And now, here, the birth of Isaac, and
there's quite a comparison, and I'd like to
call your attention to the comparison between the
birth of Isaac and the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, both had been promised.
You will recall that when God called this
man out of Ur of the Chaldees, 25
years before this, why, God had said, I'm
going to give you a son, going to
give a son to you in Sarai.
And 25 years went by, and God made
good His promise.
Now, God had said to the nation Israel,
a virgin shall conceive, bring forth a son.
And that day came when he was born
in Bethlehem, and it was a fulfillment of
prophecy, you see.
Both had been promised.
Then there was a long interval between the
promise and the fulfillment.
Actually, you have about 25 years from the
time God promised this.
Now, you could even go back as far
as David.
God had promised they'd come one in David's
line, and that's a thousand years before Christ
was born.
It's quite a remarkable parallel here.
And then the third thing is the announcement
of the birth to Sarah and Mary seemed
incredulous and impossible.
Now, you'll recall that when these servants of
the Lord visited Abraham when they were on
the way to Sodom, they announced the birth,
and it just seemed impossible.
Sarah laughed and said, well, this thing just
can't be.
It's just beyond belief.
It's just something that just seems impossible.
And after all, who was the first one
to raise a question about the virgin birth?
Well, it was Mary herself.
When the angel made the announcement, she says,
how can these things be, seeing I know
not a man?
Note that this parallel is quite striking indeed.
And then both Isaac and Jesus were named
before their birth.
You find that both Abraham and Sarah were
told, you're going to have a son, and
you're going to name him Isaac.
And then you find out at the birth
of the Lord Jesus that he was named
before.
That's the thing that the angel said to
Joseph.
He said, you're going to call his name
Jesus because he'll save his people from their
sins.
So that this is something that we need
to note here.
Then there is a fifth corollary.
Both births occurred at God's appointed time.
Now, I've called attention to that here in
the second verse.
It says, at the set time which God
had spoken to them of, Sarah brought forth
Isaac.
And Galatians 4.4 says, in the fullness
of time, God sent forth his son, born
of a woman, born under the law.
And then the sixth thing is, both births
are miraculous, and I've called attention to that.
And then the seventh thing.
Both sons were a particular joy of their
father.
This is the thing about this man Abraham,
called the name of his son that was
born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him,
Isaac.
This was the name he gave back at
the time when God made the announcement.
He laughed because of the sheer joy of
it all.
And then out of heaven the father spoke
and said, this is my beloved son in
whom I'm well pleased.
Both were a joy.
And then both sons are obedient to the
father even unto death.
Now, the next time we're going to get
into the 22nd chapter, and when we get
in there, we're going to see that this
boy, Isaac, was offered up by his father.
Now, he's not like the Sunday school card
that was given to me as a boy
portrayed it.
It showed a little bitty fellow, and because
it says lad, we assume that he's probably
eight or nine years old.
Well, he just happened to be about 33
years old when this took place.
But he was obedient to the father even
unto death.
And that was true of Isaac, and that
was true of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we find here this is a
marvelous picture of the birth and the life
of Christ in the birth of Isaac.
But not only that, but the miraculous birth
of Isaac is a picture of the resurrection
of Christ.
Now, we've already turned on another occasion to
Romans 4.
There Paul said that Abraham, not counting that
his own body that was then dead, and
then the deadness of Sarah's womb.
So out of death came life.
That's resurrection, you see.
And when Paul emphasizes that, he mentions the
fact he was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised for our justification.
And so you have in Isaac here the
entire picture, and it's quite a remarkable picture,
by the way.
Now, let's advance on into this chapter here,
and you'll find how God graciously deals with
Abraham and also with Hagar and her son
Ishmael.
Verse 12, And God said unto Abraham, Let
it not be grievous in thy sight because
of the lad, because of thy bondwoman.
In all that Sarah hath said unto thee,
hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall
thy seed be called.
God makes it clear to Abraham he's not
going to accept Ishmael as the one he'd
promised.
And also of the son of the bondwoman
will I make a nation because he's thy
seed.
Now, he'd said of thy seed, I'll make
nations to come from you.
So God says that a great nation will
come from this boy Ishmael.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning,
and took bread and a bottle of water,
and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on
her shoulder.
And the child, and sent her away, and
she departed, wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
And the water was spent in the bottle,
and she cast the lad under one of
the shrubs.
And she went and sat her down over
against him a good way off, as it
were a bow shot.
For she said, Let me not see the
death of the child.
And she sat over against him, and lift
up her voice, and wept.
And God heard the voice of the lad.
And the angel of God called to Hagar
out of heaven, said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar?
Fear not, for God hath heard the voice
of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, hold him in
thine hand, for I'll make him a great
nation.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw
a well of water.
And she went and filled the bottle with
water, and gave the lad drink.
And God was with the lad.
He grew and dwelt in the wilderness.
He became an archer.
And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran.
And his mother took him a wife out
of the land of Egypt.
Now, if you read the rest of this,
you find out that you drop the line
of Ishmael.
We're not following it.
But they're out there in the desert.
Today the Arab would qualify.
Now we find here in verse 22, it
came to pass at that time that Abimelech
and Phicol, the chief captain of his host,
spake unto Abraham, saying, God's with thee in
all that thou doest.
Now thou swear unto me here by God
that thou wilt not deal falsely with me.
In other words, Abimelech wants to make a
contract or a treaty with this man Abraham.
And Abraham and Abimelech became good friends because
of this.
Verse 32, Thus they made a covenant at
Beersheba.
Then Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the chief
captain of his host, and they returned into
the land of the Philistines.
And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and
called there on the name of the Lord
the everlasting God.
He's calling upon God's name everywhere he goes.
And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many
days.
Now we are told later on, Abraham was
always a stranger and a pilgrim in this
land that God had promised him.
And this is an evidence of it at
this point.
Now next time we see the offering of
Isaac.
And friends, this is one of the highlights
of the Bible, this chapter we're coming to.