God's Next Steps Revealed || Genesis 17:15-18:15 || Session 31 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

A question from today's verse by verse Bible Study is, have you ever pondered the powerful transformations that come with new beginnings?  In this episode we discuss the rich narratives of Genesis 17, where name changes mark pivotal shifts in destiny for Abram and Sarai, now Abraham and Sarah. As we journey through the pages of scripture, the story of Abraham's unwavering faith and immediate obedience illuminates the inseparable bond between belief and action. It's a testament to the notion that true faith doesn't just believe – it acts. With each word, the patience required for God's timing emerges, teaching us that what may appear delayed is, in fact, divinely scheduled.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:18

Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. My name is Glenn and I'm here with Steve. We are reasoning our way through Genesis, chapter 17, so if you have your copy of the Word of God, turn there. Last time we learned about how Abram had his name changed and God said I will, and he repeats the promises that he made to Abraham. We also learned how circumcision and baptism are not requirements for God's blessing, but they are signs of the covenants. Now we're going to find out about Sarai. She gets her name changed too. Let's read in Genesis 17,. Starting in verse 15, says this.

Speaker 1 0:55

Then God said to Abraham as for Sarai, your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarai shall be her name. I will bless her and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart Will a child be born to a man 100 years old, and will Sarah, who is 90 years old, a child? And Abraham said to God oh, that Ishmael might live before you. But God said no. But Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you Behold, in this passage, sarah will bear you at this season next year.

Speaker 1 2:03

When he finished talking with him, god went up from Abraham. In this passage, god changes Sarah's name from Sarai to Sarah, so she gets the same sign of a changed person. We talked about last time how Abram was changed to Abraham. Now Sarai is changed to Sarah and, just like a Christian, gets a new name because we're now adopted by the king and we have a new last name. In verse 16 and then again in verse 20 and 21 that we just read here, god says I will. Again. He says three times in verse 16 and another four times in 20 and 21, I will. That's seven times in this one passage God says I will. And we learned earlier at the same chapter eight times in eight verses God says I will. We have again here, steve, we're going to mention this every time it comes up who's doing the action here and what's?

Speaker 2 3:01

he going to do. The action is being initiated by God and he's saying that he is going to bring this about, that he's going to bless her. I will bless Sarah. Give you a child and I will bless Sarah and she'll be a mother of many nations.

Speaker 1 3:18

God makes it abundantly clear in Genesis, chapter 17, that God is the one that's doing these blessings. He is bringing it about and he says I'm going to do this. There's nothing in here about I'll do it if you obey. No, he asked him to do circumcision, but that was a sign of the covenant, is a follower, not a cause. God is unilaterally, unconditionally, saying I will, I'm going to bless you. All these descendants are going to come from you and I'm going to give you the land as an everlasting possession.

Speaker 2 3:52

Now, glenn, before we progress here in this section, let's tie this back into some of the stuff that we've already looked at. This is where God is creating a nation for himself out of nothing. He's taken a old couple that started out in 75, was Abram and a barren wife. Now they're in their 90s and he's saying, ok, now is the time whenever I'm going to give you a child. This is where the nation that I have promised to you is going to come from. It's very important that, like you're pointing out, god's saying I will do this. This is where it comes into fruition that God is creating a nation for himself out of no other nation. He's not going and selecting some of the other nations that we saw back in chapter 10 and saying, ok, I want to take that nation and make it my nation and I'm going to be their God. No, he's saying I'm going to create a nation out of nothing. Here it is, here. This is the nation that's going to come forth, because he's doing it on his own initiative.

Speaker 1 4:57

It's a good time to just review the book of Genesis. Genesis means beginnings and of course it talks about the beginning of the world, the beginning of the universe. But most of the book is about the beginning of the nations and it talks about the genealogies of all the nations. God had said to the peoples go and be fruitful and multiply and subdue and fill the earth. They didn't. They gathered together at the Tower of Babel. God confused the languages and then says I am going to build a nation from nothing. He picks one man, abram.

