A SON IS GIVEN

                                                                A SON IS GIVEN

Introduction

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            I don’t know who came up with the saying, “Children should be seen but not heard.” It sounds like something from the dark age of Victorianism – Christianity in a straitjacket. I don’t know who fist coined that phrase about children. I don’t know the context of when it was first minted. So, we shouldn’t get too upset with what might have been said in humour. But I do know that the Bible speaks of children as a blessing of God, a reward. “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3).

To be sure, it’s a double blessing when the children are your own. But, as Psalm 127:3 puts it, all children are a heritage and a reward from the LORD. This is regardless of whether the children are your own or someone else’s. Children are the blessing of God. They are God’s gift. Therefore, we need to appreciate the gift that God gives us. We should never take children for granted.

Now, we see Almighty God promising to bless Abraham. That covenant-promise is summed up in Genesis 17:19 which says, “Then God said: ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

The general gist of what we’re looking at is, Abraham and Sarah are going to have a baby in their golden years!

Abraham’s Wife

“Sarah your wife shall bear you a son.” Abraham has just been told that his wife is going to have a baby. So, how does Abraham handle this piece of good news from the LORD? Well, we’re told that Abraham did three things: a) Abraham fell on his face. b) Abraham laughed. c) Abraham spoke in his heart.

So, firstly what’s Abraham’s falling on his face all about? Well, Almighty God has appeared to him, and He is speaking to him. The words used here are exactly the same as the words used at the beginning of verse 3. The only difference is that Abram’s name has been changed to Abraham. Back in 17:3 Abraham’s falling on his face was an act of worship. And so it is in verse 19. It is an act of reverential worship.

When a dignitary enters a room all present rise to their feet. When God appears, all present fall on their faces! Notice also that Abraham laughed. He’s on his face before Almighty God and he laughed. What is causing such an emotion? Laughter? Well, it’s the revelation that Almighty God has brought him that’s causing his laughter. It has just been revealed to him that he is going to father at a hundred years of age! That would be one for the newspapers, wouldn’t it? 100 year-old still has lead in pencil! It would make for a great story!

Abraham himself is finding it hard to believe that a ninety-nine-year-old can produce a child. But more than that, the real story is about his wife, Sarah. “And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” If a ninety-nine-year-old man fathers a child, that’s amazing. If a ninety-year-old woman gives birth, that’s incredible! This is the stuff of the National Inquirer, the Sunday tabloids and Internet click-bait.

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It was in the news that the Australian birth rate was in major decline, and that many women were waiting till they were older before they were having babies. They were waiting till they were about thirty. But ninety? Even our day of invitro-fertilization and all the rest, ninety is well and truly over the hills and far away beyond it!

No wonder Abraham laughed. He’s finding this hard to believe. However, don’t lose sight of the fact that he is on his face before Almighty God. It’s a case of “Lord I believe, help my unbelief!” It’s just that this piece of news is like Ahab’s arrow, out of the blue!

We see what’s going on in Abraham’s mind because it’s recorded what he spoke in his heart. What did he say in heart? We’ll that’s what we’ve just been discussing. “How can a ninety-nine-year-old man and a ninety-year-old woman become parents?” It’s a bit like Mary, when the angel Gabrielle told her she was going to be mother of the Saviour. Mary said, “‘How can this be, since I don’t know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God’” (Luke 34-35).

So, yes, Abraham, like Mary after him, is struggling to understand how this can be. Struggle as he does, he knows that God is Almighty and can therefore do the impossible. So, granted, it is tough for Abraham to believe that he and Sarah are going to become parents. But that’s only the half of it. Abraham’s real problem here is more to do with the why than the how.

Why does he need another son when he already has one, a thirteen year old by the name of Ishmael? That’s what 17:18 is all about. “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before You!’” “I have a son, I have an heir from my own loins. I don’t understand!” We’ll look at Ishmael a bit more closely in a moment. But notice that the LORD says in verse 19, “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son…” No, not Ishmael your son whom Hagar Sarah’s maid bore to you. But rather Sarah, “YOUR WIFE.”

In Galatians chapter 4 the Apostle Paul refers to Hagar as a “bondwoman” or “slavewoman.” Hagar is Sarah’s maidservant. The LORD never refers to her as Abraham’s wife. According to the LORD, Sarah is Abraham’s wife, not Sarah plus Hagar. It says in Genesis 21:12 for example, “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman.” The LORD refers to Hagar as Abraham’s bondwoman, not his wife. No, Sarah is Abraham’s legitimate wife, not Hagar.

So, look at Sarah. The LORD has just changed her name from Sarai to Sarah. What’s in a name? Well, names in the Bible tend not to be abstractions like you find nowadays. Names in the Bible mean things. They are descriptive. Names are given to reveal something about the person. Years ago, when she was little, one of my daughters got my wife a pen. She gave it to her mum, and said, “It’s got your name on it.” And there written on the pen was the word “Mum.” That’s my daughter’s name for my wife.

Back in Genesis 17:1 the LORD has given Himself a new name before Abraham, Almighty God. This reveals something about the LORD. He is El Shaddai, Almighty God. The LORD gave Abraham a new name. He changed his name from Abram, meaning Exalted Father to Abraham meaning Father of a Multitude even Many Nations. And the LORD is also changing Sarai, the name of Abraham’s wife, to Sarah. Sarai means My Princess, and Sarah means simply Princess.

