Genesis 15

Genesis 15 is foundational to the Christian faith. This chapter recounts God's promise to Abram of being rewarded with innumerable descendants and his questioning how this would happen. Most of the chapter deals with how God confirmed the promise by making a covenant with Abram and his descendants. God initiated this covenant, and it is the first one made with Abram.
The covenant was made during a vision Abram had with God. In this vision God told Abram to bring a three-year-old heifer, a she-goat and a ram, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon. When Abram brought them, he asked God no questions about what they represented or what to do with them; nor did Moses, the author of Genesis, explain the meaning of what was happening. God made the covenant after those Abram and the readers knew about from their culture, the well-known one used by the Chaldeans
Following the Chaldeans' practice, Abram cut the three animals in two and stood the two halves against the walls of a trench he had earlier dug. He did not cut the birds in two. The animals' blood flowing down the trench formed a blood-path the two parties would walk down to confirm the covenant (Gen. 15:7-11).
What happened was the way Chaldeans made a covenant. By passing through the blood between the animal's bloody carcasses, the two parties promised to uphold their agreement. And if they didn't, it would cost the failing party blood; the failing party would be cut in two just like the animals were.

This covenant God made with Abram in Genesis 15 is significant to Christianity because it foretells the coming of the Messiah to bring grace and truth to rectify man's failure (i.e., sins). May we all thank God for His faithfulness in redeeming us though His Son's death.