Speaker 1 5:35

Most of the book of Genesis is the beginnings of the nation of Israel. God is building this one nation. As you just said, steve, this isn't just a random happenings to people. God is building this nation With this. He's saying I am going to build this nation. I will do it, I'm going to bring this about. He had told him in chapter 12, verse 4, when God first approached Abraham. It says Abraham was 75 years old when God first made this promise. It says Abraham was 75 years old when God first made this promise. Chapter 16, verse 16, he's 86 when Hagar bore Ishmael here. In 17.1, abraham's 99, and in 17.17, sarah's 90. It's been 24 years since the promise was first made, and it's been 13 years since Ishmael was born first made, and it's been 13 years since Ishmael was born, sarah's 90, abraham's 99. Is.

Speaker 2 6:29

God slow in bringing about his promises. He's slow only as it concerns us. We think that he's slow sometimes, but he's not slow. In his own time, At the appointed time he brings things together. It's on his time scale, not on ours.

Speaker 1 6:45

Somebody once said something I always remember, but he's always right on time. Always remember that God may not come when you want him, but he's always right on time. He may not come when we want something to happen, but if we just trust his word, he's trustworthy. He'll bring it about in his timing. It'll happen and we can take confidence of that. That's all he really asks is for us to have faith in him. It's a love relationship, not one out of obedience. God waits until only he can get the credit If Abraham and Sarah would have had children when they were 20 years old. That happens all the time. It doesn't happen all the time when people are 90 and 100 years old. God waits until only he can get the credit. When God gives a child to Abraham and Sarah, he's bringing life from the dead. Her womb was dead. Abraham was as good as dead. Is there anything too difficult for God?

Speaker 2 7:44

There is nothing that is too difficult for God, and the more that we learn that and associate it that this is God's program, this is God's plan, we need to learn to line up with what God is doing rather than trying to get God to line up with what we want to do.

Speaker 1 8:02

In Romans, chapter 4, verse 19, says that Abraham had faith even though his body was as good as dead and Sarah's womb was dead. Here's another question, steve Can God bring life from the death?

Speaker 2 8:17

He can bring life from the death. Back in verse 16, he is another, I will. That's in there. It says I will give you a son by her. So it's very clear that God can bring about something that they thought is impossible.

Speaker 1 8:34

We're talking to somebody out here today, steve, whose life has turned to dust, that whatever they set out to do early in life, it's all turned to a shambles. As far as they're concerned, their purpose in life might as well be dead. Can God bring life from the dead? Can he bring a purpose into a purposeless life? Can he take something that we've just killed and destroyed and made shambles of? Can he take that wreckage and turn it into something beautiful he can.

Speaker 2 9:02

What is it? Romans 8, 28 says all things will work together to the glory of God for those who love God, but the key to that verse is is that he's working things to his purpose for those who love him. We need to allow God to work out the things that he wants to work out through us, and we need to join in on it.

Speaker 1 9:23

The passage I always think of is over in the Old Testament book of Joel. It talks about there where God says quote I will repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten. Unquote, that's in Joel 2.25. Now, locust was a horrible insect to a farmer or rancher because it would go in and it would eat all the grass, eat all the crops, and they would come in in vast swarms and just eat everything. It's just gone. If you're a farmer, depending on this crop for your annual pay and your livelihood, the locusts come in and just eat everything. God says just like the locusts eat everything, I can bring it all back and I can repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten. God says if we will but turn to him, he can take things that have been totally destroyed, totally gone, totally dead, just like Abraham's body and Sarah's body. He can bring life from the dead. He brought Jesus back from the dead. He brought my life back from the dead. Steve, I think you'd agree. He brought your life back from the dead, my listener friend. He can bring your life back from the dead. That's what God is in the business of is bringing life from dead, because he made it in the first place, then he's the only one that can fix it. Whenever I try to do it, all it does is mess up.

Speaker 1 10:43

Now, abraham had many descendants and that's what he's talking about here, both from Isaac and Ishmael. Over in the New Testament, book of Romans, chapter 4, verse 16, the church is called the spiritual seed of Abraham, so that all Christians are called children of Abraham. That's one of the fulfillments of this prophecy is that all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Well, that happens through Jesus Christ and the modern day church. Then, in verse 17, it says here that Abraham laughed when he heard what God promised. Abraham knew what God was able to do and what he promised, and Abraham thought it was hilarious. Steve, will God bless us to the point that we're just overflowing with laughter?

