Contemplate these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Genesis 17:15-18:15:

1. How does the story of Abraham and Sarah having a child reflect the theme of God's ability to turn the impossible into reality?

2. Why did Abraham and Sarah initially respond to God's promise with laughter and doubt? What does their response teach us about faith?

3. How does the circumcision of Abraham and his household symbolize inclusion in the covenant community, even for those who are not directly in the lineage of the promised Messiah?

Transcript:

There are things that happen in the course of our lives that we would define as unbelievable. Whether it is running into someone you haven’t seen in 20 years at a place that is hundreds of miles from where either of you live or hitting that hole in one on the par 3 at your favorite golf course we all have had those things that just seem to be impossible and yet they happen. If you expand beyond your own experiences and even the sphere of friends and family to what we can see on the news or posted somewhere on social media we see even more things that are unbelievable. Whether it is someone working meticulously to finally make a trick shot or someone performing a stunt or magic trick on one of the many televised talents shows we have probably uttered the phrase “that’s unbelievable” many times. In fact, with the barrage of media that can come at us at any time in our modern time, I’m betting you might have said “that’s unbelievable” in just the past few days.‌

Well, you know where I’m taking this train of thought. We have been looking at the story of Abraham over the past several weeks and God has made a promise to Abraham that is frankly, unbelievable. They are going to have a child, which if you didn’t know the story might not seem like all that big of a deal. When you know the details God has made this promise to a man who is 99 and his wife who by our standards we would consider to be quite a bit younger than him but she is still ninety. That is a pretty impossible situation for bearing a child but then, as we have seen before, we find out that Abraham’s wife has been barren her whole life. On top of it all God keeps making this promise but it’s been quite a few years since he first told Abraham this substantial promise. If this promise was really legitimate why hasn’t God done something about it up to this point?‌

And, if you’ve been following along through our series here in Genesis through the life and times of Abraham you know the answer, right? As I said last week, this is not a comeback story. This is not set up to be a scenario of being down by 25 points with only 5 minutes to play. This is not down by 10 runs with two outs in the bottom ninth with the best closer in the league on the mound. No, this is not a comeback story, it is a resurrection story. We are meant to feel the tension here. This couple God has promised a child to are old and her womb is dead. We are meant to say “That’s unbelievable” and we see in the passage that we read today that we aren’t the only ones saying this. Abraham and his wife both find the promise of God to be outrageous and unbelievable.‌

We have a pretty big chunk of text we are working through this morning and so our three main points are going to vital in helping us to understand and apply this passage today.‌

Our first point establishes out loud what we have been seeing somewhat covertly in the text all along. God confirms that the child of the promise will come through Sarai. In fact, to confirm this truth he gives her a new name. Just as he changed Abram’s name she is also going to have to go down to the DMV and get a new license with the correct name on it. Joking aside, this is an important part of the story. As we have seen, Abram isn’t the problem in this childless scenario. At the suggestion of his wife, he got together with Hagar and a child was conceived and born. In order for us to understand that this a resurrection story it is vital that we know that the promise is to come through Sarai.‌

Secondly, we see that even though Ishmael is not the child of the promise he is brought into the covenant community. Last week we saw God’s command to circumcise those in his household as a sign of the covenant and this we find out that Abraham is faithful to put this covenant sign on himself and those in his household.‌

Finally, we see that God is going to take the laughter of derision that both Abraham and Sarah have towards the likelihood of the promise happening and he is going to turn it into joy. God visits them and lets them know when to expect the promise to be fulfilled. Despite the unbelief of the parents, the child is going to come and their disbelief will turn to joy.‌

With so much to cover we will drop right into our first point as we look at verses 15 through 19.‌​

Genesis 17:15–19

 ESV

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 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.” 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?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 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.‌

It is important we remember where we are coming from. God has just changed Abram’s name to Abraham and he has given them a sign of that covenant in circumcision. We broke off there last week but this is one story. We are now getting to the part of the story that will address Sarai. She is getting a name change too. The story seems to have focused on Abraham for the last several chapters but we have seen the importance of Sarai’s involvement too. She isn’t a side character that can be brushed aside. Abraham isn’t going to just find himself a woman with a womb that can bear him a child and the promise of God is fulfilled. With the way that Sarai was protected in Egypt we got a glimpse that this promised child would come through her and after the incident with Hagar we are seeing the full sense in which the promise is to Abraham but it is through Sarai that the child of the promise will come.‌

So, what is the name change here. With Abraham we saw his name changed from Abram meaning father to Abraham meaning father of a multitude of nations. With Sarai’s name being changed to Sarah it isn’t quite as easy to understand because both Sarai and Sarah both mean princess. So, why the change, what’s going on here. After doing some research and stewing on it for a few days the best way to understand this change of name is that Sarai is her past and was the name given to her by her father. Sarah is her future and is the name spoken upon her by God. It is God who makes her a princess and will give her many descendents who will lead to the promised messiah who is to come. The name means the same but the promise upon her from God is what is what makes her who she will be. In other words, her life is going to be defined by God and she is a participant in the promise right along with Abraham.‌