I don’t want to sound mystical but both Abraham and Sarah have had the letter “H” added to their name. In Scottish Gaelic the letter “H” is called a lenition or aspiration letter, a puff of air. You’ll remember that Jesus gave each of His disciples a puff of air when He breathed on them saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). So, let’s not get too fanciful, but let’s just note that both Abraham and Sarah received the letter “H” from the LORD. The received new names the very day they received the good news of the son of promise. They received new names the very day God instituted the Old Testament sacrament of circumcision. And notice also that this new son, this child of a miracle is also given a name, Isaac. Isaac means He Laughs which we take to be in reference to Abraham laughing at the good news. “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Yes Abraham, but only if God says so.

Abraham’s Children

Abraham has two children, one already thirteen years old. And the other hasn’t even been conceived yet. Abraham is going to have the sign and seal of God’s covenant etched into his flesh. He’s going to be circumcised first, before Sarah will conceive.

Ishmael is a child of carnal reason. Isaac is going to be a child of faith. Ishmael is a child of the flesh. Isaac is going to be a child of the Holy Spirit. Ishmael is a child of a fleshly covenant. Isaac is going to be a child of the spiritual covenant. Ishmael is the child of a bondwoman, Hagar. Isaac is going to be a child of a freewoman, Sarah.

Abraham is concerned about his son Ishmael. Genesis 17:18, “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before You!’” Abraham here is asking the LORD where his son Ishmael fits into the grand scheme of things “LORD, What about Ishmael? Up until this very moment I though he was the son of promise.” But look what the LORD says to Abraham at the beginning of verse 19. “God said: “No…” No what? No Ishmael is not the one with whom I will establish My covenant. “I will establish My covenant with him [Isaac] for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

What’s this all about? Well, notice that the LORD is going to establish His covenant with Isaac. Isaac is to be Abraham’s promised descendant, i.e., Abraham’s son. God is giving Abraham a son, a son as a free gift. But notice that the LORD is establishing His everlasting covenant with Isaac’s descendants after him. That word descendants may be translated “seed” which is a collective noun. It can mean seed singular or seeds plural. It’s actually seed in the masculine singular. The words’ first use in the Bible is in Genesis 1:11, “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth’, and it was so.” So, by the grace of God, Abraham as a ninety-nine-year-old, is like a fruit tree, whose seed is in itself. And from little acorns grow great oak tree, even the tree at Calvary!

Now, I want you to see that we’re not making some giant pole-vault leap into New Testament times. We’re not saying, “Beam me up Scotty!” and we disappear from Old Testament times to reappear in New Testament times. “A” is not becoming non-“A” and then reappearing as “A” without having traversed the distance in between!

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You need to see the connection between the everlasting covenant God has made with Abraham, and with Isaac and his Seed. You need to see that Jesus Christ is the promised Seed of Abraham and Sarah. God, as it were, has taken an arrow from His quiver. He has shot that arrow from His bow in eternity past. That arrow is passing through Abraham, and then Isaac and will then eventually land in Bethlehem. “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah…out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel” (Matt. 2:6).

It’s all about Christ, isn’t it? It’s all about the promised Seed. The Apostle Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us what’s going on here. He says in Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.”

It’s all about God preserving Abraham’s Seed, even Jesus Christ. He is the Seed promised to Adam and Eve right after the Fall (Gen. 3:15). He is the One who was coming to crush the serpent’s head. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it & establish it with judgment & justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Is this Good News? Well, it’s good news to Abraham and Sarah too! For Abraham now knows that he and Sarah are to be the father and mother of nations and kings. Abraham has already been told back in Genesis 12:3 that in him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Of the increase of his Seed’s government and peace there will be no end. His kingdom will keep on growing even to the ends of the earth. His will rule over all the families, rule over all the nations of the earth!

You need to see the connection between Abraham and Jesus, otherwise you’ll miss the scope of the Good News. The Church today is looking at the tiny acorn at the foot of the tree. We need to look up and glorify God. The mustard seed has become a great tree! Abraham and Sarah thought they could bring all this to pass by using Hagar as a surrogate. Abraham had his hopes fixed on Ishmael. But God is going to bring all this to pass according to His covenant, and not according to any of the best laid plans of mice and men. “Yes,” says the LORD to Abraham, “I’ll look after Ishmael. I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”

God’s Covenant is an everlasting covenant. He calls it “My Covenant,” and not without reason. It’s the covenant made between God the Father and God the Son in eternity past. But Abraham and his whole household are being adopted into that everlasting covenant. The circumcision is the sign and seal on their bodies of that everlasting covenant.

Notice verse 22 says, “Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.” One is reminded of by this of Jesus in Acts 1:9, “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Christ is the Lord from heaven. The promises of God were made to Abraham. They were made to Abraham and to his Seed, even Jesus Christ.

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So, was Abraham trusting in God and His promises? Did he believe the Good News, the Covenant of Grace as it was administered at that time? “So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him” (Gen. 17: 23). We can almost hear Abraham say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

That very day hundreds of grown men and male children were circumcised. What an obedient household Abraham has, at least at that point in time. And well we know, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Rom. 2:28-29).

Conclusion

We’ve considered Abraham’s wife, Sarah. And we’ve considered Abraham’s children, Ishmael and the promised Isaac. We have seen that Almighty God has established His everlasting covenant with Abraham’s Seed, Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us who are in Christ through faith rejoice along with Abraham, who rejoiced to see Christ’s day. For Abraham saw it and was glad (John 8:56). A Son is given indeed! Abraham rejoiced in the sure knowledge that his promised Son was coming.

Let us therefore spread the Glad Tidings, the same Good News our father Abraham received. Let us tell others, that they too, like us might be adopted into Abraham’s household, if they would only believe in Christ.