OT Distortions: Sterility/Infertility

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-We’re going to be continuing...

...our study of Marriage, Family, and Sexuality, tonight.

We will begin back in Genesis 1...

…if you’d like to go ahead and turn there.

-For the last several times...

…that we were in this series...

We have been dealing with a subsection...

…that we’ve been calling:

Distortions of God’s Design in the Era of the OT

So far, in that Subsection, we’ve covered:

Polygamy

Adultery and Divorce

Homosexuality

Needless to say...

…those tend to be:

Mature in content...

Emotionally sensitive subjects.

(And, we’ve tried to use the appropriate considerations)

Our topic this evening...

Sterility/Infertility

…is the same way.

It too, has some very mature texts...

…that are associated with it.

It too, can be a source of...

Pain

Shame

Conviction

Regret

(And I’ll try to be considerate of that)

-Also, like these other topics...

…this one too, is spoken of repeatedly throughout Scripture.

And, here too, where God speaks…

…his people must listen, and obey.

-Now, let me give one more qualifier:

We’re loosely following the outline of this book

(Show Slide)

-Because of that...

-And because of time restraints...

This will not be an exhaustive treatment...

…of the issue of fertility/conception.

We won’t be focusing on...

…all of the relevant cultural implications...

…at this time.

That (Lord-Willing) will come later.

This is an OT survey of:

God’s original design in this area

How it became corrupted after the Fall

And, while it may not yet...

...address the particulars, of...

Abortion

Contraception

IVF

Family Size

Adoption

etc...

…it should lay a good foundation...

…upon which we can later...

…build our positions on those things.

-Well, alright… Let’s Pray… and Entreat the Lord’s Help

Pray

-Before we can label Sterility/Infertility...

…as distortions...

...We have to establish that it was/is...

…God’s ideal design...

...for his image bearers...

…to reproduce.

And, Like everything else...

…we’ve looked at so far...

...The first three chapters of Genesis...

…show us that very thing.

-Most of the distortions that we’ve looked at so far...

…have been a violation of...

Genesis 2:24 (ESV)

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And if you consider...

...the sexual implications of that union...

…then you might could make...

...that case again, here.

-But this issue reaches back a little further.

It begins in the previous chapter...

…before the creation is even complete.

Genesis 1:20 (ESV)

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

So God created

And it was good

Genesis 1:22–23 (ESV)

22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Reproduction of the creatures...

…according to their kind...

…was always God’s good plan!

He creates the land creatures:

livestock

wild beasts

creepy crawly things...

According to their kinds

And it was good, too!

Then, finally:

Genesis 1:26–28 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over . . . all the earth...

27 So God created man in his own image...

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over . . . every living thing that moves on the earth.”

This was God’s original design!

Conquest through reproduction!

Filling the earth with the glory of God...

…by showing the supremacy...

…of those who bear his sacred image.

Environmentalists are WRONG...

…about man’s place in the ecology of Earth.

We were supposed to fill it up!

We were supposed to subdue/cultivate it for our own use

We were supposed to rule over other creatures

BEFORE THE FALL!

And we were supposed to do that (primarily) by...

Getting married

Having children

Training them up

Sending them out to do the same!

To say it was integral to God’s creative design...

…is a massive UNDER-statement.

-Now, I jumped ahead a little.

Adam was created by himself, right?

Could he fulfill the mandate without help?

He needed a helper, didn’t he?

God made him one...

Out of his (Adam’s) own substance...

And, in so doing...

He created...

the institutions of Marriage/family

The concept of gender and sexuality

To what end?

For what purpose?

To enable the man...

…to accomplish his duties to God:

Fill the earth with image bearers

Subdue, cultivate, and keep it

Exercise dominion over it as God’s Vice-Regent

(i.e., in His name)

-Now, remember what happened after the Fall.

Genesis 3:16 (ESV)

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children...”

Her gender-specific function in the commission...

…would now be fraught with difficulty and hevel (futility)

-But, does this mean...

…that God changed the priority of reproduction?

NOT AT ALL!

He said this first:

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

You see, it was quite the opposite!

The hope for the restoration of glory...

…lay in the process of bringing forth children for God!

Remember what we read before in...

Malachi 2:15 (ESV)

15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring...

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-This primacy continues on...

…even after the Fall!

-Now, after the Flood...

After the destruction of the ungodly offspring...

God doubles down on this original commission.

And, he does so with an increased sanctity:

Genesis 9:1–9 (ESV)

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast . . . every bird . . .everything that creeps . . . all the fish . . . Into your hand they are delivered.

3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything...

5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning...

6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,

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Was procreation presented as an option, here?

-Now, this thread of...

...blessing being reclaimed...

...through holy procreation...

…continued on throughout the Patriarchal Narratives.

Consider its centrality to the Abrahamic Covenant:

Remember the promise:

Genesis 12:2–3 (ESV)

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

3 ...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

He went on to promise him this:

Genesis 13:16 (ESV)

16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

Genesis 15:5 (ESV)

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

And finally:

Genesis 17:6–7 (ESV)

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Now, before you go all Paedobaptist on me...

