Genesis Sermons (written)

Genesis 22:9-24
The Lord will Provide

 Introduction: Today we’re going to look at the completion of the greatest test of faith imaginable. Abraham’s test is answered in a glorious and wonderful way and each detail of the story looks forward to something even greater – the coming Messiah. The riches of this passage can only make us stand in awe of what God has done for each of us through the Person of Jesus.

Text Verse: ³⁹ And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Hebrews 11:39, 40

Abraham, along with a host of other faithful souls recorded in the Bible, or who lived in faith without any record of their life, have waited to see the fulfillment of God’s promises, but they are still waiting because God will bring us all near to Him together, in one joyous gathering and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. By Faith Abraham…

A few weeks ago at the beginning of the sermon about Isaac’s birth, I said this – “Everything about our relationship with God ultimately comes down to faith; it is based on faith – proper faith. Misdirected faith is, after all, wasted faith.”

I bring that up again now because what we looked at last week and what we will finish looking at today is not nearly so much a test of obedience, which is what most people think of when they read the story, as it is a test of faith.

I say this because on several occasions, God stated that Isaac is the son of promise. In chapter 21, as Hagar and Ishmael were being dismissed from his home, we read this –

“But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.”

What Abraham has been asked to do and what he is going up the hill to actually do is much more a test of faith than it is obedience. Obedience would be the case if Isaac was born without a promise of being the one to carry on Abraham’s name.

In other words, if God came to me today and asked me to sacrifice my son, that would be a test of obedience. I have no promises from God about my son. If He said to do it, it would be straight up obedience or disobedience.

However, if God promised to me that in 20 years, my son would be president of the United States and then later asked me to sacrifice him, that would be a test of faith, not obedience. The reason is that God cannot lie – and we know this from both the Bible and by simple logic.

It is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, if He asked me to sacrifice my son, having already told me that he would be the President, then I would have to have faith that my son would be resurrected. This is exactly what is happening here and it is proven true by Hebrews 11:17-19 –

“¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

I hope you’re seeing the difference between the two and also are thinking of how you can apply this to your own life. There are things that we need to be obedient about and there are things that simply require our faith. And then there are things that require our faith in order to be obedient.

The differences are important, and how we act, particularly in our faith in God and His promises is the most important aspect of our lives. If you demonstrate the faith of Abraham, I assure you, your rewards will be great when you stand before the Lord.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

The last verse of chapter 21 said this, “And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.” This was at the time of Isaac’s weaning, meaning he was three years old. From that time, we’re told he lived “many days” in the land of the Philistines. However, the Bible doesn’t give us a specific amount of time. It could have been 10 years or 30 years.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus says Isaac is 25 years old now, other Jewish scholars say 36 years old. But the Bible doesn’t say. Christian scholars like to say he was 33 years old in order to fit the picture of Jesus. There is no need to do this though because, regardless of the age, the entire account already prefigures Jesus.

What God has hidden, we can speculate on, but it would be wrong to be dogmatic. One thing is for sure, he was old enough to carry the wood up the hill, and it would take a considerable amount of wood. No matter what, he would’ve been in his teens if not older.

The word used to designate him as a lad in English is the Hebrew word na’ar and is normally used about a younger man or someone in tenderness of age. Again, regardless of the age, he was at least old enough to put up a fight or run. This is the important thought we should keep in our mind.

Abraham is now 100 plus whatever age Isaac is. If Isaac is 15, Abraham is 115. He’s an old man and yet, the record stands that he built an altar, placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac and then laid him on the altar. The entire act is based on two concepts, Abraham’s faith and Isaac’s obedience.

What we see in Isaac is what will later be seen in God’s own Son as recorded by Paul –

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

 

The call was given, Abraham got up early – without delay and headed to Moriah. The hill was climbed on the third day, the altar was made ready, the wood was laid out, and the boy was bound and placed in the spot of execution. Every detail prefigures exactly what God was going to do 1800 years later through Jesus.

Abraham then is a type of God the Father and Isaac of God the Son. The minuteness of the details is given for you and me to see, contemplate, and believe. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…

By doing so, it was taken by God has a deed fulfilled. To Abraham, Isaac died three days earlier. He now is merely completing what has already been accomplished in his mind. Paul writes to us about the Jesus’ fulfillment of this Old Testament shadow accomplished by Abraham –

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31, 32

Abraham didn’t spare his own son and neither did God. Abraham delivered his son up to God and God delivered His Son up for us, including Abraham. Because He did, how shall He not through Jesus freely give us all things, just as He now gives to Abraham…

¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”

At the moment of finality, comes the sound of relief. In what is almost an ironic occurrence, the Angel of the Lord, the divine Son of God who is being prefigured here, is the One who calls out for the sacrifice to be halted. The very same Lord, however, would receive in full what Isaac is spared from.

The great Mediator between God and man now steps in to fulfill that task of mediation for His beloved servant Abraham. And when He does so, He does it in a display of emotion found throughout the Bible. He calls His name twice – “Abraham, Abraham.”

This is the very first of several hundred such times where this is done. It’s a method of emphasis similar to us using an exclamation point or italicizing words in a sentence. In an amazing twist of things, Jesus, the Angel of the Lord here calls out “Abraham, Abraham” to save the son of promise who would lead to Him.

And yet from this son of promise would also come the Nation of Israel who would call out exactly the opposite in exactly the same spot 1800 years later. Luke 23 records their emphatic statement “Crucify, crucify!”

And as He hung alone on the cross, bearing the weight of the sins of the world, He called out to His own Father in fulfillment of the 22^nd Psalm “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Bible is so full of the amazing love of God and what He has done even for those who would raise their hands against His own Son. How can we not stand amazed and in awe of what He has done for each one of us!

¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Ki attah adati – Now I know. Ki y’ray elohim – You fear God. God already knew as He knows everything, but in an act of judicial necessity because God governs the world, and for the sake of man’s conscience which needs to be instructed by both practice as well as principle, God tested Abraham.

What God knew, Abraham now knows by that principle as well as the practice. His faith has been tested and it has been found true. And therefore God tells him to not lay a hand on Isaac, or do anything to him.

There will be no sacrifice, no lighting of the wood, no prayers over the offering. Abraham is told to cease everything associated with this deed. The fear of God – a fear that can only come through faith is explained – “since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

What has happened here, as I alluded to already, is that Isaac is prefiguring Jesus’ real sacrifice. Abraham yielded to God by yielding his son. Isaac yielded to God by yielding himself, and the picture of what God did in Jesus and what Jesus did for His Father is complete.

This act by the man of faith and by the son of promise is one of the Old Testament’s most important accounts in understanding what God has done for us through Jesus. In the future, when you read this passage, I hope you will reflect not only on what Abraham did, but what God did in fulfillment of this picture.

Before we go on, I want you to again note the concept of Obedience vs. Faith. For Abraham, this has not been a test of obedience, but a test of faith which necessitated obedience. In the case of Isaac, it was a test of obedience which necessitated faith.

II. The Lord Will Provide

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

In an amazingly beautiful picture of substitution, God provides a ram in place of Isaac. To understand this picture, you must now look in the mirror. You see, it is you that deserves both the death and burning which Isaac was facing.

It is you who have sinned in thought, word, and deed before your Creator. And in fact, you have done it with laughing and without care. And as Isaac means “laughter,” this is a picture of you lying on the altar ready to receive your just fate from the God who is as angry at your sin as He is in love with who you could be.

And so in place of you… the one deserving death, God sent a substitute to take your place. Again, the picture only comes into focus when we understand other symbolism given in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement where God covered the people’s sins, a ram was selected as a burnt offering.

This ram, along with other animals, was used as a picture of the work of Jesus. The ram was completely burned up as Isaac was supposed to be. This pictures the complete destruction of the one tainted with sin. In Isaac’s case, a ram is also given as a substitute.

This becomes even more beautiful to picture when we note that the very spot where Abraham is to offer his son is the same spot where the temple would be built by Solomon a thousand years later. And this is where those sacrifices of the law were made. But those sacrifices couldn’t truly save anything as Hebrews later explains.

And so to fulfill God’s plans and to complete the picture they made, God sent His Son, who did die, probably in the exact spot where the ram was that Abraham saw – and guess what! He was “caught in a thicket by his horns.”

This picture is complete when we remember that Jesus is the ram and that He wore a crown of thorns, probably made from a bush from the very same spot. It is probable that this bush is the Ziziphus spina-christi, The Christ’s Thorn, or the jujube tree.

It reaches twenty feet in height and is found growing all around the waysides of Jerusalem. The crooked branches of this shrub are armed with thorns growing in pairs, a straight spine and a curved one commonly occurring together at each point.

This ram, caught in the Christ’s Thorn, became Isaac’s substitute. And the true Lamb, caught in the same thorns – woven as a crown on His head – in the very same location 1800 years later became our Substitute. A whole burnt offering to God, as Paul explains –

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:2

And before we move on, we should note how the author of Hebrews explains the sacrifice of Christ –

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’” ⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ¹⁰ By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

After I met the Lord, I made a cross and signs to put on the cross for each day leading up to Easter. I put it out front of my house for the entire Passion Week. The first sign of the week has this verse on it. “On the Mountain of the Lord is will be provided.” I’ve put that cross and sign out each year since then.

I chose this verse because, from the first times that I read Genesis, I understood what this verse was saying and Abraham did too. He looked behind him and saw a ram caught in a thicket. But what he saw with his physical eyes was less wonderful than what he saw with his spiritual eyes.

Abraham looked into the future and saw the mystery he had wondered about from his first call into the Promised Land and through every promise of God since then. He saw Christ, our Substitute and he noted where Christ’s work would be accomplished. He saw the cross and He saw the resurrection.

The mystery revealed before His eyes was more wonderful than the thought of not losing Isaac. Having Isaac for a few more years of his life was inconsequential to having Isaac for all eternity. And that could only happen one way. Abraham saw the Lord on His cross and called the place Y’hovah Yireh – The Lord Sees.

And because of this, from that time on the saying became known – “On the Mountain of the Lord He will appear.” Because of the type of verb used, known as a Niphal, it doesn’t mean “provide” but rather “appear.” This verse is speaking specifically about the manifestation of Jehovah in the flesh – Jesus Christ.

And this is what Paul speaks of in his first letter to Timothy –

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory. (3:16)

III. Only After the Substitute…

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,

I didn’t find any commentary that noted why the Lord waited until after the ram was offered to call a second time out of heaven, but it seems pretty clear. It is a picture of our salvation. God calls all men to Himself through Jesus Christ. It is His way of speaking to us – by the offering of His Son.

The Ram is there, but we must accept His work as our Substitute.  God only calls the second time after we accept Him as Lord and Savior. Only after receiving this Substitute can we expect what comes after the Substitute.

God doesn’t demand any of us to make a human sacrifice, but rather the acceptance of His offering – a spiritual sacrifice which really occurred in His own Son. This equates to an unconditional denial of our ability to save ourselves. We must die to sin through Jesus – the Substitute God offers.

We are saved and then we receive the promised blessings – not before. The Lord calls a second time out of heaven “the substitute is satisfactory and thus I will bless you.”

¹⁶ and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—

Earlier I said that it was Jehovah who called out to Abraham. This verse confirms that. The Angel of the Lord is the Lord and He has sworn by Himself. His oath is explained in detail in Hebrews 10 and cannot be passed over –

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷ Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, ¹⁸ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. Heb 6:13-18

It must be noted also that the Lord swearing by Himself never occurs again in this manner and so, time and again, we will see repeated references to this very oath by Abraham, by Isaac, by Joseph, by Moses, by David and others in the Psalms, by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, and even by the Lord Himself.