And we see this from what Abraham has to say. He says he will bless her and give her a son and notice the expansion we saw last week talked about with Abraham is also true of Sarah. She will become nations and kings of people will come from her.‌

This is huge. A nearly 90 year old woman is being told she will bear a child and from her will come not just a child but the child and their offspring will be blessed beyond measure. God is confirming what he has said before. The child of the promise is not going to be from Ishmael but a new child will come from Sarah.‌

Well, Abraham does something he did before. He falls on his face before God in submission. We saw him do this last week but this time there is a new wrinkle. He laughs.‌

Now he isn’t recalling a good joke and he hasn’t been tickled. This is a laugh of derision toward what God has said. But lets not be too hard on old Abraham here. If you were to hear that a 90 year old woman would bear a child, you’d probably have yourself a little chuckle too. And while it is obviously terrible to laugh at the promise God is making to you, the whole thing is absurd. It’s supposed to be absurd. As I said last week, the story of Abraham and Sarah having a child is not a comeback story. It is easy to fall into that mindset. The story is a resurrection story. It is supposed to be impossible. It is supposed to be laughable.‌

And we see why Abraham laughs. He doesn’t think it’s possible for a 90 year old woman to bear a child and so he makes a plea to God. He requests that Ishmael might live before him. And while we see unbelief in what Abraham says here, isn’t it a natural response. Ishmael is his son. He loves him. He’s right in front of him. He is real, not a far off promise from a God who has been taking his time to keep his promise.‌

But God lets Abraham know that this isn’t up for negotiation. This is similar to the times a child tries to negotiate with a parent after the parent has made it very clear what their decision is. But no amount of begging and whining is going to change the mind of God but he let’s Abraham know that he is going to be gracious to Ishmael, even though he isn’t the child of the promise but before we see what is promised about Ishmael we get details about the actual child of the promise. His name will be Isaac which means, he laughs. God is going to use the fact that Abraham laughed in doubt and derision and turn it into joy. A child will bring Abraham and Sarah laughter and joy.‌

And isn’t that what God so often does. He can turn our doubts into joy because when we truly understand the covenant faithfulness of God to his people we find the peace that passes all understanding because we know that he brings salvation to his people.‌

We have seen here that God shows what has been subtly in the text so far. Through Sarah will come the child of the promise but what about Ishmael.‌​

Genesis 17:20–27

 ESV

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. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 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. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.‌

God promises to bless Ishmael. The conception and birth of Ishmael was outside what God intended for Abraham but God generous. He doesn’t need to be. God never said that everything Abraham did ever would be prosperous and be sparkly sunshine and roses. Ishmael is a persistent reminder of the impatience and unbelief that Abraham and Sarah exhibited but yet, God is gracious. He is going to be remembered. He will father princes and he will be made into a great nation. Yet, all of this is not the point of the promise God made to Abraham. I think this is really awesome because it shows what the point of the promise is. When God promised to bless Abraham and make him a blessing it wasn’t about wealth or positions of power. It was about the promise. It was about those words we have been tracking all the way back to Genesis 3:15 that there would be a seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. The promise to Abraham is first and foremost about the messiah who will rescue the people of God from sin, death, and the devil. It is a spiritual promise, not a promise to bless Abraham with material wealth.‌

But coming back to Ishmael we see here that Abraham is faithful to do what God had commanded him to do in the previous chapter. All this talk of circumcision is a little uncomfortable for us but as we drew out last week it is about consecrating to God the reproductive process because from that will come the promised messiah but even those who would never be considered to lead to the promised messiah were supposed to have this done.‌

Now, we can only imagine what the response from his servants who were men was. I’m guessing it was a “we’re going to do what now” type of reaction but it wasn’t just the servants. Abraham and his son Ishmael were a part of this ritual act. This is not only huge because it shows the obedience of Abraham to the commands of God but it points us to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Last week I mentioned that circumcision and the blood that was shed pointed to the salvation that would come through the shedding of Christ’s blood for us. This week we see that even those who are not in the promised line to the messiah are brought into the covenant community. They receive the sign of the covenant even though not a one of them is set apart as one who will be in the reproductive line to the messiah. To be a part of the covenant people of God did not mean they needed to be of a particular ethnicity. They were all brought in. This points us to salvation because in the new covenant we are all brought in regardless of our ethnicity. We are a part of the family of God by grace through faith. While to our modern sensibilities this whole scene we have in front of us in these verses seems strange and frankly even a little barbaric. The truth is that this is a beautiful picture of what is coming in the gospel. People from every tribe, tongue, and nation experiencing the covenant faithfulness of God.‌

Look at the diversity of people brought into the covenant community here. All the men of his house. The ones who are born there and those bought from a foreigner. They all receive the sign of the covenant of God.‌

While the world might see this as a curse it is the blessing of God to his people and a sign that they will be kept by him.‌

As we progress to our third point today we get a deeper look into the perspective of Sarah. We see some more details in how this covenant promise is going to be fulfilled.‌​

