Abraham, my Friend 50

I will… and Sarah shall…

At this point in our meditations on the life of Abraham, the Friend of God, we come to a new aspect of Abraham’s life. Let’s review his footsteps thus far:

• We saw his first steps of faith as he turned his back on all he had known and went out not knowing whither… 
• We have watched him come to justifying faith and become the archetype of the true believer, a man utterly reliant not upon an idea but upon the person and character of God Himself. (Gen 15:6) 
• We saw him witness a mysterious contract within the Godhead. (Gen 15:9ff) 
• We have seen the tragedy of his failures in the stories of Hagar and Ishmael. (Gen 16) 
• We have seen him drawn into a personal covenant with God sealed in the blood of circumcision. (Gen 17) 
•  As a Friend of God we have seen his intercession over Sodom. (Gen 18,19) 
• We have seen his slippage back to natural resource and God’s declaration to Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet and a pray-er. 
• We come now to the birth of Isaac and to Abraham himself as a personal revelation or type of the character of God.

Abraham as a type of the Father

From this point in the story (Gen 21:1) we shall find Abraham as a type of the Father.

And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did unto Sarah as he had spoken. (Gen 21:1 ASV)

Up until now, we have watched his training; now we shall see God himself in the story of Abraham. In the Scriptures, there are many types of Christ: individuals and stories which prefigure Christ’s person and work. As far as I can recall Abrahamis the only ‘type’ of the Father Himself. It seems appropriate that this man whose very name always included the idea of fatherhood should now set forth some of the glories of God as Father. It is appropriate too that this new era should begin with the story of a father and a son. Later when speaking to Abraham of Isaac God refers to thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest. It will be important to remember that this is how God thinks of Isaac. It is impossible to read these words without sensing how carefully God has chosen them. For the reader sensitised by the Spirit, his thoughts move from the earthly pictures to the heavenly Father and Son instinctively.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16–17 NKJV)

The faith of Sarah

And the picture opens out here in a miracle birth. Not a virgin conception as with Mary but still the Bible’s first miracle baby. Sarah’s incredulous laugh is the equivalent of Mary’s question, ‘How can these things be?’ So far, in Abraham’s story, Sarah has been the passive instrument, mostly. The only incident in which she took the active role was the disaster of Ishmael’s birth, but it is time to see Sarah in another light. 

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. (Heb 11:11 NKJV)

It was not possible for Abraham alone to see the Seed into existence; it needed Sarah also… What a wonderful scene this is; these two ancient people living out their moments in vibrant faith. There is no retirement age for faith. It is not the special field of the zealous teenager or the strong warrior in the fullness of his strength. If Sarah had not believed there would have been no Isaac.
In Romans Paul focuses on the ‘faith of Abraham’: 

…who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (Rom 4:18–21 NKJV)

This is a wonderful exposition of ‘faith’ and we have unpacked it earlier in our meditations. If we had only Paul’s exposition we would hardly consider Sarah’s part in the moment. The epistle to the Hebrews, however, does not mention the place of Abraham’s faith in the birth of Isaac, but concentrates entirely on Sarah. It is worth pausing a while to consider, as the writer of Hebrews evidently intended we should, the faith of Sarah.

Through faith also Sarah herself… 

Sarah’s faith did not ride piggy-back on Abraham’s faith; it was ‘a self-standing’ faith. No doubt she was encouraged by Abraham’s faith, but this was Sarah’s own faith, not an echo of Abraham’s. When the angel visitors had called, Sarah was hidden in the background, in the tent. Abraham is out in the public gaze and an observer could have seen the spectacle of Abraham’s faith in many ways. Sarah’s faith however is not in the public domain. Hers is the faith of the kitchen and the backroom; this is faith behind the veil of public view. These are secret obediences that will never hit the headlines but which bring Isaacs into being. My old Bible College principal used to say that ‘the most difficult instrument to play in God’s orchestra is — second fiddle.’ We marvel at Abraham’s faith, and rightly so, but it will be good to draw Sarah’s faith into the light for a while.

By faith, Sarah ‘received power’

By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age… (Heb 11:11a ASV)

By faith, Sarah ‘received power’. There is nothing passive about the verb translated ‘receive’ here; it signifies to reach out and take hold, to seize. The word for ‘power’ is ‘dunamis’; inherent power. This woman, by faith, reached out and took the inward ability to conceive seed. She reached out, not in presumption, but in eager, urgent, faith to take hold of something that had been offered to her. 