This verse then is a defining moment in the history of humanity, in the history of the Bible, and in our understanding of the nature of God. (Ge 24:7; 26:3; 50:24; Ex 13:5, 13:11; 33:1, Ps 89:36; 132:11; 110:4, Luke 1:73)

¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;

The Lord, in swearing this oath upon Himself, uses repetition in a way which shows us that the nations of the earth will willingly come to be blessed through Abraham. It is as if they will rush forward en masse to join to the blessings he has promised; blessings which come through faith in his Seed – the Messiah.

And the number of them will be astonishing. So much so that the Lord uses two terms to describe it, as the stars of the heaven and as the sand at the lip of the sea, where the waves rush in – bringing even more sand to fill its shores. This is a combination of the promises of Genesis 13:16 – dust of earth and 15:5 – stars.

^{17 (cont)} and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

The gate of the enemies includes all of their strength – troops, advisors, weapons, and fortifications. This is ultimately fulfilled not just physically by the conquest of Canaan, but spiritually by Christ and His church as He states in Matthew 16 –

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Gates are defensive, not offensive. What the Lord promises to Abraham and what Jesus promises to us is complete victory over the enemies of God and God’s people.

¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In a previous sermon, we saw that the Seed He is referring to here is Himself – His incarnation in the Person of Jesus. Paul explains it in Galatians 3 in relation to the Law of Moses –

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The promise came before the law. God has promised through the Seed to bless all the nations of the earth apart from the Law. The only way this is possible is for the Law to be fulfilled on our behalf and thus it required the work of a Man born free of sin and who would also fulfill the Law without sinning; the Seed is Jesus.

¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The greatest test of faith recorded in the entire Old Testament is over. Abraham has been given the crown of righteousness and the garments of white. He has proven faithful and God has favored him in a way not seen again in the pages of the Bible.

From this foundational account God’s plan of redemption continues, and yet the story for today ends quietly. He returned to the servants at the foot of Mount Moriah and together they return to Beersheba, the Well of the Seven. But even this pictures the work of the Lord.

Jesus also prevailed over His own trial of Moriah and after doing so, He returned to the Well of the Seven. In His eternal state, there are seven aspects of the Lord. Isaiah notes them and they are referred to again in the book of Revelation –

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
³ His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist. (11:1-5)

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. (1:4, 5)

Even in his return to Beersheba, the Well of the Seven, this man of faith continues to prefigure the Lord of all creation.

IV. The Funnel Continues

I’ve talked about God’s Funnel in the past. It is the chosen line of God’s work in and through humanity – from Adam through Seth to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, and now to Isaac. But Isaac will someday need a wife. And so at the end of this most important of chapters there is post-fixed a curious set of verses that makes many wonder why are they there…

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

These 4 verses are given for two reasons. The first is to introduce Rebekah who will become Isaac’s wife. The mantle is being passed from Abraham to Isaac here. Abraham has accomplished his work before the Lord and the main focus of God’s funnel will now be directed toward Isaac.

The second reason is to give the historical names of some of these people who will come into contact with God’s people later in the Bible. Not all of them will be seen again, but those that will, can be traced back to these verses. In essence, it’s reminding us that we are all eventually related to each other if we go back far enough.

When we read the book of Job, we can come back here to see his family line; when we read about the Chaldeans in Isaiah or Daniel, we can find them here too. These and others who later become enemies or allies with the Israelites are all humans needing the same Savior that Abraham needed.

Let me tell you about this Savior before we finish up today – the Substitute.

Next Week – Genesis 23:1-20 (The Death of the Princess)

The Lord Will Provide

Then they came to the place of which God had told Him
And Abraham built an altar there where they stood
He placed the wood in order, and bound Isaac limb by limb
And laid him on the altar, there upon the wood

And Abraham stretched out his hand and also took the knife
To slay his son, his precious son born of Sarah his wife

But the Angel of the Lord called from heaven to Abraham
And said “Abraham, Abraham” in a resounding voice
Abraham replied, “Yes Lord, here I am”
“Do not lay your hand upon the lad, instead you can rejoice

“Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God
Since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me
Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and maybe he did applaud
There was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, you see

So Abraham went and took the ram and led it by his side
And offered it, a burnt offering instead of his son
And Abraham called the name of the place “The Lord Will Provide
The test of Abraham’s faith surely had been won

And as it is said, even to this very day
In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided
Then the Angel of the Lord a second time out of heaven did say
I have a decree, there is something firmly decided

By Myself I have sworn says the Lord
Because you have done this thing
And have not withheld your son, your only son by my word
Blessing I will bless you – let the nations sing

And multiplying I will multiply your descendants
Even as the stars are numbered high in the heaven
And as the sand which is on the seashore, ever so resplendent
The world through your seed I will enliven

And your descendants shall possess their enemies’ gate
And throughout all ages, your name it shall be great

So Abraham returned to his young men
And they rose and together to Beersheba they went
And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba from then
And this is where, for a while, his time was spent

Now it came to pass after these things, not before
That it was told Abraham, saying
Indeed Milcah has born children to your brother Nahor
For this you know they have been praying

Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram
 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, if girls they would make a harem

And Bethuel begot Rebekah
These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother
 His concubine, whose name was Reumah
Also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah – what a mother!

 

And so behind us is the story of Abraham and Isaac
Given to us to show the marvelous workings of the Lord
All contained in the Holy Bible – a beautiful almanac
Yes, for us to learn and love, His precious word

And what a word it is indeed!
May we learn it and also to it give our heed

For in this book is the story of God’s Son
Who through His blood the victory is won

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

Genesis 22:1-8
By Faith Abraham…

Introduction: Abraham, as we have seen, has been a man of faith and is recognized as such throughout the Bible. Today we’ll see Abraham’s faith put to the test and from this account the book of James cites Abraham’s deeds, what he did, as a point of justification in connection with his faith.

On the surface, this seems to contradict Paul’s idea of justification by faith alone, but only until we come to the realization that Abraham’s deeds are, in fact, deeds of faith. The deeds Abraham accomplishes, and the deeds that we accomplish, cannot be counted for justification apart from the faith behind the deeds.

Understanding that it is faith and faith alone that justifies us, frees us from attempting to accomplish deeds for the sake of deeds. In other words, doing good things only for the sake of the doing merely produces a never-ending cycle of frustration, because the “doing” can never please God – only the faith behind it can.

This might sound like double-speak, but what Abraham does in the coming two sermons is an act of faith – not in the act itself, but in the outcome of the action…. Life from death.

Text Verse: Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Luke 3:8

Jesus speaks of “fruits worthy of repentance” as does the entire Bible. If you have faith in God and accomplish a task because of faith in Him, and someone else doesn’t believe in God and accomplishes the exact same task, you will receive your reward and they will receive none. You see, it is faith and faith alone which pleases God and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Go to the Land of Moriah

Everything that has happened to Abraham since his call in chapter 12 has led to the passage we’re going to look at today and next week. It is the culmination of everything God has prepared him for, and it is the crowning event in his life

Four times in his life, Abraham has had to set aside something to gain something greater. The first was when he was called out of the land of idolatry into the land of promise. At that time he was given great and glorious promises about his name and about the multitude of descendants that he would be the father of.

Seven times these promises have been made and built upon and each step has been responded to in faith by this man of faith. The next time he set something aside was when he separated from his nephew Lot, whom he had grown up with and was very close to.

During and after this, the long delays between the promises made to him have molded him into a man of patience and reliance on God’s timing. He has conquered armies and refused rewards, trusting instead that what the Lord provides is even greater.

He was told to walk before God and be blameless – meaning not only in his actions, but in the intent behind his actions as well. As an intercessor and a prophet, he’s spoken with God as a friend, and petitioned the Lord for the sake of his family and others.

In God’s good timing he received the son of promise, Isaac. In validation that he accepts Isaac as the son of promise, he faced his third great trial… setting aside something close to him. This came about when he sent his firstborn son, Ishmael, away.

Isaac then, along with those who would descend from him, is the highest prize of Abraham’s life. And so, through this son of highest value he will have his character tested in the highest measure. This is Abraham’s fourth and greatest test and the one which will establish him, for all times, as the Bible’s premier example of a man of faith.

Every aspect of his life has been brought into focus to this point as a preparation for this moment. His resolve, his holy walk, his benevolent nature, and his fatherly affections are all ready for this final and immense test.

What God is like is what Abraham has been molded into, and what Abraham faces is what God Himself will demonstrate. The man and his life, particularly this point in his life, will be used to show us the very heart of God and the wonder of His love… for us.

¹ Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

“After these things” is talking about the events of the preceding chapter. In the first 8 verses is the record of Isaac’s birth until his weaning at 3 years old. In the next 13 verses, the account of the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar from Abraham’s camp is noted.

And finally, in verses 22-34, came the detailed story concerning Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech, which included Abraham’s right to Beersheba. The very last verse of chapter 21 said, “And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.”

And so it is “after these things” that God tested Abraham and this is where we begin today. This coming account is one so rich and so theologically significant that no matter how closely we look at it, we will unfortunately only scratch its surface.

After the previous events it says “that God tested Abraham.” The term used in this verse is one used before on specific occasions – “ha-elohim” or “the God,” and it is emphatic. When we see the term “the God” instead of just “God” it’s important to ask, “Why?”

And, the reason goes all the way back to the fall of man where Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. What happens here with Abraham is by the hand of the one true God, not a satanic subterfuge. The Bible is making sure we note this.

It is not a test, therefore, which would result in disobedience if accomplished, but obedience. And likewise, if he failed to do it, he would be disobedient. In order to avoid any confusion in this verse, the NKJV says here that God “tested” Abraham.

Some other versions, like the King James say that God “tempted” Abraham. However, the book of James tells us that “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” This is a test, not a temptation.

To avoid confusion and the need to make excuses as to why “tempt” here doesn’t mean the same as “tempt” elsewhere, the term “test” is used. Unless you’re Bill Clinton, there’s no point in trying to explain why a word doesn’t mean what a word means. The Hebrew word means to “prove” or “try” and so “test” is far better in modern language than “tempt.”

The root of this word possibly signifies glistening or light. And so what is occurring is a highlight of Abraham’s character by giving him the opportunity to show to all successive ages the nature and worth of an unshaken faith in the power, glory, and truth of God.

² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,…

v’yomer, kakh na eth binkha eth ye-hideka asher ahabta eth yitsak

The order in which these words are placed in the Hebrew gradually increases the anticipation and raises the emotions higher and higher. The detail and minuteness of what is being said is meant to elicit the highest sense of the importance of what’s coming.

It is intended to preclude any doubt in Abraham. Every word is detailed, emphatic, and striking, leading to the name…Isaac. In other words, to show Abraham what he most wanted to know he was going to use what Abraham most wanted to keep.

He wanted to know God’s plan of redemption for mankind – the mystery behind it – and so in order for him to see it, God directs him in the very way in which He would someday show the world the extent of His own Divine love and goodness to fallen man.

God didn’t spare his own Son, but instead delivered Him up even though He had done no wrong. He was innocent and loved. And so to allow Abraham the experience of what it was like for God to accomplish this act, He directs him to do the same. For all intents and purposes, Isaac is dead to Abraham from this moment.

God says, “Take your son, your only son…” when in fact Abraham had another son. This then indicates the nature of the sacrifice – it is the son of promise, it is Isaac. And so the pattern of God’s sacrifice is laid out – there is a firstborn son and there is a Son of promise. One will live and One will die.

And thus we read in Exodus 4:22 – “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”

And thus we read in John 3:16 – “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” EXPLAIN

^{2(con’t) …}whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,…

“Whom you love” is meant to indicate the Abraham’s highest love. In other words, Abraham surely loved Sarah and he loved Ishmael too. But the love of Abraham for Isaac is the highest love of his soul. Abraham is asked to take this love to “the land of Moriah.”

