December 15: The Abrahamic Covenant
♫ Music:
Day 18 - Wednesday, December 15
Title: THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
Scripture: LUKE 1:70-73; Genesis 12:1-3
“As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham.”
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Poetry:
Exodus
by George Oppen
Miracle of the children the brilliant
Children the word
Liquid as woodlands Children?
When she was a child I read Exodus
To my daughter 'The children of Israel. . .'
Pillar of fire
Pillar of cloud
We stared at the end
Into each other's eyes Where
She said hushed
Were the adults We dreamed to each other
Miracle of the children
The brilliant children Miracle
Of their brilliance Miracle
of
THE WONDER AND HOPE OF FULFILLED PROMISE
Zechariah is one to learn from. Here he is, fulfilling his duty in the priestly line, “righteous and blameless in the sight of the Lord,” at the top of his game, so to speak. But when Gabriel visits, he wavers, and his initial unbelief imposes a silence that forces Zechariah to listen, look, learn, and wait. Zechariah is earnest but flawed, and he proves beautifully teachable in his later years. As his voice is restored, he gets it. He sees the threads of what God has been doing for generations, and he unleashes praise to God in anticipation of the coming Messiah.
Zechariah connects his present moment to the fulfillment of a promise that extends back through the prophets for generations. He recalls God’s miraculous “salvation from [Israel’s] enemies and from the hand of all who hate [her]” (Luke 1:71), as captured by Oppen’s “Exodus,” where the children of Israel are led through parted waters and a barren wilderness with pillars of fire and cloud. Zechariah then recalls God’s oath to Abram to lead him out of familiarity into a new land. God vows to provide descendants, and to grant him blessing that reverberates to all the families of the earth.
In this reflection on God’s great promise, maybe Zechariah relates with this forefather as a fellow husband to a barren wife, well-acquainted with the disappointment and loss of hope such a circumstance brings. And perhaps now Zechariah resonates with Abraham and Sarah’s laughter of disbelief at this promise of a child, bodily knowing how this transforms into a laughter of joy, witnessing the miracle of fulfilled promise (Gen 17:17; 18:12–15; 21:6).
Grace Carol Bomer’s Abraham’s Seed captures so well the laughter-turned-wonder of a woman chosen to carry forth life from an impossible reality. Sarah, Elizabeth, and then Mary: each bears the fruit of God’s promise made to a people He longed to bless with His presence. And Zechariah is here for it, tracing this blessing with praise: he lauds this string of mercies which culminates in the coming Messiah.
God is perennially raising up hope and possibility where there seems to be none, and his children are wrapped up into his promise-keeping. Oppen captures this, poised autobiographically as a Jewish-poet-father reading about the “children'' of Israel with his young daughter. Oppen carefully accentuates how children signify wonder and hope. Sarah and Abraham knew this, as did Zechariah and Elizabeth, all in anticipation of the birth of the Christ-child. And when Oppen’s daughter asks of the Exodus, “where…were the adults?”—we are reminded that even those of us most seasoned at life are but children, miracles from God. Each of us were born into this world with His promise that the Christ-child came to this world for our sake too. We, too, can laugh with joy and wonder at His faithful blessing.
Prayer:
May the Lord bless you and keep you,
May His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
May his presence go before you, behind you, and beside you.
He is with you, and He is for you, in all hours and in all seasons.
Lord, we thank you for your faithful promise fulfilled in the gift of your Son, the Christ-child, the ultimate blessing that reverberates to all the families of earth.
Amen.
Devotion Author:
Dr. Jeannine Marie Hanger
Assistant Professor
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Abraham's Seed
Grace Carol Bomer
2013
Mixed media
9 x 12 in.
God promised Abraham that Sarah, his wife, would be “a mother of nations” (Genesis 17:16) and that she would conceive and bear a son. Isaac, born to Sarah and Abraham in their old age, was the fulfillment of God’s promise to them. Here we see Sarah singing in the parched desert landscape as she joyfully acknowledges God's promise of descendents as many as the stars. The text behind her which proclaims, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore,” is from Hebrews 11:11–12.