Genesis 18:1–8

 ESV

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.‌

The LORD appears to Abraham. I’ve always been struck by this story. It’s just kind of cool that God appears to Abraham and Sarah in this way. For me one of the fascinating elements is that Abraham just knows that this is the Lord because he bows himself down. He puts himself in subjection to them. We don’t know how he knows but his response shows that he understands who this is. When people bow down like this it is an indication to us of who they are in the presence of. Not only does he bow down but clearly the LORD receives Abraham’s actions and stays as he requests.‌

Abraham has Sarah make them cakes and he has a calf prepared for them. I get a kick out of this phrase “who prepared it quickly”. This wasn’t the drive through type of quick. They didn’t have the modern conveniences we have for preparing this kind of stuff. This doesn’t mean it was done super fast. It means that it was a priority and it was done as quickly as they could which was probably still super slow by our standards. The idea is that Abraham is a gracious host and he is offering himself in complete service to his guests and we are going to see a contrast with how Abraham receives his guest with how the guests are received when we get to the Sodom and Gomorrah story in a few weeks.‌

We can see this hospitality on display not only in their being quick about it but also in the fact that he stood by them under the tree while they ate. He isn’t eating himself. He is standing at the ready, waiting to continue to serve them.‌

But our bigger picture focus in this part of the passage is on Sarah.‌​

Genesis 18:9–15

 ESV

They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”‌

They inquire where Sarah is and after Abraham lets them know he says that they will come back around this way in a year or so and by then he and Sarah shall have a son.‌

Sarah overhears this and like so many Bible stories it is easy for us to be aghast at her response but if we are honest it is likely we would probably respond in much the same way. Remember what I’ve been driving home. This is not a comeback story. This is a resurrection story and we see that playing out for us here. Even though we’ve been beat over the head with the fact that Abraham and Sarah are old we are told once again and this time, the text makes sure we get the picture just in case we haven’t been paying attention. It says that the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. As I’ve drawn out before she isn’t just barren, her womb is dead. A long time ago it closed up shop and and hung up a gone out of business sign. The idea here is that there is no chance but God is saying it is a done deal that she will bear a child.‌

Like Abraham she doubts and laughs to herself. Something you and I probably would have done too but she makes a mistake at laughing at the promise of the omniscient, almighty one. The Lord asks why she laughed and asks an important question that we should spend time to consider and meditate on ourselves. Is anything too hard for the Lord?‌

Well, of course, nothing is. And that’s the point here. God can do anything, even resurrect the dead womb of Sarah. God can do anything, even resurrect our dead and unbelieving hearts. God can do anything, he can defeat sin, death, and hell in the life, death, and resurrection of God the Son. Are you feeling the story here and the connection with the saving work of Jesus Christ? This story here in Genesis is not just a morality tale to tell us that we shouldn’t doubt God. It is there to point to the coming redemption and how God is going to save his people. He is going to bring life where there is death. He is the God who will resurrect their hearts and at the end of history, bring them up from their graves.‌

As we relish in this important truth I want to draw out one specific application that we can have as we step out into the world to serve God in the coming week.‌

Looking at this story it is important that we remember that God can take any circumstance and turn our unbelief into joy.‌

As I said with both the reaction of Abraham and Sarah it is easy to look down on them but the reality of the matter is that we would likely respond in much the same way that they did. It is likely every last one of us has had a doubt like theirs. The promise of God to us as his people is amazing and unbelievable. At times it can be hard to believe that God will save us from our sin by grace alone through faith alone. On one hand we might believe that we have been moral enough to merit salvation on our own and so we don’t need this spectacular grace of God. On the other hand we might believe that our sin is too great and so we need to earn back God’s favor by our own good works.‌

Maybe you are somewhere else on the spectrum of unbelief at times. Regardless, we all go there. We have moments where it seems as though this being saved by the God’s grace is just good to be true because we know that without Christ we are dead in our sin.‌

And that’s just the point, isn’t it. Your story of God’s salvation is not a comeback story. It’s a resurrection story. When the Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sins, it means it. Usually we think of that image as being dead and in the coffin but today, let’s use the image of the deadness of Sarah’s womb. In the Lord Jesus Christ you have been resurrected. Jesus lived for you. He bore the wrath of God for your sin. He resurrected for you and is now at the right hand of the Father for you.‌

So, when you are plagued with doubt and unbelief remember that God will take that and turn it into joy. The laughter of derision in the story from Abraham and Sarah will soon be turned to laughter of joy by God bringing the child of the promise into their lives.‌

God has done the same for us. Christ, the once and for all child of the promise takes our doubt and turns it joy because the salvation that he brings is true. Every word of promise for you in the gospel is true. In Christ, you have been brought from death to life. In Christ, you have a promise that he will never leave you or forsake you. In Christ, you have the sure and certain hope of your resurrection from the dead and eternal life.‌

So, in the midst of the difficulties you face this week let that good news of the gospel bring you great joy in the new life that you have in Jesus. Amen.