Impatiently Waiting on God's Promise
Notes
Transcript
After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.
But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
But he said, “Lord God, how can I know that I will possess it?”
He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
So he brought all these to him, cut them in half, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, a deep sleep came over Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.
However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.
But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.
In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:
the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
Hethites, Perizzites, Rephaim,
Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar.
Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.
He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her.
Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.”
So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless.
I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him:
“As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations.
Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.
I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you.
I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.
And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name.
I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?”
So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”
But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring.
As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.”
When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.
He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground,
and said, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant.
Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree.
I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.” “Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.”
So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.”
Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.
Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.
“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he answered.
The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.
Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?”
But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’
Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”
Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid. But he replied, “No, you did laugh.”
The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.
Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.
Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac.
When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.”