Moriah means “Chosen by Jehovah.” And so, “Go to the land I have chosen. It is a particular place which out of all of my creation is designated for a particular purpose.” Moriah is mentioned only one other time in the Bible, 2 Chronicles 3:1 –

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

^2(con’t) …and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

The son of promise, the only begotten son of Abraham is to be made a burnt offering. The exact method of such an offering was to first cut the throat, then cut it open, wash the entrails, and then cut up its quarters. After that, the pieces were to be placed in order on the wood and finally it was to be burnt to ashes. Imagine the emotion…

Were we to trace every avenue of this verse through the Bible, this sermon would go until late in the night, but this is the spot where the temple stood and it is the mountain where God’s only Son died. At that moment, the veil was torn as is recorded in Matthew.

As He passed through the veil, He presented His blood as the fulfillment of all of the offerings which only prefigured His work in the Old Testament. When this blood was presented, it restored access to God for fallen man.

Paul records the type of offering Jesus made in Ephesians –

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (5:1, 2)

The term “sweet-smelling aroma” is directly linked to the burnt offering Abraham is asked to make. The death of Isaac upon the altar is given as a foreshadowing of the death of Jesus on the cross.

This son of promise who was miraculously born of a womb that was past the time of child-bearing, prefigures the Lord who was miraculously born of a virgin womb. The sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah then is a similar picture of the Lord’s cross. From birth to his coming sacrifice, Isaac pictures the Lord.

II. The Third Day

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son;…

As I said earlier, in point of fact Isaac is to already dead to Abraham. Though the action hasn’t come yet, the state of mind has. He was probably numb from the contemplation of what was directed, but in complete obedience to God, the account says he “rose early in the morning.”

He probably was told to do this in a night vision and as soon as the morning dawns, he sets out to complete what was directed. Time and again we’ve seen Abraham’s immediate response to every task he’s been given. He is a man of promptness and obedience.

A particular point about this verse which we can only speculate on, and yet which we shouldn’t miss, is that Abraham’s donkey is saddled. When we think this passage through, and although unstated, Isaac will ride a donkey next to his father.

And so once again we have a pattern of the coming Christ revealed in the book of Zechariah chapter 9 –

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Just as Isaac’s birth prefigures Jesus’ birth, just as Isaac’s weaning prefigured the birth of the church, just as Isaac’s sacrifice is to prefigure Jesus’ death, so is Isaac’s ride to that death here to prefigure Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem.

3 (con’t)…and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Here we have another picture of the coming Messiah. The verse says Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Though he has a thousand or more people in his camp, he split the wood. It is an act of intimacy and of personal responsibility. In the same way, God is the Creator, in Genesis 1:11 we read this –

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

God used a portion of His own creation, a tree, in the sacrifice of His Son. The work of Abraham prefigures that great act and the personal responsibility it foreshadows. And so off they head from Beersheba to the spot where history itself began, climaxed, and will continue into eternity – the mountain of Moriah, Jerusalem.

⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

It’s about 45 miles from Beersheba to Jerusalem and the mournful trip for Abraham took two days. Although we won’t come to the end of the story today, the two days of the journey once again prefigure the time from Jesus’ crucifixion to His resurrection.

As I said earlier, Isaac’s death occurred, to Abraham, the moment he was told to sacrifice him. They arrived at the mountain to accomplish their mission on the third day. The same is true with Jesus, who ascended the hill on Friday and was resurrected on the third day. God has left out no detail, everything foreshadows Jesus.

What is coming in the next sermon then prefigures that great day when life was restored and hope was returned to the hearts filled with grief – both in Abraham and in the apostles and friends of Jesus. Sadness comes for a moment, but the joy is everlasting.

There are many other “third days” mentioned in the Bible, but one in particular needs to be addressed in conjunction with both the binding of Isaac and the resurrection of Christ – because it points to the return of Christ.

In Hosea 6:1-3 we read this –

“Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. ² After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. ³ Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.”

Although this won’t make sense apart from a much deeper review of the Bible, Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 both say that a day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. This prophecy of Hosea then tells us that the Jewish nation will, after a period of two thousand years, be revived.

This has happened, exactly as prophesied. It also says that they will return to the Lord at this time and be raised up on the third day. In other words, it will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ own words when He said that He will return to Israel when they call on Him as Lord, at the dawning of the third millennium from their exile.

We are right at that point in history now. As a confirmation of that, verse 3 says He will come to them like the latter and the former rain. The rain cycle in the land of Israel was disrupted for the past 2000 years and only now that Israel is back in the land and has repopulated the forests have the two rains returned.

James 5 speaks about this time in history – “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

In other words, Israel the people are back in the land. Israel the land is again receiving its long missing rain cycle. Now that it has returned, the Bible assures us that the Lord’s return is imminent.

⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

Abraham confirms that he and Isaac will both return to the servants, even though Isaac is to be offered as a burnt offering. Either Abraham is crazy, he is accommodating his words to soften the truth, he is lying, or he truly believes that they will both return.

He wants to know the mystery of God’s plan of redemption and God is going to reveal it to him. He knows this and his faith in their return is founded upon it. Even if his son dies, he will live again. And so he tells them that they will both return.

There’s no need to speculate on this and the commentaries that say otherwise are wrong. You may place a big X over them. The reason is twofold. First, God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 17:19 and repeated it in Genesis 21:12 –

“… Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

God has promised that Isaac will live and have descendants, but at this point in Isaac’s life he isn’t even married, much less a father. And so, Abraham’s test of faith is exactly that, a test of faith. No matter what Abraham does to Isaac, he is to have faith in the previous promise, that Isaac will live and have children.

When later in the Bible James says that Abraham was justified by works which accompany his faith, he is speaking of this very act. And the work is a work of faith in and of itself. This isn’t meant to be confusing, but what God is asking of Abraham is faith in the previous promises, not in some unknown quantity.

This is borne out in what he says to the servants now, what he says to Isaac later, and in what the book of Hebrews says about this very account. There it tells of what would otherwise be hidden –

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

God is using Abraham as an example of two things – First as a picture of what He will do with His own Son. And second, as a lesson for us. God already promised Abraham that Isaac would have children and through him would come the Messiah.

Now he is being tested to see if he will follow through with something which seems contradictory to that – taking Isaac’s life. “If God has spoken, then what I have been asked to do cannot stop what has already been promised.” This is the lesson for us.

God has recorded this, and many other things in His word. Now what He asks us to do is to stand on the promises recorded there – even when things seem contradictory to those promises. Romans 8:28 is a prime example –

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

If this is true, and it must be because it’s recorded in God’s word, then when something happens in our life which is bad or which seems to contradict God’s love for us, we are to trust that God already has it figured out. In other words, and in plain English, he wants us to not be unstable or wavering in our faith.

This is what God is telling us through Abraham. Don’t waiver, don’t be unstable, don’t call into question God’s goodness or integrity. Instead stand firm on what He has said and continue on with what He is now directing in your life.

A good way to look at it is – “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world and nothing can separate us or take My love from you.”

What shall we say then? Paul tells us – “…we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8

III. God Will Provide

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

Once again, as we have seen already many times, this is a foreshadowing of what Jesus will do. Abraham placed the wood on his son and took the fire in his hand along with the knife. The wood represents both Jesus’ cross and our sins.

In John 19 we read this about the wood – “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, ¹⁸ where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.”

In both Isaiah 53 and in 1 Peter 2, the Bible records that the Lord placed our sins on Jesus – a heavy burden He carried up that hill. And the wood was the fuel for the fire of God’s wrath upon the sins of man. As I’ve said many times, God’s is angry at sin and his wrath will burn against it.

And this wrath will either be poured out in the crucifixion of His Son and our acceptance of that offering, or it will be in ourselves as we receive the full measure of deserved destruction. Personally, I choose Jesus.

The fire and the knife being carried by Abraham is also represented in Isaiah 53. There we read this about the One who determined and set forth the Sacrifice –

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

This plan, the sacrifice of Jesus, was set in motion at the foundation of the world according to the book of Revelation and it was the Father who determined it would be accomplished, just as Abraham determined in his own mind to go through with what was asked, carrying the fire and the knife himself.

What Abraham is prefiguring here is the greatest act in all of history. God the Father pouring out all of His wrath at the sins of man on His own Son. This passage in Genesis is given to show us two demonstrable truths. 1) That God is holy and will judge all sin, and 2) That God loves us and is willing to step out of eternity, unite with humanity, and bear that judgment upon Himself

⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Isaac is asking an obvious question here. “Dad, I’ve got the wood and you have the knife and fire, but where is the lamb?” A lamb is an animal of the flock. It’s not something someone would normally find walking around in the open country.

This makes the question all the more direct. “Dad, there are no herds around and you didn’t bring a lamb, so where will the lamb come from?” The answer is coming, and no, it’s not a lie…

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Abraham has already been called a prophet of God by God. His words when recorded in the pages of the Bible do two things. First they tell us what he said, and secondly when spoken in a future sense they are prophecies. Abraham isn’t lying to his son. Instead he’s revealing distinct truths.

One is that God provided Isaac. He is the son of promise and the miraculous birth to a woman beyond the age of bearing. Isaac therefore is the burnt offering. In essence, “Son, it is you.” But Abraham probably told him more because it says, “So the two of them went together.”

He probably reminded Isaac that God had already promised a line through him and that his death wouldn’t be final or God would be a liar – an impossibility. But in what is also a prophecy, Abraham spoke of the coming Messiah.

This is absolutely certain because sacrifices were already being conducted, even from the time of Cain and Abel. If those sacrifices were satisfactory to appease God, then they would have stopped being offered, but they didn’t.

Therefore, like everything else Abraham already knew, there had to be a fulfillment of them in another way. None of this is speculation. It is reasonable and understandable when taken in the context of the entire Bible. Abraham was merely demonstrating faith in this. God would provide the final Lamb.

Abraham, in his walk up the hill with his son, was learning that Isaac was an expressive type of the coming Messiah. Every other sacrifice that had been offered from the foundation of the world had been those chosen and offered by men. But Isaac was asked for by God and so this looked forward to the true Lamb provided by Him; Jesus.

Next week, we’ll see the completion of this amazing passage, but until then, let me take just a couple minutes and explain the significance of this Lamb of God and what He did for you…

Next Week – Genesis 22:9-24 (The Lord will Provide)

A Difficult Journey, a Hard Climb, Strong Faith

Now it came to pass after these things
That God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham”
And he said, “Here I am” O King of kings
I am at Your service no matter what the exam

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac
Whom you love and go to Moriah, that land
Offer him there as a burnt offering, don’t be slack
Go to one of the mountains of which I shall command

So Abraham rose early in the morning
And saddled his donkey for the ride
He took two of his young men, giving no forewarning
And Isaac his son went by his side

And he split the wood for the burnt offering
And arose and went to the place of the proffering

He went to the place which God had told to him
And it’s certain the pain in his heart was quite grim

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes
And saw the place afar off in the distance
And he told his men to stay with the donkey and supplies
“I will go yonder and worship, this is my insistence

And we will come back to you
My son Isaac and I, this is what we will do

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
And laid it on Isaac his son
And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife for the proffering
And the two of them went together for the deed to be done

Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father
“But dad…” “Here I am my son, what is your bother?

And he said, Look the fire and the wood
But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
And Abraham spoke and Isaac understood
My son, God will provide for Himself the Lamb of the proffering

So the two of them went together, Abraham and his son
To do the deed which God asked to be done

What we learn is that God demands our allegiance
In every matter, yes every part of our life
Our attitude is to be faithful without belligerence
Even if it means carrying a sacrificial knife

God looks for faith in his faithless people
And is pleased when He finds it dwelling in us
It is a lesson to be taught beneath the church steeple
And when we possess it, He counts it a plus

And so let us demonstrate faith in Him and in his word
And remember that we are man, and He is the Lord

Yes, He is the only one worthy of our praise
And so shall we offer it all of our days

Great, awesome, and splendid God
Help us in our faith to grow and in Thy light to trod

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Genesis 21:22-34
The Well of the Seven

Introduction: Today we’re going to learn about the importance of oaths and agreements and see how God watches over them, even thousands of years after they are enacted. Every oath we take and every vow we make is done in the presence of God and therefore they are as binding as if they are made directly with Him.

