The Covenant Reaffirmed and Sealed - Part 2 (Gen 17:15-27)
Genesis: The Book of Beginnings • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have your Bible, please turn to Genesis 17:15-27.
As you turn there, let me refresh your memory a bit. Josh brought us into Genesis 17, which comes after a whirlwind of different events:
Genesis 15, we witness this promise from God to Abram (now Abraham) being reaffirmed through the Ancient Near Eastern practice of animal sacrifice for covenant-making.
That’s after Abram (now Abraham) was given the promise in Genesis 12—and of course, we’re familiar with the covenant made by God with Abram. It’s the promise of an heir, who will become a people, which will be a nation that inherits a land. And it’s a promise that his descendants would bless all other nations, which occurs through the eventual birth of Messiah who dies to atone for the sins of all who believe.
A few weeks ago, when we worked through Genesis 16, I pointed out that God had just reaffirmed his covenant before Abram and Sarai sin in their lack of faith. Abram and Sarai determine to take things into their own hands and Hagar is caught in the middle and what resulted from Abram and Sarai’s sin is a whole new people group that constantly wars against those around them.
And yet, in Genesis 17, God reaffirms the covenant that He gave to Abram in Genesis 12. Again, Abraham gets another reminder that God will indeed keep His Word.
Keep this in mind as we read the text together, Genesis 17:15-27.
15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts. The first part, which is really a continuation of last week’s passage is The Reaffirmation of the Covenant (15-21). In last week’s section, we saw God change Abram’s name to Abraham; in this section, we see God change Sarai’s name to Sarah before we get some insight into Abraham’s thinking and God’s response to how he thinks. In the second part, we witness Abraham’s Obedience (22-27). After hearing the covenant reaffirmed, Abraham responds in faith and in obedience. What we’re seeing through the life of Abraham at this point is that Abraham experienced a lack of faith that resulted in his doubt; and yet, God’s covenant remains. As such, we’re going to experience doubt and lack of faith in our lives, we’re going to struggle with obeying God’s Word; and yet, God’s covenant remains.
Prayer for Illumination
The Reaffirmation of the Covenant (15-21)
The Reaffirmation of the Covenant (15-21)
So, our text starts by continuing this name-changing scenario.
If you remember, in v. 5, God specifically changes the name of Abram to Abraham.
And there are all sorts of reasons as to why that would be the case, but Josh hit the head on the nail last week. The change of name has to do with a realization that the personhood of the individual has changed.
In the ANE culture, when you talk about someone’s name, it’s more than just an identifying word like it is today. Rather, in the ANE culture, when they think of someone’s name, they think of everything about that person:
The person’s character, the person’s personality, what the person is like is all considered when they thought of someone’s name.
Even, on occasion, what they owned, what their estate was like, and depending on the situation, who their spouse is and who their kids are are all part of this idea of someone’s name.
So, you see, when someone thought of their name, there’s more to it than just saying that they’re identified by a certain word.
What God does when He changes Abram’s name is He’s stating that Abram’s entire personhood has changed.
Prior to this change, Abram was of one character, one personality, one personhood, but the name-change signified that God has changed Him, His character, His personality, His personhood.
I think of Paul’s quoting of Hosea when he speaks of how God grafts in the Gentile people in Romans 9:25–26 “25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” 26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ””
Before God called Abram, Abram wasn’t God’s people, now He is part of God’s people.
So Abram’s name was changed to Abraham; Sarai’s name is now changed in v. 15, to Sarah.
You’ll note that there isn’t necessarily a change in definition behind either name change:
Abram means exalted father, Abraham means father of many. Sarah and Sarai both mean princess.
And yet, it is the changing of their name that signifies the internal change; much like when we make the claim to be a Christian.
When we claim to be a Christian, we’re claiming that we follow, we obey, we worship Jesus Christ.
Prior to our salvation, we’re not following, we’re not obeying, and we’re not worshiping Christ.
After salvation, we are following, we are obeying, and we are worshiping Jesus Christ.
Prior to our salvation, we were not His people; after salvation, we are His people.
There’s a name change, which in and of itself is meaningless, but it reveals a inner change that has resulted in a change in who they are.
