Genesis Chapter 18

  

In this chapter Abraham is 99 years old, approximately 1897 BC. God visits Abraham and Sarah in the form of a man.

Verses 1-15

The Lord and 2 men who were angels visited Abraham.

Abraham invited them to sit under a tree.

Sarah made flour cakes and Abraham had a calf to be cooked.

While the Lord and His angels ate the food, the Lord repeated His promise that He was going to give him a son.

Sarah was eavesdropping and laughed within herself when she heard because she was so old and past the age of pregnancy. 

The Lord asked why is Sarah laughing, is anything too hard for the Lord? 

Sarah denied that she had laughed because she was scared.

The Lord repeated the promise and told them they would have a son when he returned next year.

Verses 16-33

The Lord and his two angels left toward the city of Sodom.

The Lord told Abraham he would punish Sodom for its wickedness.

Abraham didn’t want the few righteous people to die so he asked God to spare Sodom if he found 50 righteous people and the Lord agreed. 

Then he changed that number to 45 and the Lord agreed and then 40. (And so on)

He finally lowered the number all the way to 10 and God agreed.

(Next week in Chapter 19 we will read the rest of this story about the city of Sodom).

Abraham and Sarah continue waiting for the promise of God.

Sometimes a promise is drawing closer when it has never seemed more impossible.

If we are waiting for God to do something in our lives like Abraham and Sarah. We need to find the promise in the Word for that circumstance and begin to speak His promise instead of speaking the circumstances.

(Remember this)

God is bigger than our doubts.

God has never faced an impossible situation.

He is the God of Miracles.

Genesis Chapter 17

  

This chapter continues the story of Abram and Sarai. It takes place when Abram was 99 years old, approximately 1897 BC. Abram and Sarai have been waiting 24 years for God’s promise. Abram’s story is the Old Testament example of the New Testament believer.

Verses 1-14

God reaffirms his promise to him and promised Abram he would be the father of a multitude of nations and changed his name to Abraham which means “father of many.” God changed his name so he would speak the promise. Abraham began calling himself father before he was. He’s hearing God’s promise and he’s speaking God’s promise. 

Vs 5 for a father of many nations have I made thee. So God had already done His part, now Abraham needed to do his part. (Gods promises are already ours but we speak our circumstances like Abram instead of speaking God’s promises).

God establishes a covenant which is an everlasting Covenant with the Jewish people (according to verse 7)

He would give Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan (which we know to be the land of Israel) and they were to worship Him as the one true God. This Covenant of the land of Israel (Canaan at that time) is also everlasting.

As a sign of this covenant, Abraham was to circumcise every male who lived in the house. Infants born were to be circumcised when they were 8 days old.

(Seems harsh but definitely a sign that is a constant reminder of the covenant)

Verses 15-21

God changes Sarais name to Sarah because she was going to give birth to a son.

She would be the mother of nations and kings of peoples shall be of her. 

Abraham laughed and expressed his doubts that a nearly 100 year old man and 90 year old woman could conceive a child.

(He even asked God if His promises could be fulfilled through his son Ishmael and God said no)

God blessed Ishmael but the son of Abraham and Sarah would be where God’s everlasting covenant would be established.

Verses 22-27

Abraham does what God said and circumcised all the males and himself. (It continues to be a Jewish tradition to this day).

This story shows us that God uses the least likely people to achieve great things. Abraham and Sarah couldn’t conceive children on their own but God used them to birth a nation of people who were part of His redemption story in the New Testament.

(This pattern is repeated throughout many people in the Bible as we will learn in the chapters and books ahead).

If you accomplish great things for God it will be the result of God’s power working through you and not you. (That should take the pressure off what we can accomplish on our own).

God’s Word works but not every believer is applying what they are learning in the Word or doing what the Word teaches or believing what the Word says.

As Abraham spoke the promise (every time he said his name he was saying I am the father of many before it happened) his faith grew and he thanked God in advance for the answer.

Romans 4:16-25 Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able to perform.

Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

God’s Word works but not every believer is applying what they are learning in the Word or doing what the Word teaches or believing what the Word says.

Genesis Chapter 16

  

Genesis 16

This chapter continues the story of Abram and his wife Sarai but introduces a new character to their story, Hagar. (Sarai’s Egyptian servant) 

The story of Abram is an example to us how to grow in our own faith. In Romans 4:16 Abraham is called the father of all who believe. He makes mistakes but he does continue to grow spiritually.

Verses 1-6

Sarai’s first recorded words are “the Lord has kept me from having children.” - she speaks her circumstances instead of speaking God’s promises.

Sarai told Abram to take Hagar as his wife and have a child with her. Abram listened to his wife. (Now this is not God’s way of doing things and we are still dealing today with the consequences of that decision).

Hagar had a child and looked down on Sarai and this caused conflict between the two women. 

Vs 5 Sarai is mad at Abram and blames him for the conflict between her and Hagar.

Vs 6 Abrams gave Sarai permission to do what she wanted to Hagar and she dealt harshly with her so Hagar runs away.

Verses 7-16

An Angel found Hagar and asked her where she was going. She told him she was getting away from Sarai.

The Angel told her to return to Sarai her mistress and submit to her because she was pregnant with a son and the Lord was going to make his descendants into a large nation.

Vs 12 She was instructed to name her son Ishmael. The Angel foretold that Ishmael would be a wild man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s against him. In other words, he will live in hostility towards all his brothers. (This is a prophecy given 4,000 years ago that the Jewish people and the Arabs will be in hostility towards each other and that has been going on for 4,000 years).

Hagar called the Lord “the God of seeing” because He looked after her in her time of trouble.

The spring of water where the Angel and Hagar met became known as Beer-lahai-roi.

Hagar the Egyptian believed God’s promise and returns in faith. She comes back obedient to God.

Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.

God has given us these details about Abrams life for us. In some of these stories of Abram he gets it right and in some like this story, he doesn’t. The greatest lesson here is NOT to speak our circumstances but instead speak God’s promises. Speaking circumstances never activates the promises of God.

We can’t rush God by taking matters into our own hands. God had promised to make Abram’s descendants into a great nation in Chapter 12. As they got older the chances of that seemed impossible. Sarai decided to solve things her own way but that ended up causing more problems in their home. This story teaches us that it is better to trust God patiently.