Today’s verses may not be as deep and exciting as some we’ve traversed, but they are as important as any other. God wants us to learn from them and to then abide by the instructions and the lessons they provide. Let’s do our best to take heed to them as we live in His presence as followers of Jesus Christ.

Text Verse:You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. Deuteronomy 10:20

Some people believe based on Jesus’ words in the gospels that we should make no oaths at all. But this is a misreading of what Jesus was telling us. When we make oaths, however, they are not to be taken lightly and they are only to be made in the Lord’s name. Any vow or oath which is made under any lesser name will ultimately diminish His glory in our perception of Him and is actually an act of idolatry and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Abraham’s Vow

In the coming verse, the first thing we need to do is to try to determine when it actually occurs –

²² And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.

There are three possibilities as to when Abimelech came to Abraham. The first is that is was from the passage in Chapter 20 when Sarah was taken into Abimelech’s home. If so, it would skip over both the birth and weaning of Isaac and the story about Ishmael which included his growing up and becoming an archer.

The second possibility is that it was after the birth of Isaac around the time of the feast when he was weaned. The third is that is happened much later, when Ishmael had grown up to become an archer.

The first option is unlikely because there is a progression of events which leads from one thing to another right up until the time of Ishmael and his mother leaving the home. The third option, when Ishmael is grown up, is also unlikely.

That is more of an addendum on the timeline to note that he survived the ordeal of being in the desert and eventually married and became an archer. The most likely time is around the time of Isaac’s weaning when Hagar and Ishmael were sent away.

The reason why this is likely is because by having the record of them being removed from the camp assures that what is coming in today’s account is intended to include the people who descend from Isaac, not Ishmael. If Ishmael were still in the home, there could be a claim by him and his descendants to what is coming.

Now let’s read the verse again to refresh it in our minds – “And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.”

The king of Gerar, who had already interacted with Abraham in the matter concerning Sarah his wife, comes along with the commander of his army to make a formal treaty with him. His word to Abraham, “God is with you in all you do” is something God promised Abraham all the way back in chapter 12 –

² “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.”

By this meeting with the king, the Lord has fulfilled the promise to Abraham. It was as obvious to Abimelech as the nose on his face that God was looking out for him. When he took Sarah into his harem, God came to him in a dream, called him a dead man for taking a prophet’s wife, and told him he had better return her.

He also was fully aware of the large size of Abraham’s camp in people, livestock, and wealth. Now, he had heard that a son was born to him and had lived to the age of weaning, meaning he would become the inheritor of Abraham’s camp. And the camp was powerful. Anyone in the area would know that with his fighting men he had overthrown the 4 kings of the east.

God was with Abraham and so Abimelech came to make a treaty with him now before died. Once he was dead, the son would take over and a new regime would be established. It would be easier to work with Abraham now than to do so with his son in the future.

Another question arises though, why did he bring along his army commander? He is mentioned by name and therefore God is telling us that he is important to know. His name means “the mouth of all” or literally “strong.” Bringing him along does a few things.

The first is that it will demonstrate that the pact to be made has the full support of the people. It also acknowledges Abraham’s military superiority over his own kingdom. Abraham’s might was renowned and bringing the commander who was named “Strong” was an implicit acknowledgment that Abraham was stronger.

This is in line with Jesus words in a parable in Luke 14 –

³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Abimelech may or may not be a believer in the true God, but he is acknowledging that Abraham is superior to him in military power and that his God is more inclined to Abraham than anyone else, including him.

Before we head to the next verse, we should probably evaluate our own lives and see if we’re willing to heed what Jesus is implying in the verse I gave you from Luke. He is the commander of the strongest army there is and so we should be brave enough to stand up for our convictions and let others, not us, sue for peace.

Any Christian who isn’t willing to speak up for his faith and for the truth of the message of Jesus Christ is neither properly executing, nor worthy of, the title of “Christian.”

Whether the people around us acknowledge it or not, the God we follow is the only God and because He is, then nothing can stand against us. So if you’re timid about whatever issue you’re facing, don’t be. He is right there with you as He was with Abraham.

 ²³ Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt.”

However Abimelech knows… he knows that Abraham isn’t going to just be a powerful leader and then fade away, but that his line will continue forever. Because of this, he asks for him to speak not only for himself, but for his son, and his future descendants too.

What he is asking for is something we would call the Lex Talionis or “an eye for an eye.” What kindness or evil I show you, you will show me. What I think about this account, and several more like it, may not be popular, but I believe it is 100% correct.

The covenant between Abimelech and Abraham is as binding today as it is when it was made. It seems to be written into the Jewish mind and actions even now. I do not care even a little bit what the rest of the world says about the actions of Israel. They never act as the aggressors in their actions against their neighbors.

On August 31, 2004, 16 were killed in two suicide bombings on buses in Beersheba for which Hamas claimed responsibility. On August 28, 2005, another suicide bomber attacked the central bus station, seriously injuring two security guards and 45 bystanders. During Operation Cast Lead, which began on December 27, 2008, Hamas fired multiple Grad rockets from Gaza into Beersheba.

On almost every occasion in their history, Israel responds to attacks on the people they covenanted with, but they do not actively attack them. In the Bible and in modern history, when this isn’t the case, the Lord sees and acts. Let me give you an account from 2 Samuel 21 when Israel violated such a covenant –

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” ² So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; the children of Israel had sworn protection to them, but Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah.

People may forget these things over time, but the Lord never does. This covenant with the Gibeonites was about 400 years earlier and yet God held Israel to account for it. His eye is on both sides of these struggles and He attends to violations in man’s word in surprising and fulfilling ways.

This is a lesson we need to remember as individuals and as a nation. When we sign a contract of peace with a group of people, it is binding and is not to be dismissed by us first, only in retaliation for an aggression initiated against us.

²⁴ And Abraham said, “I will swear.”

In Genesis 15, God told Abraham that it would be 400 years before he would take possession of the land and so he has two reasons to agree. The first is that Abimelech came to him on friendly and submissive terms. Second, by such an agreement, in a land which he doesn’t even own, he is receiving a guarantee of safety.

This would be like making an agreement with your landlord. He comes to you with his lawyer and says, “I know that God is with you in all you do and so I want to guarantee that I will prosper through you.

“So, would you be willing to live in this house for free – you and any of your descendants who want to for the next 400 years? If so, I’ll pay all the bills and throw in a security system too.”

And so you agree. Abraham agreed too…

The agreement is made and it will be confirmed in a covenant. Abraham’s word is i’shaba – “I will swear” and is the same root as the number seven – sheba. An oath of this type will be confirmed in a rite involving the number seven.

II. Oh, Well!

Before you sign the lawyer’s papers, you want to clear up a small problem. He came to you and so he’s obviously willing to bargain and wants to see the deal done and so now is the very best time to clear any outstanding matters.

On the back of the property is a big shed that you built. The landlord’s employees have been coming onto the property and filling it with their stuff. Before you sign the papers, you want your shed and you want it left alone.

Abraham has his own terms which he wants settled before he confirms the oath with Abimelech…

²⁵ Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized.

Water is where it’s at. If you’ve never been to Israel, just go on line and type in “Beersheba,” which is where this story is happening. You’ll see lots of sand, lots of rocks, and you can feel the heat shimmering off the photo.

There are two rain seasons in the land – known as the former and latter rains which come in the fall and the spring. In the off seasons, or in the times when the season doesn’t get rain, a well is the only source of water. It is the only way to irrigate, and the only way for the people and animals to drink.

Abraham is more concerned about this well than any other part of the meeting and it will be a continued source of trouble if it doesn’t get settled. Abimelech’s servants need to leave it alone or the oath will only have hints of unhappiness associated with it.

²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until today.”

This verse shows the gracious nature of Abraham for two reasons. First Abraham agreed to the oath even before the issue of the well was brought up. And secondly, Abimelech was never told in the past about what was going on.

Abraham had the power to take the well back by force and keep it guarded, but instead, he graciously kept the matter concealed. Abimelech is hearing about it for the first time. I like what the Geneva Bible has to say about this verse – “Wicked servants do many evils unknown to their masters.”

You’ll find many times in the Bible that this is so. Poor King David had a very faithful army commander named Joab, but he did all kind of things that he shouldn’t have done. Should you be a boss, you know that even the best of employees make some rather dubious decisions from time to time.

Abimelech is gracious back to Abraham just as Abraham was to him. In the end, the covenant will go forward and it will last as a testament to this congenial meeting between these two men.

²⁷ So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.

In verse 23, it was Abimelech who asked for the agreement, and in verse 24 Abraham agrees to it. Abraham is the one who offers the animals because he is the one who is granting the request.

He took “sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech.” Abraham provides the animals and Abimelech is the one to kill them and divide them in two. After that, both of them will pass between the pieces and the covenant will be confirmed.

The significance to this ancient rite is that if either party broke the covenant, they would be treated in the same manner as the animals that they passed through. In other words, “What has been done to these animals is what I am binding myself to.”

²⁸ And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

Some scholars say these seven lambs are the animals that were sacrificed and the other sheep and oxen were gifts to Abimelech. However, this doesn’t make sense and it is exactly the opposite. The terminology, both before and after this verse, indicates that the seven lambs are a witness to the covenant, not the sign of it.

²⁹ Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?”

Abimelech is standing there looking at these seven cute, fluffy little lambs and wondering what they mean. The animals for the sacrifice have been slaughtered and divided and all of a sudden Abraham walks up with seven more lambs.

He probably stood scratching his head or maybe pulling his beard and wondered what was going on.

³⁰ And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that they may be my witness that I have dug this well.”

I’ve been to this place and looked down this well. Yes, the well is still there, but the lambs aren’t. So where is the proof that Abraham actually gave them to Abimelech and where is the proof that he accepted them? Anyone?

The proof is in the document we’re reading. As the noted legal scholar and principle founder of Harvard Law School, Simon Greenleaf states, “Every document, apparently ancient, coming from the proper repository or custody, and bearing on its face no evident marks of forgery, the law presumes to be genuine, and devolves on the opposing party the burden of proving it to be otherwise.”

It’s important to remember this because there are copies of the Bible which go well back into antiquity and which predate any other claims on this well or any of the other biblical sites coming into contestation in modern times. This may seem like a side issue, but God has recorded this deed and we need to take heed to it, as well as several others in the Bible.

People argue over Israel’s right to the land. They argue over a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, they argue over Israel’s very right to exist. So, knowing the Bible is the most important tool that we have to refute these baseless claims.

The seven lambs were offered by Abraham as proof that he dug this well. They implicitly state that the land around the well was for his use. If Abimelech accepts the lambs, then what is implicit becomes explicit. Remember, it was Abimelech in the previous chapter who said this to Abraham –

“See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” (20:15)

³¹ Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

“Therefore…” We’re reminded to think on the previous verses of today’s sermon and come to a conclusion or accept one that has been made. So let’s review:

Abimelech and Phichol came to Abraham, acknowledged that God is with him in all he does, and so they ask him to swear by God that he won’t deal falsely with him, his son, or his descendants, and that there will be established an agreement based on the lex talionis – an eye for an eye, if the agreement is broken.

Abraham agrees and after his agreement he brings up the subject of the well. Abimelech say he had no knowledge of the problem and Abraham takes animals for a sacrifice to cut a covenant. He also sets aside seven ewe lambs as a witness that he dug the well. If Abimelech agrees to this, then the covenant will be sealed.

