[Recorded/Transcribed 5/26/20]
Tonight we're in Genesis chapter 17, which is a moment in God's Word where God is going to deal with his man, Abraham, by bringing him more deeply into his plans and his covenant for and with this man. We're going to read in the first verse tonight that Abraham is 99 years old at the point of this movement in his life, chapter 18 or excuse me, 16 ended with Abraham at 86 years of age. So you have a 13-year gap where Ishmael grows into his adolescence, but also in a sense, I think we can surmise, God was silent with Abraham during those 13 years.
God's Silence
Silence is one of the most difficult things for God's people to deal with. The promise was out there, God had said that through Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed that his descendants would be under him like the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky. Yet he still only had one child, and unbeknownst to him, that one child would not be the child of promise. It was his own fleshly attempt, Ishmael was, to produce the promises of God, but God had a different plan. That is what Abraham is going to learn here in Genesis chapter 17. Like I said, he'll be brought deeper into God's covenant plans, especially as God gives to him an outward sign, a physical emblem of the inner promise that God had made to his man in the emblem of circumcision. So that's what we're going to look at tonight. So let's start out in the first verse of Genesis chapter 17.
The Promise Reconfirmed (17:1-8)
1 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, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
"And God Said..."
Now one of the first things that we're going to notice in this whole section is that each movement of this chapter is going to begin with the phrase, "And God said." We just read the first couple of verses, but there will be three more movements that begin with, "And God said to Abraham." All throughout the passage, we are going to see God say, "I will, I will do this, and I will do that.'
In other words, God is stacking his promises up for his man. And after making him his promises, then says, "And what I want you to do," and that's when God will give to Abraham the sign of circumcision. In other words, what Abraham will do and lead his family into for future generations is a response to the overwhelming commitment of God in his life. This, by the way, is the pattern of God. We are to respond to the incredible things that he does in our lives.
El Shaddai
So God begins to unveil himself even further to Abraham. Now in verse one, God speaks to Abraham and reveals himself by saying, "I am God Almighty, I am God Almighty." Now there is some debate or dispute amongst scholars as to the etymology or the roots of this title of God. But many scholars recognize that there is a connection between I am God Almighty or El Shaddai in the Hebrew, there's a connection between El Shaddai and the Hebrew word for mountain and also the Hebrew word for breast.
Sometimes, in describing physical geography, you would use human anatomy, think of the mouth of a river so to speak. Here, God seems to speak of himself like a mountain or like a supply of nourishment for a baby, for an infant. This is God revealing himself to his man, Abraham. Now this title for God is used many times in the Old Testament, but most often, 31 of the 48 times that it's used, it's used in the book of Job. But when this title is used in the book of Genesis, it is always connected to God's promise for future descendants for his people. In other words, God is saying, "Abraham, I am going to make you into a fruitful man. Your genealogy will be full, you will have many descendants."
Now connected to that statement from God, "I am God Almighty." What does God say to Abraham in verse one? Notice it, "Walk before me and be blameless." You see, God's plan is that we would walk with him, enjoy him, experience him. Since he is the source, the El Shaddai, God Almighty, when we walk with Him, we become fruitful unto God. Remember the words of Jesus to his disciples on the night that he was betrayed, and the eve of the cross. He said to his disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit."
Now where does that fruitfulness come from? From us, from our ability, from our power, from our strength, no. It's the source that we are connected to. So as much as some of you may have squirmed a little bit when I said that the etymology of El Shaddai might be connected to mountain, which would be a source of life for a community as the snow melt and rivers flowed from it into the valleys below, or the word in Hebrew for breast as much as some of you might have squirmed a little bit when I said that. The reality is that is a source of life for human beings. God is saying, "I am a source of life for you, Abraham. If you walk with me, you will become and live as a fruitful individual.
3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 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.
We'll stop right there. Here, God renames his man. You probably have, as we've been going through the book of Genesis, have been waiting for this particular moment because as we look back upon this man's life, we think of him as Abraham. But up to this point, he is referred to as Abram. Now the the word or name, Abram merely means exalted father, exalted father. What Abram's name was serving as up to this point was as a signpost back to his own father Terah. You have to remember, Abram at this point had one son, but not even through Sarah.
