Genesis 21:9-21 is an Old Testament Passage with a New Testament Parallel familiar perhaps to some, but worth hearing all over again.
< Read Gen 21:9-21; Gal 4:21-31>
1. Combined these texts cover our relationship to the Law and to Grace, and there are other lessons in here as well for followers of Jesus. THE PASSAGE STARTS IN VERSE 9 WITH MOCKERY.
Sarah saw the son of Hagar mocking her own son. As Paul draws the distinction calling Hagar the Law, and therefore Sarah is Grace; everyone of us needs to take to heart a promise.
In general, people who are not Christians will not rejoice over God’s blessings to you. Remember that we have been promised that this world is going to hate us. I thoroughly believe that Satan and His demons, in their hatred and malice motivate hatred in godless people for the people of God. Why is it that all sorts of contradictory religions are endured quite nicely in America - while Christians are systematically being pushed out of the public square?
The Ten Commandments are now under attack again, and there is yet again another push to remove God from every sector of politics. This ought not to take us by surprise. There is nothing new to the recipe; God blesses his people and godless people hate it.
I wonder in part if that is what drove Satan’s rebellion. I’ve tried to understand what could make Lucifer- the most beautiful of all created beings - despise God and try to be like him? Maybe, just maybe Lucifer saw that God had chosen to bless the race of Humans and he began to hate that God had not chosen him.
I can’t say what motivates the hatred to be sure, but It’s clear enough that we are a hated people.
Again, look at Genesis 21:9: "Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, "Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac."
2. GOD SEES THE HATRED THIS WORLD HAS FOR US, and he will one day send it away from us, in order to bring us unscathed into His full inheritance.
God knows what evil is done to us; and he is eager to protect us - but there is also another motivation governing his Actions.
3. GOD’S DESIRE IS TO SAVE; NOT CONDEMN HUMANITY.
(Genesis 21:11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son.) As much as we desire to be whisked away from this world that Hates us and hates our God; God is in no hurry to destroy the world.
Abraham’s hesitancy is a reminder of God’s desire to save not condemn. We all know many situations where there is injustice, and from time to time I’m asked the question, "Why would God allow this horrible thing?" I don’t have the whole answer and I’m at a loss for words when I’m asked. I do know that part of the answer is that God is giving those who are doing evil things time to repent, even while they harm us.
Didn’t Jesus Himself display this for us when he prayed, "Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing?" What was happening when he prayed this? Was he being laughed at for his faith? Was he getting a door slammed in his face? Or was he experiencing rejection by someone who didn’t want to hear what he had to say? No, you know where he was, He was writhing in agony as they rammed iron spikes through his hands into a rough hewn wooden cross.
And in Luke 9 when a Samaritan village refused to offer Jesus hospitality on his way to Jerusalem, James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on the city and turn it’s inhabitants into kingsford charcoal briquettes. Jesus "turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them." And they went on to another village."
Jesus knows what it’s like to receive a curse from others. Jesus has suffered injustice, just like some of us have. And when something happens to us we wonder, sometimes quietly and sometimes aloud, "Why?"
How could God allow the innocent to suffer at the hands of the wicked? Why does it seem that this world keeps getting worse and worse? Because it is indeed getting worse, and from our perspective the evil keep getting more and more evil. And all the while, though God hates the evil that he sees, he is patient with a divine patience.
God has every right to destroy all creation right now, there is no need to hear any more charges. The world stands condemned for not believing in the name of Jesus; but God is patient, waiting for the repentance and redemption of one more soul.
Just as Abraham was distressed because Ishmael was his son, God is patient because even Saddam Hussein, and Ossama Bin Laden are his creatures- made in His image, and deeply loved. God does not want people to die guilty - he doesn’t want people to go to hell.
According to Matthew 25:41 The lake of fire was created for Satan and his angels, not for humans. It is a disturbing and terrible thing that any should go there whom God did not create it for.
We too, like Abraham ought to be distressed at the coming destruction of the ungodly, distressed enough to do what we can about it. Let’s equip them with what they need to survive in this lifeless desert of a world. Let us equip as many as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God has promised us that his word will not return void- though the words of men often will. The Gideon’s whom we had here a few weeks ago proves how powerfully God works in the lives of people with nothing but the Bible - and not even the witness of another human soul. God’s word is powerful.
"But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant." (Gen 21:12)
Once Abraham had been assured by God that he would provide for the boy, he released her into the world with Hagar after providing them with food and water.
Genesis 21:14 "So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba."
We cannot ourselves save a soul, but exposure to God’s word can change a persons life forever. Simply giving someone a Bible is a powerful means of evangelism.
There is another application to this text as well, and it revolves around God ability to take care of our own loved ones.
Abraham’s distress was caused by his deep love for Ishmael who was his son; and he felt not only love but a need to protect and provide for his son too.
Larry Richards writes, "Well-established custom in the Patriarchal Age protected the rights of any child born to a man by a slave woman. Though the son of the wife was a man’s legal heir, his child by a concubine was guaranteed an inheritance. Sarah’s demand that Abraham send Ishmael away was doubly distressing. Abraham loved Ishmael. And he believed that sending Ishmael away was morally wrong. Only God’s direct intervention, and God’s promise to guarantee Ishmael future, finally moved Abraham to banish Hagar and his son. Abraham would surely understand the pain of those who lose their children through divorce. How desperately we need to remember that God cares for our loved ones, even when we cannot." The Bible Reader’s Companion, (Includes index.; Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books, 1991), Ge 20:1
I’m still a long way off from letting my children go from the house, but day by day they are growing up and that day is coming. I’m told it’s not easy to let them go but I have given my children into God’s hands. I protect them as best I can, but when it’s all said and done, they are going to be provided for by God himself.
Even when children are full grown, mothers in particular continue to worry over their adult children. But we can’t really protect them even when they are young - how much more do we need someone who can.
The greatest thing then that any parent can do for their children is not putting clothing on their backs and food in their stomach, but in providing for them your requests to God on their behalf. Interceding for your children as if it is there only hope of survival. Because it is.