As part of God’s changing of Sarai’s name, He does include a blessing for her in v. 16, God says, “I will bless her . . . I will give you a son by her. I will bless herm and she shall become nations; kings of people shall come from her.”
Now, it might seem as if God’s simply reiterating the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12, which was reaffirmed in Genesis 15, but note that God is definitely more specific this time than before.
Not only will Abraham have a child who will eventually become many nations, but this child will be the seed of Sarah.
Remember how they essentially found a loop-hole during their unbelief that resulted in the birth of Ishmael? Now there’s no room for a loop-hole.
However, what we see is Abraham still thinking from a purely human perspective in v. 17-18, “Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
Let me clarify that Abraham has no fear here that Ishmael might die, we don’t really speak this way today, but what Abraham is essentially says is a request for God to work through or to bless Ishmael because he’s thinking from that purely human perspective,
Why is it that Abraham wants Ishmael to live before God? It’s because in his human, finite mind, he doesn’t think it’s possible for him to have another child and in this case, it’s not just because of Sarah who was originally barren, but because he, himself is now old.
And from a purely human perspective, there is no physical way in which they could have children—so, in Abraham’s mind, the only way God’s covenant with him will work is if God chooses to work through Ishmael instead.
Essentially, what Abraham is doing is he’s still responding out of a lack of faith—he doesn’t actually believe that God can do what God says He will do.
Thus, the only way that this can work—in Abraham’s mind—is if God utilizes the fruit of his sin to fulfill his purposes, but that’s not what God decides to do.
And, don’t misunderstand—God can certainly utilize the results of our own sinfulness for His own purposes, but He chooses not to in this instance.
Rather, we see God’s response to Abraham’s lack of faith in vv. 19-21, “God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.”
The covenant given to Abraham will pass down through Isaac—with the benefit of hindsight, we see this in Genesis 26.
Which again, reminds us that God is faithful to His people and what He says He will do, He certainly will.
God chooses Isaac’s name and there is a meaning behind that name, Isaac means “God laughs.”
And, if you think about the meaning of Isaac’s name within it’s context, you make the realization that God is laughing probably for two reasons: (1) first because Abraham laughs in disbelief in v. 17; Sarah will also laugh in disbelief in ch. 18 or, in other words, they’re laughing in disbelief; He’s laughing in spite of their disbelief. (2) secondly, God’s laughing because what He promises is completely out of the realm of possibility for humans; and yet, for God, all things are possible.
God makes the statement that Abraham and Sarah will have a son named Isaac and that he will establish His covenant with Isaac for both Isaac and His offspring before He turns His attention to Ishmael.
Now, we don’t really have an indication that when Abraham asked God to place His blessing or covenant on Ishmael, that Abraham was doing it purely from altruistic reasons—meaning, we don’t have any indication that his concern was that of the well-being of his son, but let’s be honest, Ishmael is still his son and he still cares for his son.
Rather, what could be happening in the passage is that Abraham literally sees no other way for God’s promise to pan out unless God decides to continue the covenant through Ishmael instead.
Nevertheless, God chooses to care for Ishmael and he does bless Ishmael in v. 20, God says, “Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.”
But note his final sentence in v. 21, “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Despite Abraham’s lack of faith—his unbelief, God is still fully intending to keep His Word, to keep His promise.
Despite the fact that Abraham keeps looking at all this from a purely human perspective, God is still fully intending to keep HIs Word, to keep His promise.
With that in mind, Abraham responds; and the response is that of immediate obedience. Remember, as part of this covenant, Abraham is to not just circumcise himself, but also every man of his household including his son, servants, and their sons. And that’s precisely what he does. Let’s look at vv. 22-27.
Abraham’s Obedience (22-27)
Abraham’s Obedience (22-27)
22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
In v. 22, God departs from Abraham.
We’re really not given many details about what this had looked like or anything like that.
All we see is that God and Abraham finish their conversation, and then God went up from Abraham.
I think the words went up from might give the impression that this was like the ascension, but I think that’s reading into this a little too much.
For all we know, God could’ve just walked away.
However, God departs and then in vv. 23-27, we see Abraham obey God’s command.
I’m not going to really get into the details of what this was like, but I will point out some details from the passage.
Note that all these men are old enough to remember the event taking place—Ishmael was thirteen, Abraham was 99, and if we assume that his servants had to be old enough to work to be a servant, then they’re probably above the age of thirteen as well.
