A Sleeping Partner Who Benefits

Genesis 15:12
12Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram…

Some business partners don’t work at all but still take home huge profits. They are like the wife of the heavyweight boxing champion. He fights and bleeds to win the $1 million prize money. But when he goes home, he gives it to his wife and she says, “Thank you very much, darling.”
Do you know that in your covenant with God, you are like the boxer’s wife or sleeping business partner?
When Abraham asked God how he will know for sure that he will inherit the land that God had promised him, God made a covenant with him. (Genesis 15:8–21) But instead of cutting the covenant with Abraham by walking through the animal pieces with him, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and cut the covenant with Jesus instead.
Jesus appeared as the pillar of fire and cut the covenant with God the Father who appeared as the pillar of cloud. In other words, Jesus took Abraham’s place. He was perfect Man representing Abraham when He crossed the animal pieces with His Father.
By substituting Abraham with Jesus, God was being very gracious because if Abraham had done it, he would have been partly responsible for keeping the covenant. And Abraham, being man will fail, but God the Son can never fail! Abraham’s blessings are therefore guaranteed because it does not depend on his performance but Jesus’ performance. Abraham was literally a sleeping partner, a beneficiary of the covenant.
Today, God has also made a covenant with you, called the new covenant. And like Abraham, you are a sleeping partner because the new covenant was also cut between God the Father and God the Son at Calvary.
This means that though you are in covenant with God, you are simply a beneficiary of the new covenant. You enjoy all its benefits without having to work at keeping it. Jesus, your representative, has already fulfilled all the conditions on your behalf. And because His obedience is perfect and His work is perfectly finished, the covenant blessings for you are guaranteed!
My friend, there is nothing left for you to do, but everything for you to believe. Don’t try to work for your covenant blessings — just rest in the Son’s finished work and receive them by faith!