Genesis 18 | The Welcome of the King

The promises of God usually surpass expectations for our good.

Most of us are guilty of lying and rarely feeling any pang of guilt for it. We always click “yes, I have read the End User License Agreement” when we have installed a new app… it is a legally binding contract between a software vendor and a user, outlining the terms and conditions for using the software, including usage restrictions and intellectual property protection.

But who cares! I just want to use the app!

Or the waiver form at the rock climbing gym, the soccer league, the swimming club, anything that is physical and might claim my life, releasing liability. Signing our names to take responsibility if something bad happens (we think).

I say “we think” because we are never really sure… we still sign anyway.

Or worse, our mortgage!

We generally know what these documents say, but do we explicitly know?

As we arrive on the church calendar to the beginning of Holy Week, I have been wrestling with the idea that for generations people generally knew the promise, or had expectations of promise to come from it, but not explicitly.

We do this with Jesus. We generally know what we are saved from, but don’t explicitly know what we are saved for… and it is often beyond our expectations, and for our good.

And I want to get there through a covenantal meal and some laughter.

The promises of God usually surpass expectations for our good.

Rapid Recap: Yahweh is the creator of heaven and earth, made all the things. Adam and Eve, our first parents, placed in a garden. But they were deceived into thinking they could determine what was right and wrong like God and sinned meaning all of humanity sins now. Out of that tragedy came a promise of a seed of Eve who would crush the serpent.

Generations follow… There is a flood of recreation. And eventually one man is chosen to begin a family, that will be a nation that will bless all the families of the world.

Abraham is given this promise, a covenant, Yahweh will make it happen. But he has yet to have a child, by Sarah his wife, who would be his heir, until we heard of his name, Isaac.

This is where we want to drop back into the story.

The Promise of a King(s)

Genesis 17:15–19 “And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. [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.” [17] Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” [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.” (ESV)

All along we want to follow the overarching redemptive thread of the story, so it will always snap back to the seed of Eve. The seed is showing up in the offspring of this “Princess” for that is what Sarah means. “Kings of people shall come from her.”

Abraham laughs, Isaac will be the first.

What a gift, every time they say his name, “remember when we laughed at the promise of God because it seemed impossible!”

Then in our text we have this covenantal meal. Yahweh passes through, and Abraham doesn’t just give him and the two angels a snack, there is a good amount of bread and a calf.

The divine visitation and feast is the only place in Scripture before the Incarnation of Jesus that the Lord ate a meal with a human being.

The covenantal function of this meal was to restate the promise of a son through Sarah. What better way could there be than the familial intimacy of a meal to communicate the close relationship on which the promise was based.

We want to see promise and response here.

Promise (a son), now has a timeframe. One year’s time. “Sarah, your wife shall have a son.”

Now this is not new for us, but it seems to be new to Sarah. It is not unreasonable to think that her husband did not relay vital information to his wife! Maybe he didn’t want to get her hopes up…

Kings will come from her, and it begins with this son. Promise.

Response. They were old. “Way of women” had ceased. So Sarah, like Abraham, laughs to herself in disbelief, which we totally understand. But she goes further with it, into denial.

The Lord asks Abraham why Sarah laughed.

Genesis 18:15 “But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (ESV)

Afraid of being exposed. Vulnerable. Real. Was it shame that framed this denial? Whatever it was, it is clearly not her best, not for her thriving.

What is required or instigated in response to the promise is trust, faith. “Is anything too hard for Yahweh?”

How many of us are in the same spot? Given promise - even just basic freedom from sin, or something more impossible like Sarah’s situation - and laugh it off?

Need to hear “Is anything too hard for the Lord?

She expected the promise would be fulfilled by strategy, giving her servant to produce an heir. But the promise surpassed expectations for her good.

What is laid before Sarah is a life of wonder, miraculous pregnancy, an heir that will bear her features, a child she will hold. And that was to shape all of life for her, we won’t hear a whole lot of her going forward, but her life in the covenant is about to get expansive, far bigger than her laughter could contain.

She is not cast out for her denial, though I am sure it would have made her uncomfortable. Still the promise came, Isaac will be born.

Throughout this passage we continue to marvel at the insistence of divine grace. Against all odds, and in spite of Abraham’s and Sarah’s laughter, God remains determined to bless Sarah (Gen. 17:16) and Isaac (17:21) beyond anything they deserve.

Kings will come from her.

“Sarah’s soul was instantly plowed for the promise, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son” (v.14). Sarah came to believe that nothing was “too hard” (literally, “too wonderful” or “too surpassing” or “too incredible”) for the Lord. Twelve months later she experienced the incredible. Beautifully, her ultimate Son, Christ the Messiah, bore the title “wonder” or “wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6).” - Hughes

“Nothing is incredible for those in covenantal fellowship with the Lord, because nothing is too marvelous for him.” Allen Ross

Leading us to the celebration of another covenantal meal, the promise of a king, and the response to explicit terms.

2) The Welcome of the King

Generations later. Isaac’s children’s children’s children. Descendants once in slavery, then inhabitants of the promised land, then divided, then exiled, a remnant returned to rebuild but always governed by others.

More covenants had come. Mosaic covenant, giving the way of life before Yahweh. Davidic covenant, to have a son forever on the throne of Israel.

A people eager for a king, promised. A messiah who would set everything right. The seed who would crush the serpent once for all.

John 12:12–19 “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. [13] So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [14] And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

[15] “Fear not, daughter of Zion;

behold, your king is coming,

sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

[16] His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. [17] The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. [18] The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. [19] So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (ESV)

Matching the prophetic vision of Zechariah, here is the fulfillment of the promise, of the kings spoken of Sarah’s descendants. This is the final one, to rule forever. The anointed One.

