Hebrews 11:8-12: By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. [9] By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. [10] For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. [11] By faith Abraham, even though he was past age---and Sarah herself was barren---was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. [12] And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Again with this character we cannot look at every instance in her life in this short time. We are going to discover something though.
Don't Despise Perceived Delay:
In Genesis 12 God gives Abram his promise. Again, the initial calling to move came even earlier (Acts 7:2-3). At that point he didn't know what the initial calling would look like. Sarai is part of that journey. She know as that they are on a purpose filled mission.
If you read Hebrews you discover that she wasn't really faith filled at all. She is not commended here for her faith. This has nothing to do with gender but how she has responded to the promise of God in her life.
Sarah lacks faith (Donald A., Hagner, Hebrews, (NIBC, Paternoster, Carlisle, 1995),192).
It seems that Sarah gets her promise based on the faith of another, Abram.
Abram has a promise from God - that Phil looked at when he spoke about Abram. There's something about his promise we need to understand:
Firstly: its a specific promise. It becomes known as the Abrahamic Covenant. From this all people will be blessed.
Secondly: it's a general promise, that his offspring (seed) would be blessed.
This makes sense of the events that follow later.
Genesis 11:30: Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
The issue arises for this family when the promise of God is not quickly realised! Friends we need to remember that when the Lord promises it is His word, His reputation at stake, not yours. He will honour His word.
Don't Prematurely Birth Something Not of God:
Genesis 16:1-16:
[1] Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; [2] so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. [3] So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. [4] He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. [5] Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me." [6] "Your servant is in your hands, " Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her. [7] The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. [8] And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. [9] Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” [10] The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." [11] The angel of the Lord also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. [12] He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. " [13] She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me, " for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." [14] That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. [15] So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. [16] Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Notice this: Sarai wanted a child. It was a desperate thing to be barren and for her much of her status rested on having children. She contrives a scheme. Abram is to go with Hagar. This is not an uncommon practice and one that developed further in the later kings and rulers of the Old Testament. It was based on the Mesopotamian practices of the day. It is not something that we are told God approved of here. The Bible is an honest book and records all manner of human behaviour that is not approved of by God - just because something is in the Bible does not make it a biblical principal (see blog bonus: concubines).
Sarai has a plan to take away her shame. She has a plan to give her status. Actually it just leads to more internal pain and then the persecution of someone else.
What seemed expedient, permissible and common practice brought pain and discord.
- It affects her relationship with God!
16:2: She begins to think that the Lord is taking too long. Perhaps she can build a family through her servant. It's about what she can build., not about what God wants to do.
- It affects her relationship with her husband!
16:5: You are responsible, not me! When things don't worker out the way we think they should we end up playing the blame game. Let's not do that!
- It affects her relationship with Hagar!
16:4: Hagar begins to despise Sarai. Why? Because she now thinks she has a new status, equal to Sarai.
That's not the case. In fact the future of the child to be born was not certain until he was adopted after birth by the father.
In fact equal status was not conferred on the slave girl for this common practice. The barren one would have complete jurisdiction over the life of any offspring (Joyce C. Baldwin, The Message of Genesis 12-50, (IVP: Leicestershire, 1986),58).
- It affects Hagar's life!
16: 6:Hagar flees because Sarai mistreats her. We are not told what this is but it probably involved physical and emotional abuse. The salve would have been at the disposal of her mistress. A once trusted relationships, even friendship, had now been soured and was beyond recovery.
- It affects us today!
Remember there is a general promise in the Abrahamic covenant too - that his offspring would be blessed.
Yes, God did preserve Ishmael's life, and He did bless him, but not as the son through whom the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant would pass, not as the one through whom Messiah would come (Genesis 49:8-12). (See blog bonus: Ishmael)
So why did God do this? To honour His promise even when the people He'd promised were being dishonourable!
My friends there are promises of God still looking to bear fruit in our lives. They are trustworthy, but we take liberty and try to force these things into being. Those will always be illegitimate.
God is always faithful to His promises. That means there is an intrinsic power in the promise of God on your life. You can achieve many things thinking that they are in the name of God, but they're not always. Don't rush forward. Your miracle will come. The choice you have is this: God's best or second best!
Don't Doubt the Promises of God:
Genesis:17:15-17: 15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Now see Sarah’s response:
Genesis 18: 1-15, especially 9-15: 9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. 10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
What’s the difference between these two laughs. Simple: Abraham’s was a laugh of great joy (John 8:56). Sarah’s was a laugh of doubt in God.