So in a sense, in the eyes of God, he is still a childless man. He did behave childishly at some points, but he was a childless man in the eyes of God. So he himself is not the exalted father that his name implies. Now, the name Abram, it looks backward. The name Abraham, though which is related to the name Abram in a sense, it means father of a multitude, father of a multitude. So Abram's name, exalted father, pointing back to Terah, was changed to Abraham or father of a multitude or father of nations, pointing forward to what God was going to do in his life.
Now, this is beautiful because though God has referenced the fact that Abraham will have many descendants, much of God's promises up to this point in Genesis have focused on the land that Abraham's descendants would one day occupy. But here, God is focusing in not as much on the land which we'll get to in a moment, but upon the number of descendants that Abraham would have. I just personally love the way that God changed this man's name. He went from a name that looked backward to a name that looked forward. He went from a name that highlighted his earthly father to a name that highlighted his Heavenly Father.
A Forward Focus
I just love this about the Lord. You see, there are times in our lives where God wants to take us backward, point us to the things that have come before so that we can grow, so that we can be changed, so that we can be transformed. But there is also a time as Paul the apostle said in Philippians 3:13 to forget what came before and strain forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That was Abraham at this point. God is saying to this man, "You have a future and a hope. There is something forward in your life. I no longer want you to look backward to your father Terah, but forward to the incredible things that I am going to do in you."
This was an incredibly forward-focused title that God gave to his man. What about you? As you think about your life, think about the ways in which God wants to look forward in your life, not for you to be stuck in regret as you look backward or in pride as you look backward, but to say no matter what has come before, whether it was failure or whether it was fruitfulness, I want to move forward in humble obedience to God, that I might be fruitful unto him. I pray that it's a continuation of your fruitfulness. But if it is only the beginning of your fruitfulness, praise God, put an end to the old life and begin anew.
A Faith Focus
You see in Christ, we are new creations in him. But not only was this a forward-looking name, wouldn't you also say that this is a faith geared or focused name? I mean, just imagine Abraham, going back to his household servants. You had quite a few of them a big entourage or maybe going to Sarah, his wife and announcing to them, "I met with God. God spoke to me. He appeared to me and reaffirmed, reconfirmed his promises in my life. He did something to me ,he changed my name. I'd like for you all to no longer call me, Abraam. But now begin to call me, Abraham."
Now to us when we hear it, it sounds something similar to me Pastor Nate saying to all of you, "Hey, no longer call me Nate, call me by my birth name Nathan. It just sounds like, "Oh, he's been going by an abbreviation for a long period of time. Now, he wants to go by his full name." But that's not what Abraham was doing. Abraham was saying, "No longer call me exalted father, pointing back to Terah, but call me a man who has only one son that was given to him through birth of a servant girl in his household and no other descendants or grandchildren to speak of, no land that he can really truly actually yet call his own only the promise of God that he would have land and descendants, call me a father of nations, a father of a multitude."
You can almost imagine his servants, many of them who probably had many more children or grandchildren than Abraham had, smirking a little bit, as they consider this thing that Abraham was asking them to do, call me from now on Abraham. But you see what this is, is a name that is filled with faith. Abraham was the father of faith. He believed that there was a thing that God was going to do in his life, that God had declared he would produce in his life, and he thought God is able. As he asked the people in his life to refer to him as Abraham, it was an extension of his faith saying, "I believe in what God is going to do in me."
It says in Romans 4:17, "That God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence, the things that do not exist."
God calls into existence the things that do not exist. He acts like they're present before they have come. Perhaps you can believe that in your own life. Perhaps there is a victory that you are waiting for, maturity that you are longing for, a breakthrough that you know would make you more like Christ. As you wait upon that breakthrough, you must believe in it in faith and say, "I know that this day is coming, that God is going to work this thing out. My flesh and I believe in the future fruitfulness of God in my life.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
Renewed Fruitfulness
Now before we move on in God's promised to Abraham, and he's going to, God is next going to refer to the land. Before looking at the land, and after changing Abraham's name, there's this little insertion in verse six, and it's powerful for a couple of reasons. First of all, notice that God says, "I will make you exceedingly fruitful." The student of Genesis, the book of Genesis should recall the original the mandate that God had given to humanity. Way back in Genesis chapter one, the man and the woman were to come together, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.