”Therefore…” because of all of these things, the well is called Beersheba. Why is the naming of the place the conclusion of the matter and the reason for our “therefore?” The word in Hebrew for “therefore” is al and can be translated, wherefore, therefore, so, and, etc. But it is used to demonstrate a result.

“Therefore” – the result of all the things we talked about is the name Beersheba. The word be-er means well. The verb sheba means “oath.” So, or therefore, the result is the “Well of the Oath.” But the root of sheba also means “seven.” So, or therefore, the result is the “Well of the Seven.”

The “therefore” is that the well and the surrounding area is called Beersheba, and the name came from this oath. The oath is the grant and the name is the testament to the grant. Who owns this land? The descendants of Abraham through Isaac, not Ishmael, and also not any of the other people in the area… The deed stands.

III. The Lord, The Everlasting God

³² Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines.

Both agreed – Abraham and Abimelech, and so the covenant is confirmed and it’s done as the verse says, “at Beersheba.” The inclusion of the name in this verse is given specifically to demonstrate that it came from this account.

The fact that the name of this place has lasted for 4000 years tells us that God is carefully watching over His land and is demonstrating the significance of these accounts in His word.

As the Palestinians continue their assault against Israel – each time they do, they violate this ancient covenant which came between these two men. You see, the term Palestine comes from the Hebrew word plishtime, which we translate as Philistine.

These people cannot claim the title while rejecting the obligation to it. It either goes all the way or it doesn’t go at all. Hence, the town of Beersheba is in the news and will continue to be in the news as long as these wicked people are hostile to their Jewish brethren.

The history of the place is rich and it will be mentioned many, many more times as the Bible unfolds. It will become synonymous with the very southern spot of the Land of Israel.

This spot is where God meets with Jacob just before he leaves the land of Canaan on his journey to Egypt. From the time he leaves Beersheba, it will be several hundred years before the people return from there.

³³ Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.

Verse 33 introduces a few terms and a pile of debate. Abraham planted, according to the NKJV a “tamarisk tree” and others say an “oak tree.” The KJV says “grove.”

The term is eshel and is used only used two more times in the Bible. Both times, a tree and not a field for plowing, seems likely.

Study your Bibles and make your conclusions. I go with a tree, not a grove because a tree seems to be tied into what Abraham is doing. He is calling on the Lord, the Everlasting God. This is the first time in the Bible this term is used – Yehovah, El Olam.

He is the Eternal One. He is unchangeable and therefore he is sure and able to watch over the covenant made between these two men. Because of this, Abraham plants a tree – a symbol to men of permanence and reliability. As my brother once said to me, “The definition of an optimist is a person who plants a tree.”

A grove gives the thought of neither permanence nor reliability. In fact, it gives just the opposite. A grove is something temporary and which changes with each harvest, but the Bible says otherwise about the tree –

In Isaiah chapter 6, he is told by the Lord to proclaim His word to the stubborn and dull eared people. They are told to keep on hearing, but never listening. They are told to keep on seeing, but never perceiving. Eventually, Isaiah cries out –

“Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, ¹² The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. ¹³ But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.”

Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, their stiff-necks, and their unwillingness to hear, God promises to preserve a teeny remnant of the people and they will be as the stump of the tree which will sprout again at the scent of water.

Abraham has planted a tree acknowledging God’s faithfulness and permanence. It’s as if he sees the future of his people and acknowledges God’s sovereignty over them and His eternal faithfulness to them, even when they nail His Son to another tree.

Concerning this treaty between Abraham and Abimelech and their descendants after them, it is Yehovah, El Olam who will vindicate the just and who will judge the unjust who breaks the agreement. He is Abraham’s infallible Source of rest and peace.

In Ecclesiastes 3, we read this – “I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”

The form and appearance of the things around us may change, but what God determines is permanent and everlasting. Nothing that He decides can be frustrated or hindered. Even though the tree Abraham planted is temporary and changing, it is in itself a shadow of something that is eternal and unchanging.

One more little tidbit about this verse for you – at the beginning of this chapter, way back in verse 1 when the Lord visited Sarah and brought about the conception of Isaac, which was two sermons ago, the name of the Lord “Jehovah” was mentioned.

It hasn’t been mentioned again until now 32 verses later. Through Isaac’s weaning, through the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael, and through the entire account with Abimelech, only the term “God” is used. This is because of the relationship between the people in those accounts and God was general and not intimate.

But His relationship with Sarah as the mother of Isaac and His relationship with Abraham, the man of faith, we see a personal and covenant based relationship. And so the chapter begins and ends with the divine name, Jehovah. It is this name which, until the incarnation of Jesus, demonstrates communion with man.

This is how life was intended to be. When man was created, it was the Lord who was with him in the Garden, but since then He only appears at certain times and for specific reasons in human history.

The intimacy between God and man was all but gone and can only be restored when we follow His rules. Once we do though, Paul tells us about the restored relationship –

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Romans 8:14-16

³⁴ And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

This is the last verse of chapter 21 and it is given to show us God’s faithfulness to Abraham. After the treaty, after calling on the name of the Lord as the Everlasting God, we see that this same God was both capable and willing to provide for Abraham, even in the Land of the Philistines.

The verse implies that there were no disputes over the well with Abimelech or with anyone else that would have necessitated him moving on. God remained Abraham’s source and place of rest.

Before we leave today’s passage behind us, we should reflect on this personally. What we’ve learned today is as much about oaths, their establishment and fulfillment, as anything else. Some of us here have taken an oath in marriage.

I will tell you that God looks at that oath in the same light as He looks at the oath between these two men. God is still watching it carefully 4000 years later and He is watching for our faithfulness in the covenant of marriage as well.

He’s also watching our other oaths – things we have sworn to accomplish. This includes loan agreements for a car or a house. It includes testifying in a courtroom or witnessing transactions. God watches over our actions and our oaths, expecting full and complete compliance.

If we are really Abraham’s children, we are children of the Lord, and so we need to be competent and faithful to represent Him in all we do. If you’ve never become a son of God by faith in Jesus, let me tell you how you can,… the most important oath of all.

Next week: Genesis 22:1-8 (By Faith Abraham)

The Well of the Seven

And it came to pass at that time
That Abimelech and Phichol the commander of the army
Spoke to Abraham what was on their mind
God is with you in all you do and we see your life is barmy

Now therefore, swear to me by God
That you will not deal falsely with me or my offspring
And with kindness we will interact while in this life we trod
You will do to me as I to you, please agree to this thing

And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
Then he rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water
His servants had seized it, without any care
It needed to be resolved before the animals they would slaughter

And Abimelech said, I don’t know who has done this thing
You never told me, nor have I heard till today
So Abraham to Abimelech sheep and oxen he did bring
And gave them to him for a covenant display

And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock to the side
And Abimelech asked their meaning, and Abraham replied

You will take these seven lambs from my hand in order to tell
As a witness that it was I who have dug this watery well

Therefore, he called that place Beersheba
Because the two of them swore an oath there
Thus they made a covenant at a place which rhymes with Toshiba
Not much else does and I had to put something there

So Abimelech rose with Phichol the commander of the army
And they returned to the Philistine’s land
They were hoping their life would also be quite barmy
And that God would bless them from His open hand

Then Abraham in Beersheba planted a tamarisk tree
And there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God
And he stayed in that land many days happy and carefree
Because he was a man of faith and faithfully he trod

Each of us enters into agreements and covenants too
And God expects us to obey them in all that we do

Let us be faithful to the contracts we sign
And to the vows we make as we speak with our lips
God instructs us that this is His design
He is watching that we don’t make any slips

He is faithful to us in each and every way
And so we are to be like Him each and every day

Let us be faithful to our husband or wife
Let us be honorable each day as we work
In every way we need to live an integrity-filled life
Not letting things slip like some kind of a jerk

God promised so very long ago
That He would send His Son to make all things right
Thankfully He didn’t change His mind and decide to say no
Because only through Him can we see heaven’s light

Great and awesome God
Let us in they light trod
Great and marvelous in all your ways
May we return to you all of our praise

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 21:9-21
Cast Out the Bondwoman and Her Son
(A Picture of the Day of Pentecost)

Introduction: Reading the stories in the Old Testament often leaves us wondering about why they’re in the Bible. With each new account, we need to re-ask it again. Why was the story of Cain and Abel there? What about the story of the Tower of Babel? Why is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah given?

Today, we’ll look at the account of Hagar and Ishmael as they leave the home of Abraham and start life apart from them. While we’re looking at the account, we have to remember that it’s a part of what God decided to include in His word and therefore it must be relevant to our understanding of how He interacts with His people.

We looked at the overall purpose of Hagar and Ishmael’s inclusion in the Bible before, and today will be a partial review of that. We’ll include some things that are new too. One of the interesting studies that we’ve looked at, and that we will continue to look at, concerns the people who are somehow later included in the genealogy of Jesus – like Lot’s girls.

Interestingly, though some pretty sketchy people are found in His ancestral records, there is no one from Hagar or Ishmael to be found leading to Jesus. The key to understanding why is in understanding the grace of the Lord in salvation apart from works of the law.

There are no works of the law which will save us, and as we’ll see, Hagar and Ishmael are pictures of the law and therefore they are excluded from Jesus’ genealogy. Such are the dealings of God with man. The Bible is a beautiful story of redemption from sin which comes solely by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text Verse: ²⁹ These are their genealogies: The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebajoth; then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ³⁰ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, ³¹ Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael. 1 Chronicles 1:29-31

Hagar bore Abraham a son named Ishmael. That son then bore 12 sons of his own. But unlike Isaac, who was born of a promise, Ishmael was born in the normal way. Sarah and Isaac are a picture of grace while Hagar and Ishmael are a picture of the law. The law cannot save; only God’s grace through our faith saves and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Cast out the Bondwoman and Her Son

Last week’s sermon gave details about the birth, circumcision, and weaning of Isaac. The last verse we looked at was verse 8 which said, “So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.”

The next verse is our first verse today which is verse 9…

⁹ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.

The “son of Hagar the Egyptian” is Ishmael, and he’s not mentioned by name, but rather by his mother’s name and nation. This is to show the contrast between Isaac, who was named in the preceding verse and Ishmael. Saying “the son of Hagar the Egyptian”, rather than “Ishmael”, is to remind us that as the Israelites were never to return to Egypt, we as Christians are never to return to the bondage of the Law.

Isaac is now the center of attention, the son of promise, and the inheritor of Abraham’s estate. In contrast, the older son is still just the son of a maid and is excluded from the spiritual and land promises that God has revealed to Abraham.

His scoffing occurred during the feast mentioned in the previous verse. Isaac is now three years old and this is his initiation from being a baby to being a young boy who can feed himself. For whatever reason, Ishmael was scoffing at him.

We can let our imaginations run wild about “why” because nothing else is given. Maybe he was dressed up in a cute little ceremonial outfit. Maybe he was still struggling to feed himself. Maybe he was getting all of daddy Abraham’s attention and this made Ishmael jealous. Ishmael is about 17 at this time and … well, you know how teenagers get.

Whatever the reason, he’s scoffing. This isn’t mere “laughing” though. A different word is used than the word yitsak which is the laughing connected to Isaac’s name. Instead, the word me-se-heq is used.

The meaning can vary in intensity, but a stronger and less happy meaning is certainly intended. This becomes all the more certain when we see what Paul writes about this account in the New Testament. There, in the book of Galatians, he says this –

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹ But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Galatians 4:28, 29

Paul calls it outright persecution and therefore Ishmael’s laughing was contemptuous at best and possibly threatening toward his younger half-brother. Sarah saw this and was appalled. A seventeen year old mocking someone’s precious baby in any generation would be enough to upset a mom. How much more when they lived in the same camp!

