Christmas 2018 The Child of Promise
Hello this is Eric again. A friend asked me, “How can I know that the Bible is true?” So, I am taking some time to answer my friends question and to do this I am looking at one of the evidences the Bible gives to answer this question, Prophecy.
(Read the previous blogs here)
We are taking the time to find out if the Bible is true. We are specifically looking at God’s promises, in particular, prophecies—where God tells us what will happen in the future. Up to this point we have looked at 5 prophecies and how God fulfilled them—but what do we do with this information?
If we just read the Bible, and hear it, but don’t do anything with it, we aren’t really listening. The Hebrew concept of listening means that I hear God's word, which are true. God's word changes the way I think so that I now think like God. This truth then flows to my heart—where my emotions, my gut, my decisions, my attitudes, my values--are addressed and God changes my heart to respond like His heart. Once this occurs, out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks, and I learn to quickly and cheerfully follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (which is called obedience) and my actions and words look and sound like God--God helping me. This process, is what the Bible calls, listening.
Let’s look at Abraham’s story a bit more. We just stopped and looked at the faith of Abraham--and we saw that God fulfilled His promise to Abraham; but, did you notice what happened in the middle of all of this?
“Time went on—a lot of time—over a decade; and Abraham and his wife Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to work things out on their own.”
After waiting a long time, they decided to take things into their own hands. Abraham married a servant of Sarah’s and she became pregnant. Now, what you need to understand is that to be able to have children was the epitome of womanhood in that culture. Today a woman may long to be attractive, strong, and, successful, have a home, kids, etc.; But, in Sarah’s time, she longed to be able to have children. These cultural expectations drove the self-worth of these women. When Hagar (the servant of Sarah) became pregnant, she began to mock and look down on Sarah—and Sarah reacted and mistreated Hagar. Not good. The Bible tells a story of fighting, abuse, and mistreatment that went on for years in their home.
Abraham and Sarah didn’t listen very well did they? Look at the mess they made. Look at the pain and strife in their home.
Does this sound familiar? Have you ever decided that God was taking too long, or life wasn’t going the way you wanted it to go—So, you were going to fix it. Famous last words. It’s heartbreaking to watch the disaster these kind of choices bring to our lives; and then, to see how often we use people’s bad choices as comedy instead of opportunities for compassion—there’s nothing funny about people’s pain.
The heartbreak in this house was deep. At age 100 God talked with Abram, again. During this conversation God revisited His covenant (promise) with Abraham. God then gave Abram a new name, ‘Abraham’; which means “father of many nations”. God then gives Abraham a sign to mark this covenant that would mark his life and household, and calls Abraham to be faithful and obey the covenant God has given--and God promises to keep His promise to Abraham.
Abraham is heartbroken and has come to the end of himself. Can God really keep this promise of a son? So, Abraham decides to “fix” God’s promise— Look at Genesis 17:17-18,
“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?” So Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live under your special blessing!’”
I’ve made a mess of things. I’m as old as dirt. My wife is old. I can’t see how this would even be possible. I guess I’ll have to settle for the mess I’ve made—So, “God, please bless my mess.”
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever looked at life, and all you see is a mess and no way to fix it. The only option that you can see is to ask God to make the best of what is there, broken or not, because your faith has run out because the boundaries of what you can see for your life are maxed out, and you can’t go any further. Paul describes this very moment in Romans 7: 18-21,
“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”
When things are out of control, and we come to the point where we have to be honest and admit that we are not only not in control, but have made a big mess of things…. Remember, God is still God, and He still keeps His promises, because He is faithful. And, He loves you. In Genesis 17:9 we read God’s response to Abraham,
“But God replied, ‘No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac [he laughs], and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.’”
God’s got this. And, to remind you of this truth, when your son of promise is born, name him “He Laughs” because I want you to remember—I keep my promises, even when they are too big for you to understand, and in that you will find great joy!
In a year, Abraham and Sarah welcomed a little boy named Isaac into their lives and in Genesis 21: 6-7 we read Sarah's response,
“Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’ And she added, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.’”
God kept His promise!
Are God’s promises able to meet us in the midst of our mess? Are His promises true for us today as well?
Let me finish with the promise God gives us in Romans 7:24-25a and 2 Corinthians 1:20,
“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And,
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ [Jesus] with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ [Jesus], our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.”—2 Corinthians 1:20
God keeps His promises.
'God help us to trust you. God help us to listen Your promises given to us through Jesus Christ--your child of promise--for us. And, in Jesus, may we find joy.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.'
