The Birth of Isaac

0:00Good morning. How are y'all? Y'all look great. You look great. Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 21. We made another little jump again, but I'm going to be referencing backwards to some of the other passages leading up to chapter 21. But I want to begin this morning with a question. Is the birth of a child a miracle? And I'm going to try my best to say the word miracle correctly because I do not. So, miracle. Is the birth of a child a miracle? I'm going to give you what I think. We may think that it is, but strictly speaking, it is not. R. C. Sproull defines a miracle this way: a miracle is an extraordinary, and I'll say extraordinary, work performed by the immediate power of God in the perceivable world, which is an act against nature that only God can do. So, definitionally speaking, that is what a miracle is. Procreation is an incredible blessing, but it does happen every day according to the natural order in which God has created within the universe. And precisions of those words, and it's why I kind of asked the trick question to begin with. Precision is a little bit important here because if Job, born on a Tuesday afternoon, is a miracle, then how do we classify the birth of Isaac that we're going to read about today, who was born to a 90-year-old woman well past her child bearing years? Side note, don't name your child Job. Okay? I mean, you can if you want to. You have Christian liberty to name your child Job. I know Job. Do you? Okay. Sorry. Every day God directly blesses the world in general, right? And each individual through his ordinary means and through his common grace. We should be thankful for his regular working. As it is awesome, awesome that our God sends rain, that he turns the earth on its axis, that he gives us seasons, that he grows flowers, he blesses us with children, and everything else that he does all the time, every day, behind the scenes. There are particular times, though, when God steps forward into our world and does something truly miraculous. These times when God shows us that he is greater than the laws of nature, he's greater than the laws of physics, he's greater than the laws of biology, when God shows us that nothing is impossible for him. These are the scenes from a long movie that cause you to sit up in your chair and say, He did what now? And make us pay attention. Miracles that are truly miracles not only confirm the existence of something beyond the natural order of things, that doesn't have to obey the natural order of things, but they signal to us that something big is happening here, and we should be sitting up and paying attention. It also communicates that the God we serve, who will bring all of his promises to completion, and he will do that because he is a God who can supersede biology. Because he created it. It is a God of whom nothing is impossible. So I pray this morning you will see that. And once again, and pray that you will see the faithfulness of God to keep his promises. And to do so leaving no question as to who has done it. I pray that you see these miracles as a grace. That leave us breadcrumbs that lead straight to Him. And for the mothers out there, I'm sure that you can confess that having a child in your 90s is a pretty huge breadcrumb. Finally, I pray that we rejoice this morning that the Lord has brought us, the church, into existence by way of a greater miracle even than the birth of Isaac. But we'll get there. Stand with me again, if you wish. Once more, I'm going to read Genesis chapter 21. Just going to read seven verses, verses one through seven. The Lord visited Sarah and he had said, Oh, sorry, the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, who Sarah bore him Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me. Everyone who hears will laugh over me. And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, thank you again for this word, and I pray and ask now that you would speak for Christ's sake, and it is in his name that I pray. Amen. I began with the question, is the birth of a child a miracle? And I'm going to ask another seemingly random question, and I'll connect the two for us as we go. Do you take church membership for granted? Do you take church membership for granted? Far too often, I think, we not only take for granted the blessing of being united to a family in Christ, but we often consider it a burden. We feel that being a member of a church requires too much of us, right? We are expected to go to service and to be of service. We are expected to contribute, possibly in some way, to be open, right, and honest and be known and vulnerable. To use the imagery a few weeks ago, church membership can and often does get in the way of the towers that we are trying to build for ourselves. So this can become a burden. And to use Brother Gerardo's words from Sunday school, this is a couple months ago now, but it seems like we just keep using it. It was a great line, and we keep using it. I want us to shift our perspective to the things that we get to do as a result of this blessing, the church, as opposed to the things that we have to do. Church membership is not the wage due to all of those who are willing to do all of the have-to's. Church membership is a miraculous gift and a blessing and brings with it a lot of promised get-tos. And to fully flesh out that argument, we need to dive deep into our text and the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Isaac. So we're going to kind of backtrack and we'll get there. I'm going to let the cat out of the bag early this morning. But the birth of Isaac was the beginning of the church. That's why I made that reference to start with. The birth of Isaac was the beginning of the church. We say this because