Because Paul labels it persecution, and because of the timing of what has occurred, this then is the beginning of the fulfillment of a verse we looked at many, many weeks ago in Genesis 15. At the time God declared Abraham righteous and then confirmed His covenant with him, He spoke these words to him –

“Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. Genesis 15:13

This concept of Ishmael persecuting Isaac is critical to understanding the timing of this statement from God to Abraham. From this account today, it will be 400 years before the Israelites will be led out of Egypt and from the hard bondage that they had suffered both there and in their time in Canaan.

This then is about 30 years after the promise to Abraham. Little details like these, in what are otherwise sentences of relative obscurity, become instrumental in understanding God’s promises, and His faithfulness in keeping them.

Talking about faithfulness to His promises… a few weeks ago we looked at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and how it pictures the coming rapture. Do you think that God would put those hints of what He will do into his word from an account over 4000 years ago if he didn’t really intend to follow through with the plan?

I know it seems like our lives are often out of control and that there is nothing firm or stable to hold onto, but that is the farthest thing from the truth. God has a plan which is so detailed, so minute in what it reveals to us, and intends for us, that we have every reason to stand firm in our hope and hold fast to our convictions.

The thing we should take away from these details is that He is a God of details. Every sore back, every lost loved one, every sleepless night… all of it – He has it all under control and He will complete what He has started. If Jesus can overcome the cross, we can overcome through Him. Stand firm on that.

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.”

Of course, about 50% of the people who read this verse come away with the sense that Sarah, and even Abraham, have committed some type of great offense by both thinking this and eventually following through with it, as we’ll see in a few minutes. But the context of the account, and the rest of the Bible, make it clear that Sarah is both right and just in her words – “Cast out this bondwoman and her son.”

The word she uses for “cast out” is garesh and it is used elsewhere, such as in Leviticus, to indicate an actual divorce. This is probably exactly what Sarah is implying. Even though she calls her a “bondwoman” she is also labeled elsewhere as being Abraham’s wife.

So what Sarah is asking is for something of a legal and formal declaration that Hagar is out…not just as a slave, but also as a wife of Abraham. The second half of the verse assures us that this is so – “for the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son.”

Now listen to what Paul says about the rights of the heir in Romans 4, remembering that Ishmael is a picture of the sons of the law and Isaac is a picture of the sons of grace –

“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect,”

Before we go on, we’re going to revisit Galatians 4 again, as we have several times already, to understand why this account is in here and what significance it has both to you and to all people who are free from the constraints of law because of the work of Jesus –

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷ For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.” ²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹ But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.

Now that we’ve seen the purpose of the actors in the play, we can look again at Ishmael’s laughing and make more connections. This is exactly what God wants us to do because he specifically notes it in His word.

The first is that Ishmael probably looked at this little boy and couldn’t believe that he would be the father of many nations and the son of promise. He probably wondered how a little boy, so small and helpless, could ever meet the Lord’s purposes.

But Paul, in the New Testament reminds us of how this is so –

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. ²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; ²⁸ and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, ²⁹ that no flesh should glory in His presence. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

This scoffing of Ishmael then is a picture in itself. Just as Hagar and Ishmael point to the law and Sarah and Isaac to grace, Ishmael’s scoffing points to the scoffing of Israel at the coming of the Holy Spirit  –

Explain the lead-up to this part of Acts 2 –

¹² So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”¹³ Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.

The older brother, Ishmael, is a picture of the people of the older covenant – the bondage of the law and those who held to it. He scoffed at his younger brother, just as those in Jerusalem scoffed at those under the New Covenant grace found in Christ.

Even more amazing is that they both occurred on a feast day. The first was at the weaning of Isaac, when he moved from milk to solid food, and the second was at the weaning of God’s people at Pentecost when they went from spiritual milk to spiritual solid food.

And then we need to look again at that unusual word garesh or “divorce” that was given to Hagar. Why is this so specifically included? We don’t even need to leave the Law of Moses to understand the implications of this. Here is Deuteronomy 24. Listen carefully –

When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ⁴ then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

There was a marriage contract at the time of the law and we were divorced to that through Christ. The symbolism of Hagar is absolutely clear. We are never to return to the law. Paul explains this marriage concept in Romans 7 to help us understand clearly –

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. (vs. 4)

Can you see now how important it is to have the foundation of all things as are recorded in the book of Genesis? It is a marvel, a glory, and a testament to the wisdom and the power of God for all who believe.

God included this story of a boy laughing at his younger brother as a type or shadow of those under the law laughing at their younger brother of promise – the church, at its own feast of weaning.

¹¹ And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

It’s quite evident from the previous accounts in Abraham’s life, that he is a truly honorable, non-confrontational, and family-oriented man. He took Lot along when he travelled to Canaan. He gave him the choice of choosing what portion of the land to take when they needed to separate.

He went after Lot and rescued him when he was taken captive. He pleaded with Lord before the destruction of Sodom for them to be spared if at all possible, certainly because he knew Lot was there.

These things and others we’ve seen all point to Abraham’s character and conduct. So when he heard what Sarah was proposing, it had to be really tough on him. No matter what the situation between him and Hagar was, Ishmael is his son and he’s been raised as such for 17 years.

And now he’s being asked to cut this tie and send his son out into a hostile and unforgiving land. The Jewish writer Pirke Eliezer notes that of all of the evils which came upon Abraham in his long life, this was the hardest and most grievous in his sight.

¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

Whatever misguided notions people think or teach about what Sarah proposed and Abraham followed through with, God had no problem with it. It’s always best to think tough issues through and try to understand “why” things occur and what they lead to rather than make emotional and knee-jerk assumptions.

Even in America we kick young adults out of our homes when they cause problems. I’m guessing, although I can’t speak for how they’ll respond, that one…. oooor both, of my children will testify to this.

So what is the point of this verse being here? Like the symbolic nature of the entire account as we looked at in Galatians 4, this verse is cited by Paul, in the book of Romans, to remind us about God’s election –

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” Romans 9:6, 7

God spoke to Abraham and told him not to worry. He’d already given a promise about Ishmael several years earlier. “Abraham, don’t you remember? I told you he would become fruitful and multiply and that he would be the father of 12 princes. It’ll all work out as it should.”

¹³ Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”

This promise is repeated to Abraham from Genesis 17:20 and it will be confirmed in Genesis 25:16. God told Abraham that Ishmael would have 12 sons and we find out later that he did. And this is the reason for the text verse I gave today from 1 Chronicles. In that genealogy of the people of the world, Ishmael is remembered even there.

Through the sons of Ishmael will come a chain of events which will eventually lead to the deliverance of the Israelites 400 years later. It was his descendants who bought Israel’s son Joseph from his brothers and then sold him to Potiphar the Egyptian.

If this didn’t happen, Joseph would never have ascended to the right hand of Pharaoh. Every detail of history is carefully and minutely woven together to lead to the fulfillment of God’s marvelous plan.

Likewise, through the law, which Ishmael pictures, will come the deliverance of the world when Jesus comes and fulfills that very law on our behalf and then sits down at the right hand of God. The patterns laid down in this simple account about Ishmael are astonishing…

II. Wandering in the Wilderness

¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

Again, like other times in the Bible, it is noted as “early morning.” God probably spoke to Abraham in a dream, and like every other time He speaks to him, he immediately obeys. There’s no dallying in the life of Abraham. When God speaks, he listens and acts.

If you read this verse in some versions, like the King James or the ESV, it’s almost confusing what’s going on. Here’s the ESV –

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Because of the wording, it almost sounds like Abraham put the bread, the water, and Ishmael on Hagar’s shoulder and sent her out. The implication is that this poor lady with a little boy is being sent out to wander around in the wilderness. This isn’t at all what you should imagine, but because of the confusion, most depictions of Hagar and Ishmael show her with a little boy.

He is, as I said earlier, about 17 years old. Abraham gave the bread and water to her to carry because that’s the job of the women in the Middle East – carry stuff around. This is found throughout the Bible and even to this day if you go over there, you’ll see women… carrying stuff around.

Plus Abraham had a boy to hug and probably cry over. If he’d given the stuff to Ishmael, the bread would get smushed and the water might get spilled. Putting the stuff on Hagar is both expedient and right. The parting had to be a heartbreaker, but obedience is what he’s been called to and he is a man of obedience.

No matter how sorrowful to our human nature, anyone who is fearful and devout will walk in his ways and will, like Abraham, obey immediately, even when it concerns family or loved ones. As the Geneva Bible cites, “True faith renounces all natural affections to obey God’s commandment.”

Remember, this is a picture of the law and grace. We are asked to cut our tie to the law. Not in part, but in its entirety. We are to be obedient to what the Lord has accomplished for us by setting aside the law in exchange for grace, just as Abraham has done with Ishmael.

¹⁵ And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs.

Based on Ishmael’s age of 17, this verse might seem a bit improbable. How could a 17 year old be in the condition he’s in before his mom who is much older? The answer is found in our genetic make up.

Men are about 60% water weight and women about 50%. But, men are about 3-5% body fat and women are about 10-16%. The percentage of body fat for women is greater than that for men due to the demands of childbearing and other hormonal functions.

Because of this, men burn off water more quickly and ladies hold it in. Ishmael’s loss of water was enough to make him weary before her, and so she put him under a shrub to get him out of the sun.

¹⁶ Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.

Bowshot – only time in OT kim-ta-kha-ve. A bowshot is a long way, about a half a mile. Hagar couldn’t bear the thought of being close enough to hear Ishmael dying or even calling out for water and so she went far enough away so that she not only wouldn’t see him, but she wouldn’t hear him as well.

Not only that, she also didn’t want Ishmael to hear her own cries too. The expression to “lift her voice” means that she really sobbed over what was happening and she didn’t want her boy to hear. This is a really, really sad and desperate scene which will be repeated throughout the Bible – people facing death.

In fact, it’s something that simply can’t be missed. Death is something everyone will face – both in others and eventually in them. The wages of sin, after all, is death. And thus we are all destined to die because we are all sinners. We each need a Savior.

The thing that I needed to know was why… why does God include this verse? Why is her immense weeping mentioned? It’s there for a reason and this isn’t arbitrary. On Monday as I was practicing this sermon for the first time, it came to me. It is a picture of the end of the tribulation period when Jesus and His church return to rescue the people of Israel.

According to Daniel 9:24-27, God has reserved 7 more years for Israel after the rapture of the church. This is the final 7 years of the Law of Moses in Israel. At the very end of this period, when Christ returns to His people, we read this in Zechariah 12 –

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. ¹¹ In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Hagar is a picture of the law, she is mourning over the coming possible death of her son. The same mourning will be seen in Israel at the death of the law through the death of Christ, when the grace of Christ is bestowed upon them. The proof of this is coming in the verses ahead.

III. God Hears

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

Here we have a play on words – v’yshma or “and heard God” the voice of the lad whose name is Ishmael – God hears. This reminds us of the promise made all the way back in Chapter 16 when God told Hagar to name her child, Ishmael. Why? Because God heard then, God hears now, and God will always be there to hear.

And here He is, “the angel of God” calling out to Hagar – “What ails you, Hagar?” In other words, why are you crying… “Don’t you remember my promises of the past? Here I am ready to fulfill them to you now. Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad…”

God heard their cries then, and God will hear the cries of His people Israel and He will respond. I hope you can see the parallels of what God is doing, and why these verses are here – God is returning to tend to Israel after their time in the wilderness. He is ever faithful to His unfaithful people.

¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”

Once again, this goes right back to Genesis 16 and the original promise to Hagar before Ishmael was born. “Don’t you remember Hagar? I’m right here tending to every detail.” And so He tells her to walk back the half mile or so she’d wandered away and to hold the boy because what He promised will come about – Ishmael will become a great nation.

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.