That was God's plan before the fall of man, before sin entered into the world, there was to be a fruitfulness amongst God's people. Now, of course, what unfolded in the years to follow was much chaos until God was forced to bring the flood upon the earth. But after the flood, God spoke to his man, Noah, and reconfirmed that command to Noah, "You must be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it. "There were some modifications when God said it to Noah, but nonetheless, that commission remained. Now again, that same theme of fruitfulness appears. Now, it's whittled down to Abraham, he will be a man who is going to demonstrate what it looks like to live that fruitful life unto God.
Kings Of Blessing
This partly helps us understand that Abraham is an example that we can look to. But it also helps us understand that blessing is now channeled through him and through his line. So we need to pay attention to this man. But another thing that is found here in verse six, a new wrinkle or new element to God's plan is that nations and kings would come from Abraham, nations and kings would come from Abraham. Now, Abraham, we already learned in Genesis chapter 12, was to be a man who blessed the people around him, all the nations of the earth through Abraham would be blessed. Now, we learned that it would be through some kings that come from Abraham that that blessing would flow. Now this reminds us of Genesis chapter 14, where we learned about a king, the king of Salem, a man named Melchizedek, who was also the priest of the Most High God. What did that King do for Abraham?
Well, as a king priest, he blessed Abraham. Here, we learn that the blessing of Abraham would even flow through kings that come from Abraham's line. Now, you wouldn't know it just from reading that verse alone. But as you read the rest of Scripture, you discover that there is ultimately a King of kings and Lord of lords who came from Abraham's line, from whom the blessing of Abraham would be the bestowed upon the nations. Of course, we know him as Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord. So as you read 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, you discover various kings that came from Abraham's ancestry. But on the other hand, ultimately the king that would be bringing blessing is found in King Jesus.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Everlasting Possession
Now, as I mentioned, God here goes back to mentioning the land as part of the promise, but a couple of things I want you to observe about this promise that God gave to Abraham, that the land of Canaan would be the place that the people of Israel would occupy. First of all, notice that a couple of times in that little paragraph that I just read to you, God used the word "everlasting", "everlasting", it speaks of the duration of God's promise to the people of Israel.
Now, many of these promises that God made have already been mentioned at this point, but this particular promise that it would be everlasting in nature, this is again a new wrinkle to the promise that God made to Abraham. Even for the Christian as we fast forward all the way to the Book of Revelation and discover the new heavens, and new Earth, and new Jerusalem, that God will eventually create and give to his people that new Jerusalem has 12 gates. Those gates are named after the 12 tribes of Israel. So there is a connection in an everlasting sense to this promised land for the people of Israel, the people of God. But another thing I want you to notice or just to think about in a devotional kind of sense is just the concern of God to give the land to his people, the land to his people.
Now for the people of Israel when they read this in their flight from Egypt, they would have been greatly encouraged and emboldened to know that as they journeyed to the land of Canaan, God had decreed many years earlier that that land would belong to them. As we saw in a previous passage, God was waiting for the people of Canaan to become right in their sin, he was giving them time to either repent or to be dealt with in judgment by the hand of God. That day had come when the people of Israel escaped from Egypt. So when they read the passage that we just read, they would have been greatly encouraged to know this land belongs to us.
All Believers
Now for us today, as believers, we of course, have no specific land that we occupy. Instead, we have something more beautiful, something better. You see during Israel's era, they had the land with a holy temple in the midst of it where God dwelled. God's intention was that nations would converge upon Israel and learn of the Triune God, would learn up the true God who had created them, be converted and worship the Lord. In so many ways though Israel failed in their mission to communicate God to the nations. Jesus came, died on the cross, rose from the grave, ascended back to the right hand of the Father, and poured out his spirit upon his church, and his church became a multi-national group.