…remember that Paul said:

Galatians 3:16 (ESV)

16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Christ is the Offspring of the Woman!

He had a real flesh and blood lineage...

…going all the way back to:

David

Judah

Jacob

Abraham

Noah

Adam and Eve

-But, that’s not the scope of this study.

-How was fertility/procreation viewed...

…outside of the Patriarchal narratives?

As a blessing and a gift!

As something highly desired!

Remember the promised reward for obedience:

Exodus 23:25–26 (ESV)

25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless...

26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land...

Deuteronomy 7:11–14 (ESV)

11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

12 “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.

13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock...

14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.

The opposite was true for disobedience:

Deuteronomy 28:18 (ESV)

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.

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-The fact is, brethren, that...

…for a woman in the ancient world...

…there probably wasn’t an indicator...

…of the Divine disposition toward you...

…that was more looked to, than...

Fertility/Infertility

Producing godly offspring...

…was your primary goal in life.

Infertility would bring you shame...

Fertility brought you honor...

…and was assumed to be the favor of God

Consider Rachel:

Genesis 30:1 (ESV)

1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

Genesis 30:22–23 (ESV)

22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.

23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”

Remember Hannah:

1 Samuel 2:21 (ESV)

21 ...the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters...

This reminds us of Psalm113

Psalm 113 (ESV)

1 Praise the Lord!...

2 Blessed be the name of the Lord...

9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

Our society says the opposite!

Who is right?

Psalm 128 (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!

2 ...you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Blessing or Burden?

And our favorite:

Psalm 127:3–5 (ESV)

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.

5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Blessing or burden?

-If we look at...

The world

Our lives

Our purpose in life...

…the way God does...

…Then we’re not going to see children as a curse.

And, when a society does this...

Something is very, very wrong.

The hand of divine judgment...

…has already been upon it for a long time!

-Now, in addition to these...

...over-arching dispositions on fertility...

...We see its promotion in the Law of Moses:

Probably the most telling of these...

…is the Law of the Levirate Marriage:

Deuteronomy 25:5–10 (ESV)

5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife...

9 then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’

The most infamous example of this law...

…is with the sons of Judah.

It shows us the Lord’s heart in the matter...

…in a big way!

Genesis 38:6–10 (NKJV)

6 Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him.

8 And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.”

9 But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother.

10 And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; therefore He killed him also.

This was a willful distortion of God’s design.

-Another one was in...

…the surrogacy of Hagar for Sarah.

Remember the context:

Genesis 16:1–4 (ESV)

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.

2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived...

How do we know that this wasn’t okay?

For starters...

God rejected the child as THE offspring:

Later on...

Genesis 17:15–21 (ESV)

15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife...

16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” . . .

18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him....

21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you...

-We also see the Divine disapproval...

… in the allegorical use of this event, in:

Galatians 4:21–31 (ESV)

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.

25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

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-Now, is there a lesson in this for us (Sarah/Hagar Surrogacy)...

…if we struggle with infertility?

It’s okay to avail yourself of...

...natural means to gain children...

...So long as they don’t violate...

God’s purpose and design for marriage and sexuality

God’s revealed will for any circumstance

-There’s one more really well-known...

…intentional OT distortion of God’s design:

It’s the birth control method...

…used by the Egyptians...

…On the Israelites...

...prior to the Exodus: (Abortion)

Exodus 1:15–17 (ESV)

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives...

16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

Gender-based abortion.

Sound familiar?

17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

How do we know this was righteous?

because it said:

Exodus 1:17 (ESV)

17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

2. Because of God’s Response:

Exodus 1:20–21 (ESV)

20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

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-Now, all of this begs...

… a couple of important questions:

1. Is infertility ALWAYS the judgment of God on your sin?

2. Does barrenness necessarily indicate God’s displeasure with you?

It could be so...

But, definitely NOT necessarily the case

In fact… if you think about it...

…the genealogy of Jesus Christ...

…i.e., the pathway to the return of blessing...

…was laden with infertility!

-Sometimes our afflictions exist, for...

The purpose of our own sanctification

The greater glory of God!

We can trust Him...

…during our disappointments

We can simply obey what’s clear...

…and leave the results to Him...

...And, trust his decision!

Think about this:

Genesis 11:30 ESV

30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

At first, she tried pragmatism!

Hebrews 11:11–12 (ESV)

11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

For Abraham, it was even more profound!

Romans 4:1 (ESV)

1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

Romans 4:13 (ESV)

13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Romans 4:16–25 (ESV)

16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,

17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.

20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone,

24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,

25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

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Our society says that...

…you can’t be happy and fulfilled...

…unless you take charge of your own life.

They reject God’s design for procreation.

Like the serpent in the Garden...

…They promise happiness...

...for faithless transgression.

Who are you going to trust?

Who are you going to listen to?

Who are you going to obey?

For whom are you going to live?

It must be Christ

It must be Him