Monthly Archives: February 2024

A bride for Isaac, Genesis 24  

In our ongoing study of Genesis, we come today to one of the greatest love stories found in the Bible. It is the story of Abraham finding a bride for his son Isaac. And though this is an actual history, there is also contained in it an allegory of God the Father finding a bride for his son, Jesus Christ.

The church is the bride of Christ. Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2 “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.” And God has appointed a bride for Christ, which is the church.

We see the church as the bride of Christ as spoken of in Eph 5:25-27 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

We saw last week in our study of how Abraham offered up Isaac as a sacrifice, that Isaac was a type of Christ. Isaac was a type of Christ, in that both were were promised before their coming. Both Isaac and Christ appeared at the appointed time. Both were conceived and born miraculously. Both were given a special name before birth. Both were offered up in sacrifice by the father. Both were brought back from the dead. Both were head of a great company to bless all people. And both prepared a place for their bride.

Now let’s look at the story of how this bride for Isaac comes about, bearing in the back of our minds that in many respects this serves as an illustration of the church being chosen as the bride for Christ.

And we find that this search for a bride is initiated by Abraham, Issac’s father. Genesis 24:1-4 “Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

Abraham has lived a life of faith in the promises that God had made to him, primarily concerning his seed who would live in the land of Canaan, and whose descendants would be a great nation through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. On the strength of that promise, Abraham had been willing to slay his own son, because he believed so strongly in God’s word concerning Isaac, that he believed that God was able to raise him from the dead.

But part of that promise was that Isaac would have descendants. And at this time, Abraham is 140 years old, and Isaac is 40, and yet Isaac has not found a wife. So I don’t suggest that Abraham is getting worried about God keeping his promises, but at the same time, Abraham would like to see it fulfilled in his lifetime concerning Isaac finding a wife. Abraham and Isaac are living in tents in the wilderness, raising sheep, and there probably weren’t a lot of good prospects for a godly woman running around out there. So based on the promise of God, Abraham calls his servant to commission him to go find a wife for his son.

Now there has been some debate among Bible scholars as to who this servant is. It’s possible that it is Eliezer who he mentions in Genesis 15:2, who he described as the oldest servant of his house. But others see some significance in the fact that in this passage, he is unnamed. As the unnamed servant, some see a type here of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit being a title, not a name, and thus might fit in this picture or type of the unnamed servant who carries out the Father’s will and seeks the bride. And so in this passage you can see a picture of the work of the Trinity, Abraham being a picture of the Father, Isaac being a picture of the Son, Jesus, and the servant being a picture of the Holy Spirit.

That may be true. But some Bible scholars see in the servant a type of the faithful messenger, or minister, who represents the Lord and faithfully delivers His word. I’m not sure which one I see there. But the faithful minister by nature must also be empowered by the Holy Spirit if he is to be effective. And so perhaps both are represented by the servant, who may or may not be Eliezer.

But notice the following about the servant. He truly represented his master, not himself. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will testify of Me. So He told them that his master was great. He told them his master’s son was the heir. He sought out one who would leave her old home and live with the master’s son. And He pressed for a reply.

This oath that Abraham pressed upon the servant was to have him put his hand under his thigh. This may seem indelicate to expand upon, but it was a rite that required that he put his hand under the area where the circumcision takes place, so that there might be a reminder of the covenant of circumcision and the promise to his descendants which would come from his loins.

And notice that Abraham commissions the servant to go to his relatives to find him a wife. As I said, the land that they lived in was a land that was sparsely populated except in the cities, and they were pagan cities. Abraham knows the value of finding a godly wife. And the land of Haran is the place where some of his relatives lived. We saw at the end of chapter 22 that his brother Nahor had married and had eight children, and so by this time there was undoubtedly another generation born unto them who still lived in Haran. And they would seem to be believers in the Most High God. So Abraham has some confidence that there might be a suitable wife to be found there who was a believer. In fact, out of all the possible characteristics that Abraham could be concerned that the wife of his son would have, this seems to be the only one that he mentions. Not that she be beautiful, not that she be able to cook. But that she must be from the people of God.

It’s so important to find a mate that is a believer. A marriage in which one is a believer and one is not, is a marriage that has little chance to survive. Marriage in most cases has little chance to survive all the stress and difficulties of life, and without the Lord as the cornerstone for that marriage, there is very little chance for success. The scripture says in 2 Cor. 6:14-15 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?”

So this reference to finding a wife from Abraham’s family is a reminder that the bride of Christ must be of the family of God. The passage in 2 Cor. 6 continues, saying, As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among [them]. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.”

So in vs 5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there! The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.” So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

It’s possible that Abraham is concerned that he might not live long enough to see his servant carry out his commission, and so he gives him very detailed instructions. And one main concern that Abraham has is that if things don’t go as hoped, that he might take Isaac back to the land of Haran to find a wife. And Abraham knows that would not be according to God’s plan. God has promised to bless Isaac in this land, and if he should go back to Haran there is a good chance that he will stay there. That’s a picture of those who have been chosen by God for salvation going back to the world. As the scripture we just read in 2 Cor. 6 indicates, God says come out from among them and by separate. Do not touch what is unclean. It is a terrible thing to go back to the defilements of the world once you have been cleansed of it.

Vs10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and set out with a variety of good things of his master’s in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. He said, “O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’–[may] she [be the one] whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

First notice that ten camels bearing gifts would have been a sign of a very wealthy man. Abraham was very rich in the world’s goods. So the servant takes this very long trip, perhaps 900 miles, and which would have taken many days, bearing the gifts of his master. He goes to the town designated by Abraham and stops on the outskirts where the women would go to the spring to get water. In that culture, it was the women’s job to fetch water.

And so the servant prays to God, and presents to Him a sign that the woman who gives him water and also offers to water his camels would be the one that God had appointed for Isaac. There is an argument for election there for those that would want to press it. The servant is not choosing, nor is the woman choosing Isaac, but God has appointed a woman who will believe and respond. And the servant recognizing this fact, presents a sign for God to show him who it is.

It can be dangerous for us to judge God’s will based on circumstances. Because we tend to see circumstances in the light we want to see them, as they may or may not be in agreement with our desires. But there is a difference in the servant’s approach in that he is not interpreting circumstances as they happen, but he presents them to God before they happen so that he may discern God’s will when and if they happen.