In other words, by his spirit, we are then sent out into every nation, and tribe, and tongue for his honor and glory. So we find ourselves not in physical lands that belonged to his church, but we find ourselves in physical lands that are occupied by other people, but we are part of a kingdom of God. So though we might have a citizenship on Earth, we also have a citizenship in heaven. So in one sense, when we see that there is a land that God gave to the people of Israel, for us part are rejoicing is to say, "Lord, there is territory that you have for us."
It isn't so much physical space, as if the church would say something like God has given California to the church or something like that, but it's God, you have given my body for Your glory. I want to grow, and be changed, and transform this land, so to speak, belongs to you. But let me say it like this, we don't have to only spiritualize the promise of God for the people of Israel to receive a land and say, "So just as they received a land so I will receive my sanctification."
There is actually also a legitimate, real, physical land that God is going to give to his people. Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth." Now, there's lots of disagreement amongst modern Christians on how Jesus is going to fulfill that promise that the meek shall inherit the earth. But generally, all Christians agree that at the end of the age, we will come into glory. We will live in a new heavens and new earth with God forever. God will give that so to speak to his people. So just as the people of Israel have a land of promise for them, we have a land of promise for ourselves as well.
Don't you love that little line there at the end of verse eight? He says, "And I will be their God," I will be their God. Did you know that to God, this is the best part of the promise that he made to Abraham? I mean, it was great that Abraham would receive a new name, would receive many descendants, and would receive a land for his people to occupy one day. But in the mind and heart of God, the greatest thing that God could give to Abraham was to give himself to his man, "And I will be their God."
All throughout Scripture, this is the heart of God. This is his desire. This is his passion, to be the personal God of his people. In fact, when the land was distributed, the Levis who were called to be devoted to the worship of God, they were not given a parcel of land. It wasn't in the mind of God a negative situation, some major sacrifice for the tribe of Levi. No, for them in the mind of God, it was a blessing. He said, "Their inheritance will be me. I will be their inheritance, I will be the ones. I will be the one that they receive."
The Sign Of Circumcision (17:9-14)
9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
Common, But Changed By God
Okay, here, God introduces the covenant of circumcision to Abraham and to his descendants, and quite obviously, his male descendants. If you don't know what circumcision is, I'll just leave that to you and Wikipedia to figure out. But the important thing here is that reality that circumcision was not a brand new subject in Abraham's ears. It was actually something that was fairly common in that area that he was living in, and in the era that he lived in as well.
Now, the way that the surrounding people though used circumcision was as sort of a rite of passage. You can even find this in other nations today, a rite of passage, a moment where a boy becomes a man, perhaps at adolescence or puberty, or perhaps right before marriage, some even tribal groups today will still partake of this ceremony and rite. That was a reality in Abraham's day. It might even be possible that rolling around in the back of Abraham's mind was the question, "Should my son Ishmael, who at this point is around 13 or 14 years of age, should he be circumcised like many of the tribes or groups around me are circumcising their adolescent sons?"
But God makes a very distinct change in the program. Notice there in verse 12, he said that the future generations that came from Abraham, they would be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives, eight days old, and they'd be circumcised. In other words, this wasn't as much a rite of passage as something that someone was born into, not something that they did earn something from God, but something that God bestowed upon them as a people.
Purity And Separation
Now, what did circumcision imply? Well, in a sense, what it implied was purity and separation. In those ancient customs, it was a way to say, "I am removing myself from certain things that are unclean in order to be devoted to a new kind of life." Whether it was devoted to adulthood or devoted to a woman in marriage. But of course, for God's people, it means much more than saying I'm now a grown up. It's a way to say, I am cutting off, I am dealing with the impure aspects of life. I want to be different from the world around me. I want to be clean.
Human Weakness
But another message of circumcision, you have to just think about it in the context of what Abraham was enduring. Here he is, 99 years old. He has one son at this point. His wife Sarah is 89, almost 90 years old. They have no children of their own together. Here comes God making all of these promises that through him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, that he'd have descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
What would it take for Abraham and Sarah to have a child? Well, obviously in the mind of Abraham, they call it reproduction for a reason, sexual reproduction, every time that Sara and Abraham engaged one another sexually, Abraham might have wondered, "Is this the moment? Is she going to become impregnated with my seed? Is she going to be with child?" As the days and weeks and months and years passed by, they would have both felt an inability to produce what God had promised. So in a sense, the fact that this sex organ from Abraham was circumcised, it was a visible and private reminder to this man that he could do nothing to fulfill God's promises in his own strength.
