As The Father Has Sent Me. Rod Culbertson

21:1–2 is, in many ways, the climax to Abraham’s story. “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.” At the age of one hundred, along with a wife who is at least ninety years old, the child of the promise enters the world! It is unbelievable! When I was a boy growing up, my home state of South Carolina had a senator who served in public office for close to seventy years, including as a state senator for almost fifty. His name was Strom Thurmond. When he was sixty-six years old, he surprised the state by marrying a former Miss South Carolina, who was only twenty-two years old on their wedding day. At the age of sixty-eight, he shocked the state as his wife gave birth to their first child. Everyone made jokes about his virility, but Senator Thurmond had the last laugh when he and his wife added three more natural children to the fold. The fact that Thurmond could father children at such an advanced age was both improbable and doubtful. Yet it was not impossible and the record shows that it did happen. However, for Abraham at age one hundred, and his wife Sarah at age ninety, to conceive a child was, quite frankly, impossible. Impossible, except for the reality that God had promised such and was able. He could give his word and he has the power and ability to do miracles. Thus, a son is born. Remember the words, “I will!” They are words of promise.

      Naturally, we are led to ask the question: “Is this progress?” Yes—finally we see progress. We are celebrating this event like Pentecostals! We are excited and we should be! The Lord has been gracious. The promise is fulfilled and a son named Isaac is born. 1+1=2! That is progress. Is this birth the fulfillment of the promise that Abraham will be a great nation? No, but it is the seed of a nation. However, immediately (it seems, although many years have passed) Genesis 22 poses us with an unlikely scenario. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son, now grown and mature (probably not a young boy). It appears that the years of waiting for progress are about to terminate in one stunning event. 1+1=2-1=1. But God is testing Abraham. God is asking him, “Who do you love more—me or the son of the promise? Do you love the hope of bearing a nation more than me?” Abraham proves both his love for and his faith in the Lord with his willingness to give up his son. God provides a substitute sacrifice. We continue with the two—father and son—remaining alive. But in Genesis 23 we are told that Sarah dies at the age of 127. There will be no other “children of promise.” The story now shifts to the son, Isaac, child of the promise.

      Genesis 24 is a very unique and lengthy chapter. Abraham gives specific instructions regarding the search for a wife for Isaac. I once heard a sermon by Dr. Charles Stanley in which he said, “God gave us thirty-one verses explaining creation and sixty-seven verses for ‘how to find a wife’.” Getting the right wife must be very important! The chapter tells us that Isaac does obtain a wife from Abraham’s relatives: Rebekah. Once she is procured, the scene shifts in Genesis 25. In verse 8, we are told that Abraham dies at the age of one hundred seventy-five. We have fourteen chapters in the book of Genesis describing his life, most of which covers around one hundred years of his existence. Seventy-five years and he has only one son and no nation. Now he is gone, and 1+1=2–1=1! Is this progress? The answer must be “yes” because Abraham does have a child of the promise. But God’s progress can be very, very slow. We must learn to practice patience when it comes to the plan of God! We wonder—when will the next child appear?