Genesis 17:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is, I. The time when God made this gracious visit to Abram. Abram was ninety-nine years old, thirteen years after Ishmael was born. It seems that God’s special appearances to Abram had been paused for a long time, and all his fellowship with God had been through the ordinary means of worship and providence. Some special comforts are not the daily food of even the best believers, but are given only now and then. On this side of heaven, they have enough, but not a constant feast.

The promise of Isaac had also been delayed for a long time. This delay may have been meant to correct Abram’s hasty decision to marry Hagar. The comforts we wrongly rush ahead to get are justly delayed. It was also meant to magnify God’s power, since Abram and Sarai were so old, and to test their faith (Deuteronomy 32:36; John 11:6, 15). A child waited for so long would be an Isaac, a true son indeed (Isaiah 54:1).

II. The way God made this covenant with him. The Lord appeared to Abram in the shechinah, the visible display of God’s immediate and glorious presence. God first makes himself known to us and gives us a sight of him by faith, and then he brings us into his covenant.

III. The posture Abram took on this occasion. He fell on his face while God talked with him (Genesis 17:3). This may have been because he was overwhelmed by the brightness of God’s glory and could not bear the sight, even though he had seen it before. Daniel and John did the same, though they were also used to visions from the Almighty (Daniel 8:17; Daniel 10:9, 15; Revelation 1:17). Or it may have been because he was ashamed of himself and humbled that such honor was shown to one so undeserving.

He looked at himself with humility and at God with reverence, and so he fell on his face in worship. God kindly speaks with those he brings into covenant and fellowship with himself. He speaks with them by his word (Proverbs 6:22) and by his Spirit (John 14:26). This is the honor given to all his saints. Those who are welcomed into fellowship with God must also be deeply humble and reverent when they come near him. If we claim fellowship with him, yet let familiarity turn into disrespect, we deceive ourselves. If we want comfort from God, we must be ready to give him glory and worship at his footstool.

IV. The general heart of the covenant, which is the foundation for everything else here. It is nothing other than the covenant of grace, still made with all who believe in Jesus Christ (Genesis 17:1). Notice two things.

First, what we may expect God to be to us: “I am the Almighty God.” God chose this name for Abram rather than his name Jehovah (Exodus 6:3). He also used it with Jacob (Genesis 28:3; 43:14; 48:3). It is the name often used in Job, especially in that book’s speeches. After Moses, Jehovah is used more often, and this name, El-shaddai, much less. It points to God’s all-powerful might, either as one who lays waste, as some think, or as one who gives enough. In that second sense, the old English translation says it well: “I am God all-sufficient.” The God we deal with is enough. He is enough in himself, since he needs nothing and has everything. He is enough for us, if we are in covenant with him. We have all in him, and enough in him to meet our deepest desires, to make up for every lack, and to secure happiness for our immortal souls (Psalm 16:5, 6; 73:25).

Second, what God requires us to be toward him. The covenant is mutual: “Walk before me, and be perfect,” that is, upright and sincere. In the covenant of grace, sincerity is gospel perfection. To be truly religious is to walk before God in integrity, always keeping him before us, and thinking, speaking, and acting as people under his eye. It means always caring about his word as our rule and his glory as our goal, and living in continual fear of him. It means being inwardly devoted to him in worship, because especially there we walk before God (1 Samuel 2:30), and being fully for him in all holy living. I know of no true religion apart from sincerity.

Upright walking with God is also the condition of enjoying his all-sufficiency. If we neglect him or pretend before him, we lose the benefit and comfort of belonging to him. At the same time, a constant sense of God’s all-sufficiency will strongly shape and support an upright walk with him.