He himself could not get the job done. In other words, God made the promise. But Abraham still had to cling to God in hope. He still had to pray and say, "God, be the one to bring these events to pass in my life, you have promised it, but I still need you." You see, so often people see what God wants and desires, and they just go out and try to get it done in their own might and in their own flesh. That's what Abraham did in Genesis chapter 16 with Hagar and Ishmael. So the sign of circumcision would help his future generations remember human nature by itself cannot do the job. God must involve himself.
Emblematic Of The Heart
But of course, and finally before I move onto the next section, circumcision was emblematic of the heart issues in Abraham's life and in the life of his offspring. You see, like I said, it was meant to point to a cleanness within, a pure heart within. In fact, God hinted at this in various places in Scripture.
In Deuteronomy 30:6, God said, "I will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live."
Even in the depths of the Old Covenant law, God pointed out that he was looking for more than just a circumcision of the flesh. He was looking for a cleanness, a circumcision of the heart, clean hearts before God. Of course that is beautiful because it breaks it beyond the walls of male only, but male and female alike being able to have a heart that is clean before God. Paul went on to elaborate on that theme in Romans chapter two. There were those that were around during Paul's day who thought, "Circumcision, that is a sign that I belong to God, this external thing that I've done makes me Jewish, which makes me belong to God." Paul pointed out that the religionist, those who were steeped in Judaism had no exclusive right to God.
He said in Romans 3:29, "A Jew is one inwardly and circumcision as a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter."
Does Not Produce Salvation
So God is looking for clean heart. Unfortunately, over time, circumcision became something that many of the people in Israel trusted for salvation, forms and ceremonies that they went through that they thought proved that they belong to God. But they should have known that God was looking for something deep within the heart.
As Paul said again in Romans 4:11, he said that Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
So circumcision or any outward form does not save a person. So many people are trying to be saved or justified or made right or holy through some external thing that they do for God. But God, he saves us by faith, but this sign was a way to say, I belong to The Lord." Okay, I think I've spoken on that particular subject for probably about as long as you or I can bear. So let's move on in the passage. Remember I told you that in this chapter, it has section after section beginning with, "And God said or and the Lord said," Well, here we get our final one in verse 15.
Isaac's Birth Promised (17:15-21)
15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
God Renames
Now, at this point, what God does is he renames Sarai, and he calls her Sarah. Now, it's hard to do distinguish the difference in meaning between Sarai and Sarah. In fact, most scholars recognize that both names mean the same thing. Both names mean princess. Now this was not God's way of saying, "Oh Sarai, you're my little princess." But what he's trying to remind this woman of is that she would be the one to bear the child of promise for Abraham. Since kings and nations would come from him, she was royalty. So God referred to her as a royal. He referred to her as a princess. It's beautiful thing that God did for this woman.
Now, this is a shocking announcement from God because in part, what he's doing is saying, "I'm not going to receive Hagar's child, Ishmael. I'm going to receive a child through Sarah." Of course, Sarah at this point still had no children. Well, let's pause for a second and just think about this thing that God is doing in this chapter. He renames Abram to Abraham, he renames Sarai to Sarah. You probably know that there are various moments in Scripture where God renames his people. He'll do this nearer the end of the book of Genesis when he takes Jacob, whose name means subplanter or healed catcher and changes his name to Israel, which means he has striven with God or God strives. He named him this after he wrestled with the angelic figure at the brook.
Then in the New Testament, probably the most famous case is when Jesus met Simon who would become Simon Peter or Siphus. He said, "You are Simon. But from now on you will be called Peter." That name of course means rock or the rock or the stone, indicating the confession that Peter would make, intercessory of Philippi, that Christ was the Lord, and also indicating his place of significance and prominence in the early church. He would be the one to go and preach the gospel to the Gentile world for the very first time. But God is in the habit, I'm trying to point out, of at times, changing names.
