Picture of the Sinner

COMING back to Abram, we notice that after the sacrifice had been slain by Abram and the parts divided and laid one over against the other, Abram falls asleep:

“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him” (Genesis 15:12).

It is as though God said, “Now listen, Abram, you must get out of the way first. You have nothing to do whatsoever with the part that is to follow now. This is something that I am going to do all by Myself, and I would like to have you get out of the picture completely.” So God gave Abram an anesthetic, put him to sleep and gave him a bad dream while he was asleep, for we read that “an horror of great darkness fell upon him.”

We recognize immediately here the picture of the sinner before Almighty God. The Lord is now to demonstrate His wonderful salvation by His matchless grace, and He says, as it were, first of all, “You must be out of the picture entirely. You have not one single thing you can do or should do. You cannot lift a finger toward your own salvation. You are totally dead in trespasses and in sins, helpless and paralyzed and blind. Therefore you must be set aside first or you will spoil the entire transaction.” There is nothing the sinner can do at all. Essentially, he cannot even believe until he has been quickened by the Holy Spirit to believe.

Salvation is the work of God, and so the Lord tells Abram to get out of the picture entirely. He sets aside the sinner and puts him under the darkness of condemnation and under the awful blackness of the horror of the wrath of Almighty God.

Adapted and modified excerpts from Studies in the Life of Abraham by M. R. De Haan (1891-1964)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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