It’s also noteworthy that this is not some slight thing to expect of this young woman. I read that a camel drinks about 20 gallons of water. So this was going to take some time and a lot of energy. I also read in the same place that since there were 10 camels and each drank 20 gallons, then it would have been a good hours worth of work. I take it that person who wrote that has never drawn water out of a well. This isn’t like turning on your tap and watching the buckets fill up. This is hauling buckets from a well, probably one gallon at a time. 200 times. This woman would have to have forearms like Popeye to draw 200 gallons in one hour. It would have taken quite a while, and a lot of strength.

I think that is a pretty good assessment of one of the most important assets in a good wife. She needs to be strong. Able to do a lot of hard work and not get tired. Now it also turns out that Rebecca is beautiful. And that’s also very important. But maybe being strong is more important.

But seriously, I think this test reveals the servant’s idea of the most important quality in a wife. And that is she must have a servant’s heart. That is certainly a desirable character trait for the bride of Christ. And I suppose it’s also an important characteristic of a good wife. That doesn’t mean that she is your slave, however. But that she has a heart to serve, that is humble, and wants to satisfy the needs of her husband and family. That quality is a good thing to find. And it’s interesting that the servant choses this characteristic of a servant’s heart to be the defining thing to show him who God has appointed. Abraham’s servant cared nothing about the woman’s appearance. He wanted a woman of character, a woman whom God had chosen.

Vs 15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.

So it turns out that Rebecca is not only strong, not only has a servant’s heart, but is very beautiful. That’s a pretty rare combination, isn’t it? You might find one trait or another, but never usually all three together in one person. And when the Bible tells us that she is very beautiful, we should believe she was very beautiful. But that wasn’t the primary characteristic that God was looking for, nor what the servant was looking for. That was icing on the cake.

But how is the church beautiful to Christ? In the Song of Solomon, the bride is said to be beautiful by the king over 15 times. I would remind you of the scripture in Ephesians 5 we read earlier, which says, vs 25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. “ So the idea is spiritually beautiful, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. That’s the beauty that God finds attractive.

Vs 22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half-shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, ($5000) and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to lodge in your father’s house?” She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to lodge in.” Then the man bowed low and worshiped the LORD. He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the LORD has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

So it turns out that this is exactly the family that Abraham had wanted his servant to find. And God providentially brought this young woman to him. So he gives here the gifts of jewelry, showing the riches of his master. And as the messenger of God, we should reveal the riches of God to those to whom we present the gospel.

There is an interesting statement that the servant makes which is best known in the KJV. “As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” The statement of interest is “being on the way, the Lord led me.” Someone has said that it’s hard to steer a parked car. Being on the way indicates that before you know the final destination, or how it will all work out, you go where the Lord has told you to go, and then as you are going, the Lord will lead you. We step out in faith, and the Lord will lead us where we are to go.

So vs 29 through 49 the servant is invited to dinner with the family, the head of the family being the brother of Rebekah whose name is Laban. The servant basically retells the entire story to Laban of how Abraham sent him, how he prayed to God about specific details concerning the woman, and how she responded. He concludes in vs48 “And I bowed low and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. So now if you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”

Vs 50, Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “The matter comes from the LORD; [so] we cannot speak to you bad or good. “Here is Rebekah before you, take [her] and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.” When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the LORD. The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.

It was obvious from the account the servant gave, that the matter had been decided by the Lord. They wisely said that they could not speak against it. But that didn’t mean that they were totally without guile. But I think that they were unable to argue against the wisdom of God. And so the servant showed gifts of silver and gold and fine things upon her and her family. And the church as well has received great riches as the bride of Christ, and an inheritance that is beyond our imagination. As Paul said to the church in Ephesus, “[I pray that] the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Ephesians 1:18,19

Vs 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.” But her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl stay with us [a few] days, say ten; afterward she may go.” He said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” And they said, “We will call the girl and consult her wishes.” Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” Thus they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse with Abraham’s servant and his men. They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “May you, our sister, Become thousands of ten thousands, And may your descendants possess The gate of those who hate them.” Then Rebekah arose with her maids, and they mounted the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and departed.

Rebekah showed a remarkable willingness to leave everything she knew in order to be with a bridegroom she had never seen. Her words “I will go” were worthy words of faith. I might even suggest that “I will go” could be interpreted as saying the modern marriage equivalent, “I do.” As the scripture says, “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. Rebekah consented to join Isaac as his wife, a man she had never seen. She committed to love him, a man she had never seen, but only heard about though the word of his servant.

What a picture of our commitment to Christ, whom we have not seen. As it says in 1 Peter 1:8-9 “whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see [Him], yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of [your] souls.”

Vs 62 Now Isaac had come from going to Beer-lahai-roi; for he was living in the Negev. Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel. She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” And the servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her veil and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

I would point out that Isaac was out meditating in the field towards evening. I think that indicates that He was rehearsing the promises of God and praying about God’s fulfillment of those promises. And the promise was fulfilled by the arrival of his bride.

In all this, we see the coming together of Isaac and Rebekah as a remarkable picture of the coming together of Jesus and His church. A father desired a bride for his son. The son was reckoned as dead and raised from the dead. A nameless servant was sent forth to get a bride for the son. The beautiful bride was divinely met, chosen, and called, and then lavished with riches. She was entrusted to the care of the servant until she met her bridegroom.

Isaac loved his bride, and Jesus loves His Church. Both Rebekah and the Church: Were chosen for marriage before they knew it (Ephesians 1:3-4). Were necessary for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:10-11). Were destined to share in the inheritance of the son (John 17:22-23). Learned of the son through his representative. Must leave all to be with the son. Were loved and cared for by the son.

If you are here today and you have not responded to the call of God to become the bride of Christ, then I trust that today you will simply say, “I do.” And be joined to Christ as His bride through the riches of salvation that He freely gives and to live with Him forever and share in the inheritance that He has prepared for you.

The sacrifice of Isaac, Genesis 22:1-19

Faith is the most desirable characteristic of a person that would be approved by God. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. The most exceptional attribute of the life of Abraham was his faith.  Abraham is presented in chapter 11 of Hebrews as perhaps the greatest champion of faith in all of the Bible.  The apostle Paul in his writings gives Abraham as the supreme illustration of salvation, saying four times, that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.  Abraham believed God. Not Abraham believed in God.  The devils believe in God and tremble, but they are not saved.  Abraham believed God.  He believed God’s word.  And it was reckoned to him as righteousness. 

So Hebrews lists three examples of the faith of Abraham as exemplary.  The first was when God told Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to a land that He show him. And Abraham believed God and went out, not knowing where he was going, but believing what God had promised him. 

The second example of faith was the birth of Isaac.  God had promised that from his seed would come a nation, from whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  And so Abraham believed God and waited for 25 years for the son of promise to come.  He waited beyond the normal childbearing years of both his wife himself, until Hebrews says his body was as good as dead. And when all natural hope was gone, then God supernaturally caused Sarah to give birth to a son whom He named Isaac.

The third example of faith presented in Hebrews was Abraham offering up Isaac to God as a sacrifice, according to the word of God.  Hebrews summarizes it this way, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten [son;]  [it was he] to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.”  He considered that God is able to raise [people] even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

Now it is to this third example of faith that we look at today, and in so doing we learn much about the nature of faith, the nature of worship, and the nature of atonement.  

As we begin chapter 22, many years have transpired since the birth of Isaac.  Some commentators believe that Isaac would have been a teenager about 17 years of age.  Some think that Isaac might have been as old as 25 years. I don’t know the correct answer, but let’s take an average and say he is about 21 years old.  He is a young man.  Abraham is about 120 years old by this point. Nothing is mentioned in this chapter about Sarah, but she would have been about 110 years old.  But the thing that should be especially noted is that Isaac was physically equal to or stronger than Abraham would have been at this time in his life, and well able to resist Abraham physically if he would have wanted to.

It’s also noteworthy that there has been over 20 years of God’s silence up to this point.  Prior the Isaac’s birth, God had been silent for 13 years.  I find that significant in light of many Christians that seem to hear a special message from God every other day.  They are always wanting to tell people what God said to them, as if they are so important that God speaks to them all the time in an audible voice, and with much more regularity than He ever spoke to Abraham or Moses.  I would suggest to you that in our times God has spoken fully and completely in HIs word, and He speaks primarily through His word. So if you are hearing voices then you probably should go see someone about that.  Abraham and Moses did not have the written word of God.  We do, and it is sufficient for every need, that we may be fully equipped for every good work.

Now let’s read the word, starting in chapter 22, vs 1.  “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”

First note that the scripture says that God tested Abraham. God didn’t tempt Abraham, he tested him.  A test is not designed to make one fail, but to make one grow. It is meant to reveal. And in this case, God means to test Abraham’s faith, to stretch it, to grow his faith, and to reveal his faith. And I would suggest that this test wasn’t just for Abraham’s sake, but for Isaac’s sake, and for Sarah’s sake, and for our sakes. 1Cor. 10:11 says, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

The soteriological implications of this test are indicated in Hebrews, as it says Isaac was a type.  That means that Isaac was a type of Christ.  And while that aspect of this test are very important, and we will get to that, it’s also important to learn some principles from Abraham’s response.

So notice Abraham’s response to God’s call of “Abraham.”  He says “here I am.”. That indicates a willingness to serve the Lord. It’s like roll call.  The teacher would call your name and you would say, “present.” Or “here.” I remember when my youngest daughter Melissa was very young.  She was very high spirited, to say the least.  And I would sometimes reprimand her in a very stern voice, “Melissa, stop that!” That often had no effect, and so I would say with an even harsher tone, and at a much higher decibel, “Melissa! Do you hear me?” And her lip would start to quiver, and she would answer, “Hear me.” I don’t think God was calling Abraham to reprimand him.  But Abraham showed by his immediate and submissive reply a willingness to obey the voice of the Lord.

God said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”  There is a principle of hermeneutics which is known as the principle of first mention. That is, that the first time a word is used in scripture gives us some sense of the definition of that word. And there are a few words in this section that we find for the first time.  For instance, this is the first time that the word “love” is used in scripture.  And we learn here that Biblical love has in it the element of sacrifice.  The Greek word in the NT we often find used for love is agape.  And agape means sacrificial love.  Love in this instance in Genesis is used for the love of a father for his son.  But again, it’s a sacrificial love.

Interestingly, God uses this statement to speak of Isaac as Abraham’s only son, even though Ishmael was also Abraham’s son.  Perhaps because Ishmael was not the son that God had promised.  And also by this time Ishmael had been sent away, and so he was not the son of the covenant that God had made concerning his seed. It also is a picture of God sending His only begotten Son to die on the cross.  John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

However, what God was asking Abraham to do must have seemed completely contrary to the promise that He had given Abraham.  God had specifically said to Abraham that he would have a son from his own body, by His wife Sarah, that he should call his name Isaac, and that from Isaac would come a nation of descendants, though whom all the nations would be blessed.  So God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son was counter to what God had said would happen.  

However, that knowledge did not mean that Abraham was free to disobey. In those dark hours before the dawn, Abraham must have wrestled with this dilemma. And the only answer that he must have come up with was that if God wanted him to sacrifice his son, then God had to raise him from the dead.  Because the promise of God was irrevocable.  And Abraham knew that God could not lie.  God would keep His word.  Though this command seemed contrary to every thing that Abraham believed to be true, yet somehow God would be able to accomplish His word in spite of what seemed like the exact opposite.

God also told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah, on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.  This mountain is none other than the same mount that Solomon would one day build the temple on.  And so on that mountain in the future there would be thousands of lambs slain for the atonement of the sins of the people.  That mountain, by the way, was a three day journey for Abraham and Isaac.  One Bible scholar suggested that in Abraham’s mind, Isaac was already dead those three days, as he considered the terrible fate that lay in store for Isaac. 

Vs 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; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.  Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

Notice that the scripture does not say that Abraham said anything to God after His command.  Abraham’s obedience was not by giving lip service, but getting up early in the morning and going to the mountain as God had said. I think if I would have been in Abraham’s place, I would have argued with God, pleaded with God, and then when that failed, I would have tried to delay going for as long as possible.  But Abraham does none of those things.  He gets up early. Abraham probably had not slept any more that night after God spoke with him, and so as soon as it was feasible, he got up and started his journey.  And notice that there is no record of how Abraham felt about this whole deal. His feelings are not taken into consideration.  Rather, in faith, he obeyed.

On the third day of traveling Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.  Little did he realize that what he saw what would one day be Jerusalem, the capital of the nation that he was promised, and he saw the mountain that the temple would be erected upon. But he did recognize the site for the sacrifice that he had been told he must make.

However,  the comment Abraham made to his servants is one that I do not want you to gloss over.  First of all, this is another first mention.  This time it is the word worship.  Worship means something very different to modern Christian congregations today.  If you ask people today what worship means, they might singing praise songs, or seeking God’s presence, or seeking God’s power.  But for Abraham, worship meant sacrificing his son.  Worship is loving God, and loving God is being obedient to God.  The prophet Samuel said, ““Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” 

But there is another element of Abraham’s statement to his servants which bears mentioning.  He says “ I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”  Abraham believes that both he and Isaac will return to them.  And I believe that Abraham believed this with all his heart.  Otherwise, no parent could do what he did.  Even the most devout man could not take his son to a mountain and slay him and then burn his body unless he believed with all his heart and soul that God would provide a way to sustain his life, or raise him up again to life. Abraham had faith in God.  He believed God. He believed what God had promised. And so he has confidence that they both will return.

Heb 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the men of old gained approval.”

After leaving the servants we read in vs 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.  Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.”

Isaac as a type of Christ is also shown by the fact that Abraham laid the wood for the altar upon Isaac’s back.  And Jesus also carried the cross on which he was crucified.  Abraham carried the fire and the knife.  In Isaiah we are told that it pleased God to crush Him, putting Him to grief.  God slew Jesus upon the cross as a sacrifice for sinners, even as Abraham carried the instruments of the death of his son in his hand.

In this passage we hear from Isaac, who has a faith of his own to be tested.  He asks, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” I suppose we must take this to mean that up to this point, Isaac still had no clue that God has chosen him to be the offering. But I think the realization must have come soon afterwards, as he considers his father’s demeanor.  Abraham had unquenchable faith, but that doesn’t mean that he had an unflenchable countenance.  I am sure that it would have been all that Abraham could do to keep from sobbing as he heard Isaac’s question.  And the text says the two of them walked on together.  That statement is repeated twice.  Some commentator say that indicates agreement between them.  I don’t know.  I think it is just measuring out heartbreak one step at a time.

But Abraham’s answer to Isaac is prophetic, in more ways than one.  He says, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  I don’t think Abraham expected God to provide a ram stuck in a thicket. I think Abraham fully expected to have to slay his son, and that God would raise him from the dead. But one way or another God would provide, and ultimately, God provided through Abraham’s seed the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Jesus was the Lamb of God that died in our place, so that we might have life, even as the ram would be a substitute for Isaac that he might live.

What we see here a remarkable picture of the work of Jesus at the cross, thousands of years before it happened. The son of promise willingly went to be sacrificed in obedience to his father, carrying the wood of his sacrifice up the hill,  with full confidence in the promise of the resurrection.

Vs 9 “Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind [him] a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.”

It’s really remarkable to notice the unsung faith of Isaac.  Somewhere between the walk up the mountain and the building of the altar, Isaac must have recognized that he was to be the sacrifice.  And yet we are not told of Isaac resisting, or of him arguing with Abraham.  We are not told this, but it must be that Abraham finally explained to Isaac God’s command for him to sacrifice his son.  And yet obviously Isaac believed God and submitted his life to God’s will. God had not spoken directly to Isaac.  God had promised Abraham, and Abraham relayed God’s promises to Isaac.  And yet still Isaac believes.

That’s a similar faith to what we are supposed to have, isn’t it?  We have not personally heard Jesus teaching in Galilee.  We did not personally see His miracles.  We were not eyewitnesses to His majesty.  But we believe the testimony of eyewitnesses.  We believe their word which they wrote,  and we believe it as being inspired by the Holy Spirit.  So we risk our lives, we put our very lives at stake based on their word as being the word of God.

So much is made of Abraham’s faith, and as it should be.  But we should also consider Isaac’s faith, who submitted his life to his father’s word as the word of God.  Jesus also seemed to give much credit to those who would believe afterwards, saying to Thomas in John 20:29  “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed [are] they who did not see, and [yet] believed.”

 I’m sure Isaac helped build the altar, laid the wood upon it, and then climbed up on it, submitting himself as a sacrifice.  Amazing submission and obedience on the part of Isaac.  I’m sure he could have easily escaped. I’m sure that most men would have tried.  But Isaac submitted to the will of God and believed that God would raise him from the dead.

So Abraham lifts the knife up in the air, readying the downward plunge into Isaac’s chest, and suddenly God calls out, “Abraham! Abraham! “ God waited until the very last moment to arrest Abraham’s intention.  God is rarely early, and He is never late.  But we must be sure to wait for the timing of God.  

God said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  When God asked Abraham for the ultimate demonstration of love and obedience, He asked for Abraham’s son. When God the Father wanted to show us the ultimate demonstration of His love for us, He gave us His Son. We can in effect say to the LORD, “Now I know that You love me, seeing You have not withheld Your Son, Your only Son from me.”

1John 4:9-10 says, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.”

So God provided a substitute sacrifice for Isaac. “Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.”  God still required a sacrifice, but He provided a substitute to die in Isaac’s place.  God was showing Abraham how He would one day bless the nations of the world through Abraham’s seed, who was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  And I think that God was showing Abraham and us, the terrible cost of such a sacrifice.  We tend to think too lightly of what it took for God to send His Son to the cross than we should.  But Abraham having to slay his own son revealed the reality of the tremendous price of that sacrifice.

Vs14 Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”  As the scripture says repeatedly, salvation is of the LORD. He is the author and finisher of our salvation. God will provide the means for our salvation, through the substitution of His Son in our place.

Vs 15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,  and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,  indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

The angel of the LORD s a reference to the pre Incarnate Jesus Messiah.  He who was speaking is the One who would be the substitute provided by God in place of sinners. And because He was able to fulfill that prophecy perfectly, He was able to confirm the prior promises made to Abraham concerning his seed who would bless all the nations of the earth. Jesus swears to the irrevocability of this promise, because He is the One who will carry it out.

The birth of Isaac, Genesis 12-21

Today is the second message in our study of Genesis, on the life of Abraham. I’m getting my outline for the life of Abraham from Hebrews chapter 11.  Of all the heroes of the faith that are showcased there, Hebrews 11 has the most to say about Abraham. 

And so, taking my cue from Hebrews, we are looking at three significant events in Abraham’s life. Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign [land,] dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;  for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.  Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, [as many descendants] AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. …  By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten [son;]  [it was he] to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.”  He considered that God is able to raise [people] even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

So according to Hebrews, last week, we looked at the call of Abraham, today we are looking at the events leading up to the birth of Isaac, and next week we will look at Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac.

Now there are a lot of events in the life of Abraham, and in some respects, I wish that we could take the time to study all of his life in detail.  But that isn’t the purpose of this study of Genesis, so I must summarize a lot of those events.  And at least according to Hebrews, these three events are most significant.But even so, what we are going to do today is try to cover 25 years of Abraham’s life in about 40 minutes.  

Genesis 12:4 tells us that Abraham was about 75 years old when God called him out of Haran to go to Canaan.  He had actually been called by God before that, when he was in Ur of the Chaldeans. But we don’t know exactly how much longer before that had been. It might not have been that long because Stephen in his sermon recorded in Acts says that Abraham was called by God when he was in Ur of the Chaldeans, and he uses the scripture in chapter 12 to support that, which says he was 75 years old. So for all intents and purposes, we will say that Abraham was about 75 years old when God called him.

Now I want to review for you the prophesies that God gave Abraham regarding having a son. God’s promise to Abraham was  for more than just a son, it was for a land, and a nation and a blessing.  But God gives this promise to him again and again, and over the course of that 25 years, God elaborates on those promises, providing more and more detail, until at last Abraham is given all the specifics of  exactly how they will be accomplished. 

I hope you don’t think it tedious to go through all of them.  Because I think it is important to see the way God works, and the way faith works. And I say “faith works” deliberately.  Because that is how faith operates.  It operates by continuing in faith, by walking in faith, hoping in faith, being obedient in faith. Faith is not just an intellectual exercise.  Faith is believing and obeying God’s word. 

The first prophesy is in chapter 12: 1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  

So in this prophesy, Abraham is promised a land, a nation, blessing, a great name, and that  he will be a blessing. The idea of a son is inherent in the promise of a nation, because at this time he had no son.  But overall, the prophesy is very general and sort of vague.  But Abraham is obedient to it, and Hebrews speaks of Abram going out from Ur as going by faith.

When Abram arrived in Canaan, God gave him another prophesy. Genesis 12:7  The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.  Now God specifically says this land, and to your descendants.  God gives Abram more detail as he is obedient and goes to the land God told him to go.

Immediately after that though, a famine comes on the land, and Abram has a failure of faith. He leaves the land God told him to go to, and goes to Egypt, thinking that’s the best way to avoid the famine.  Logical perhaps, but he was not trusting in God to provide for him in the place that God called him to go.  And trouble ensues as a result of his decision, which we will not revisit again.  But suffice it to say that faith that gains approval with God does not mean that it is perfect obedience.  We are not saved by perfect obedience, but we are saved by faith which is counted as righteousness.

That’s also the first time that we really encounter Sarah.  Remember our text, Hebrews 11:11 says, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”  So Sarah has saving faith.  She shows faith in leaving Ur of the Chaldeans with Abraham, leaving her family, friends and community that she had grown up in, in order to follow her husband.

Peter holds up Sarah as an example of a godly woman in his epistle, 1Peter 3:5-6 which says,  “For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;  just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”  Peter seems to equate faith in the case of a wife with being submissive to their husbands.  

But the important point that needs to be made is that Sarah herself needs faith to be accepted by God as well. And both the author of Hebrews and Peter tell us that Sarah did indeed have faith, her own faith.  She wasn’t saved by being married to a man of faith.  She also needed faith in God, believing in His word.  I think we see something similar happening very often today.  Some men think that by being married to a sincere Christian woman, they will somehow get into heaven because of their wife’s faith.  But that’s not the case.  The only way you will get accepted into heaven will be because of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

So Abraham left Egypt after compromising his wife,  with his tail between his legs and went back to Canaan where he revisited the altar he had previously made to God.  I think that indicates repentance on Abraham’s part for not trusting the Lord. Then you will remember he and Lot went their separate ways, with Lot choosing the well watered plains of Jordan which included Sodom, and Abraham going the other way.

And God spoke to Abraham again. Genesis 13:14-17  The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;  for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.  “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.  “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”

Now the Lord gives Abraham even more specifics about His promise of land and a nation. God shows him the length and breadth of the land, and says his descendants will not be able to be numbered. We don’t know how many years this has been since his initial call, but it’s probably been about 5 or 6 years by now, and yet Abraham owns no land, he is still living in a tent, and he still is childless.  

One thing we should learn about faith in addition to obedience, is that faith is patient.  Faith is waiting on God’s timing.  We often think if we pray and ask with faith, without doubting, then God will give us our requests.  But we expect God to act on our timetable.  We oftentimes can’t wait five minutes for an answer, much less five years and still remain faithful. But Hebrews says by faith Abraham lived in the land of promise.  It was promised to him, but his possession of that promise wasn’t yet realized.

We are promised eternal life as part of our inheritance.  But we do not yet possess it fully.  But we live in the land of promise. We live as if we possess it. That’s faith.

Then in chapter 15 we read, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”  Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”  Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”  And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Now God explicitly makes it clear to Abraham that his own body will produce a heir, a descendant, who will be multiplied like the stars in the heavens. More detail, more specifics, as Abraham walks in faith with God.  And we have the testimony of scripture, which says that Abraham believed in the Lord, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.  Abraham’s faith is the perfect illustration of salvation by grace through faith.  Not by his works, not even by his obedience, but by his faith Abraham was credited with righteousness.  This is the means by which all men and women are saved.  Our faith in the Lord is the basis for God crediting us with righteousness.  And as we saw in Abraham’s case,  his faith isn’t perfect.  His obedience wasn’t perfect.  But Christ’s righteousness is perfect, and through a great exchange,  our sins were transferred to Him, and His righteousness is transferred to us. 

Hebrews makes it clear that when Abraham left Ur, he had faith.  So at the first instance of faith, his faith was credited with righteousness. Salvation only takes faith the size of a mustard seed.  Faith will be perfected as we walk with the Lord, but when Abraham obeyed by going out of Ur, faith was reckoned to him as righteousness.  All that is required for saving faith is to turn and look to the Lord for salvation.  

Well, God gives Abraham a dramatic illustration of the fact that His promises to Abraham are unconditional and unilateral. I don’t have time to go into it all today, but if you read chapter 15 you can get all the details of the ceremony which was designed to illustrate the irrevocability of God’s promises to Abraham. 

And at that time, God gave even more specific promises to Abraham, elaborating in great detail upon the initial promises.  Let me just read what God says. [God] said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” … 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.  

I don’t want to digress into geopolitics here, but notice God says the land of Israel will be from the great river in Egypt to the Euphrates. I don’t know if that meant from the Nile or from the Red Sea. I assume it means the Red Sea.  But that encompasses a lot more territory than what Israel claims today.  It includes a lot of Lebanon and Syria and Jordan.  No wonder those countries are not friendly to Israel today.

Then we read in chapter 16 that after Abraham had lived in Canaan for 10 years and there was still no son born to them, Sarah cooked up a plan to help the Lord keep His promises, and Abraham went along with it.  Sarah had a maid named Hagar, and she hatched a plan to have Abraham go into her maid and have a child by her. Sarah encouraged Abram to take part in what was, in that day, essentially a surrogate mother arrangement. According to the popular custom, the child would be considered to be the child of Abram and Sarai, not Abram and Hagar.

But of course, this wasn’t God’s plan, it was their plan.  And it was doomed to failure. Oh Hagar had a son alright, but that caused a rivalry and jealousy that Sarah and Abraham hadn’t foreseen.  The scripture says that whatever is not of faith is sin. And Sarah and Abraham sinned against God and against Hagar in taking matters in their own hands. It is a sin very reminiscent of the sin of Adam and Eve.  This is a good reminder that results are not enough to justify what we do before God. It’s not right to say, “Well, they got a baby out of it. It must have been God’s will.” John 6:63 says the flesh profits nothing, but on the other hand the flesh  can produce something. Doing things in the flesh may get results, but we may be sorry we got them.

The name of Hagar’s son was Ishmael. He is considered the father of the Arab nations. And as a result of this birth, there has been animosity between Arabs and Jews ever since which continues to this day.  We aren’t going to take the time to study this subject today, but suffice it to say that Abraham and Sarah’s discouragement led to disobedience, which produced consequences and heartbreak for all concerned.  And their sin has long lasting consequences upon their children and their children’s children. 

Abraham was 86 years old when Ismael was born. And we are told nothing about what happened for the next 13 years. Chapter 17 starts with “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”  Pretty amazing.  God was silent for 13 years, and Abraham was left to believe in God with no more validation, no verification, no evidence.  

Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

But God appears after 13 years of silence without any apology, except to say that “I am God Almighty.”  El Shaddai, God Almighty. We get it backwards so many times, don’t we? We think we can manipulate God to do our will, to serve us, to answer to us.  But the Lord is God Almighty. God goes on to say, “Walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.”  Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. “No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.  I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

I hope you see the way God’s prophesies use a form of progressive revelation. God has promised much of this before in a more abbreviated fashion, but now His prophesy reveals an even greater magnitude to His promises. Abraham will be a father of a multitude of nations.  I think that includes a reference to us, who are by faith the children of Abraham. 

God continues in vs 15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [shall be] her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be [a mother of] nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear [a child?]”  And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”  But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”  Now Abraham knows that God has promised a son by Sarah, who at this time is 90 years old, and he is 99 years old. 

And then God gives to Abraham and to his descendants a sign of His covenant, which is the sign of circumcision. Circumcision is a cutting away of the flesh and an appropriate sign of the covenant for those who should put no trust in the flesh.  Abraham had tried before to achieve God’s promises through the flesh by his attempt to raise up a son through Hagar.  Now God was giving him a visible reminder that the flesh needs to be cut off if God is going to work in us. 

Gal 5:16-17 says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.  For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” That principle was what God was teaching Abraham and his descendants through the sign of circumcision. And though we are not under the law of circumcision today, we should still learn the principle.  That the flesh is opposed to the spirit, and what is of faith is by the spirit.

Then after a short time elapses the Lord appears once more to Abraham and also to Sarah before the promised birth of Abraham’s descendant.  Three men appeared as he was sitting in the doorway of his tent in the heat of the day.  Abraham must have recognized something about them as being from the Lord.  He hurries to invite them to a meal, and tells Sarah to bake some bread, while he selects a calf to cook and serve them. 

Chapter 18, vs9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.  Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”  And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear [a child,] when I am [so] old?’ Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  Sarah denied [it] however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Much has been made of the fact that Sarah laughed when the Lord said she would have a child.  Yet the author of Hebrews doesn’t mention that as a detriment to her faith.  But her faith is given as a reason for being able to bear a child. But it’s possible that Sarah laughed with a certain degree of derision when she heard the Lord say that she would have a son by this time next year. 

But you should remember that Abraham had also laughed back in chapter 17.  I can’t say for certain that their laugh was in skepticism, but I do know that God’s promises defied reality.  This couple was in their old age.  Both of them were beyond the point of being physically able to do what was necessary to produce a child.  So perhaps they laughed not out of skepticism, but a sense of incredulity.  Either way, it’s not exactly indicative of a staunch faith. But we are told that they did in fact have faith. And I must assume that means faith in the supernatural ability of God to bring about what He says He will do. “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”

Well, a few things happen over the course of the next year, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  But we will skip over that for now and go to chapter  21:1-7. “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.  So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.  Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.  Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.  Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me. And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God had named the son Isaac, which means “laughter.”  Perhaps it was meant as a gentle rebuke for the way Abraham and Sarah had laughed when God told them they would have a son in their old age.  But now as that promise is fulfilled, the name Isaac speaks of the joy that having the son of promise would bring, as the blessing of God that was promised long ago was being fulfilled. 

But I think the question God asked Abraham in chapter 18 is the one statement I want to leave with you though this morning.  God asked Abraham, “Is anything too difficult for the LORD?”  God is a God of impossibilities. What is impossible with men is possible with God.  Salvation is not through the efforts of the flesh.  Men cannot achieve their salvation through their own efforts. It’s impossible.  But when the disciples asked Jesus, Then who can be saved?  Jesus answered, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The supernatural birth of Abraham’s seed through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed, was fulfilled by the birth of Isaac, but it was also prophetically speaking of the descendant of Isaac, who would be the Messiah, through whom that blessing of salvation would come.  He is the One who turns mourning into laughter, who brings the joy of our salvation. And by faith in Him who was promised by the word of God, we are credited with His righteousness.  

John 1:12-13  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Abraham, father of the faithful, Genesis 12-15    

Today in our series on Genesis we come to the life of a man named Abraham.  Abraham is probably one of the most important figures in the Bible.  He is called  the father of the faithful. Rom 4:16 says, “For this reason [it is] by faith, in order that [it may be] in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,”

So as we are studying Genesis to learn the fundamentals, the foundations of our faith, it is imperative then that we look at the life of Abraham, because under the Old Covenant they were saved by the same faith as Abraham, and under the New Covenant we are saved by the same faith as Abraham, so that he is not just the father of Israel, but he is the father of us all, that is those of the faith.

Now Abraham’s life covers many chapters in the scriptures, and I do not plan on preaching through them all verse by verse.  But let’s begin at chapter 11, and then we will look at selected scriptures up to the point of the conception of Sarah.  And we will look at that, and the birth of Isaac, next week.

The story of Abraham begins actually in chapter 11:27, stating that Abraham was born of Terah, in the Ur of the Chaldeans. His name was Abram at that time, which means exalted father.  And yet he was married to Sarai, who was barren, and had no child. It was ironic, that a man called the exalted father was childless.  At that point, he had no idea if he was sterile, or his wife was.  But he had to bear the ignominy of his name in a society that prized may children, that considered having many children and having an heir to be one of life’s greatest blessings. 

Chapter 11 tells us that Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.”  Terah eventually died in Haran.  

Then we see in chapter 12 vs 1 that the Lord said to Abram.  We don’t know this explicitly, but it would seem that this is not to be understood as a linear timeframe.  God seems to have spoken to Abram when he was still in Ur of the Chaldeans.  We know that because Stephen in his great final sermon spoke of it that way.  Acts 7:2  And Stephen said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,  and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’  “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, [God] had him move to this country in which you are now living. 

Some people have made a big deal out of the fact that Abram seems to have only partially obeyed God.  God said leave Ur and go to Canaan, and yet Abram went only as far as Haran. But that’s not really clear, and it’s not clear how long he was in Haran, and whether or not that was necessitated by his father dying.  God doesn’t seem to condemn Abraham for the delay, and so perhaps we should not either.

Hebrews tells us simply  that Abram obeyed. Heb 11:8 says,  “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

So let’s look at the initial call as recorded in chapter 12. Vs1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

We are going to accept Stephen’s testimony that this call was given when Abram was in Ur.  From what another OT patriarch had to say, that being Joshua, we are told that Terah worshipped idols. Ur of the Chaldeans was a pagan country, and idol worship was common. We don’t know if Abram at that point had been a believer in God or not. But irregardless, he would have had a very rudimentary faith at best.

But when Abram heard the word of the Lord, he believed God. That is faith.  Hebrews 11:1 says,  “Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the men of old gained approval.”  Faith then is believing what God says, things which are not seen, but hoped for with conviction of it being so. And the men of old, that is the early patriarchs, gained approval with God through their faith.  That same kind of faith, faith in things not seen, is the way we gain approval with God as well.

I believe Abram must have had some prior understanding of who God was and what He had done. I think he would have known about creation, he would have known about the flood.  And he may have even known about the promise God made that from the seed of the woman Satan’s head would be crushed. In fact, my math should not be trusted too much, but the way I read the text in chapter 11, it was likely that Shem, one of the sons of Noah, was still alive when Abram was born. But I am not going to be dogmatic about that.  But I say that to make the point that Abram was not born in a spiritual vacuum.  I don’t think that the idolatry of his land had necessarily wiped out all belief in God.

But what we do know is that God spoke to Abram a command; “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.”  And Abram obeyed God and packed up everything and left the country of his birth.  

That same call of God is given to us today to come out from the world. 2 Cor.  6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.  “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.  “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.

But most importantly, notice that in addition to giving Abram a command, He gave Him a promise.  In fact, God gave him many promises.  The first is that He would give him land, of which he’s not even told what or where it is. Just get out of Ur and start walking, and I will give you a land.

Then signficantly, God promised that He would make Abram a nation. This is a man that is childless. As far as he knows he can’t have children. And yet God promises that not only will he have children, but he will be the father of a nation.

Then God promised to bless Abram and to make his name great. There is probably no more honored name in history than the name of Abram, who is considered the father not only of the Jews but of Christians from all the nations. Gal 3:7-9 “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, [saying,] “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

God also promised He would bless those who bless you and to curse him who curses you. This is a promise of protection for the children of God.  Not only was Abram promised blessing, but God also promised to make him a blessing, even to the point where all the families of the earth would be blessed in Abram. This amazing promise was fulfilled in the Messiah that came from Abram’s lineage.  This is an extrapolation of the promise given made by God in the garden of Eden, that from the seed of a woman would come One who would crush Satan’s head.  That obscure reference in the garden to the future Messiah is here given more definition.  But more is still to come.

Vs 4  “So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.”

Now once again there are commentators who would like to diminish the obedience of Abraham by saying that he shouldn’t have taken Lot with him, since God had said leave your relatives and your father’s house. But in the case of his father’s house, he did leave it.  He took his father Terah, but there was no prohibition against that.  We are to honor our father and mother, and when they reach old age, it is commanded that we take care of them. I think the reference to leaving his relatives and his father’s house refers to his tribe, his land that his father owned, his inheritance, and his relatives I’m sure, encompassed a whole tribe of people who lived in that land, not just his nephew, whom we might argue he had some responsibility for.

But what is important to see is that even if Abram wasn’t perfect, he obeyed the word of the Lord.  He had faith in God which was accompanied by obedience.  James says, faith without works is dead. Abram believed God and obeyed by going out to a place that God told him to go.  He left his worldly inheritance and security and blessing that he enjoyed in Ur, and went to a place that he didn’t know anything about, other than that God said He would bless him there.

I would also like to point out that faith is always founded on the promises of God. God may ask us to do something that we haven’t seen before, or believe something that there is no evidence for, but God will always give us a promise, and a promise that must be true because God is true. So faith is not believing whatever we may conjure up, or faith in wishful thinking, or faith in positive thinking, but faith is  believing the promises of God.  God keeps His promises and the scriptures are full of the fulfilled promises of God, so that we might have assurance of our faith.

I would also like to point out that Abraham’s faith was walking faith.  The text says that he set out, then he passed through, then he journeyed on. Abraham’s faith was a walking faith.  As he obeyed, the Lord gave him more understanding, more revelation.  We need to understand that faith is growing, moving in obedience.  It’s not an intellectual exercise. It’s practical exercise. We are called to walk in faith.  Remember what Genesis said about Noah?  He walked with God.  Faith is stepping out, believing and doing what God says.

So Abram came to Canaan and found out that there were other people living there who probably didn’t believe that God was going to give the land to him.  In fact, maybe Abram began to wonder when he finally gets to Canaan only to find out that it’s not an empty flourishing land that he might have imagined, but instead there are hostile, pagan, idol worshipping people already living there.