Doubts are not always predicated by darkness and gloom. Doubts can present themselves as a response to that which seems unbelievable.
When God does bing about the promise of God in your life it will come with he following hallmarks:
- The promise will come when you have allowed it to die. Properly. This is a Kingdom principle.
John 12 :23-24: Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
Notice Jesus Is speaking about His death and resurrection. To gain in the Kingdom of God things need to die to accomplish Goals purpose. We see it with Jesus. We see it with Abraham and Sarah. We see it in our lives too.
This church has seen it in the school we now run. When this building was built there was also a dream of school but their was no traction at that time. Years ago the Lord had also placed in our heart that we would have a school ministry. In fact I discussed it at length with James Glass, Elim Pastor in Glasgow, back in the mid-90's. Nothing happened. The mustard seed died and was forgotten. I only remembered when he reminded me recently. Then God brought TLG into the life of Life Church. God knew what He was doing.
There is some value in praying through the promises. There is a value too in allowing the desire in your heart to die so that the Lord can do it His way!
- The promise will use your natural ability after your natural ability has come to the end of itself.
- The will bring joy beyond your generation.
- The promise will be evident to others that it was God and not you! (Genesis 21:5-7).
- The promise will be birthed and completed in Christ and must bring glory to Him (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Wrapping this up
Do you have an outstanding promise or desire in your life that is still out-standing. Let's rise together to see God move in your life.
Blog Bonuses:
Concubines or multiple wives: Although it’s true the Bible nowhere explicitly condemns concubinage, a condemnation can be found implicitly from the beginning of time. According to Genesis 2:21-24, God’s original intent was for marriage to be between one man and one woman, and that has never changed (Genesis 1:27). As a matter of fact, a study of the lives of men like King David and King Solomon (who had 300 concubines; 1 Kings 11:3) reveals that many of their problems stemmed from polygamous relationships (2 Samuel 11:2-4).
Ishmael: Did God send the angel to save Ishmael so that Islam could exist since Muslims believe Ishmael is the father of the Arabs?
I would say this about the angel sparing Abraham's son, Ishmael. In his covenant with Abraham God promised that He would bless the seed of Abraham and those who blessed him (Genesis 12:1-3, etc.). I believe that God's blessing on Abraham was both general (all his physical descendants) and specific (through the designated "seed" of Abraham, starting with Isaac, then followed by Jacob, etc.).
Thus God spared Ishmael as a result of His general promise, but the blessings pronounced on Ishmael are certainly inferior to the covenant blessings pronounced on Isaac (compare Genesis 17:21; 21:12-13). We see that Ishmael was blessed, because he was the son of Abraham, but he was not the one through whom God's covenant blessings would be passed down. God kept His promise to make Ishmael a great nation of him (21:18), but that is the limit.
Yes, God did preserve Ishmael's life, and He did bless him, but not as the son through whom the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant would pass, not as the one through whom Messiah would come (Genesis 49:8-12).
Remember that God also used angels to rescue Lot, and through Lot's daughters two nations were begotten. But it was not through Lot that the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant would pass (see Genesis 19).
Merely being a descendant of Abraham (as, indeed, Muhammad may have been) does not save anyone.
It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel (Romans 9:6).
It was not through Abraham's seed -- the nation Israel (as if "seed" were plural) -- but through Jesus (Abraham's "seed" is singular) that the blessings of God's covenant with Abraham come upon men (Jews and Gentiles and Arabs, who trust in Jesus):
Brothers and sisters, I offer an example from everyday life: When a covenant has been ratified, even though it is only a human contract, no one can set it aside or add anything to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say, "and to the descendants," referring to many, but "and to your descendant," referring to one, who is Christ (Galatians 3:15-16).
Abraham's spiritual seed are all those, Jew or Gentile, who place their trust in Jesus as the promised Messiah, as God's only way of salvation:
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression either. 16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants-not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed-the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do (Romans 4:13-17).
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female-for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29).
Now, did God intend for there to be Islam? God is sovereign as so Islam has come into existence because God chose to use it, just as He chose to use Pharaoh, who opposed His people:
For the scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17).
False religions will be used of God to test the faith and fidelity of His own people:
Jesus answered them, "Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many" (Matthew 24:4-5).
10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:10-14).
Saying that God intended for Islam to exist is not saying that God meant for Islam to be a means by which men would find the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life:
Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, replied, "Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man-by what means this man was healed- 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:8-12).
Full article available from https://bible.org/question/did-god-send-angel-save-ishmael-so-islam-could-exist-moslems-believe-ishmael-father-arabs
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