Fulfillment of the Promise & Removal of the Threat - The Life of Abraham Genesis 21:1-21

I. The Lord fulfills his promises in his time. V1-7

The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”[a] 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him[b] in his old age.”

Pain of infertility. “Infertility isolates, alienates, and disorients. It is largely unseen, afflicting otherwise healthy men and women, who nonetheless know that “something is wrong.” It is often (devastatingly) misunderstood, prompting sorrow, shame, and even anger as others offer well-meaning but misguided help. It is persistent in its pain, robbing hope from the dreams of would-be parents.” If she cannot be a mom, who then is she? Congrats and confetti fly for a pregnancy; silence and embarrassment envelop infertility.

Abraham and Sarah was infertile for many years. For the last twenty five years their long dead hope of having children have been resurrected by the promise given to Abraham, that He will become a great nation. Abraham believed.

Abraham struggled and questioned God as years have passed by: “Lord God, What can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? … Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir. Now the word of the Lord came to him: This one will not be your heir, instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 15:2-4 In verse 6 we read: “Abraham believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”

In Chapter 18 God visits Sarah and works specifically with her heart, promising her a child with in twelve months. She had three months to respond in faith and receive supernatural strength to conceive against all odds.

What was unique about Sarah’s infertility?

In her 90’s Sarah was way past her menopause, where she no longer ovulated, produced eggs.

In his 100’s, according to Sarah, Abraham was no longer able to please her, meaning his child producing apparatus was expired.

It was inconceivable for them two to conceive.

For Abraham and Sarah, it wasn’t just their infertility that was with them their entire marriage. In addition, their age was working against them. Their ability to conceive was biologically impossible.

But what was working for them was the promise of God. God Himself appeared to Abraham and promised a son. God appeared to Sarah and promises a son that will come through her body. Both Sarah and Abraham considered it sufficient for them to believe God! To trust against all odds! We read what happened to Sarah when she believed: “By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.” Heb.11:11

What was unique about the birth report?

One would expect a lot more ink shed in the announcement of the birth! This is the climax of the last eight chapters! This is a miraculous event in the life of our father of faith! They have been waiting for 25 years after it was promised to Abraham! It was once in a life time when a barren 90 year old woman conceives and births a child!

Was it under epidural?

Was Abraham present to cut the cord?

How long did you push for?

Give us a sense of what it was like to see infants skin against a skin of a 90 year old mother?

Was there balloons?

Was the baby tent decorated blue with plains and boy toys?

Nothing! All we read is: “ The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.”

The focus is on God and his faithfulness, not on the child or the parents. When Jewish people are going to read this event, throughout the ages and God wanted them to take away this very lesson: God fulfills his promises! God keeps his word! God follows through according to what he says! God is able to bring a child in to the world in a miraculous way!

Is.7:14 “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin will conceive,[d] have a son, and name him Immanuel.”

Your life might be found at the cross roads of what you see and feel, and thousand reasons why you should doubt or the promise of God. Sarah chose to believe God and thus received power to conceive since she considered the one who had promised was faithful.” Do you consider God to be faithful? Do you believe your eyes or your God? Do you listen to you reason or the promise of God?

Faithfulness of God leads Abraham to obedience and even more trust. He calls his son by the name God prescribed. He circumcises his son on the 8th day as God has said.

Sarah laughs, because true laughter comes to those who faithfully trust their God against all odds!

II. What ever threatens God’s promise must go. 21:8-14

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son mocking[c]—the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”
11 Now this was a very difficult thing for[d] Abraham because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned[e] about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 13 But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”
14 Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away.

Notice what threatens Sarah: Isaac being mocked, scoffed, laughed at. When Paul in Galatians mentions this event notice the word he used to describe it:

“29 But just as then the child born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now.” Gal.4:29

You would think that siblings usually have conflicts on regular basis and there is nothing unusual about that. But the offense was so severe to Sarah, that she decided to drive out the slave woman with her son. Notice her contention with her that she doesn’t even mention her by name. She speaks with Abraham and does not call his son by his name but calls him the son of your slave.

Why such enmity? Even if it was ridicule and disrespectful behavior, would simple discipline and heart to heart conversation suffice in this case? Notice what she is asking for. Drive out this slave with her son. Kick her out from our home. She does not belong here with her slave son. They will not be inheriting anything that belongs to my boy Isaac!

