Let’s look at Genesis 17:1-5 for a
moment and examine this agreement
God made with Abram:

And when Abram was ninety years
old and nine, the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said unto him, I am the
Almighty God; walk before me, and
be thou perfect. And I will make
my covenant between me and thee,
and will multiply thee exceedingly.
And Abram fell on his face: and
God talked with him, saying, As for
me, behold, my covenant is with
thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name
any more be called Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham; for a father
of many nations have I made thee.

Notice particularly that God said,
“As for me….” You see, Abram did not
have to accept God’s deal. He was not
being forced to do anything—it was
his own free choice. God laid out His
proposition and Abram accepted it. It
gave God access to the earth and gave
man access to God. At this time man
had no real knowledge of God’s nature.
People only knew what their fathers
had passed down to them. After
Adam died and several generations
passed, no one really knew much
about God anymore.

You need to understand the authority
that was placed in the covenant. This
was an absolute agreement
between God and Abram, sealed on
both sides. God sealed His side of the
agreement by swearing by Himself
(Genesis 22:16). In other words, there is
no higher state that God can swear by,
so He swore by Himself. Technically, if
He ever broke the covenant, He would
have to destroy Himself.

The Hebrew word covenant means
“to cut where blood flows.” This is the
strongest agreement in any language.
A covenant is a contract, or agreement,
made between two parties and sealed
by the shedding of their blood. Once
this is done, the covenant can never
be broken. Every heathen tribe on the
face of the earth has a blood covenant.
The blood covenant between God and
man was marked and sealed in man’s
flesh through circumcision (Genesis
17:10-14). In other words, circumcision
was “the cut of the covenant.”

From that time forward, Abram was
a covenant man with God. God even
changed his name to Abraham. In
Genesis 18:17-33 we find God consulting
with His covenant man about the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Can you see the strength of this covenant?
It was powerful!

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

After the Fall of Adam, God was
in a peculiar position. He had given
Adam unquestionable authority over
the earth. But when Adam committed
high treason against God and bowed
his knee to Satan, spiritual death—the
nature of Satan—was lodged in his
heart. Actually, Adam was the first
person ever to be born again. He was
born from spiritual life to spiritual
death. God had said, “But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die” (Genesis 2:17).

God said that Adam would die the
very day he ate the forbidden fruit, yet
he lived several hundred years longer.
God was not referring to physical
death. He meant that Adam would die
spiritually—that he would take on the
nature of Satan, which is spiritual death.

This process is reversed when you
make Jesus the Lord of your life. You
are born from death into life. The law
of spiritual lordship is our way back
into the hands of God. You take on
a new Lord and receive the nature of
your new Lord which is eternal life
(John 3:16). This is why Jesus went to
the cross. First John 3:8 says, “For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works
of the devil.” Jesus turned to the most
religious men of His day and said,
“Ye are of your father the devil” (John
8:44). By going to the cross as the sinless
Son of God, Jesus took away the
dominion Satan had over mankind.
First Corinthians 2:8 states that had
the princes of this world known, they
would never have crucified the Lord of
glory. This was a trap that the Father
and Jesus had set for Satan. He walked
into it, and it cost him his lordship
over the earth.

After Adam’s Fall in the Garden,
God needed an avenue back into the
earth. He needed some way to break
the union between Satan and mankind.
Since man was the key figure in
the Fall, man had to be the key figure
in the redemption, so God approached
a man named Abram. He re-enacted
with Abram what Satan had done
with Adam, except that God did not
sneak in and use deception, as Satan
had. God offered Abram a proposition
and Abram bought it.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Genesis 12:1-3
KJV—Now the Lord had said unto Abram….
I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
bless thee, and make thy name great; and
thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed.

Amp—Now [in Haran], the Lord said to
Abram….I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you [with abundant increase
of favors] and make your name famous and
distinguished, and you shall be a blessing—
dispensing good to others. And I will bless
those who bless you [who confer prosperity
or happiness upon you], and curse him
who curses or uses insolent language toward
you; in you shall all the families and
kindred of the earth be blessed—by you
they shall bless themselves.

Moffatt—Said the Eternal to Abram….“I will
make a great nation of you and bless you
and make you famous for your bliss; those
who bless you, I will bless, and anyone who
curses you I will curse, till all nations of the
world seek bliss such as yours.”

NIV—The Lord had said to Abram….“I will
make you into a great nation and I will
bless you; I will make your name great, and
you will be a blessing. I will bless those who
bless you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth will be
blessed through you.”

Genesis 26:1-3
KJV—And there was a famine in the land….
And the Lord appeared unto him [Isaac],
and said…Sojourn in this land, and I will be
with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee,
and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries,
and I will perform the oath which I
sware unto Abraham thy father.

Amp—And there was a famine in the land….
And the Lord appeared to him [Isaac], and
said…Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will
be with you and will favor you with blessings;
for to you and to your descendants I will
give all these lands, and I will perform the
oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

Moffatt—When a famine visited the land….
The Eternal appeared to him [Isaac], saying…
Reside in this land, and I will be with you and
bless you [[for to you and your descendants
I give all this region; I will ratify the oath I
swore to your father Abraham.]]

NIV—And there was a famine in the land….
And the Lord appeared unto [Isaac], and
said…Sojourn in this land, and I will be with
thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and
unto thy seed, I will give all these countries,
and I will perform the oath which I sware
unto Abraham thy father.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries