The Birth of Isaac (Gen.16-21)

In our last story the Lord appeared to Abram in a vision but Abram wanted to know what the Lord would give him since Abram was still childless. The Lord showed Abram the night sky and gave Abram the promise of multiple descendants and Abram believed the Lord (Gen.15:5-6). Then the Lord reminded Abram how He had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give him the ‘Land of Canaan’. But Abram wanted assurance that he would possess the land so God had Abram cut up some animals and the Lord passed between the pieces which resulted the making of a covenant. The covenant relationship was initiated and established by God in order to expel Abraham’s doubts (Gen.15:8, 18-21). Now listen to or watch the story of the birth of Abraham’s chosen son Isaac and then read the comments https://www.dropbox.com/s/ao9w6zpikjd73dx/The%20Birth%20of%20Isaac..MP3?dl=0

The Birth of Isaac (Genesis 16-21).

God promised Abram descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen.15:5). However, Abram’s wife Sarai was unable to bear children and this seemed to be permanent obstacle to the fulfillment of God’s promise. So Sarai and Abram came up with a plan to help God. In that ancient culture it was permissible for a barren wife to select a surrogate to extend her family. Sarai proposed Abram take Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, as his wife and Abram agreed (16:2). When Abram was 86 years old Hagar bore Abram a son they named Ishmael (16:15-16). Sarai and Abram fully expected Ishmael to be the heir of God’s covenant and while this was culturally acceptable it wasn’t God’s plan.   

Abram and Sarai tried to God to validate their own plan. They grew tired of waiting on God but their plan to raise a family through Hagar became another obstacle to God’s plan. Yet despite the limitations and failures of Abram and Sarai, God would fulfill His promise in His own way. Ishmael would not be the promised heir of God’s covenant with Abram. The promised heir of God’s everlasting covenant would be Isaac, Abram’s son through Sarai (17:19).

When Abram was 99 years of age he must have wondered if God still had a purpose for him. Then God appears to Abram and reconfirms the covenant, changes Abram’s name to Abraham (father of the multitude), gives him circumcision as the covenant sign and promises Abraham a son through Sarai (whose name becomes Sarah, Gen.17:1-6). God will require that Abraham show his loyalty by walking blamelessly before the Lord. God was still committed to being God to Abraham and his descendants and God would give them their promised land (17:7–8). Moreover, Sarah would give birth to a son in a year.

Every male among Abraham’s people was to be circumcised or be cut off from the people (17:14). The sign of circumcision was not unlike the cutting of the animals in the covenant ceremony in Genesis 15. The cut animals depicted the curse of breaking the covenant coming down on the covenant breaker and God alone passed between the pieces (15:17-18, 17:7). Now the sign was to be applied to Abraham’s reproductive organ as a reminder of Abraham’s failure with Hagar and of God’s chosen seed. Those failing to receive the sign and give it to their children would be cut off from Abraham’s seed. If they trusted God they would live and die under God’s blessing but if rebelled they would be cut off from the people as Ishmael was (21:12).

God’s covenant was with Abraham and his children so the children were to receive the sign. Circumcision was a sign of entrance into the community but it didn’t automatically save them. Abraham had circumcised Ishmael and God would bless Ishmael but God’s covenant was with Isaac (17:21, 26). If they, like Abraham, trusted God they would live and die under God’s blessing but if they rebelled they would be cut off from the people. Today, water baptism testifies to our need for the washing away of sin and the imparting of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the sign of entrance into the community of God’s people and it testifies that we must surrender to the God of the covenant or suffer the consequences (Mt.28:19, Col.2:11-12).

After this the Lord appears to Abraham and spoke to him through three mysterious messengers (Gen. 18:1-2). Abraham went to great lengths to greet them and to show hospitality to his visitors who were carrying good news. Previously when Abraham was promised a son through Sarah, a 90 year old woman, Abraham laughed. This time Sarah laughs at the news that Sarah would have a son in a year when the Lord returned (17:17, 18:12). Sarah receives what we might consider a playful rebuke because nothing is too difficult for the Lord (18:14). Ishmael, Abraham’s backup plan, would be sent away so that God’s plan could only be fulfilled by God’s miraculous intervention. God did what He said and when Sarah gave birth to a son she said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me”. They named their son Isaac, meaning ‘laughter’, and circumcised him as God had commanded (21:6-7).  

The story teaches us how critical it is that we wait patiently on the Lord as we actively seek God’s direction. We don’t need to take matters into our own hands because God can accomplish His plans and our limitations and our failures are not insurmountable obstacles to God’s purposes for us. Moreover, Isaac the child of promise points us to Jesus who when the time had fully come, God sent to be miraculously born a woman. It is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we become Abraham’s children and heirs of the promise (Gal. 3:7, 14, 29).