The only potential for circumcising children in this situation is if the servants had sons that were infants, but everyone else is old enough to not just feel the event, but to remember the event—it is an event that will stick in their memory until the day they die.
Note also, that Abraham did this the very same day that God spoke to him—there was no hesitation, there wasn’t a few days of him deliberating about it, he went on the same day that God told him to and circumcised himself, his son, and all the male members of his household.
There’s something here to be said of his willingness to obey despite the large amounts of doubt that he had experienced through all of this—again, notice how many times God has to reassure him before he gets to this point.
And yet, when it comes down to it, Abraham does obey exactly what God had told him to do—to go and circumcise every male person within his household as a sign that his house are members of the covenant.
Now, there are two almost side-points or rabbit trails that we ought to discuss concerning the issue of circumcision and even Abraham’s life after this point.
First, let’s start with circumcision—Josh hit on this briefly last week, but I do want to talk about it a little more comprehensively and the reason for that has to do with some of our brothers and sisters in other denominations who see NT baptism like OT circumcision.
And, let me be abundantly clear what our position concerning baptism is—so, as a Baptist church, we believe that baptism is your public proclamation of faith—that you get baptized as a believer by immersion to (1) make the statement that you are indeed a believer in Jesus Christ, (2) that you intend to follow Jesus Christ because of your faith in Him, and (3) that you’re identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ through the act of dying to your old self and being made to walk in newness of life (as symbolized by you being immersed in water). We believe that baptism is only for those who can genuinely profess faith and thus, we only baptize those who can articulate that they have repented from their sin, called on the name of Jesus, and believe in Him who raised Him from the grave.
Now, we don’t really need to talk about the RCC’s position about baptism, however, I will point out that they do believe that baptism saves one from original sin, which is why they baptize babies—there are all sorts of theological issues with this, but there are all sorts of theological issues concerning the RCC that we can discuss at a later day.
Rather, I want to talk about our brothers and sisters in churches that practice infant or baby baptism, but don’t believe that baptism saves—for instance, the conservative Presbyterian churches, which would be the Presbyterian Church in America, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Heritage Reformed Congregations, and so on.
These churches don’t believe that baptism saves and thus, when they baptize, they do it for a different reason—these churches do it because they look at NT baptism like OT circumcision.
Or, in other words, they believe that baptism’s purpose is to show that the baby is part of the covenant family of God regardless of if they’re genuinely saved; and thus, they baptize all children.
The issue is, and this is why we don’t practice infant baptism, is that the NT pattern for baptism is that baptism occurs after salvation not before salvation:
And that when someone is baptized, that it is part of their profession of faith; not a profession of being part of the covenant family of God.
Or, in other words, if you read the Bible plainly, you’ll note that baptism and circumcision aren’t the same event and thus, the only people that ought to be baptized are those who genuinely believe.
Second, let me encourage you to not misunderstand Abraham’s immediate obedience as a final instance in which he never again struggles—he will multiple times. Rather, understand this as the time when Abraham finally follows through in his faith.
The reality is that while this is a significant moment in Abraham’s life as he chooses to actually listen to what God has promised to him, it still doesn’t mean that he’ll never struggle with faith or with anything else in his life—he still faces tremendous temptation and struggle that causes him to slip into sin.
Which, let’s be honest, ought to give us great hope in our own Christian faith and walk.
Now, let’s get back on task by talking about some specific application that will help us to best apply this passage in a faithful way today. Passages like this can be a little difficult for us to apply in that we might read the text and think, “how in the world do I apply something that doesn’t really seem like it can apply to our modern world?” But it’s actually a bit easier than you might think, so let me help you with it. This passage really has two applications:
Application
Application
What we see in this week’s and last week’s passage concerns the same covenant that was given to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15. It’s actually this covenant that causes Abraham to finally make the decision to follow and obey God because he has faith in God.
Or, in other words, Abraham decides to follow God based on God’s covenant—or based on God’s Word.
Likewise, we decide to follow God based on God’s covenant or based on God’s Word. In fact, Paul makes the very same argument in Romans 10 when he makes the argument that no one will believe if they don’t hear and no one will believe unless someone is proclaiming—what is he referring to when he talks about someone proclaiming? He’s talking about the Gospel, which is found in God’s Word, which tells us of God’s covenant to His people.
