LESSONS FROM THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS
GENESIS PART 2 – POSTDILUVIAN/PATRIARCHAL HISTORY
ABRAHAM: RECEIVING THE PROMISES OF GOD
GENESIS 17:15-18:15
INTRODUCTION
- I really have only one main goal for us today and I’m going to share it with you right up front. What I want to do is highlight the character and nature of God. I want us to get a refreshing glimpse at God’s faithfulness and his commitment to keep his word. Throughout our look at the book of Genesis so far you have heard me say several times that God is a promise-keeping God; that he keeps the covenants he makes with people. We mentioned it in the account of the fall, in the life of Noah, and several times thus far in our look at Abraham. Today I want to dwell on this point, see it in action in the life of Abraham, and then draw out some of the principles we see at work here so that we can apply them to the promises that God makes to us in his word.
- As we start, think about the last time someone broke a promise to you. Everyone knows what it’s like for someone who has made a promise to them to break that promise. Broken promises affect us from our earliest years. A child’s heart hurts when his or her mom or dad doesn’t make that big game that they promised they would see. Teenagers experience emotional turmoil when their boyfriends or girlfriends don’t, in fact, stay with them forever as was promised. Perhaps parents of teenagers are hurt by broken promises regarding behavior or school performance. Marriages collapse because the promises made on the wedding day are broken. Broken promises are a part of life, sometimes a very painful part of life, that we all experience.
- Of course, we all know what it is like to break a promise as well. We have all made promises to family, promises to friends, promises to church members, or husbands or wives, or children that we have failed to keep. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons why promises are broken, and sometimes, as is most often the case, we simply fail to keep our word or someone else simply fails to keep their word.
- Now knowing what we know about Abraham from our look at Genesis thus far, it is not hard to imagine him beginning to feel some of the same emotions we feel when a promise has been broken. He is now ninety nine years old and still does not have a legitimate son. Sarah had taken things into her own hands and had given Abraham Hagar to sleep with and Ishmael was born. So he does have a “sort of” son, but we find that God is not going to fulfill his promises through Ishmael.
- So Abraham’s situation remains unresolved. God promised to bless the nations through him by forming him into a great nation; a great nation through which Jesus Christ would come; but nations cannot be formed from a man’s descendants if he has no descendants. Let’s begin reading at Genesis 17:15: [READ GENESIS 17:15-21, 18:9-15]
- God has just finished changing Abram’s name to Abraham and has given him the sign of the covenant that he has made with him: circumcision. Every male who was born of Abraham’s descendants from then on was to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth. This was a sign that the descendants of Abraham (the people of Israel) were a set apart community to which God’s covenant belonged.
- At the beginning of our text, God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah. God is in the process of redefining this family’s identity and even their names were changed to reveal this. During this name changing encounter God once again tells Abraham that Sarah is going to be blessed with a son through whom his promise would be fulfilled. And what is Abraham’s response? He laughs at God. Not a very smart move. Whatever communicative relationship is going on here, it is obvious that Abraham is having some form of dialogue directly with God. If God and I were having a conversation, I don’t think I would be inclined to laugh at something he says to me.
- But that’s what Abraham does...why? Well because he was nearly one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety. The passage in chapter 18 gives us the rather obvious information that Sarah was no longer at prime child-bearing age and so the “way of women had ceased to be with Sarah”. I think we all know what that means...she was no longer ovulating and no longer menstruating.
- This seems like it would be a problem, does it not? But listen to the words of Genesis 21:1-3: The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.
- A man and a woman, well past the normal age of having children, together have a son just as God promised them they would. And here is what I want us to notice from this:
GOD IS ABLE TO KEEP HIS PROMISES DESPITE NATURAL LIMITATIONS
- For all normal intents and purposes, Isaac should have never been born. There is no way a child should have been born to this couple. Sure the lifespans were a bit longer, but the text is clear that this would not have happened under natural circumstances. And sometimes I think we read accounts like this in the Bible, say “Amen”, and go on our merry way never believing that something like this could happen in our world.
- For some reason the head knowledge we have that says that God can do supernatural works and our everyday life experiences don’t line up. Especially in this modern world where almost everything is explainable by means of natural causes, stories like this seem far fetched. But the same God who miraculously allowed this old couple to conceive and have a son is at work in our lives today.
- Now I’m not suggesting that we go around looking for 90 year olds to get pregnant. God is not a magician. He doesn’t do these things for our entertainment or at our bidding. There is obviously a very specific purpose for God performing this miracle in the life of Abraham and Sarah. But what I am suggesting is that we need not be shy about asking God to do things that are not naturally possible, and we should not feel hesitant to believe that he can do such things according to his will.
