Genesis 15

The Text
Verses 1-8
God promises Abraham he has a bright future.  Abraham objects that God hasn't even given him one child for an heir, yet.  God says they will be as countless as the stars.  Abraham believes and asks for a sign that this will be true. 
Verses 9-12, 17
God has him do a bloodpath covenant, known in the culture of the time: cut animals apart, situate them so their blood pools or flows in the middle, and walk through the blood.  The point: if I break this contract, you can treat me like these animals.  It is a self-maledictory oath.
Verses 13-16, 18
God reaffirms the promise of land and offspring, and foretells Israel's trouble in Egypt and the Exodus.

Christ in the Text
This chapter is a gold mine of Messianic promises.
1. Jesus is Abram's awaited offspring who will accomplish the fulfillment of God's promises (Galatians 3:16).
2. Jesus is the animals cut in two, whose blood ratifies God's promises.
3. Jesus is Abram, figuratively, the ultimate recipient of God's promises to inherit nations (Psalm 2:8), have numerous descendants and be blessed (Isaiah 53:10).

Doctrinal Understanding
1. Abram believes, and God justifies him by that faith alone (Galatians 3:5-9).  Faith is not a New Testament development, after Israel lived before God by works.
2. The covenant promise God made to Abraham is confirmed with a quasi-sacrament: a visual ritual to display, confirm, symbolize and seal God's promise to Abraham.

Cultural Application
God gives Abram land already occupied by others.  Just as believers need to give sovereignty of their lives to the Lord Christ, so this is the goal for all people: to conform society to at least be consonant with God's law.  This will "dispossess" people and they will object, but God's call is to "take the land" in the Great Commission sense.

Personal Application
1. Abram trusts God, but has no qualms expressing doubts and objections and asking for a sign.  I often look to Gideon as a negative example - putting out the fleece more than once was an act of unbelief.  But in the right heart, asking for a sign is an act of faith (Isaiah 7:10-11).  God wants us to seek such a sign, and gives them to us.
2. Make use of the sacraments God gives us to bolster your faith in God's promises.
3. God will bless you, even though it doesn't feel like it when you are waiting through dry times.