I just love this about the Lord. He might not have changed your name specifically when you came to Christ, but he did so much more than change your given name. Instead, he brought you into Christ. He gave you his righteousness, he deposited a future and hope into you. This is just beautiful about the Lord. He's able to take what we were and do something brand new inside of us, that is hope that the Lord and the Lord alone can give.
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
Abraham's Laughter
Now, a couple of things to mention here, first of all, Abraham responds to God's promise with laughter. Now in chapter 18, we're going to discover that when Sarah hears this promise from God, she will also laugh. God will actually confront her for her laughter. He will rebuke her for her unbelief. But since there is no such rebuke here towards Abraham, it leads me to believe that Abraham's laughter was not simple laughter of unbelief, doubting completely who God is. But I also don't think that it was some sort of overwhelmed state of joy that just caused him to laugh, "Oh God made me a promise. Sarah, who is 90 years old will have a child and I'm laughing about this incredible thing that God is going to do."
No, the way that it reads is that there was some doubt that was in Abraham's heart. Shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old, shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child? Then he pleads with God to receive Ishmael instead. So there is some kind of slipping in faith that is happening in Abrams heart at this point. This laughter seems to have some sort of doubt attached to it, likely not the kind that is mocking God, still believe in God, still loving God but just that tinge of doubt mixed with that faith that Abraham is so well known for.
The Bible says in Jude 22, I'm sure many of you don't know this verse, But Jude is one short little chapter, and in the 22nd verse of Jude's epistle, he says, "Have mercy on those who doubt. Have mercy on those who doubt. I think it's a powerful verse because I think it demonstrates that though we walk by faith and though we are justified by faith, like Abraham, there come moments in our lives where our faith, it just gets a little wobbly. We begin to wonder, "God, can you really do what you've said that you will do?"
Now what we do with that doubt is another question. We shouldn't just cultivate it or ignore it, we should search it out. That's what Abraham did. He went straight back to God and began praying to God, "Lord, can a 90-year-old woman and a 100-year-old man have a child together?"
19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
Our Plea!
You see, God declines Abraham's prayer. What had Abraham prayed? He said, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before you."
This I find is so often the attitude that we bring to God. We want our mess-ups, the things that we've done in the flesh, the plans that we've made without consulting God for that is exactly what Ishmael was in Abraham's life. We want God to bless those things. "God, I'm sorry I'm with this girlfriend, and I know that she's wrong for me, and I know that she doesn't love you. Lord, would you bless this relationship somehow or some way?"
But the truth of the matter is that it is better for us to repent of our sin rather than asking God to always receive the decisions that we have made. So here though, Abraham is shot, he is moved as he realizes Ishmael will not be the promisee. God tells Abraham that when Sarah has a son, he should name his son, Isaac. Now this is perfect because Isaac's name means laughter. His life would be filled with laughter, Abraham laughed when he heard that Isaac would be born from Abraham and Sarah. Sarah laughed when she heard that she would have a child.
All through Isaac's life, laughter is going to follow him. We'll see this all throughout his life. The son of Hagar will laugh at him. He will be laughing with Rebecca before a foreign ruler. So as we move through Genesis, I'll try to point that out, the laughter that follows Isaac's life. But the idea here is that God can do the thing that is impossible, that which man laughs at God Himself is able to do. It just strikes me during the season that we're in right now in our church, but also in our community and in our nation. I think that God is looking for men and women who trust that he is able to do that which seems impossible.
I worry about believers who lose their minds during a time like this, feeling that they have got to control the situation. They've got to figure out a way to make what they perceive to be wrong right. Rather than trusting God, laughter isn't their response, but stress and anxiety. It's a form of unbelief in what God is able to do. Now, God is looking for people who trust Him, who believe that he can do things that seem impossible. But let's move on in the passage. God, remember had been asked by Abraham to receive Ishmael.
20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Ishmael's Future
So here in a sense, God lets Abraham know I remembered Ishmael. Ishmael is going to have 12 sons of his own, sort of his own kingdom, his own nation, his own people group. Then when we get to chapter 25, we'll see a listing of these 12 sons. But really Ishmael's story isn't the story of Genesis, he's part of Abraham's story. He's an emblem of Abraham faltering in faith and doubt creeping into his heart. But the biblical account is not really concerned with Ishmael. Once his lineage is recounted, he will, in a sense, move off the scene. We will follow Abraham into Isaac, and then Jacob, and the 12 tribes.
