was practically empty, didn’t you? You thought
that most people were going to hell? Well,
all I can say is what the LORD says, “Count the stars if you are able to number
them.”
Well, in Abram’s eyes you are a star! How does it feel to be a star? Every time Abram
looked at the starry skies he’d see you in heaven. I’m sure if you read Psalm
19 right about now it would begin to make a great deal of sense. Let me try you
with the first couple of verses, “The
heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day
unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”
Whether you’re in Scotland or upside down in Australia,
look now to heaven. As Abram
looked at his descendants (including even you and me) in the stars, do you
think he knew our names? No, but
the One in whom he put his trust knows our names. The Psalmist says of the LORD, “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name” (Psa.
147:4). The LORD says, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has
created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by
name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is
missing” (Isa. 40:26). Jesus
Christ says to His Father, “Those whom
You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12b).
Oh yes, if you look at the night sky, you’ll see that
by far the majority stay put. However,
you will see one or two moving about the place. Jude speaks of them where he says, “[They are] wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness forever” (Jude 13). But
what about the vast majority? Well, the prophet Daniel says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness
of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars
forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). So,
count the stars – if you are able to number them.
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Conclusion
Arithmetic was never one of my strong points. But I
don’t think all Abram’s children (i.e., all who will believe) have been called
into the LORD’s Church yet. In fact, I don’t think we’re anywhere near the
number of stars in heaven. So, we can see that we’ve still got lots of work to
do. So, keep on telling your neighbours about Christ. And if they say to you
that the church is just about dead, you tell them what the Lord told Abram. “Count the stars if you are able to number
them.” But keep your eye on the One Scripture calls “...The Bright and Morning Star.” Make
sure, like our father Abram, you are believing in the LORD.
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