Into a crowd with expectations. Longing for a warrior king, a freedom fighter, who would rid them of the scourge of Roman rule, who would cut taxes and give them the land back!

And the response is “Save us” But what is it they want to be saved from? Merely their circumstance?

“The choice to ride into Jerusalem on a young donkey wasn’t just to fulfill prophecy but to contradict the prevailing notions about Israel’s Messiah. The waving of palm branches wasn’t just an act of enthusiastic praise; it was a statement of nationalistic pride. But Jesus didn’t come into Jerusalem as a political, economic, and social advocate for Israel. He came to establish a kingdom reign over all nations, including Israel and Rome—a reign of grace in the hearts of his followers and a reign of peace over all he has made. Jesus makes us joyful prisoners of hope by rescuing us from the empty promises of hype (Zech. 8:9–12).” GTB

And the Greeks ask for the fine print.

John 12:20–26 “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. [21] So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” [22] Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. [23] And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. [24] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (ESV)

For Sarah the question is “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Will you have faith in him, hold onto his promise, to trust him?

For the crowd, the question is “will you keep your life for eternity by hating it in this world to follow Jesus?” Giving up expectations, dying to self, setting aside preference, for him and his way. To trust him.

Opposite of expectation. “The spiritual life is governed by similar paradoxes. “[God’s] power is made perfect in [our] weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Do we want to be rich? We must become poor in spirit. Do we want to be first? We must be willing to be last. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). If we want to rule, we have to serve. If we want to live, we have to die.” Hughes

Our potential is never reached except through death to sin and denial of self. Whatever we want to become (God willing) musically, athletically, academically, or whatever, death is the key.

It is not only “dying” however. We do kill sin. But we also enjoy living in him. It is eternal living. This is an expansive life, in Jesus. Giving up the temporary for the eternal. Still fully engaged, in but not of. With childlike wonder. With clear-headed sanity. And stubborn trust in our King.

Colossians 2:6–10 “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

[8] See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. [9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” (ESV)

We expect drudgery, but we get fullness of life in Jesus. His life in ours.

The King who will announce that his kingdom is not of this world, that it doesn’t involve earthly power or resistance, doesn’t raise an army to storm the castle walls but raids your heart with love and forgiveness that you would become sons and daughters of light.

A kingdom that finds victory not in political domination but by a King that gives himself up for his own.

“Jesus was talking about a different kind of king, a king who would rule through death, not conquest. The illustration was so simple. When you hold a kernel of wheat in your hand, you cannot see what is in it. Quite literally each grain contains, if it is a good seed, a million similar offspring. In planting season, a grain is cast forth into the ground as if in a tomb. Then it “dies,” is set forth from its encasement, and becomes a resurrection plant, and its many grains are resurrection fruit! Jesus was telling the crowd he would fulfill his kingly role by dying and thereby reproducing his life in others. That was how he was going to rule.”

John 12:31–36a “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. [32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [33] He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. [34] So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” [35] So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. [36] While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (ESV)

Many in the crowd would turn away, the explicit was far more than expectation and too much. They preferred to be saved only from the current circumstances, not sin or even their damnable good works and self-righteousness.

Not different from today.

“Every one of us forms a verdict on his claims. People reject his kingship over their lives. In today’s court of public opinion, the majority verdict is that Jesus is no King worth following. And as we look around us, it seems that they’re getting away with it. But the sobering reality is that, ultimately, this judgment will rebound on us. By rejecting Jesus as our King, we demonstrate that we are rebels against God.” — The Glory of the Cross: Reflections for Lent from the Gospel of John by Tim Chester

But many would serve this King, even to death.

We have the perspective of history. Isaac was born. Kings came from Sarah. Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected for us, to be our passover lamb meeting what our sin deserved, covering us in his righteousness, freeing us from that which truly oppresses; sin and death. And he empowers us to live laughing not in disbelief but in the face of difficulty because our God is the promise keeper. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” - Jesus

H. P. Liddon, preaching on Palm Sunday one hundred years ago, said, “The errors and miseries of the world are purged with blood: everywhere in the great passages of human history we are on the track of sacrifice; and sacrifice, meet it where you may, is a moral power of incalculable force.”

A force, for our good.

The promises of God usually surpass expectations for our good.

Promise and its fulfillment are before us. Believe and live.

Serve Jesus, give your life for him, as he gave his for you. There is no better life.

The crowds will turn away in unbelief and rejection. Reviling.

The world shakes and rages. Our King reigns. Take heart. See Jesus, be free.

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Him and no other man.

He alone who was present

When all of time began

The Apostles do speak well

Revealing God’s good plan

But none could dare take the place

Of the unchanging Man.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

And know Him as a friend.

We would know the heart and will

All of Hell could not bend.

We would have Him near to us

So near that we could hear

Each and every word of His

That might rise to our ear.

Sir, we would see Jesus.

Before us and behind.

The fiery Pillar and Cloud

Come down to ease our mind.

His every word and move

A light to guide our way.

His meek, radiant power

Keeping evil at bay

Sir, we would see Jesus

And be not torn from Him.

We’d fill the cups of our lives

With Him right to the brim.

Show us then, in word and deed

This Man from Galilee

Show us The One with power

To truly make us free.

Sir, we would see Jesus,

The cry of all creation.

The simplest of requests

Echoes from each nation.

Come and make Him known to us

Come share His salvation.

Come show us the Good Shepherd,

Who bleeds Liberation.

Matt Pilgrim “Sir We Would See Jesus”