And lest we should forget, the Scripture reminds us, when she was past age. I don’t mean to be rude or frivolous, but Sarah was ‘past it’. This was no teenager; her life lay behind her, not ahead. Many come to a place where they are content to live in what they have, but not Sarah. Nor is this obscurantism; Sarah is not pretending here. She has recognised the hopelessness of her condition. 

The chances have all gone; life is over. The Scripture is careful to tell us that both Abraham and Sarah were fully aware of Sarah’s condition and of Abraham’s; they knew that this was a combination of Abraham’s body, ‘now dead’ and ‘the deadness of Sarah’s womb’ (Rom 4:19, Gen 18:11).

What was it that Sarah reached out to claim? 

And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old? Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son. (Gen 18:13-14 ASV) 

She had heard a word which pointed her beyond her incapability and directly to God Himself. 

The pattern of Sarah-Faith

 Sarah heard the visitors say ‘Sarah, thy wife shall have a son.’ Her immediate reaction was to become aware of her own inadequacy; her language betrays her thinking: 

‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ (Gen 18:13 NASB)

We can see that there is absolutely no God-consciousness in this reaction; there is acute ‘Sarah-consciousness’. She hears a predictive word from God but it only underlines her own powerlessness; the double ‘I’ betrays her. Sarah is saying ‘I can’t’. How often this becomes our reaction to some promise of God; I can’t. I can’t. She had overheard the promise and did not believe it. We often ‘overhear’ promises but they have no power until they are spoken to us personally.

This is where we must hear the word of God spoken directly to us. The response, then, is wonderfully God-conscious. In response to Sarah’s ‘I can’t’ we hear God’s ‘I can’. Is any thing too hard for Jehovah? 

That is the question we must continually return to. Not ‘can I’ but ‘can God’? Jehovah was no stranger to them; this was not a challenge to step into unknown territory, God had already revealed something of the nature of Jehovah. God was answering Sarah’s I can’t with his own I can. Answer it, Sarah, in your heart. Don’t just nod wisely and say, ‘Yes, I see.’ Answer the question; is any thing too hard for Jehovah? and then comes the specific promise… 

Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son. (Gen 18:14 ASV)

When God says ‘I will’ you may safely say ‘I shall’

There is a pattern here that we do well to take to our heart… I can’t. God can. God will… and so you shall. When God says ‘I will’ you may safely say ‘I shall.’

I don’t know whether or not she took hold of the word at that exact moment, or later. The account in Hebrews says that Sarah did something because of something else: 

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. (Heb 11:11 KJV) 

Sara.. received power to conceive seed… because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Her stretching out to take hold of the promise was possible because ‘she judged Him faithful’. Wonderful, Sarah, you’ve got it! This necessary miracle does not depend upon your ability or faithfulness, but upon his. ‘Judged’ is a good choice of word here; Sarah assessed the situation, and came to a considered judgment that he who had promised was ‘faithful’. This realisation changes every perspective; he is faithful who has promised. Stack up all the ‘cons’, as high as you like, every impossibility, tick them off one by one; this is faith without pretending. Now that you have your list of why it can never happen here is a single fact to put into the ‘pros’ list: ‘he is faithful who has promised.’ 

Does Paul’s prayer for ‘entire sanctification’ fill you with desolation when you consider the impossibility of it all? 

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thess 5:23–24 NKJV)

If it does, good, it should… but do read the next verse:

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

First faith, and then the patient waiting

Sarah believed, not just for an exciting moment, but for nine months of patient waiting. She ‘judged’ that He was faithful who had promised, and was prepared to base her life on that judgement. So may we.

I don’t know whether or not, centuries later,  a teenager in Nazareth ever thought about these things, but I do know that she followed Sarah’s pattern. She was clearly overwhelmed at the visit of the angel. 

…behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. (Luke 1:31 NKJV)

Her immediate question was, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ The angel’s reply, in essence, was very simple — the Holy Spirit. Gabriel then went on to share the miracle of Elisabeth:

And behold, Elisabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren. For no word from God shall be void of power. (Luke 1:36–37 ASV)

For so the literal translation runs… 

Question: How can these things be?
Answer: Because God’s word has power within it.

Mary’s faith-filled response

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38 NKJV)

May I extemporise a little? 

Let it be, not according to my fears, and self-conscious helplessness; not according to my feelings or what others have told me; but be it unto me ‘according to thy word’. 

She judged him faithful who had promised.

Although the circumstances must be very different to those of Sarah and Mary, the declaration of Elisabeth will be true for each one of us: 

“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45 NKJV)

The pattern holds true for all of us.

I can’t but God can.
God will and so I shall.