But notice that when he gets to Canaan, God appears to him there.  Previously, God spoke.  We aren’t told that Abram saw anyone. But now God appears to him. And God speaks. VS 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

Theologians call this a Theophany. A visible manifestation of God.  And we believe that this is a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we are obedient in faith to the revelation that we have been given, then God gives us greater revelation. 

And the Lord gives him another promise, or an elaboration on His initial promise.  He said, To your descendants I will give this land. Abram never owned any of this land except the burial plot he bought (Genesis 23:14-20). But he is promised this land, and furthermore, he is promised descendants who will occupy this land.  Once again, this is a 75 year old man who has been unable to have children.

But then notice what Abraham does.  He builds an altar to the Lord. He worships the Lord. How did Abram know to build an altar?  I suggest that this was a tradition passed down from Noah to those who believed in God.  But no matter how he knew, he knew that he needed to worship the Lord.  And the altar was a place to meet with God, to offer sacrifice for sin, to show submission to God, and to worship God.  Worship is always associated in the Bible with sacrifice.

As Christians, we are to worship God at an altar, where we lay down our lives so that we might live for Him.  Romans 12 says we offer to God our bodies as a living sacrifice. And ultimately, we remember the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf, that we might receive the blessing of God.

There are a lot of other things that happen in Abraham’s life in these next few chapters that we are not going to try to go in detail about this morning.  But suffice it to say that the walk of faith is not without challenges and trials.  A famine comes upon the land of Canaan, and Abram goes to Egypt where he could find food in the famine.  However, it’s not clear if God told Abram to go to Egypt.  I believe that God would have provided for them in Canaan in the midst of the famine.  But Abram took matters in his own hands, which resulted in him treating his wife in a disrespectful way, and he hurt his testimony among the Egyptians.  But irregardless, God took care of him, though it seems as though Abram acted according to his own wisdom, and the consequences of that were not good.

After being rebuked by Pharaoh, Abram returned to Canaan, to the place he had been previously.  Unfortunately, the walk of faith is sometimes one step forward and two steps backwards.  But it’s important that we recognize when we err, and repent, that God will restore us.  Chapter 14 says, Abram went back to the altar that he had made, and there he called upon the Lord.  That’s where we need to go when we sin against God. Back to the altar and call upon the Lord to forgive us, and to cleanse us and renew us. As David cried, renew a right spirit within me.  That’s our cry as well as Abram’s. 

Then Abram and Lot separated and went their separate ways because the land could not sustain them both together.  They had gotten rich in their wanderings, and their servants were fighting among themselves.  Lot chose the well watered plains of Jordan, and Abram went to Canaan. Lot is another story altogether that we won’t deal with today.  But Abram shows by his choice that he is once again trusting in the Lord to keep His promises and to provide and protect him, and so he allows Lot to take the more fruitful looking land.

And once again God speaks to Abram.  God repeats His previous promise, but adds some more detail. This illustrates the principle of progressive revelation.  As we walk in faith, in obedience to what we are given, then God will give us more revelation.

Vs14,  The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;  for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.”  Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.”

So God gives Abram more detail concerning the land and the nation that will come from him, and says his descendants will be like the dust of the earth. Abram still has no child yet, still owns no land, he’s still living in a tent.  But he believes God, and he responds by building another altar. He worships the Lord, believing in promises of God.

Then in chapter 14 you can read about this great battle that takes place in the region that Lot was living.  Four kings and their armies fought five kings and their armies.  And the winning army took the people of Sodom captive as the spoils of war, and Lot and his family was taken captive with them.  

Abraham hears of it, and he gets his men together, 318 of them, and  goes to deliver his nephew from captivity.  Abram divides his army and when night comes he attacks and ends up delivering Lot and all the plunder that had been taken. 

But afterwards he meets another king, who is described as the King of Salem, whose name is Melchizedek. He is described in Genesis as a priest of the most High God. I think this happens to be a real person, a real king of a neighboring region called Salem that was somehow involved in the war.  But many commentators think this could be another pre-incarnate appearance of Christ.  I don’t think so.  But Hebrews makes it clear that Melchizedek is a type of Christ, in that Christ was a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. That is, He did not come from the Levitical priesthood.

But for our purposes today, I just will mention that the priest Melchizedek blessed Abram, and blessed God, and Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth, that is a tithe, of all.  I suppose that to mean a tithe of the plunder.  Now I don’t want to give a sermon on Melchizedek. I want to focus on the word that God gave Abram, and Abram’s response to God’s word. I would say though that Melchizedek encouraged Abram in his faith, to continue to walk with God by faith.

And so in chapter 15, vs 1 we read, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great. Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.”  Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir. And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

This time, the Lord appeared in a vision and spoke to Abram. Once again, God promises protection. He promises a great reward for his faith. And Abram said what will you give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my hose is Eliezer of Damascus?  Eliezer was Abram’s head servant.  God still had not give him a child, and it was apparent by now that there wasn’t any chance of a child by natural means.  Sarah and Abraham are getting too old for children. And yet he remembered God’s previous promises of his descendants being more in number than the dust of the earth.  I think He was genuinely confused, and maybe a little discouraged.

But once again the Lord promised him a descendent, and more clearly than ever before He says he will come from your own body, and he will be your heir. That’s so important for Abram to understand.  Because down the road, when God tests him by asking him to sacrifice his son, Abram will remember this promise of the son of his body that will be his heir, and that promise will fuel the faith that he needs to be able to be obedient to God’s command.

But the most important statement that we need to focus on is the last one, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Abram was saved in the same way all men are saved in every generation, in every dispensation.  We are saved by faith.  Righteousness is imputed, or credited to those who have faith.  This phrase is quoted four times in the New Testament to explain salvation. Paul quotes it three times in Romans 4. 

Rom 4:3  For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Vs 9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”  

Vs 20 “yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,  and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.  Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

And finally Gal 3:6-7 Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

Salvation is just that simple. I didn’t say that it was easy.  Abram showed by his life that faith is not easy, and sometimes you may struggle between the flesh and faith.  But faith is simple.  Turn to God, lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.  But faith is the only way we can achieve righteousness.  We can’t work it out through our flesh, or by our own wisdom, but we are given righteousness as a gift of God, when we turn to Him in faith.  And only in HIs righteousness are we able to be approved by God. And only by faith are we made the children of God.