DIGGING DEEP NO. 1001 – September 12, 2023 ABRAHAM – A STUDY OF FAITH IN GOD (PART 14) Gen.21: 1 – 21; Gal.4: 21- 31.

The Christian life is a land of hills and valleys. Heaven is a place of unending joy; hell is a place of unending suffering; but while we are here on earth, we must expect joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. You cannot have hills without valleys. This is especially true of family life, for the same people who bring us joy can also bring us sorrow. A Chinese proverb says “Nobody’s family can hang out the sign ‘Nothing the matter here”’. Sarah had borne the burden of childlessness for many years. People must have smiled when they heard that her husband’s name was Abraham, “Father of a multitude”. But now all of her reproach was ended and they were rejoicing in the arrival of their son.

The birth of Isaac reminds us of many things:

1. It meant the fulfillment of God’s promise – Gen.15: 4, Gen.17: 19; 18: 9- 10. The birth of Isaac reminds us that God keeps His promises, in His own way and in His own time. In spite of their occasional failures, Abraham and Sarah believed in God; and God honored their faithHeb.11: 11- 12.
2. It meant the rewarding of patience – Heb.6: 12. Abraham and Sarah had to wait twenty-five years for their son to be born. Faith is a journey, and each happy destination is the beginning of a new journey.
3. It meant the revelation of God’s power – Rom.4: 17- 21. God wanted Abraham and Sarah to be “As good as dead” so that their son’s birth would be a miracle of God and not a marvel of human nature.
4. It meant a step forward in the accomplishing of God’s purpose. The future redemption of a lost world rested with a little baby boy! Isaac would beget Jacob, and Jacob would give the world the twelve tribes of Israel; and from Israel, the promised Messiah would be born.

Isaac and Ishmael: Spirit and flesh – Gen.21: 8- 11; Gal.4: 28- 29. The Bible makes it clear that Ishmael represents the believer’s first birth (The flesh) and Isaac represents the second birth (The Spirit). Ishmael was born of the flesh because Abraham had not yet “died” and was still able to beget a son. Isaac was born of the Spirit because by that time his parents were both “dead” and only God’s power could have brought conception and birth. Ishmael was born first because the natural comes before the spiritual 1Cor.15: 46. When you trust Jesus Christ, you experience a miracle birth from God Jh.1: 11- 13, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit of God Jh.3: 1- 8.

Abraham represents faith, and Sarah represents grace; so Isaac was born by grace through faith Ephe.2: 8- 9. This is the only way a lost sinner can enter the family of God Jh.3: 16- 18. This has nothing to do with the physical birth, but it is worth noting that In the Biblical record, God often rejected the firstborn and accepted the secondborn. He rejected Cain and chose Abel; He rejected Ishmael and chose Isaac; He bypassed Esau and chose Jacob and He chose Ephraim instead of Manasseh. In Egypt, God condemned all the firstborns and spared only those who were twice-born because they were protected by faith in the blood of the Lamb.

Isaac pictures the child of God not only in his birth but also in the joy that he brought. Isaac means laughter. Nowhere do we read that Ishmael caused great joy in Abraham’s home. From before his birth, Ishmael was a source of painful trouble, and after he matured, he caused even greater conflict in the family Gen.21: 9. The old nature is not able to produce the fruit of the Spirit, no matter how hard it tries Gal.5: 16- 26. Like every child of God, Isaac experienced persecution Gen.21: 9, Gal.4: 29. The flesh and the Spirit are in conflict with each other and always will be until we see the Lord. When like Isaac, you are born of the Spirit, you are born rich Gen.21: 10. Isaac was the heir of all that his father owned; God’s children are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Rom.8: 17. Abraham cared for Ishmael while the boy was at home, but Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac Gen.25: 5.

Finally, Isaac was born free, while Ishmael was the son of a slave Gal.4: 22 and one of the key blessings of the Christian life is freedom. Christian freedom does not mean anarchy; for that is the worst kind of bondage. It means the freedom to be and to do all that God has for us in Jesus Christ. No one is freer than the child of God who delights in God’s will and does it from the heart.