the promise from God to create a people for his own possession began with Abraham, which was miraculously inaugurated through the birth of Isaac. Further spoiler, this makes the story of the potential sacrifice of Isaac all the more compelling. Excuse me. I just lost my place. Makes the birth of Isaac all the more compelling when we see that Isaac is the representative of the beginning of Israel, right? And the true church. So rather than requiring the sacrifice of his own people, right? The church, his own promise, the church, God provides a ram in the thicket to spare Isaac, his people, his church. But that's next week. More on that next week. So through Isaac, God brings forth Israel. So that's no coincidence that God renames Jacob, the son of Isaac, Israel. Jacob is renamed Israel. Through Israel, God brings forth Christ, and through Christ, the fullness of the church is established. Whereby we see that we are members not by a natural birth, but by a spiritual rebirth that comes by and through faith. We know this to be true because the beginning of Israel, that is the birth of Isaac, was a miraculous birth, not a natural birth. And the beginning of the church, of the beginning of the redeemed church, i.e. Christ, was a miraculous birth, not a natural birth. It was a miracle. The church exists today not because a lot of charismatic people came up with a bunch of well-oiled church growth programs, or because of any other natural explanation that you can come up with. The church exists because of the miraculous power of our God and his never-ending grace in sustaining us. God, in this incredible story that he is writing, uses a barren womb, right? Or a used up body. Those are Sarah's words, not mine. Or used up body. One that has no ability to bring forth life. And through that womb, God begins his church. And many years later, God uses a virgin womb, whose first life is the author of life to redeem by divine miracle that which he started through Sarah and Abraham. How can anybody but God write such an incredible story? It's truly remarkable. Let's look a little further into this story, a few more dots that we'll connect. When God made those original promises to Abraham back in chapter 12, we don't have to flip there, but way back in chapter 12 was when God made that original promise to Abraham when he called him from that pagan land. God then didn't explicitly say how he was going to bring about through Abraham this great nation. Not specifically. A few chapters later in chapter 15, God does reveal a little bit more, and he tells Abraham that he will have his own son, he says. And his son will be the heir and the beginning of an offspring so numerous that they can hardly be counted. That's wonderful, right? Amen. Only problem is that Abraham and Sarah, at this point it's still Abram and Sarai, they got to talking, right? They got to thinking. They got to scratching their heads as to how in the world this was going to happen, given that Sarah at this point was 77. Abraham was in his 80s, late 80s, 87. They certainly trusted the promise of God, and they certainly believed it to be true, but they didn't wait on God for what was the means to fulfill his promise. Sure, they believed that God was ultimately going to get them to the place that he promised, but the means and the path to get there was of their own design. I won't go into details on how they took matters into their own hands. I think we are familiar with that story. But I do want to see this, and this is important, that God intervenes in that situation to bless even though there was misjudgments. Hagar runs away. I don't know if y'all know the story, but read it if you don't know it. Hagar runs away because Sarah is being awful to her. She's jealous, she's vindictive, and the angel of the Lord appears to Hagar, and we've said that this angel of the Lord is almost certainly Christ himself. He appears, he seeks out and finds Hagar by the spring of the water in the wilderness and tells her to go back home. I'm going to bless you. So God seeks Hagar in the wilderness. He shows mercy on her in her exile by sending her home and blessing her. And we see here very clearly that even through our own mistakes, certainly the mistakes of Sarah and Abraham, through our sins, through our errors, God is still showing grace and compassion to the exiled wanderer. Can God bless even through our mistakes? Absolutely. And the biblical witness is that he does. He really, really does. So do we sin then that grace may abound. By no means. But we can be assured that God is working all things together, all things together, for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So, that's a little bit of a side note. But for 13 years then, Abraham and Sarah live under the assumption that they have done the right thing in taking the means into their own hands as opposed to waiting on God. They assume that we have done this right, that Ishmael is the heir that we were promised. Abraham was 86 when Hagar bore Ishmael. When Abraham was 99, the Lord returned to him again. And he made the official covenant with him. That's what we talked about last week when he gave them the sign of circumcision. Abraham was 99 then. It was right after the institution of that covenant that God finally reveals to them his full plan. God changes Sarai's name to Sarah. And upon giving of that new identity, he tells Abraham that he will give him a son by and through Sarah. And God also says that he will bless her, Sarah, and that she shall become nations, he says. That she and through her that kings shall come from and through her. And those are the same promises that God gave to Abraham, right, back in chapter 12 and then again in chapter 15. And those same promises that were previously given to Abraham are now widened to include Sarah. She will become nations, and kings shall come from her. And I think we see there the foreshadowing of the reconciliation that the gospel brings, where there is no more male or female, or slave or free, or Jew or Greek, but these promises are extended outward to encompass all people. All people. So people who say that the Bible is sexist and misogynistic, they really just haven't read it. Because it is not. So what was Abraham's response then when God told him all of those things? When God says, I'm going to have the heir is actually not going to be Ishmael, it's going to be a son through Sarah. I'm going to read that for you. This is back a little bit in your text. You don't have to turn there. I got to find it real quick. Yeah. I got it in my notes too. Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God told him that. Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to him, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. It's got to be Ishmael, right? He says. God says, No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. Do you know what the name Isaac means? Anybody? Whose name is Isaac? It means he laughs. It means he laughs in Hebrew, anyway. I know God has such a wonderful personality, doesn't he? It seems weird to even say that, but he doesn't chide Abraham for his disbelief because honestly, I don't think Abraham was laughing in an insulting way. I think it's just so unbelievable that he makes him laugh. So God names him Isaac. He laughs. And the same thing happens when Sarah overhears the Lord detailing the plans. She laughs too, right? If you remember that part. She overhears the Lord talking to Abraham and she laughs. And this causes the Lord to ask Abraham why Sarah laughed. And it opens the door for God to reveal his, as we discussed on Wednesday night, his infinitude? 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? Can an infinite God who exists far beyond the constraining limits of human biology and of the universe not do something? Is there anything too hard for an infinite God? And we can certainly chuckle at the thought of a 90-year-old woman having a baby, or have doubts that the Lord would save and sustain a sinner such as I. But is anything too hard for our God? And contained within that simple rhetorical question from the Lord and the doctrine of his infinitude that flows from it is all the assurance and life and death that we would ever need. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Most assuredly not. We just need to wait on him. The final bit of humor that I want to point out from the story is Sarah's response to being called out for laughing. If y'all know the story, you can laugh too. But Sarah's response for being called out for laughing, and the Lord's response back to her. Sarah's response to the Lord is saying, Why did you laugh? She denied, I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh. That's what she says. She was afraid of the Lord. And his response was pretty straightforward. No, but she did laugh. That's verse 15 of chapter 18. Verse 15 of chapter 18. Maybe the Lord didn't intend to be humorous there, but I certainly chuckle every time I read that when I consider that dry response to our silly denials. Nah. But you did, though. Anyway. So we get back to this miraculous birth of Isaac from the text that we began with this morning. Chapter 21. The birth of the promised child through a set of circumstances that can only be explained by divine power and will of God. There can be no denying that it was God who brought Isaac into the world. To begin a people who would later redeem, to begin a people that he would later redeem through similar extraordinary means. I feel like that's what the Bible uses, so that's what we're going to use. Sarah, when Isaac was born, said this God has made laughter for me. Right? We again See this reference to laughter, but it's a different kind of laughter than previous, right? Previously, Sarah's laughter was from disbelief, from doubt. It was an awkward sort of break the weirdness laughter because the Lord had just said something that was utterly ridiculous for her. Now her laughter, though, is fueled by relief and rejoicing. Who would have believed that God could do this thing? Surely nothing is too hard for our God. This is laughter from faith. This is laughter from rejoicing. There's another very similar instance of such rejoicing at the realization of God working to deliver his promise. Just as Sarah sat with the blessing of God and thinking of all the future generations who would rejoice over her story, right? She says, Surely everyone who hears of this is going to laugh over me, right? Just as Sarah sits with that blessing and looks forward to the future generations, we see that exact same reaction play out in Mary. This is Luke 1, 46. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked upon the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and his and holy is his name, and his mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring. Mary makes the connection for us to tie the blessing that is in her womb as the fulfillment of what God had promised to Israel all the way in the days back to Abraham. And further, she rejoices at what the Lord has done for her and looks forward to all the future generations who will hear of what the Lord has done and proclaim, surely, nothing is too hard for our God. Sarah didn't just have a baby, right? She miraculously gave birth to the promise of God. A people for his own possession. Mary didn't just have a baby. She miraculously gave birth to the promise of God, the Savior of the world. God called Sarah's child, he laughs. And we certainly see that in Isaac, God turns our