- And I want to illustrate the importance of believing this by using one of the most basic doctrines of the Bible: the doctrine of everlasting life. Let’s use the most well known verse of Scripture: John 3:16 [Quote]. That is a promise stated in the form of an indicative statement. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ will not perish but live forever.
- From other passages of Scripture we know that this eternal life is not simply a spiritual life, but a bodily existence as well. Our spirits and our bodies will be made incorruptible and we will exist forever. Now think about all of the natural limitations that tell us that eternal life is not possible. We could get major headaches trying to think of all the reasons why people can’t live forever.
- But if God has promised that some people will live forever, something has to give; and God is not going to give, the natural limitations are going to give. What God says will happen, will happen, no matter how impossible it seems to us now. Think about that...even some of our most basic doctrines assume God’s ability to do what cannot be naturally done.
- So on the one hand, we don’t want to assume that we are going to experience supernatural works of God on a daily basis; but on the other, we don’t want to live like he can’t ever do works beyond natural explanation. He most certainly can. And Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac are proof of that.
- Now there is one more thing I want us to take note of from this account:
GOD IS ABLE TO KEEP HIS PROMISES DESPITE OUR LACK OF BELIEF
- One other emotion that rises to the surface here is Abraham’s uncertainty with whether or not Sarah would have a son. That’s why he pleads with God to bless Ishmael. He is not sure he believes what God is saying to him. In fact he laughs at it, and so does Sarah. Neither of them fully believed God on this matter. And yet God kept his promise to them.
- The point we need to remember is this: when God says he will do something, he will do it whether we believe he will or not. Our belief does not determine whether or not God will keep a promise he has made. Now there are conditional promises given in the Bible. There are times when God may say “If this, then that.” But his unconditional promises are not “if, then” statements. He will do it.
- We could go in all sorts of directions with this. As we mentioned earlier, God promises to give believers eternal life. That will happen whether people think it will or not. The flip side of that is that he warns us that unbelievers will exist forever in hell. That will happen whether people think hell is a real place or not. Jesus promised that he would return to this earth to set up the eternal state. That will happen whether people think it will or not. You get the point. God does what he says he will do.
- I want us to think about why that is. Why is it that God keeps his promises no matter what; despite natural limitations, or unbelief, or whatever else we may want to insert? Here is the answer:
GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES BECAUSE HE IS GOD
- I know that may sound a bit odd. It seems like we’re saying that it is this way because it is this way; like we’re using “because” as an explanation. One of the things I’ve noticed about living with Josh and Anna and their two little boys is each boy has his own little quirks. And one of the funniest things Braden, the oldest boy, does is use “because” as his explanation for wanting or not wanting to do something.
- For example, last night he and Josh came home from a hockey game around 9:30PM. This is past his bed time. But he told Anna that he wanted to watch a movie. Since it was past his bed time she declined his request and told him it was time for bed. To this he responded “No, I don’t want to go to bed.” And she said, “Why not?” And he told her, “Because I don’t want to.” See how that works? He doesn’t want to because he doesn’t want to. Makes sense to him I’m sure!
- But that’s not what we’re doing here. We are not saying that God keeps his promises because he keeps his promises. We are saying that he keeps his promises because he is God. We are commenting on his character. The reason why God is so faithful to his word and to his promises is that as God he is true, he is honest, he is loyal, he is trustworthy. God cannot not do what he says he will do. My English teachers would slap me if they heard that, but it’s a great way to get the point across.
- Titus 1:2 says it this way: God, who cannot lie...
- God is not obligated to keep his word because of us; he is obligated to keep his promises because of himself. If he did not keep his word, he would not be God. Because he is perfect in every way, his character will always remain untarnished, and for his character to remain untarnished he must always be truthful and faithful.
- And I want to wrap this up with a very important principle to keep in mind:
ALL OF GOD’S PROMISES ARE SUMMED UP IN JESUS CHRIST
- 2 Corinthians 1:20 says: For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Jesus]...
- In other words all of God’s promises find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. This is certainly clear in the promise of God to Abraham, isn’t it? God did not promise to make Abraham’s name great and his descendants into a great nation so that Abraham could be listed on Forbes richest people in the world list. We’ve mentioned this already: God’s promise to Abraham is not about Abraham, or Isaac, or Israel. It is about Jesus. Jesus is the point of the promise.
- And it’s the same with us. God has given us a great number of promises in his word. We looked at one in John 3:16 but you know that there are many others. And yes, he has given them to us because he loves us and cares for us; but God’s promises to us point to Jesus. God’s promises to you point to Jesus. All of the things he has promised to do for us, he has promised so that Jesus Christ would be lifted up.
- So think about that this week. I encourage you to find one promise in God’s word. Read it over and think it through. Remember Abraham and Sarah, and meditate on God’s ability to keep that promise, even if it means going beyond natural means. And think through how that promise points to Jesus Christ. And let’s be thankful that we have such an amazingly faithful God.
