To Us A Son Is Given-- Isaac

Text: “6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”” (Genesis 21:6)

Tonight we’re talking about the child of promise.

His birth was promised by God years before. God’s people had waited and waited and waited. On multiple occasions, God had had to come and remind them of His promise— reassure them that He had not changed His mind. His promise was still in effect.

It did not matter that his birth was biologically impossible. That did not matter to God one bit. In fact, it only highlighted that it was His work; that He, and He alone, had done it. This was not achieved through human will and determination.

His birth carried on the promises made to Abraham. Through Him, Abraham would be the father of an entire nation. His descendants would take possession of the promised land. God, Himself, would be their God and they would be His people.

Tonight we’re talking about the child of promise.

Except, the more that I describe him, the less clear it is who I’m talking about. Everything I just said is true of Isaac. And everything I just said is also true, in an even greater sense, of Jesus.

As if Isaac’s birth was not enough, God sent Jesus into the world in a very similar way.

Both of their births had been promised by God; both were biologically impossible; and both carried on the promises made to Abraham.

But the similarities do not end there. Years later, both Isaac and Jesus would be led up a hill to be sacrificed. In both cases, their Fathers went ahead with the sacrifice in the knowledge that their sons would live. In Abraham’s case, God allowed his son to live by stopping the sacrifice. As Abraham lifted the knife to offer the sacrifice, God called to him from heaven and stopped his hand. But, centuries later— on a hill not far from the one Abraham and Isaac had climbed, interestingly enough— there would be no one to stop the hand of the soldier holding the hammer and the nails. No angel would restrain the hand of the soldier who pierced His side with the spear.

But, the moment the blood and water flowed from His side, the final promises to Abraham were fulfilled. Through Him, all nations were blessed. His children would possess the Promised Land— not just the land of Canaan, but the Kingdom of God.

But tonight is not simply about the way the Old Testament points to the New Testament and is fulfilled in it. I’m going to take this opportunity to confuse things a little more. There is one other child of promise to talk about tonight: You.

You, brothers and sisters in Christ, “like Isaac, are children of promise” (Galatians 4:28). It’s not quite the same. Your birth wasn’t promised like theirs was. But God the Father did choose you before the foundation of the world.

Your physical birth was entirely according to biology. But, by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He gave you the right to become children of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).

If you had been aware of all that God was going to give you by causing you to be born again by water and His word, you would have laughed at the absurdity of the thought like Sarah did. Sarah discovered, a year later, how wrong she was and her laughter was turned to joy. “God has made laughter for me,” she said. “Everyone who hears will laugh over [her]” (Genesis 21:6).

So that you may know the truth of all that God has promised you, God the Father has given a sign: “For to [you] a child is born, to [you] a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). And the Son of God was not content to leave it at just that. He has given you His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of your inheritance in the Promised Land until you acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 1:22).

Still, for now you are forced to wait. Day after day, week after week, year after year. So He continues to come to you, again and again, assuring you in a number of different ways that His promise is still true. By the regular reminders of your baptism “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;” by the absolution that assures you that your sins have been paid for in full and you are a child of God; by giving you a foretaste of the feast to come in, with, and under bread and wine; by sending pastors to proclaim from this pulpit that you are, in fact, like Isaac, children of the promise. And you are, as surely as the water in that font touched your forehead; as surely as you have heard me say to you “I forgive you all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; as surely as you have eaten and drunk the bread and wine at this communion rail. As surely as all of that has happened, you are a child of God and an heir of His kingdom.

In a few minutes, you will walk back out that door and take up your life in this world once again. Live as only a child of the promise can.

Stand firm against satan. He will try to steal your inheritance from you. He will rant and rage and try to impress you with his power, but he is, in fact, powerless against you. You are a baptized child of God.

What you do in this life may seem empty. It may seem futile. It may seem to fail. But, “58 my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). You are a baptized child of God.

You will continue to have sorrow in this life. But face it with the confidence that, when you see Him return, your sorrow will be turned into laughter once and for all (John 16:16-22). You are a child of the promise.

Tonight we’re talking about the child of promise— Isaac, Jesus, and— by faith in Jesus Christ— you.