Part 4 - Genesis 20:1-18 - BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I DIDN'T DO IT!
"IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I DIDN'T DO IT!" I remember my protests fell on deaf ears and I was made to go to my room without dinner until I confessed. My mother insisted that it was me, probably because of the lie my sister told her. I don't even remember the crime I was accused of but I do remember vividly the confusing and frustrating feeling of being innocent and yet paying the consequences for someone else's sin. There were plenty of things I did do wrong, but that day I was INNOCENT!
I guess the king in Genesis 20 knew what it was like to bear the penalty because of someone else's sin, only the consequences for him were a little more serious than being sent to your room.
If this was a movie the REAL STAR in this SOAP OPERA SCENARIO in Genesis 20 is NOT THE BEAUTIFUL 90 YEAR OLD BEAUTY QUEEN - SARAH. It's not the BIG BUSINESS TYCOON with a LYING PROBLEM - ABRAHAM (He lies about Sarah, telling everyone she is his sister not his wife). The real hero is the UNDER-DOG who gets caught up in a LIFE AND DEATH STRUGGLE by mistake - ABIMELECH. Abimelech, probably thinking that he can form an alliance with Abraham who is a wealthy man, decides to take Sarah into his harem. Abimelech may be the CO-STAR in this movie but he deserves the Oscar.
When God speaks to him in a dream and says that he is a dead man for taking Sarah into his harem, He says "Lord, I'm INNOCENT!" He wakes up in a cold sweat and immediately gives Sarah back. ABIMELECH is the man with MORE INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER than Abraham! HE LOOKS MORE LIKE THE BELIEVER THAN ABRAHAM THE LIAR!
But there is no escaping. Not only does he have the death sentence hanging over him, but the only one who remains pregnant in this story is Sarah. Every other women in the camp becomes infertile as God takes His hand of grace off them and sin begins to threaten future generations big time.
Now let's get this straight - Abimelech DIDN'T SLEEP WITH SARAH, so what's the big deal? Why do these women remain INFERTILE when Abimelech made an HONEST MISTAKE? IT ALL SEEMS UNFAIR! What is going on here? Why are the consequences are NOT REMOVED immediately when Sarah is returned? THEY HAVE NO FUTURE OR HOPE.
That's the power of sin. Romans 6:23 (NLT) says "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Despite the fact that I declare my innocence, without Christ in my life, the sentence sticks.
In this case, ABRAHAM IS THE CULPRIT! The perpetrator of this mess? And it all starts off with A MINOR SIN which escalates to something which threatens future generations.
Abraham finds himself on the end of ABIMELECH'S REBUKE and rightly so. Unlike my sister, Abraham makes a series of CONFESSIONS which must have been humiliating for him but which are so honest and heartfelt, they change the course of the whole closing scene.
God obviously forgives Abraham, because He uses Abraham to pray for Abimelech's tribe to be HEALED. Abraham caused all the trouble so God uses him to REPAIR THE DAMAGE. Kind of POETIC JUSTICE. Even so Abimelech pays a high price for his inadvertent sin.
Like Abimelech, Jesus knew what it was like to bear the full penalty for someone else's sin, only he paid the price completely by dying for us. 1 Peter 2:24 (NLT) says "He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed."
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT) says "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."
Like Abraham, I am praying for your complete healing on the inside. I am praying that you would be restored and made right with God, though Christ. God bless you Church as you place your trust in Christ alone for your salvation.
Pastor Ross