Now, this was very difficult thing for Abraham because of his son. Yes, having two wives who constantly fought was nothing new, but to drive out your son whom you love as your flesh and blood is not an easy task. Ishmael was about 17 years old at that time. Seventeen years of spending time together, working, traveling, teaching him everything he knows and then to kick him out for good?!

What is even more concerning and bizarre is how God responds: “Do not be concerned about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac.”

Sarah is concerned about inheritance

God does not rebuke her, but adds that Abrahams offspring will be traced through Isaac

Notice how God preserves the promised seed. It was through Abrahams seed with Sarah, that the whole world will be blessed. The whole world will be blessed including you and me today. It was the lineage through which later Christ the true seed eventually came. God was protecting the seed by protecting every threat in its way.

“The real threat”

If you would read a chapter earlier, with in the twelve months when Sarah was to conceive and have a child, king Abimelech takes Sarah to be with her. That was a pretty substantial threat to the promise. Both Abrahams life and Sarah’s purity was in danger.

Look at how God protects his promise:
Gen.20:3-4, 6-7, 17-18
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.

Abimelech said: “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent?

God said: “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience.[d] I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her. 7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children, 18 for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

God was hovering over Abimelech ready to strike him dead if anything was to happen to Sarah. Entire city was going to be destroyed. The Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah. God made Abimelech sick, most likely impotent so he could not possibly impregnate Sarah.

Now that is a threat, but Ishmael laughing at Isaac?

“But Isaac’s status as heir is always at risk while “the son of Hagar… who had borne a child to Abraham” is around, so Sarah demands their expulsion.” Gordon

As long as another is present in the household, there will always be a threat to the promise. According to Paul, the persecution will always take place when legalism is present. The flourishing of spiritual life will be impossible! I love how the Russian translates the word Ishmael persecuted Isaac “Притеснял” He gave him no room to flourish, to grow, to express himself. He kept him under pressure.

If it is hard for you to grasp how God agreed with Sarah to drive out his own son of 17 years, you are not alone. The tension in this story is here for a reason. We must struggle with this question as we read! We are almost set up to disagree with God here. God wants us to have this struggle and wrestle with Him. Everything that has even a slight glimpse of threat to Gods promise must GO! Must be driven out.

“Do not be distressed about the boy” literally “let it not be bad in your eyes”

Gen17 “17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!” – “Alive to you”

Gen 22:2 ““Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Your only son?

Gen 25:24 “When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.”

Rm. 9:13 “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau”

God is continually showing us the superiority of the child of promise. The heir of all the promises must be protected, loved in a special way, and every threat must be expelled.

Ok, God loves the promised child and protects him in a special way, what does that have to do anything with us? What can we take away from it?

Gal 4: 28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as then the child born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the Scripture say?

Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.

31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. 5:1 Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

What is small in our eyes is a big deal in God’s eyes. Anything that threatens the life of a promised seed in our life must be taken as a real threat!

What persecutes your spiritual life today? What gives no room for growth?

We cannot rely on Abrahams judgement of what is safe and not safe for the promise. He just gave his wife up to a king to sleep with her, a second instance, and did not think of it being a threat! Allow God’s judgement to shine light in to what is a threat to our spiritual life that God promised us.

Do not be naïve when it comes to the threats to your spiritual life. Be like Sarah when it comes to fighting for the spiritual life. Identify the threat and drive it out!

There is a great accountability app: Covenant eyes. If you want to stay pure, you allow the app have access to all of your internet activity and you give access to someone who will keep you accountable. Every concerning website you visit will take a screen shot, blur it and send it to the person keeping you accountable. And sometimes people ask for help, please pray for me, but the report shows that it is coming from the same platform, over and over again. Instead of praying to help you fight it, you must get rid of that platform. Drive it out!

There is nothing wrong with Tik Tok, just once in a while something bad pop-up… pop up after pop up, then you notice you are searching more and more, and then you are in a pit.

Men often say: I must stand my ground, it is OK if my wife is upset, even cries a little, if I give in now, I will always have to hide behind her skirt… really popular Slavic excuse to be harsh with their wives… Going to be without reconciliation is not a small threat – you know what the bible calls it? You just gave the devil a foothold in to your marriage. Don’t be surprised when you will find yourselves fighting over every little thing, and time spent away more enjoyable than together.

