Genesis 17:20-22:
As
for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will
make him fruitful andmultiply him greatly. He shall father
twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.21 But I
will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to
you at this time next year.”22 When
he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
A
Promise for Ishmael (17:20-21)
While
the spiritual blessings must come through Isaac, God will not
overlook the love of Abraham for his son nor of His own promise to
Hagar (cf. 16:10ff.). Ishmael would become a great nation, and of him
would come 12 princes, but the spiritual blessings could only come
through Isaac. The doctrine of divine election is to be seen in this
promise.
Abraham’s
Obedience (17:22-27)
Verses
22-27 stress the important role of obedience in our Christian lives.
It is precious to God. Because of this, He recorded the circumcision
of Abraham, Ishmael, and all of Abraham’s household. The response
of faith to divine commands is always obedience.
While there was a time lapse of 13 years from the birth of Ishmael to this appearance of God, there was only about three months from the circumcision of Abraham to the birth of Isaac.
Conclusion
There is little in this passage which is new to anyone who has read their Bible. Let us not forget, however, that a good deal of what was said was new to Abraham.
New
revelation was simply clarification of the promise of .
It suddenly occurred to me in my study of this passage that all of
Abraham’s life was primarily focused upon the promise of .
It took him a lifetime to begin to grasp the promise which initially
took only three verses to record. The pinnacle of Abraham’s growth
in faith is seen in his willingness to sacrifice his son (chapter
22). This act was the ultimate test of Abraham’s faith in God’s
promise to bless him through his descendants.
If
it took Abraham a lifetime to grasp three verses of Scripture, how
long will it take us to fathom the depth of the riches of His grace
(cf. )?
This
passage helps me come to grips with the desire to learn ‘new’
truths for my own life and for my preaching. God is not so interested
in us knowing new truth as He is in us grasping the few great truths
of His word. How easy it is to think that we have learned some truth,
only to pass on to another. In Abraham’s life, God revealed a
truth, then continued to return to it, testing him, and then
revealing more of that truth than he had known before. Which one of
us can say that we have come to fathom the doctrine of the grace of
God or of the atonement? Who would be willing to claim that he had
seen all of its implications? I believe that, like Abraham, we can
expect God to be at work in our lives, expanding and expounding upon
the few great and central truths of Christianity.
The
more I study the life of Abraham, the more I see that his was a
relationship of growth. He came to learn more and more about the God
Who called him. He came to a deeper and deeper understanding of the
meaning of God’s Word. As he did so, he invariably drew nearer and
nearer to God. There was not only a growth in Abraham’s knowledge,
but in his intimacy. At first, God only spoke to Abraham (12:1).
Twenty-four years later He revealed Himself to Abraham and spoke with
him. Abraham, for the first time, communed with God and interacted
with Him. Later, he would be called the friend of God.
You
and I cannot have a static relationship with God. Not if we are truly
born again. God will not allow this to happen. He may allow us to
fail such as Abraham often did. He may leave us to ourselves for a
time, as Abram found God silent for 13 years. But sooner or later God
will break into our lethargic lives and draw us closer to Himself.
That is what the Christian life is all about.
Applying the Scriptures:
How
does God assure us today? How does that assurance help us follow
God's plans?
No comments:
Post a Comment