Hagar trots back and once she gets there, her eyes are opened to see a well of water. There are two possibilities about this. The first is that she missed this well the first time and it’s the entire reason he told her to go back. Where she laid him was right where the water was all along.

The second option is that God just opened up the earth and made water appear as He does elsewhere in the Bible. He did it for the Israelites in the wilderness, He did it for Samson after a battle, and He continues to do it for His people when the need arises. Isaiah almost mirrors the need of Ishmael when he wrote these words in his 41^st chapter –

“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
¹⁸ I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water. Isaiah 41;17, 18

The answer to the question is that the Water of Life has always been there, but the well was hidden and so Hagar had missed it. God directed her back to her son first and then to the waters which would take care of them and sustain them for the rest of their journey. And this is what will happen for Israel in the years ahead.

The Water of Life, Jesus, has been there all along, but in order for salvation to come to the gentiles as Paul tells us in Romans, their eyes were blinded to it. But God will direct them to it as it said in Zechariah 13 – “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”

The amazing story of God’s grace reaches to all of the people of the world and God fully intends to fulfill His promises to His beloved people, Israel. And this is how He will do it. But understand, this is really what He does for each person who is saved by Jesus.

He directs us to His Son first and then He gives us the spiritual ability to see that where He is, is also the spot where the Water of Life is. And then, astonishingly, He gives us the choice to drink that water or to reject it. The funny thing is that despite the thirst every human has, not everyone will drink from the Water of life.

²⁰ So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

God has His purposes and He has made His plans. There is no thing which will thwart them, though we think we can. Atheists love to pretend He isn’t there, people work hard to remove His presence from society, and at times, even believers attempt to suppress the knowledge of Him for a spell. But God is there.

He was there at the creation. He was with Noah for the long days of the flood. He was there with Abraham as he waited for a son to be born, and God was with the lad, Ishmael. And because He was, the boy became a man of the wilderness and an archer.

And he certainly taught the skill of archery to his own sons because more than a thousand years later, Isaiah spoke of the clan of Ishmael’s son Kedar, noting their skills as renown archers –

For thus the Lord has said to me: “Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail; ¹⁷ and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the Lord God of Israel has spoken it.” Isaiah 21:16, 17

A thousand years in time and God was still there watching and guiding the streams of human history. And he is doing it to this day – even in your own life. He is there and He is tending to you…

²¹ He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Without a father to set him up with a wife, Hagar stepped in and made the selection. As she was from Egypt, so is her daughter in law, Ishmael’s wife. Both the root and the branch of Ishmael proceed from the same people.

The place where they settled is called the Wilderness of Paran. This place is so absolutely barren and wild that being an archer makes all the sense in the world. You can’t be a very successful farmer in a place like this. It’s around the area of Mount Sinai and is just as unforgiving as any place you’d ever want to visit. (Paran – place of caverns – explain)

Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian said that his 12 sons and their descendants after them came to inhabit all the country from the Euphrates to the Red Sea and called it Nabatene. They are an Arabian nation, and at least until the time of Josephus, they named their tribes from the 12 sons of Ishmael.

In the end, this story of Ishmael is one that ultimately points to the amazingly glorious work of Christ in fulfilling the law that we cannot fulfill. Let me explain to you the significance of this…

NEXT WEEK Genesis 21:22-33 (The Well of the Seven)

God Hears, God Remembers, and God Responds

Sarah saw the son of the Egyptian Hagar
Whom she had borne to Abraham
Scoffing at Isaac, BUT this didn’t go very far
Because she asked her husband to make them scram

Cast out this bondwoman and her son
For her son will not be an heir with Isaac – he’s the only one

And the matter was displeasing in Abraham’s sight
Because of his son, he didn’t think it was right

But God said, “Don’t let this be displeasing in your sight
Because of either the lad or because of your lady servant
Whatever Sarah has said, treat it as right
Listen to her voice, for in Isaac to your seed I will be observant

Yet, I will also make a nation of your son Ishmael
Because He is your seed it will come about
So Abraham rose early in the morning before the breakfast bell
In the word of his God, he never held a doubt

He took bread and a skin of water and put it on her shoulder
And he gave the boy to Hagar and sent her away
Then she departed and wandered through shrub and boulder
In the Wilderness of Beersheba where only the donkeys bray

And when the water in the skin was completely gone
She placed the boy under a shrub she found there
And she went as far as an arrow is shot when drawn
For to see the boy die is something she couldn’t bear

So she sat opposite him and lifted her voice and wept
Into anguish of soul was her whole life swept

And God heard the voice of the lad
Then the angel of God called out of heaven to her
“What ails you, Hagar? Things aren’t all that bad
Fear not for God has heard the cries and will handle this for sure

“Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand
For I will make him a great nation
Then God showed her a well of water in the desert sand
And she was certainly filled with joy and elation

So she went and filled the skin with the water
And gave the lad a refreshingly long drink
It was probably better than eggs and a bagel with butter
Even better than a 7-11 slurpee I would think

So God was there tending to the boy
And he dwelt in the wilderness after he grew
Becoming an archer his arrows he would deploy
The life of a hunter is the life that he knew

He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran
And from Egypt his mother took for him a wife
And in the Arabs today his name lives on
Because God looked after Ishmael’s life

In the same way, God is there with you
And He will always lead if you don’t know what to do

When things seem helpless and out of our control
That is the time on Him all our cares we should roll

God loves His people, the proof is in His Son
Our Lord Jesus, who came to show us His Father’s heart
And through His cross and the empty tomb the battle has been won
It is through calling on Him that our new life can start

Fellowship with our Creator is restored through His life
Yes because of Jesus all things become brand new
Between God and man, there is no longer strife
Because the devil’s work, Jesus did undo

Thank You Lord, let us shout out Your praise
And worship You in holiness for eternal days

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 21:1-8
He Brings Laughter
And Laughter is His Name

Introduction: We finally come to the birth of Isaac today. We’ve seen God’s promise to Abraham about this son given and then given again. We’ve also seen that prior to him, came another son – Ishmael who was a picture of the bondage of the Law. Isaac, on the other hand, is a picture of freedom from that law by faith in Jesus.

Every story, and every detail within each story, is a wonderful testament to the faithful dealings of God with man and a picture of the coming Christ. When we feel like life is overwhelming us and things are spinning out of control, all we need to do is pick up the Bible and read and we can see God’s hand of care and protection for us all throughout its pages.

By faith in Christ Jesus, we are brought near to God and we are adopted as His children. What great love has the Father lavished upon us that we might be called children of God. Hallelujah and amen!

Text Verse: That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹ For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” Romans 9:8, 9

God is faithful to keep His promises, and He is abundantly pleased in those who have faith in them and rely on them in their daily walk. In fact, it’s the only thing that we can truly offer Him – faith.

If we love Him, praise Him, or worship Him for who He is, it is because we have faith that He exists and that He has revealed Himself to us. When speaking of God, praise without faith isn’t praise. Worship without faith isn’t worship.

Everything about our relationship with God ultimately comes down to faith; it is based on faith – proper faith. Misdirected faith is, after all, wasted faith and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Lord Visits His People

In the Old Testament, there is a word used that we translate as “visit” or “visited.” It often indicates divine intervention on behalf of God’s people or for the fulfillment of His plan. The word is paqad and can mean to “visit graciously.”

Depending on the context, it can mean a host of other things as well, such as someone being an overseer. But even that hints at a watchful eye and careful attention. God has carefully watched over Abraham and Sarah and He has carefully attended to them thus far.

Today, we will see more attention doted upon His cherished creatures.

¹ And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.

Here is the first use of the word paqad in the Bible. The Lord “visited” Sarah. It is a divine visitation to meet His perfect plan in His perfect timing. And how did He visit her? He “…visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.”

She’s mentioned twice in a row because it was she who laughed at the promise and then she lied about having laughed. Here is the short account and it explains why Sarah is addressed and why twice in this first verse today –

“¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” Genesis 18:13-15

So what’s happened here is similar to what happens to Peter after he denied Jesus. He denied Him three times and was later asked if he loved Him three times. Sarah laughed and then lied and so today’s first verse is used as restoration for that fault.

Some of us here may have laughed at the promises of God in our own lives. I know firm believers in Christ who laugh at the concept of a rapture. When I met Christ, I smirked at it too. How could millions of people just disappear without it converting the rest of the world into Christians?

But then, after studying the Bible, I realized that the people will be blinded so that they believe the lies of the antichrist. After thinking on human nature and some of the crazy things people believe, I realized this won’t be any problem at all.

People deny the holocaust. I know people who believe we blew up the twin towers all by ourselves…even though we all watched the planes fly into the buildings. People believe Mormonism even though science through DNA, artifacts through archaeology, and the nature of God as the Bible reveals have all shown it to be false.

We will believe anything simply because someone in authority said it. It is as if our minds have a toggle switch which is set to “Don’t believe God” and it has to be manually changed to the proper – “Yes, take God at His word” setting.

This verse is reminding us that Sarah had her toggle switch on the wrong setting. But despite her doubt, the Lord fulfilled His word exactly as He promised. Let us each remember that God’s word is written, it is sealed with His stamp of authenticity, and therefore we have every reason to believe it without any hint of doubt.

As you wind through the Bible, you’ll see God often reminding us of a promise fulfilled, or a petition granted. While in Egypt when Joseph was 110 years old and on his death bed, he called his brothers together and said this to them –

“I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” (Genesis 50:24, 25)

About 200 years later, Moses received his commission from the Lord and came to the people of Israel who were by then reduced to forced labor and hard bondage and showed them the signs the Lord gave him to prove he was chosen to lead them out of the land.

In fulfillment of Joseph’s prophecy, the Bible records, “So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.” Exodus 4:31

God visited His people in fulfillment of the promise spoken through Joseph. And, many hundreds of years later, in a time of similar hardship and trial, we read another petition in the 106^th Psalm about the joy of forgiveness of Israel’s sins –

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation, (verse 4)

Zahkhreni Yehovah birtzon am-ekha, poqa-deni bi-shua-tekha

After the people had been brought out of captivity in Egypt and through the water of the Red Sea, they had forgotten the mighty deeds of the Lord. Eventually, they went into captivity again because of their faithlessness, but there the psalmist cried out to the Lord for Him to visit – “Oh, visit me with your salvation!”

Yes, Lord – visit me with your salvation. And the word for salvation? Yeshua, the name of our Lord Jesus! And once again, in fulfillment of that petition by the psalmist, we read where this was finally realized in the New Testament –

⁶⁷ Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸ “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
⁷⁰ As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
⁷³ The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
⁷⁴ To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

⁷⁶ “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
⁷⁷ To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
⁷⁸ Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
⁷⁹ To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

It’s important to tie these things together like this. You see, God isn’t doing some arbitrary thing at one time or another, but He is giving His word and then fulfilling it. As He does, He gives us pictures of things to come. Isaac is one of those pictures.

In the entire Old Testament, few were conceived and brought into the land of the living like Isaac was. In this then, he is a picture of Christ – the holy Seed of the woman promised all the way back in Genesis 3.

Just as Isaac was promised before he was born, and then was long anticipated, so was Jesus. But before Isaac came Ishmael and Abraham thought he was the son of promise. In the same way, before Jesus was born, came the Law.

The people thought that was God’s plan of redemption, but Ishmael was replaced by Isaac and the Law was replaced by grace through Jesus. At the set time, just as God promised to return and give a son through Sarah, He also promised to return and give His Son through the woman – a Redeemer for all who would believe.

Paul tells us that “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4, 5

God, promised salvation, and it came at the right time and in the perfect way. Isaac means Laughter and he brought laughter to his parents. How much more did the Son of God bring laughter to the world – laughter mixed with unending joy!

As Matthew Henry says, “When the Sun of comfort is risen upon the soul, it is good to remember how welcome the dawning of the day was.”