What is extra hour at work? What is extra shift? What is extra meeting? Is that a small thing to? Even if it is considered spiritual responsibility? Friends, it is a huge problem, when our life consists of those little hours and shifts here and there and kids grow up without parents! It is a huge threat to our spiritual life! Drive that slave woman with her son out!

What about those who thinks that regular consumption of alcohol that increases in volume and regularity is just a small thing. One Presbyterian surgeon asked me at work, what will you do when you come to heaven and Jesus make new wine? I will drink it then, but now, I consider it as a threat, because being from Slavic descent, I am not trained in drinking properly.

Notice the urgency: Little threat to Isaac prompted Sarah to drive the threat out without hesitation. Do it while the threat seems just a laughter. Later it will do much damage and it will be more complicated to deal with.

Abraham early in the morning got up, got bread and water skin and placed it on Hagar’s shoulders. He was distressed about it, it was his wife, it was his son! Skin of water could hold about three gallons of water, good for couple of days for two people. Kalvin comments that Abraham did not give lavish provision to the going away slave as was prescribed by the law probably because he was hoping for them to soon after return. But that was the last time we see Abraham and Ismael together. He comes only to berry his dad.

Driving away threats to your spiritual life is a difficult task! God will not do it for you! It is a matter of faith and obedience. Once you commit, once you obey, God gives his grace to follow through. It is hard to get rid of platforms that are so useful for business and communication, but you will constantly be damaging you spiritual life. It is hard to humble yourself and ask for forgiveness before your wife or your kids, but there is no other way to restore trust and relationship. It is hard to commit to no drinks if you see you begin to struggle, but once you commit, God will walk you trough it!

III. God sustains those who obeys Him 21:14-21

14 Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away.[f] She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die!” So as she sat nearby, she[g] wept loudly.

17 God heard the voice of the boy, and the[h] angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. 18 Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Obeying God doesn’t always make sense. It is often hard, but following God requires sometimes to obey even if it seems impossible or unreasonable.

Is there life after obedience?

We say if I work less and try to be home in the evenings or weekends, I will not be able to pay bills, but if you sense God is calling you home to be a father, test him. Obey him and see what happens.

If I limit my entertainment, my life will become boring and miserable, if God is convicting you that your spiritual life is suffering because you worship at the altar of entertainment, Obey God and see. Going to bed on time will all of a sudden improve your health by adding more hours of sleep, your communication with your wife will increase and you will fall in love with her once again. Your children will all of a sudden become more precious to you…

If God calls you to drive out slave with her son from your life, obey Him and He will take care of the consequences. Don’t ever let obedience to God be bad in your eyes. Do not be distressed. Yes it will cost you. Yes it will be uncomfortable, but understand that it is all about the promised seed. God is more interested that Christ be resembled in your life than anything you are or what you possess, not even your marriage, your children, or your health! Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good, all things, so that you will be transformed in to the image of Crist! Because your worth and blessing will be “traced” through Christ and nothing else!

Look at how God steps in and encourages Abraham: “Do not be distressed” the word distressed means “let it not be bad in your eyes” we often say what a life, what a misery, but God tells us don’t see it that way.

Also notice how God changes the word slaves boy in verse 12 to slaves son in verse 13. If we read it, it doesn’t mean much, but in Hebrew God uses the word lad, which in their days were old enough to be able to sustain yourself as an adult. He was not a child who depended on parents, he was at an age where he could survive. Joseph was a lad…

God also tells him I will make a nation of your son, because he is your offspring. Abraham knows what that means, when God sais I will make him great…

God hears his cry in the wilderness

God provides well of water in the desert

God provide a wife from Egypt to Ishmael.

Notice that God shows up to Sarah, God shows up to Abraham, God shows up to Hagar…

Questions:
1. Do you consider God faithful? Are you able to rest in his promises?
2. Do you value your Spiritual life as much as God? What is the biggest threat to your spiritual growth?
3. Do you believe in life after obedience? Do you see life committed to Christ as misery or true freedom?
4. Do you know the sustaining presence of God when it comes walking in obedience?