Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #4 of Genesis, chapter 15 and we are continuing to read Genesis 15:1-3:

After these things the word of JEHOVAH came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord JEHOVAH, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

We have spent some time discussing God’s command to “fear not.” Now we are going to look at the other two phrases in verse 15, after God tells Abram, “Fear not, Abram.” It says in Genesis 15:1:

… I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

As a reason and support for making the statement not to fear, God adds, “I am thy shield.” A shield is given for protection. In battle, it protects a soldier from the thrust of an enemy’s sword and the shield can deflect the blow. Or, when an arrow is shot in the air and comes down upon a soldier in battle, he can lift the shield and the arrow would be deflected. It defends the one that possesses the shield and God said to Abram, “I am thy shield.” It was personal for Abram and it is true for each child of God. God Himself serves as the armour that defends, protects and guards us against harm from those that would seek to harm us.

Of course, this reminds us of what we read in the New Testament in Ephesians 6:10-17:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Here, we see that God lays out the various pieces of the “armour of God,” which means it belongs to God. It is not our armour, personally, and we do not defend ourselves based upon our own strength. It said in verse 6 that we are “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” We are protected and safeguarded against all spiritual harm by the power of God and through the armour that belongs to God. Each of the pieces is the armour of God and with it we are able to stand in the “evil day,” which is referring to Judgment Day. And “to stand” means “to endure” and not to fall, but to endure to the end. Each piece of the armour can be traced back to the Lord Jesus Christ, especially where it says, in Ephesians 6:16, “Above all, taking the shield of faith,” and whose faith saves the child of God? The Bible says that no man is justified by the works of the law, but we are justified by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ – it is His faith that saves us. He also is our shield. He is our defense. Since we know that God is our defense, we “fear not.” He is as great a defender as anyone could hope for. There is no doubt about it. He is certainly the greatest defense and protection system anyone could have.

You know, people in the world are afraid. They are afraid of being hurt. They are afraid of dying. The world is constantly worrying about their own protection. In their homes, people get the best security system they can find. They have home alarms and they have weapons to protect themselves in case someone should break in to their house. There is civil defense and the police protect the citizens and the army protects the government and the country. There are many weapons that have been developed and implemented out of the desire to protect against the enemy. The one that comes against you is the enemy. They are the ones that want to hurt or destroy you. There are untold trillions of dollars spent on protection and, yet, man is still not safe, ultimately. He is still in danger. As soon as the unsaved person dies, he is destroyed. He ceases to be and in that very day his thoughts perish and only his body remains, a lifeless corpse with no conscious existence and even that will cease to be on the last day.

So, hand joins in hand, and man does everything he can do to protect himself, but he is never able to achieve a level of protection that really can protect him. True protection and true security is found only with the person God has saved because we have eternal life. Upon the moment of salvation, which would have had to take place during the day of salvation prior to May 21, 2011, God saved each individual elect and gave them a new born-again, living soul and these souls can never die. No matter what may be done to the “outward shell” of the physical body, nothing can be done to the soul. No matter what harm or injury is done to the body, like being shot, blown up or even a nuclear warhead falling directly on that person, that person may die physically but his soul goes in that very moment to be with the Lord. The soul is not killed by a bullet. It is not killed by a knife. It is not killed by a bomb falling upon it. It is not killed by a nuclear weapon. These things do nothing to harm the soul of a child of God. If that is not incredible protection, I do not know what you consider to be protection. This is why Jesus said these words in John 8:51-52:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

Of course, elsewhere we saw that the Sadducees put forth a trap for Christ regarding a woman that had seven husbands. They wanted Jesus to tell them which of the husbands would have her to wife in the resurrection. Christ told them that they did greatly error and He pointed out that God was not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (and all the elect) are living. Here, the Jews erroneously said that Abraham was dead. Yes, his physical body is dead, but he lives on in the presence of God, like every one of God’s people.