But God again makes the promise, "I," verse 21, "will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time, next year."
Abraham's Response (17:22-27)
22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Now what we have here at the close of the chapter after promise after promise from God to Abraham, El Shaddai, I'm God Almighty, walk with me, be blameless. He tells Abraham that he'll be fruitful, that kings and nations will come from him. He changes his name from Abram to Abraham, a father of a multitude. He tells him that the land will be his in an ever lasting sense. He tells him that after committing to him, the sign of circumcision that, Sarah would be the one to have a child who would be the child of promise. Over and over again, God confirms his promises to Abraham, and then Abraham responds to God in obedience.
Look, this is what God is looking for. God is looking for us to live lives of obedience. I am concerned about many believers who have an easy believe-ism that somehow they have globbed onto in this modern world and life. We sometimes have things so backwards, we'll see this even when we get into chapter 18 and 19. The major concern of those chapters is, is God going to be just? This is hardly a question that we ask in these days.
We have a problem with God behaving justly so often, and in our modern world, we sometimes think that God owes it to us to bless us, even if we live a disobedient kind of life. Many people think of obedience to God is somehow some form of legalism that is trying to earn God's favor. In this chapter, Abraham received God's favor and responded to what God had done by obeying God who had blessed him in such amazing ways.
1. Personal Obedience
In closing, let me point out to you a few things about Abraham's obedience as he circumcised himself, Ishmael, his whole household, consider it. First of all, his obedience was personal to start. He didn't just ask the people in his household to be obedient to God. He started it himself. He said, "I'm going to do this thing that is very difficult." I mean, even just the sentence that Abraham was 99 years old, when he was circumcised it would have stood out even in that culture as a shocking and difficult decision that he made.
2. Parental Obedience
But he made that decision for personal obedience first, but secondly, he brought his child into it. He brought Ishmael into this obedience. So his obedience was personal. But it also was parental or fatherly. He looked to his child and said, "Look, I am doing this. I want you to do this." I find so often, that modern parents somehow think that adolescents have this magic spell that they put on the family where, "Well, I can't tell them what to do anymore."
But the reality is your call to train up a child in the way that they should go. There's definitely something different about an adolescent than when they are a little child. It requires more reasoning, it requires more relationship, it requires more grace. As a parent, you better be ready for that child to fail. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. You've got to be ready to dispense grace, but part of grace is being engaged. Abraham was engaged with Ishmael. He obeyed himself, but he walked Ishmael through this as well.
3. Positional Obedience
But also notice that Abraham, he went out to all of his servants in his household, he used his position, so to speak. I often wonder if Christians could do a better job of thinking through how is the position that God has given to me in my workplace, how can it be used for his honor and glory? You see, the Lord, he considers it worship when we are devoted to him in our workplace.
4. Painful Obedience
I think Abraham exemplified this to a degree. Then finally, notice also that circumcision was painful. Sometimes obedience, brothers and sisters, is going to be a painful experience, there will be sacrifice involved, as so many believers are looking for an easy kind of Christian life. The Christian life involves service, it involves being a bondservant. It involves dying daily for Jesus. As we do these things for those that we love and in obedience to Him, God's blessing comes flowing back into our lives.
In closing, as we read this whole passage, how would the people of Israel have read this chapter that we just looked at today? I think, in a sense what they would have seen through this sign of circumcision is that they were called to be a separate and distinct and different people. We're called to the same brothers and sisters, maybe not in the same way, but we are called to be a distinct, and separate, and holy house for God. We don't use circumcision as our big sign of the covenant.
Jesus' blood is the blood that is enough. No one else's blood ever needs to be shed for our atonement. But we do have some outward signs, baptism or the partaking of communion are outward signs that point to the inner reality, but also, we are called to just be a different people unto God. So as you consider this great movement in Abraham's life, may we also be a people that are separated onto God's holy work here on Earth. God bless you church. Have a great week.