The whole reason we follow God isn’t because of what we feel or what we ourselves think of or what our own desires are, but rather, we follow God because God is a covenant-keeping God who made a covenant to His people that whoever repents of their sins, call on the name of the Lord, believe in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, and confess belief with their mouth that He will save them.
We believe in God and we follow Jesus because of what God has said in His Word—just like Abraham chose to follow the LORD because what God has said.
And like Abraham, we will face the temptation not to have faith—not to trust God, not to believe what He has said He would do.
These temptations come more often than what we would often like to admit and yet, every Christian (at some point in their journey) will face times in which they doubt, times in which they lose faith, and times in which they don’t trust God.
The question is, when we face these sorts of issues, what do we do about them? Do we just succumb to our doubt and allow that doubt to push us away from God? Or do we use our doubt to convince us to look for answers? Do we let our doubt fester? Or do we seek the truth earnestly?
We will all struggle with the issue of doubt as part of our Christian walk and yet, if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and to use the doubt that we experience to pull us closer to Him, He will help us to grow and to reaffirm His covenant to us over and over again.
The reality is that when we face these issues of doubt and we’re dealing with the temptation not to be faithful or not to trust God, God is still there and He is still faithful to us if we are His.
Which means, even when we’re struggling and we’re doubting God or we’re doubting even His covenant to save us, we can still have hope that despite our doubt, He still cares for us and He still keeps His Word to us.
This means that despite our sometimes lack of faith or uncertainty in God’s promises, His promises are still existent and they still remain—our God is faithful.
So, what do we do when we deal with these sorts of issues?
We do what God did for Abraham—we remind ourselves of God’s covenants, we remind ourselves of what He has promised, we remind ourselves of God’s Word.
Of course, as part of our reminding ourselves of God’s covenants and His Word, it implies that we actually open His Word and read His Word, but it also suggests that we pray, that we speak to God, that we ask Him to help us.
And, of course, it implies that when we struggle with doubt or a lack of faith in certain issues—whether that’s dealing with things like the resurrection or other miraculous events—you go and seek help from spiritual mentors or leaders in sorting that doubt out.
Just like Abraham, we will face issues in life when we struggle to have faith—and yet, God is still faithful to us, have hope and allow your doubt to push you closer to Jesus.
Finally (and this really ties in with our first application), what convinces Abraham to finally trust God and then obey is God’s affirmation and reaffirmation of His covenants. Or, in other words, what finally convinces Abraham is that His heart and mind was focused on God’s covenant and God’s Word.
There’s a reason why we at Grace emphasize so much the need for you to be regularly in God’s Word preferably daily, but at least regularly.
And this is part of the reason—that you are constantly reminding yourself of God’s Word, His covenant promises and that by doing so, God is reaffirming his covenants in your minds and in your hearts.
Part of what helps you in your faith, what helps you trust in the Lord, what helps you remain faithful is that continual reminder of who God is and what He has said.
It’s really no wonder then for most people struggling with doubt, lack of faith, or not trusting God, that if you ask them how their prayer or devotional life is it’s suffering.
It’s really no wonder then for most people struggling with these sorts of issues, that part of the reason why they’re struggling is that they’re not actually spending time investing in their relationship with the LORD.
And it’s really no wonder then for most people struggling with doubt, that until they return to regular prayer and consistently being in God’s Word, that they continue to be in doubt struggling with a lack of faith or a lack of trust.
The reality is that if we don’t keep our hearts and minds focused on God through Jesus Christ, our hearts and minds will struggle to trust in God.
But the reality is that we have no reason to distrust the God of the Bible—in fact, we have every reason to believe every Word of His Bible.
And when we find ourselves struggling with doubt or lack of trust in God, it shouldn’t push us away from Him, but rather, it ought to pulls us to dig deeper into His Word and to jump further into prayer.
The reality is when read a passage like Genesis 17, what is clear to us is that we all struggle with doubt or a lack of trust in God, but God is still faithful and He still keeps His Word. So, when we do find ourselves struggling with these issues, the key is to jump back into God’s Word, to remind ourselves of His covenant, and to get back to prayer.
Pastoral Prayer