This is our defense. This is the great shield we have that others in the world do not have. We have perfect protection against ultimate harm. And “ultimate harm” is the loss of being or existence and the cessation of life. Every unsaved individual will experience this, beginning with their physical death and it will be completed on the last day when whatever is left of their bodies will be annihilated and cease to exist for evermore.

But God’s people have eternal life and we have it right now. The Bible says we have “the earnest of the spirit,” and what this means is that we have a “down payment” in that God’s Spirit indwells us and we have a new, born-again soul that cannot sin. It is perfect and indestructible and we have possession of eternal life right now. All the great multitude that are left on the earth are also alive in their souls and that life can never be taken away, no matter what. You can think of the worst possible scenario. I mentioned the scenario of an atomic bomb falling upon a person’s head, which is probably the worst thing anyone can imagine. But, no matter what, the soul cannot be destroyed. It will live.

You know, our physical bodies are really the area of concern for mankind, but it should not be the overriding area of concern for the elect of God. By the grace of God, we should be aware of the distinction between body and soul. We should be aware that the physical body is going to die, no matter what, if Christ were to tarry. It has seen corruption. We are aging. We will have diseases and we will certainly die, so we must realize that death is a certainty for our physical bodies, unless Christ comes when we are still physically alive and we are then raptured. Otherwise, we will die. And, yet, how can we make our physical bodies our chief concern and the major focus when we already have eternal life in our souls and we have the promise and expectation of our bodies being resurrected (if we should die) and being given a new resurrected spiritual body? This is another thing the unsaved people of the world do not have.

You see, we have tremendous security. First, we are indestructible in our soul existence and we already have eternal life in our soul. We also have a guarantee that if anything happens to our physical bodies, you and I have “insurance.” No – it is not the life insurance that is only good for this world, but we have the ultimate insurance of the guarantee of God, who has given us the down payment of the spirit, that He will complete the process and equip us with perfect, resurrected bodies on that last day.

So, what is there to fear? What is there to be afraid of and to worry about? Why would we spend our days thinking, “I am sick. I am getting old. My life expectation is getting shorter.” Again, so what? So, what? We can say the same thing about this that we can say about the reproach and revilings of men. So, what? It should not be our concern. We have a God-given solution. We have the best possible future in store, better than anything one can imagine. Therefore, God says, “I am thy shield.” He is the one that protects us and we need not worry or fret or be anxious for anything. If we were to think right and properly and cast our cares upon Him (for He careth for us), then we really ought to be free to spend time thanking Him and rejoicing in the salvation program He graciously and freely gave us, which we do not deserve. We do not deserve any of it. We are wretches. We had rebelled against Him and we had done everything possible to cause us to come under the wrath of God. What do we deserve except to be destroyed? And, yet, He has turned it all around for our sakes and we have not done anything to deserve it or earn it. It was unmerited favor. This is the grace of God toward us and these are incredibly rich and bountiful blessings that He has bestowed upon us and, again, we do not deserve even one of them.

Let us look at what the Bible says about God being our “shield.” It says in Deuteronomy 33:29:

Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by JEHOVAH, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Also, it says in Psalm 3:1-3:

JEHOVAH, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O JEHOVAH, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

God is our shield. Oftentimes, this is tied to His help, as it is in Psalm 35:1-3:

Plead my cause, O JEHOVAH, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

Then it says in Psalm 115:9-15:

O Israel, trust thou in JEHOVAH: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in JEHOVAH: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear JEHOVAH, trust in JEHOVAH: he is their help and their shield. JEHOVAH hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear JEHOVAH, both small and great. JEHOVAH shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of JEHOVAH which made heaven and earth.

Let us look at one last passage in Hebrews 13:5-6:

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, JEHOVAH is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

The Lord is looking upon us favorably to help us and He does so because Christ has paid for our sins and washed them away, so we can be as “white as snow” and righteous in His sight. Therefore, God looks down upon us with favor and He helps His people and fights for His people. He is our armour. He is our shield and “exceeding great reward.”

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will look at that phrase and see what the Bible has to say about God being our “exceeding great reward.”