Abraham, my Friend 52

The Heir

In our previous thoughts we concentrated on the type of Father and Son in the account of Abraham and Isaac. In this devotional, I want to consider the picture of Christ we find here under the type of the Heir. Back in Genesis 15, Abraham had been anxious about his heir. His fear was that, having no blood descendent of his own, his property would pass into the hands of his chief steward (literally ‘the son of the house’); Eliezer. God had reassured Abraham, declaring that this would not happen.

And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (Gen 15:4 ASV)

Abraham’s possessions would not be passed on to even the best ‘son of the house’ but to a natural son. There is a difference between even the most faithful steward and a son.

Another possible candidate for inheritance would have been one who was a natural son, Ishmael. This passage of Scripture will eliminate Ishmael as a contender too. Ishmael was not free; he was the son of a slave. Ancient cultures usually determined ethnic connections through the mother’s side. There could be no doubt as to descent as regards the mother. A crude answer to the question, ‘Who is a Jew?’ is the statement, ‘he whose mother is a Jew or who has converted to Judaism.’ Hagar’s status had never changed, even though Sarah gave Hagar to her husband Abram to be his wife.

And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. (Gen 16:3 ASV)

Perhaps Hagar thought her status had changed, but the angel who met her in the wilderness of Shur was under no misconception:

And the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence camest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. (Gen 16:7–8 ASV)

The flesh persecutes the Spirit

Nothing had changed; she was still Sarah’s house-slave. Ishmael’s status was determined by that of his mother, not his father; consequently, he was not ‘free-born’. Nevertheless, in the absence of a free, natural, son Ishmael might have been considered a candidate for inheritance.

In the emerging type of Isaac, there must be no possible misunderstanding. Isaac was not just the first contender among others; he was the ‘only son’:

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Gen 22:2 ASV)

The scene for this absolute clarification that Isaac was the ‘only son’ is the event of his weaning. In the Near East of ancient times the transition from mother’s milk to solid food was much slower than our own. The final break with dependence upon the mother usually came at two or three years of age, or even later. David later used this picture to illustrate the end of dependence upon others and his total reliance upon God:

Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child with his mother,
Like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Ps 131:2 ASV)

It was a key time in the child’s life when he must be increasingly associated with his father and the future, rather than with his mother and the past.

For Isaac’s official transition a great feast was held. This was a day of great celebration. The vulnerable years of infancy were passing. Isaac was the future. But the joy of this event was marred by the behaviour of Ishmael; if Isaac was four years old, then Ishmael would have been 17; he was old enough to understand the significance of the feast for the heir’s weaning. It is interesting too that the Scripture doesn’t even name him at this point but simply describes him as the son of Hagar the Egyptian. This is a description not only of his origin but of his status; there must be no confusion here. The Egyptian slave boy was ‘laughing’ — that tsâchaq word again from which we get Isaac (yitschâq). This time however it is not the delighted laughter of fellowship but the derisory laughter of the mocker. There is a cruelty here which is not explained; Paul describes the event as one in which Ishmael ‘persecuted’ Isaac.

But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. (Gal 4:29 NKJV)

The New Testament word used here is sometimes used of ‘pursuing’ or ‘chasing’. Ishmael harassed Isaac. Sarah instinctively knew that this was not a playful teasing but a more ominous aggression against Isaac, and she carried her protest to Abraham:

Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son: for the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. (Gen 21:10 ASV)

She had seen that behind Ishmael’s petty troubling of Isaac was a claim to equality and inheritance.

The story continues

Paul takes up this record and draws some astonishing truths from it but for the time being, I want to concentrate, not on the conflict, but upon the concept of the Heir. The Father’s Son is the Heir; there are no other heirs. We may share the Son’s inheritance, but he is the Heir. Let me run ahead of my story so that you can keep it in mind as we meditate; there is only one Heir and all blessings and bounties that we enjoy are only possible as we are rightly related to the Heir. Later in our story of Abraham, we shall see a ‘description’ of Isaac given to a prospective bride:

And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses. And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. (Gen 24:35–36 ASV)

It is an interesting description for a prospective wife. There is no description as to his height or the colour of his eyes or his sense of humour. The only thing that the servant has to say about Isaac is ‘he is the heir’. Him hath he given all that he hath. There is nothing outside the Son; to him hath he given all that he hath. Any provision, or blessing, or promise, it is all in the Son; he is the Heir.

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. (2 Cor 1:20 NKJV)

…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love… (Eph. 1:4 NKJV)

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…(Eph. 1:11 NKJV)

It’s all in him; He is the Heir.

Meet the Heir

When the letter to the Hebrews opens we meet the Heir:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds… (Heb 1:1–2 NKJV)

Unto him hath he given all that he hath. This quotation from the epistle to the Hebrews is a then and now passage. In the past God had spoken to the ‘Hebrews’ by prophets; that was then. But in these last times, now, God has spoken to the ‘Hebrews’ in a Son whom he has appointed heir of all things. If he is heir of ‘all things’ what is available outside him? The Heir had appeared and his coming had changed everything. Jesus had illustrated this with a parable in Matthew 21. The owner of the vineyard had sent the prophets ‘in time past’:

“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. (Matt 21:33–36 NKJV)

And then having spoken to them throughout the generations through those he had sent…

Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ (Matt 21:37 NKJV)

This surely was their opportunity, but the response is chilling and shows the spirit of Ishmael:

But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ (Matt 21:38 NKJV)

What a terrible culmination! When they ‘saw the son’ they said, ‘this is the heir, come, let us kill him’. ‘Ishmael’ alive and well amongst God’s own people! It is part of the diabolical conspiracy to deprive the Son of his inheritance.

Why do the nations rage,
And the peoples meditate a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bonds asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.” (Psa. 2:1–3 ASV)

But in the heavens is heard another kind of laughter…

He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh:
The Lord will have them in derision. (Psa. 2:4 ASV)

We see, in Ishmael, the slave railing against the Son. It is the ancient cry of our race:

But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ (Luke 19:14 NKJV)

This refusal to accept his rule inevitably breaks out into full-blown murderous intent: then and now.

And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him. (Mark 15:20 NKJV)

All this is prefigured in Ishmael — the refusal to recognise the heir, the mocking, the persecution by the slave against the Son. The type was fulfilled in the moment of crucifixion. Here we see the Heir rejected:

“…But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” (Luke 22:53 NKJV)

But that is not the last word.

“Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
“I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession. (Ps 2:6–8 NKJV)

Jesus is the Heir

The epistle to the Hebrews captures this theme again:

...When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Heb 1:3–4 NKJV)

He has finished His work and taken His seat; the inheritance is sure. The epistle goes on to say:

But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. (Heb 10:12–13 NKJV)

What then of we rebels who defied his rule and set ourselves to deprive him of his inheritance? This was the mood captured on the Day of Pentecost:

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:36–37 NKJV)

Peter had the answer and the promise of an amnesty, but in the context of these thoughts on the Heir I’m going to take the same answer from the closing verses of that wonderful Psalm:

Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way,
For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Psa 2:12 NASB)