doubting laughter into rejoicing laughter. And great joy comes from the beginning of God's people. God gives the child of Mary, though, an even better name. Jesus. Which means Yahweh saves. As good as laughter is, and as wonderful as joy and rejoicing are, they are only temporary without the name. That is above all names. But God did promise and deliver to us Yahweh saves. And because he did, our doubts are turned into joy. Our skepticism is turned into eternal rejoicing. Because God has delivered on every wild promise that he has ever made. A child from a ninety-year-old barren womb. Nothing is too hard for God. A child, the God man from a virgin womb. Nothing is too hard for our God. Guilty, vile, and helpless we spotless Lamb of God was he. Full atonement? Can it be? Hallelujah, what a savior. Truly, nothing is too hard for our God. So how are we to apply such an incredible story and the clear work of God's salvation? To answer that question, I think we need to see how Jesus Himself makes that connection between these stories. This is John 8, 56 to 58. The words of Christ, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, You're not 50 years old, and you've seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Aside from the absolute mic drop that Jesus delivers there by calling himself I am, right? When they mock him for saying that he saw Abraham. There's something more for us there. And how could Abraham have seen the day of Jesus? That seems strange, right? Because Abraham saw the initial fulfillment of God's promise that would be completed in Christ. So even Christ himself is making these connections. Abraham saw Christ because Abraham saw God fulfilled, sorry, Abraham saw Christ because Abraham saw God fulfill his promise. And what is the incarnation of Christ, if not the embodiment of the fulfillment of God's promise? To look upon Christ is to see God. And to know that God will keep all of his promises. And this does many things for us, but two specifically, maybe three, two and a half, kind of. First is it should make us glad, right? We talk about that next door. We should be joyful. Abraham saw it, right, and was glad. Sarah laughed and rejoiced. Mary magnified his name and rejoiced. The reality that nothing is too hard for God, and he proves it, should make us glad, thankful. And going back to the second question I asked this morning, we should consider it a joy, not a burden, to be a part of this great fellowship, this fellowship of faith that began and was redeemed by the miraculous power of God. This is a miracle that we are sitting here. What a privilege it is to be allowed access into the family of God. To be a partaker in His divine nature and to experience His goodness through His people. The church is a blessing. And joy should fill our hearts at the revelation that our God is awesome. He is an awesome, promise-keeping God. And I don't have time to go into all those promises that he makes to you this morning. We know them, and at some point we will go through all of them over and over again. But the big one is the second thing I want to point out from this text, and that is he promises reconciliation to all who call upon his name. Here are the words of 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 21. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come, and this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us this message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might be the righteousness of God. Again, 2 Corinthians 4, 17 and 21. Reconciliation was promised to Adam and Eve, right? Reconciliation was the driving force behind the promise to Abraham and Sarah, and it was the reason God sent his son into the world. To reconcile a lost people to himself. Christ, who knew no sin, became sin so that we might be the righteousness of God. And if you have trusted Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, but your sin has still veiled you from the goodness of God and his promises, I implore you to be reconciled to God today. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Ask the Lord for forgiveness. Turn from your sin, and surely he shall make you new. He might even make you laugh. Maybe. If you have not trusted Christ, because you, like Sarah, chuckle at the thought of God doing something as wild as making a new creation through you. I implore you, stop doubting. And trust in a God who brings life from barren wombs. Salvation to a wayward soul. One day we're going to look back at all this. We're going to laugh. I think we will. We'll laugh about it all. And surely there will come a day when we shall fully know. Nothing is too hard for our God. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so very much. That you are an infinite God of whom there is nothing that is impossible or too hard. We thank you for the testimony that you have given us through the promise that you made to Abraham and Sarah and through the revelation of that promise to Isaac. And ultimately, Lord, how that points us to Christ. Lord, your promised deliverer and our salvation. We pray that we looked to Christ this morning, Lord. That we see it and are glad, Lord. Lord, help us to be reconciled to you, Lord. Help us to confess our sins and be made new in your sight. Lord, we thank you for the forgiveness, that you do not count our sins against us, Lord. But that you forgive them fully by and through the work of Christ Jesus and that righteousness that you give us. We thank you for that this morning, Lord. And may we testify to that and proclaim that this morning, Lord, that we trust Christ and His work as we take of this wine and of this bread, Lord. May we proclaim Christ's death and resurrection. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.