Do you want to walk on this journey with us?
Subscribe here
(Read the previous blogs here)
We are taking the time to find out if the Bible is true. We are specifically looking at God’s promises, in particular, prophecies—where God tells us what will happen in the future. Up to this point we have looked at 5 prophecies and how God fulfilled them—but what do we do with this information?
If we just read the Bible, and hear it, but don’t do anything with it, we aren’t really listening. The Hebrew concept of listening means that I hear God's word, which are true. God's word changes the way I think so that I now think like God. This truth then flows to my heart—where my emotions, my gut, my decisions, my attitudes, my values--are addressed and God changes my heart to respond like His heart. Once this occurs, out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks, and I learn to quickly and cheerfully follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (which is called obedience) and my actions and words look and sound like God--God helping me. This process, is what the Bible calls, listening.
Let’s look at Abraham’s story a bit more. We just stopped and looked at the faith of Abraham--and we saw that God fulfilled His promise to Abraham; but, did you notice what happened in the middle of all of this?
“Time went on—a lot of time—over a decade; and Abraham and his wife Sarah got tired of waiting and tried to work things out on their own.”
After waiting a long time, they decided to take things into their own hands. Abraham married a servant of Sarah’s and she became pregnant. Now, what you need to understand is that to be able to have children was the epitome of womanhood in that culture. Today a woman may long to be attractive, strong, and, successful, have a home, kids, etc.; But, in Sarah’s time, she longed to be able to have children. These cultural expectations drove the self-worth of these women. When Hagar (the servant of Sarah) became pregnant, she began to mock and look down on Sarah—and Sarah reacted and mistreated Hagar. Not good. The Bible tells a story of fighting, abuse, and mistreatment that went on for years in their home.
Abraham and Sarah didn’t listen very well did they? Look at the mess they made. Look at the pain and strife in their home.
Does this sound familiar? Have you ever decided that God was taking too long, or life wasn’t going the way you wanted it to go—So, you were going to fix it. Famous last words. It’s heartbreaking to watch the disaster these kind of choices bring to our lives; and then, to see how often we use people’s bad choices as comedy instead of opportunities for compassion—there’s nothing funny about people’s pain.
The heartbreak in this house was deep. At age 100 God talked with Abram, again. During this conversation God revisited His covenant (promise) with Abraham. God then gave Abram a new name, ‘Abraham’; which means “father of many nations”. God then gives Abraham a sign to mark this covenant that would mark his life and household, and calls Abraham to be faithful and obey the covenant God has given--and God promises to keep His promise to Abraham.
Abraham is heartbroken and has come to the end of himself. Can God really keep this promise of a son? So, Abraham decides to “fix” God’s promise— Look at Genesis 17:17-18,
“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?” So Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live under your special blessing!’”
I’ve made a mess of things. I’m as old as dirt. My wife is old. I can’t see how this would even be possible. I guess I’ll have to settle for the mess I’ve made—So, “God, please bless my mess.”
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever looked at life, and all you see is a mess and no way to fix it. The only option that you can see is to ask God to make the best of what is there, broken or not, because your faith has run out because the boundaries of what you can see for your life are maxed out, and you can’t go any further. Paul describes this very moment in Romans 7: 18-21,
“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”
When things are out of control, and we come to the point where we have to be honest and admit that we are not only not in control, but have made a big mess of things…. Remember, God is still God, and He still keeps His promises, because He is faithful. And, He loves you. In Genesis 17:9 we read God’s response to Abraham,
“But God replied, ‘No—Sarah, your wife, will give birth to a son for you. You will name him Isaac [he laughs], and I will confirm my covenant with him and his descendants as an everlasting covenant.’”
God’s got this. And, to remind you of this truth, when your son of promise is born, name him “He Laughs” because I want you to remember—I keep my promises, even when they are too big for you to understand, and in that you will find great joy!
In a year, Abraham and Sarah welcomed a little boy named Isaac into their lives and in Genesis 21: 6-7 we read Sarah's response,
“Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’ And she added, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.’”
God kept His promise!
Are God’s promises able to meet us in the midst of our mess? Are His promises true for us today as well?
Let me finish with the promise God gives us in Romans 7:24-25a and 2 Corinthians 1:20,
“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And,
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ [Jesus] with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ [Jesus], our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.”—2 Corinthians 1:20
God keeps His promises.
'God help us to trust you. God help us to listen Your promises given to us through Jesus Christ--your child of promise--for us. And, in Jesus, may we find joy.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.'
Do you want to walk on this journey with us?
Subscribe here
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