Speaker 2 11:28

Well, what Abraham is laughing about here is an unbelief Not really an unbelief, but from the standpoint of I'm an old man. I'm going to be 99 years old. Sarah is 90. Can really us two old people really have children? It's kind of a chuckle that way. That's when he petitions and says I've already got Ishmael. He's already grown a young man, why don't we work with him? God says nope, it's going to be a child that's going to be between you and Sarah.

Speaker 1 12:01

God tells us over in the New Testament that he will bless us exceedingly, above all that we ask or think in Ephesians 3.20. So we can trust God to bless us more than we could ever imagine. All we have to do is sit back and smile and enjoy the ride. Let's go on into the next one. Steve, if you could start at verse 23 and read down through 27, we'll find out whether Abraham obeys.

Speaker 2 12:28

Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all the servants who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money every male among the men of Abraham's household and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, as God had said to him. Now, Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the very same day, Abraham was circumcised and Ishmael, his son, All the men of his household who were born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner were circumcised with him.

Speaker 1 13:08

In this, God had told him to circumcise himself and his sons and those in his household. Did he do that? Did he follow through with God's commands?

Speaker 2 13:17

Yes, he did. It says right here that on the very same day that God gave him that command, that this is going to be a covenantal sign that you're supposed to do and you're supposed to keep with all your descendants he did it that very same day.

Speaker 1 13:29

Now, when we went through this, we made a big point about God promising. God said I will, I will, I will. God was promising to bring these things about. Nevertheless, he does give us commands and expects us to do them. Over in the New Testament. How are we saved? We're saved through faith, but he gives us commands and he expects us to do them. If you love me, keep my commandments, jesus says. The last thing Jesus told his apostles before he ascended, at the end of Matthew 28, was, to quote observe all the things I have commanded you. He asked us to to obey him. What is the connection, steve, between faith and obedience? That's really what we're wrestling with here. We learned back in 15.6, abraham believed God and it's counted as righteousness. The apostle Paul brings that up in Romans, chapter 4, that that's how we're saved is being counted as righteous, not an earned righteousness by what we work. That's made abundantly clear. But there is expectations to obey, just like Abraham, here. If Abraham would have disobeyed, he would have been out of fellowship with God, would he not?

Speaker 2 14:37

Yes, he would, and I think that we can connect this back to the book of James. James says show me your faith. He uses some examples. He uses Abraham as an example, specifically, of Abraham offering up, or willing to offer up, his son Isaac. We see how important that it is and what that would mean. But your question was where does faith and obedience? How does that work? I think that the obedience is a demonstration of your faith. It's a belief of what God has led you to do, to show that you have the faith that God's going to carry through with it. You're in obedience to the things of wherever he's leading you to Be in obedience to him. That demonstrates the faith that you have in him.

Speaker 1 15:24

We discussed that when we went through James. James is talking about how do I see it? I can't see faith. I can't see trust. The only thing I can see is your actions. How do I see it? Show it to me. Show me your faith. That's what James is talking about.

Appearance of God as a Man

Speaker 1 15:39

The last thing I have on this chapter is that in verse 23, it says he took all the servants which were born in his house and which were bought with his money. We did a whole three-part series on slavery and servanthood and indentured servanthood and how people can be under financial obligations, and I would just encourage our listeners to look up that three-part series. We go through this in detail. There were instances where people were bought with money and it wasn't always the slavery where we're thinking about. It was sometimes debt, sometimes other things. That's what's going on here, is that? Nevertheless, the point of this passage is that Abraham made sure all of his household obeyed, just like a father today should make sure that all of his household is in obedience to the Lord. Let's move on to the next chapter. In chapter 18, we have here the Lord appearing again. Let's go ahead and read that. I'm starting in Genesis 18, verse 1. Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him. And when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said my Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will bring a piece of bread that you may refresh yourselves. After that you may go on, since you have visited your servant. And they said so, do as you have said. So. Abraham hurried to the tent to Sarah and said Quickly prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes. Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant and he hurried to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared and placed it before them. He was standing by them under the tree as they ate. Then they said to him when is Sarah, your wife? And he said there in the tent. He said I will surely return to you at this time next year. And behold, sarah, your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him.