What was seemingly impossible to Sarah; what seemed like an impossible hope to the Israelites in Egypt, and what came as a cry for mercy from affliction by the psalmist… God has always been attentive to His promises, even in things which seem impossible, He always delivers.

As we ready for our next verse, let me tell you this…

Back in chapter 17, God finally revealed to Abraham that he would have a son through Sarah. Up until that point, his only son was Ishmael the son of Hagar. It was during this time that God changed Sarah’s name from Sarai to Sarah and showed that she was to be the mother of the child of promise. When He made the promise He spoke these words to Abraham –

“But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Genesis 17:21

² For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Using the exact same term from chapter 17 – la’moed, the “set time” – we are reminded again of the faithfulness of God

The Promise – “Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year;” The Fulfillment – “Sarah conceived and bore…at the set time…God had spoken.”

Great God, wonderful Lord!

In this verse, it says that she bore Abraham a son “in his old age.” This has the flavor of something like “for his old age.” In other words, the old age of Abraham isn’t a limiting factor that had to be overcome, like it was for Sarah.

Instead it is an affirmation that his old age will be filled with this child. Rather than his old age being “the difficult days” which Ecclesiastes describes will happen to most of us, it will be for him a time of laughing and rejoicing over the son of his old age.

As the days go by, each of us is getting older as well. The pains start coming, the joints begin to ache, and we anticipate difficult times ahead. But in the Lord, even the worst times are really better than the best apart from Him. It’s because we have the sure hope that this life and its hard walk is only temporary.

I simply can’t wait for the coming day when Christ returns to make all things new – a new body, a new direction, an eternity of joy… All of these things really are coming and right now, by faith, we wait for them. Stand fast in these promises and be assured that all things will be far more wonderful than you can possibly imagine.

In the sermon of Genesis 17 where God revealed to Abraham that he would have a son through Sarah, I read this as our Text Verse.

We were like those who dream.
² Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us,
And we are glad. Psalm 126:1-3

Yes, the Lord did great things for Israel when He brought them back from the captivity of Babylon. But He has done great things for His people throughout the ages, filling them with abundant joy and laughter…

II. The Lord Brings Laughter to His People

³ And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.

Again, in fulfillment of the word from the Lord and obedience to it, this verse is given to us. In Genesis 17:19, we read these beautiful words from God to Abraham – “…Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

The promised son has come and Abraham names him Yitsak, for Laughter is his name. As a note of vindication of the Lord’s word, the verse notes, “whom Sarah bore to him.” No laughter of doubt, no anxiety over what might or might not happen, no fear of stepping off a cliff and into the void exists with God.

Instead, there is the absolute assurance that what He says will come to pass. Though Satan and all the armies of hell fight to thwart His word, not a letter or the smallest part of a letter will ever fail to be accomplished. When the Lord speaks, it is already done. We merely have to stand back and see the wondrous workings of God.

⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

This is our fourth verse today and it is the fourth verse which reaches back to a previous part of God’s word.

“This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.” 17:10-12

God commanded and Abraham obeyed in detail. Isaac was circumcised on the eighth day. I wonder if this made little Laughter cry? In his normally poetic way of looking at these types of things, we read this from Matthew Henry –

“God had kept time in performing the promise, and therefore Abraham must keep time in obeying the precept.”

⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Isaac, the child of laughter was born when Abraham was having his centennial celebration. This was a full 25 years after the move from Haran to Canaan and 14 years after the birth of Ishmael. The year of Isaac’s birth is 2109 Anno Mundi.

In just 1895 years, the Son of God would be born about 45 miles to the north of where Abraham is located now. No amount of time or distance is too difficult for God to span in order to fulfill His promises to His people whom He foreknows.

In the next two verses that we look at, Sarah sings out in two exclamations that are almost poetic in nature. The first of these is verse 6 and it actually comprises two sentences in the Hebrew –

⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”

Wat-oh-mer Sarah, se-hoq asah li
Elohim kol ha-sho-me-ah yitsak li

Her words turn on the word “laugh.” This however is completely different than the incredulous laugh of chapter 18, where doubt ruled the day. This laugh is laughter of both wonder and delight at what has happened, and she acknowledges God’s sovereign power to overcome even old age and a barren womb.

And in the process as God makes people laugh, and it’s not just the person who is directly involved in the miracle, but those who hear of it as well. “God has made me laugh, and all who hear it will laugh with me.”

This is so similar to what happened to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist when she received the news that her own barren womb would also now bear – “When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.” (1:58)

Yes, there is joy and rejoicing over these things, but how much more of even greater things. If God can regenerate the barren womb, He can also restore life from the overflowing tomb.

He did it for His own Son, raising Him from the dead by His great power. And He promises to do it for you as well. The earth’s womb which devours our loved ones, and which will eventually devour us, will be emptied of those who have placed their trust in Him. The day is coming and the promise is sure. Eternal laughter will replace our temporary sadness.

⁷ She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

The turning note of the previous verse was laughter, but the turning note of this one is the triumph of not only her own previous unbelief, but of anyone else that wouldn’t have believed it. What nobody could ever have expected has come to pass. She has accused herself of past ingratitude and shouts triumph over it –

“For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

And that makes a good point to stop and tell you that even though you may have to wait for the promises of the Bible to come about in your own life, they will all come to pass. The people of God have waited 2000 years to see Jesus come in the clouds for them, but there is no reason to doubt – He will come.

We’re waiting for a time when we don’t lose family members, and it is coming. We’re waiting for a time when Jesus will sit as King over the earth, ruling from Jerusalem, and it is coming. We’re waiting for the world to be renewed like the Garden of Eden, don’t get frustrated, it is coming.

Every promise God has made will come to pass, just as His word records. Be still and wait patiently, it will all come to pass.

III. Great Feasts before the Lord

⁸ So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

In one verse, we’ve just skipped over three years of life. “So the child grew and was weaned.” The Hebrew time until this turn of life is three years. We learn this from two places. First, in the apocryphal book of 2 Maccabees we read this –

Leaning over her son, she fooled the cruel tyrant by saying in her native language, “My son, have pity on me. Remember that I carried you in my womb for nine months and nursed you for three years. I have taken care of you and looked after all your needs up to the present day.” 2 Maccabees 7:27

The second is right from the Bible in the book of 2 Chronicles. During the time of King Hezekiah, we see the age of the Israelites who were counted old enough to be considered as viable citizens requiring normal food to eat –

Besides those males from three years old and up who were written in the genealogy, they distributed to everyone who entered the house of the Lord his daily portion for the work of his service, by his division, (31:16)

Once Isaac reached the age of three and was considered fully capable of living on solid food rather than his mother’s milk, Abraham threw a giant party. The reason why he did this is the same reason they do this in parts of the world even today.

It’s because until a child is on solid food, they have a much greater chance of not making it. Once a certain age is met within a society, a party is given as a general indication that the days of uncertainty are past and he is now likely to be around until adulthood.

When the day came, Abraham gave a feast or a misteh in Hebrew. This is the second time such a meal has been mentioned in the Bible. The first was when the two destroying angels appeared at Sodom and Lot invited them to his home.

There in chapter 19 it said, “… he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.”

The first misteh, or feast, in the Bible was the result of the outcry of wickedness against a city and it ended in sadness and the loss of life. The next is misteh is the result of the happy birth and the growth of the son of promise. It will lead to the long and prosperous life of this child of laughter.

There are many other feasts like this mentioned in the Bible – by both pagans and by the faithful, but there is also another kind of feast the Bible speaks of. These feasts are detailed in Leviticus 23 and they are known as the feasts of the Lord. There were eight of them that the people of Israel were obligated to attend to.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about them now, but let me tell you what these feasts are. The Sabbath, the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

The reason why I’m bringing them up now is that, even though they are different than the feast Abraham gave when Isaac was weaned, these feasts were also given at specific times and to celebrate certain events.

Next week, we will see how Isaac’s feast of weaning actually prefigures one of these feasts of the Lord. I want you to read Genesis 21:1-13 and think about these feasts and see if you can guess which one is being prefigured in Isaac’s weaning.

The Sabbath was a weekly feast and it was to celebrate God’s rest and redemption. This was fulfilled by Jesus and it is the reason we don’t have a Sabbath in Christianity. Hebrews 4:3 says, “…now we who believe do enter that rest.” Our rest is in Christ and His work – not in a Sabbath Day.

The Passover was fulfilled by Jesus as is recorded in 1 Corinthians 5 where it says, “Christ our Passover Lamb is sacrificed.” His blood is what causes God’s judgment to pass over us. We are now free from the penalty of our sin.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled by Jesus as is also recorded in 1 Corinthians 5 where it says that through Christ, “you truly are unleavened.” Because of this Paul says we should “keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

The Feast of Firstfruits was fulfilled in Christ as Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 15 because he says “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Firstfruits was a picture of the resurrection.

The Feast of Weeks was fulfilled in Christ when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers in Acts chapter 2. The Feast of Weeks is also known as Pentecost, something we reflect on each year, fifty days after Resurrection Day

The Feast of Trumpets was fulfilled in Christ on the day of His birth as the Bible details. The same day that people were blowing trumpets and rejoicing, they could not have realized that their blasts were actually welcoming in the King of the Universe.

The Day of Atonement was fulfilled in Christ as Paul records in Romans 3 – “being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that [is] in Christ Jesus, whom God did set forth a mercy seat…” The “mercy seat is the place of atonement.

And finally, the eighth feast is the Feast of Tabernacles. This was fulfilled in Christ when He put on a tabernacle of flesh and dwelt among us as John records in his gospel – “And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.”

You see, for the people of God who have called on Jesus, every good thing promised by Him in the Old Testament is realized in Him in the New. He is the Lord of all feasts and He is the One with whom we will dine someday at a great table of abundance. No wonder David wrote these words to us in the 23^rd Psalm –

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

In Jesus, there are no guesses. In Jesus there is no speculation as to whether He can fulfill His promises. In Jesus there is no worry if He will turn away from those who call on Him. You see, in Jesus there is only truth and surety. If you’ve never trusted this great King and wonderful Savior, let me explain how you can…

Next Week’s Sermon –Genesis 21:9-21 (Cast Out the Bondwoman and Her Son)

He Brings Laughter and Laughter is His Name

The Lord visited Sarah as He had said
And the Lord did for Sarah as He has spoken
Though it seemed certain that her womb was dead
The word of the Lord came – surety in this token

For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son
It was in his old age that this did occur
At the set time God had spoken so it was done
The child came because the promise was sure

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac as instructed
He was eight days old when the rite was conducted

This was just as God had commanded in the past
The day came about and he was circumcised at last

Now Abraham was one hundred years old
At the time when Isaac was born to him
Never would someone believe if told
Almost anyone would think the chances were slim

But it happened and Sarah joyfully said
“God has made me laugh, I am filled with joy
And all who hear will laugh with me instead
Of never believing I’d have a bouncing baby boy

She also stated, “Who would have spoken
To Abraham that Sarah would nurse children like this?
For I have born him a son in his old age, no jokin’
This child has brought us an abundance of bliss

So the child grew and was weaned
Because on God’s faithfulness they leaned
And Abraham made a great feast on that same day
When Isaac was weaned, he threw an enormous par-tay

The promises of God for Abraham and Sarah came true
And the promises of God will do likewise for you

We have these promises revealed in a book
The Holy Bible is where we they are to be found
Please open it up and take a good look
The words are true, the instruction is sound

They tell us of Jesus and all that He did
When we were lost in a sea of sin and death
He has saved from hell, and yes God forbid
We fail to accept Him before we take our last breath

Please call today on the Lord
And accept His offer of eternal life
Surety is found in Him and His word
Put away now the body of strife

All glory to Him for our every breath
God has saved us from eternal death

Victory in Jesus is our guarantee
Come to the Lord and this you will see

Hallelujah and Amen…