About the Artist:
Grace Carol Bomer was born in Alberta, Canada, and pursued a career in teaching before she became a professional painter. Moving to North Carolina to study art at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Carol established her Soli Deo Gloria Studio there. As an abstract expressionist characterized by sumptuous color, textures, and palpable light, Bomer seeks to explore themes that center around “the human condition surprised by the grace of God.” She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her art. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and juried exhibitions, and is held in many public, private, and corporate collections including Wachovia Bank, Westinghouse, Holiday Inns, Inc., and Cessna Corp.
gracecarolbomer.com/home.html
About the Music:
“The Blessing” from the album The Blessing
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His face towards you
And give you peace
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
May His favor be upon you
And a thousand generations
And your family
And your children
And their children
And their children
[Verse 3]
May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you
And within you
He is with you
He is with you
[Verse 4]
In the morning, in the evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping
And rejoicing
He is for you
He is for you
About the Performers:
Kari Jobe, Elevation Worship, and Cody Carnes
Kari Jobe (b. 1981) is an American contemporary Christian music singer and songwriter. Since her first album in 2009, she has received two Grammy Award nominations and ten Dove Award nominations, six of which she won. For nearly two decades, Jobe has been using her gifts to lead people into the presence of God. Jobe is currently working on new music that will include a studio version of "The Blessing." Originally from Texas and now residing in Nashville, she tours the country with her husband Cody Carnes and their two boys, Canyon and Kingston. They both serve at their home church, The Belonging Co.
https://www.karijobe.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kari_Jobe
Elevation Worship is the worship ministry of Elevation Church, a multi-site church based in Charlotte, North Carolina, led by Pastor Steven Furtick. Elevation Worship has produced twelve albums that include the songs “Graves Into Gardens,” “The Blessing,” “O Come to The Altar,” and “Do It Again.” This ministry is passionate about producing songs for the local church that connect others to God. Their main priority is to create an atmosphere of worship so people can encounter Jesus in a real and personal way. Elevation Worship’s newest album, Old Church Basement, a live album collaboration with Maverick City Music, was released in April 2021.
https://elevationchurch.org/
https://elevationworship.com/about/
Cody Carnes (b. 1989) is a worship leader and songwriter whose passion is to create a meeting place for God and people with music. He spends most of his time traveling and leading worship with his wife Kari Jobe Carnes. The couple have co-written numerous songs together, including "Closer To Your Heart," "The Garden," and "Lover Of My Soul," from her album The Garden, and "Let The Heavens Open," from the album Majestic. Carnes also wrote "The Cross Has The Final Word"—a hopeful, declarative anthem about the overcoming power of Jesus' name. His debut album was released in 2017 with Capitol Christian Music Group.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cody_Carnes
About the Composers/Lyricists:
Chris Brown, Cody Carnes, Kari Jobe, and Steven Furtik
Chris Brown (b. 1981) is the lead songwriter for Elevation Worship, the praise band for Charlotte, North Carolina-based megachurch Elevation Church. “O Come to the Altar,” which has risen to as high as number two on Billboard’s “Hot Christian Songs” list, is perhaps Brown’s most well-known song.
https://elevationworship.com/
Steven Furtick Jr. (b. 1980) is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor, and a songwriter for Elevation Worship. He is the founder and senior pastor of Elevation Church, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. At the age of sixteen, after reading the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, he felt called to pastor a church. Furtick received a B.A. in communications from North Greenville University and a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Furtick speaks at events and conferences all over the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Furtick
About the Poet:
George Oppen (1908–1984), a prominent American poet, was one of the chief exponents of Objectivism, a school of poetry that emphasized simplicity and clarity over formal structure and rhyme. Oppen concerned himself with the question of “How can the poet communicate a realization of the concrete object as object without drawing the reader’s attention to the way in which he communicates?” In the midst of the Great Depression, Oppen began to distance himself from poetry and become more engaged in politics. Oppen and his wife became Communist Party members and worked in New York City supporting workers rights. During this time, he supported himself by working as a tool-and-die maker and mechanic until he was drafted. Oppen was involved in several major World War II battles and was awarded the Purple Heart. Despite his service, Oppen came under investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee for his pre-war activity within the Communist Party. Threatened with prison, the Oppens moved to Mexico City in 1949 and stayed there until 1957. During this period and dating back to the years before the war, he wrote no poetry. Oppen didn’t begin writing again until returning to the United States in 1958. In 1968, Oppen’s collection of poetry entitled Of Being Numerous won the Pulitzer Prize.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/george-oppen
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Jeannine Marie Hanger
Assistant Professor
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Jeannine Hanger has been an adjunct in Biblical Studies at Biola since 2009 and is enjoying this year serving in a full-time role. Her teaching and writing interests seek to inspire others in their pursuit of God through the Word. She has been married for 23 years to Garrick, a pastor in the South Bay, and together they live with their three teens in Torrance, CA.