Speaker 1 17:53

Now, abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age. Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying After I have become old, shall I have pleasure in my Lord being old also? And the Lord said to Abram why did Sarah laugh? Saying Shall I indeed bear child when I am so old? Is anything too difficult? And the Lord said to Abram why did Sarah laugh, saying shall I indeed bear child when I am so old? Is anything too difficult for the Lord At the appointed time? I will return to you At this time next year. Sarah will have a son. Sarah denied it, however, saying I did not laugh for she was afraid and she said no. And he said no, but you did laugh With this, steve.

Speaker 1 18:30

It says in verse one this is an unusual story we have here. In verse one, the Lord appeared in all caps. That's Yahweh, god Almighty. The Lord in all caps is always the name of God. It's very clearly saying God appeared. In verse 13,. Abraham speaks to Yahweh In verse 20, yahweh speaks to Abraham. It's very clear that the Lord was here. Nevertheless, it says in verse 2, these three men appeared. In verse 13, the Lord speaks. If we follow the story through, we can find out exactly what's going on here. In verse 22, the men go towards Sodom while Abraham was still before the Lord speaking. It says again at the beginning of this chapter, the Lord appears, yahweh, in the form of these three men. They sit down, they have a meal. They get up to leave. It says two of them leave, one of them stays and Abraham has this conversation with God.

Speaker 1 19:32

The beginning of the next chapter, chapter 19, verse 1,. The two angels came to Sodom. So therefore one of the men was the angel of the Lord or the pre-incarnate Christ. Every time we've seen not an angel of the Lord, but the angel of the Lord, it always uses God's name associated with it. In this case, he does the same things the Lord can do, which is predict the future. Things like that.

Speaker 1 19:58

Steve, what I find here is that this is one more of the many times where God is not a physical spirit. God is not physical, he doesn't have a physical body. He's omnipresent, but he appears as a man. He appears as an angel. That sometimes it says as a man. That's what happens here. This happens a double handful of times. We always bring it up whenever we see it in the scripture. But what I think of here, steve, is that to this day, a Jew that truly believes the scriptures doesn't see these. If you ask them okay, why don't you believe in Jesus? They say well, he claimed to be God, and God never appears as a man. But yet we have this double handful of places throughout the Old Testament where God clearly did appear as a man. I just find it interesting that, for a large extent, the Jews don't see God appearing as a man in their own scriptures, even though it's right here.

Speaker 2 20:59

Yeah, it is amazing. We did a special session, topical session, on this. The title of that was who is the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. We'll have a link in our description for that. We encourage our listeners to go and view that and watch it and listen to it if they haven't already, and this is one of the places that we reference in that topical session. It's not a difficult concept to know that God personally came and got involved in humanity's life from time to time. To me it shows that he's a personal God. He's not just dwelling in the ether of heaven somewhere, kind of watching what things are going on. No, whenever there's things that are going on, necessary, he comes and appears in physical form. This word in 18.1 appeared. It's a verb meaning to see. Its basic denotation is to see with the eyes. This isn't a vision that Abram is having. You don't fix food for a vision. This is a actual person in human form that he's seeing here.

Speaker 1 22:09

Again in verse one it says the Lord appeared. Then in verse two, these three men were standing opposite him, and it goes on to hold clearly that one of them was God Almighty. Nevertheless, these angels is what they're called by the first part of the next chapter, steve, the verse I think of over in Hebrews. There's a little verse there that says do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it in Hebrews 13.2. And of course that always brought a lot of imagination to my mind is if I meet somebody on the street, are they a disguised angel? I don't want to go too far down that path, simply because there's so much human deception that can happen in your mind. But have you ever thought about the idea that you may have bumped into someone that could be a man that really could be sent by God?

Speaker 2 23:01

I have thought about that. I've never experienced, or at least I haven't, don't think I've ever experienced it but yeah, I have thought about that before.

Speaker 1 23:10

I actually had one experience that left me thinking. I was on my way to see someone and there was a young man standing outside and he was asking for food. I generally don't help a lot of just people on the street asking for things, so I went on my way and about five minutes later I got to thinking that wasn't the Christian thing to do. I turned around to go back and he was gone. Now it had been five minutes. He could have left, but I looked everywhere and couldn't find him, and where I was was somewhat of a remote area. There were not a lot of buildings around. It would have been hard to just disappear, but nevertheless I looked for him. It had only been five, six, seven minutes and he was just gone. It always left me wondering whether it was someone I should have helped. Nevertheless, let's move on.

