A Study in Genesis

We now come to a rather remarkable story of redemption.

Isaac has been born, and the Lord’s prophetic disclosure had come to pass. But now there are two sons, and in doing so, we see the beginning stage of what has plagued the world for centuries. However, before we get into this struggle, I want to quickly identify an issue the church fails to understand. When God says He will do something, no matter how small or impossible it might be, He will do it. He told Sarah and Abraham that within the year, they would have a boy. Genesis 18:10-15“The LORD said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son! ” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight? ” 13 But the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old? ’ 14 “Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.” 15 Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid. But he replied, “No, you did laugh.” Genesis 21:1-7“The LORD came to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him -- the one Sarah bore to him -- Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”

When God says He will do something, we should take it seriously and go with it. He would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, from the bloodline of King David. These are all things He did. But why do we fail to recognize the second coming prophecies? He will come in the clouds and take the Church to go where He is, before the hour of trial that is to come on the whole earth. You do not have to believe in the Rapture to be saved, but to take all of God’s Word seriously, you do. I wonder how many Baptists, Reformers, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and others would act if they were around in Jesus first coming. I, for one, want to be expecting my Lord and doing the Work that He has for us. So when God says that Sarah would conceive and give birth to a son, God meant it.

Nevertheless, we now come to a stage in human history where two sides are wanting a blessing. This will set in motion rivalries, wars, and atrocities, all rooted in who would receive the promised blessing.

Take a moment and read verses 8 through 21. Here, we see that Ishmael and Isaac are at odds. Isaac is a little boy, and Ishmael is a lad. The scripture says, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing.” I, for one, had read over this several times and had never caught the magnitude of what was happening. Ishmael is scoffing; he believes the right to the promise should be his. Sarah, having learned her lesson and wanting to trust the Lord, now wants to protect the promise God had given. Some might say it is a motherly instinct, not faith in God, but I believe it can be both. We see that God agreed with Sarah when she went to Abraham and said kick them out. We see that God worked with Hagar and Ishmael and was with Ishmael through the days of his life. God blessed Ishmael, and to this day, his descendants are a great nation. But the promise of the salvation of mankind was to come through Abraham and Sarah, not anyone else. If you want to know more about the context behind Ishmael and Isaac’s original issue, I would encourage you to read Ken Johnson’s translation of the book of Jasher, where we learn that Ishmael, in fact, attempts to put action to his scoffing and tries to kill Isaac.

God protects both Isaac and Ishmael. Both have promises, both have destinies, and what we see today is only a carryover of the decisions made by those centuries before us.

In our own lives, are we living for the Lord in such a manner as to trust Him? Are we listening for the Lord? Or does He need to shout out of Heaven to get our attention? Let’s be about studying His Word so that we would be what Jesus said in John 10:16“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock [and] one shepherd.”‍ ‍

Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,

JL