Speaker 1 23:53

This passage tells us that heavenly angels can appear in physical form. In this case it says these three men appeared. That tells us that several times in Scripture the supernatural angels are described as looking like men. There's so much craziness in some circles, steve, about angels appearing and talking. I would encourage all of our listeners if you think an angel has appeared to you and given you a message, then you need to go talk to your pastor and compare it to the Scriptures, because there's been a lot of deception that have happened. Satan appears as an angel at times and so we need to be very careful about getting messages from angels, because oftentimes there's deception there, but nevertheless the passages are here. Angels can appear as men and I think that's fairly clear from scripture.

Speaker 1 24:45

Abraham's a good host. He offers them to wash their feet and then prepares a meal for them, and was the custom in many eastern countries. The women did not eat with the men. Then, in verse 10, the messenger tells Abraham that in a year Sarah is going to have a child. Sarah's in the tent, she's overhearing and she laughs. In verse 13, yahweh said to Abraham why did Sarah laugh? Does God know what we're thinking?

Speaker 2 25:13

Yeah, he doesn't know. He doesn't have to be physically present in our presence in order to hear it. He was there away from Sarah, but yet he knows what Sarah was doing.

Speaker 1 25:24

She was laughing to herself. She was obviously not trying to be heard laughing in her mind, perhaps a little bit out loud, but she wasn't where the men could hear her. Nevertheless, god knows what we're thinking and we can't hide anything from them because in the end, she lies to him, because he's. Why did you laugh? Oh, I didn't laugh and really she did. Can we hide anything from God? Oftentimes we will get confronted by the Lord or one of his messengers. Can we lie our way out of confrontation?

Speaker 2 25:58

with God. We cannot and we will not. I think there's a in the New Testament. There's a time whenever Jesus is walking and he has an encounter with Philip and he says yeah, I knew what you were doing, philip, way before I even got to you. I knew what you were thinking and what you were doing. It's clear that God knows us and is concerned about us and knows what we're doing and what we're thinking. So that tells us we need to be careful what we think.

Speaker 1 26:25

So if I ask myself, why would Sarah be laughing? I don't think she was being critical or unbelief, it's more of I'm 90 years old and I'm going to have a child. That was just funny to her. Have a child, that was just funny to her. Here's what my question would be, steve Do we ever hear God's plans and think that's completely ridiculous?

Speaker 2 26:46

Yeah, let me rephrase it. She said I'm 90 years old and now is the time that you've decided to give me a child. I think that might be one way that she was looking at it, but it goes back to that. It's God's timing, it's God's plan and we need to be a part of the plan. We don't need to try and bring about the plan on our own In God's appointed time, just like what it says here. At the appointed time next year I'm going to be back and Sarah's going to have a child.

God's Power and Timing in Life

Speaker 1 27:15

Earlier in the book, abraham had heard God's plans and laughed. Now Sarah hears God's plans and laughed. The irony is, later God names the child Isaac, which means laughter. With this, isaac becomes the child of promise. He names him laughter because both Abraham and Sarah thinks well, this is just funny, 100-year-old man and a 90-year-old woman having a child. But I submit, nothing is too difficult for God. I submit that when God turns his attention to Sarah, she became afraid and tried to hide her feelings from God, but couldn't. That's the lesson here. God knows what's in her heart and he will confront us at times. The question is really am I going to believe Him, am I going to be open before Him, or am I going to try to laugh at His plans behind His back and hide my feelings from Him? No, it's much better to just go along with the ride and enjoy the blessings, because God is capable of bringing life, even in death, and blessing even in our old age, and it's God's timeframe.

Speaker 2 28:24

He doesn't need our help to bring that appointed time about.

Speaker 1 28:28

Right, so that's it for today. We'll stop right here. We are Reasoning Through the Bible and we'll be back here next time.

Speaker 2 28:36

Thank you so much for watching and listening, as always. May God bless you.