You Can’t Earn a Promise
I continue this week’s study of Abraham and Sarah’s journey of faith. We pick up our story in Genesis 17 when God renews His covenant and promises to Abraham.
It’s been about 23 years since the Lord first spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12, telling him to leave his country, family, and father’s house for a land God would show him. God also promised to make Abraham a great nation and bless all the families of the earth through him.
However, as we discussed last week in the article You Are the God Who Sees Abraham and Sarah, are weakened in faith due to the delay in waiting for the promise of a son. In Genesis 16, we read the difficult story of Sarah offering her maidservant, Hagar, to Abraham to have a child. Hagar conceives and gives birth to a son named Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, our story resumes in Genesis 17. Despite the delay and hardships along the way, God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah is as true as the day He first spoke it to them in Genesis 12.
Abraham, Sarah, and the son of Promise—Isaac
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. Gen. 17:1-5 NKJV
God declares to Abram that He is Almighty God, re-affirms His covenant to him, and changes his name. Abraham is now 99 and has another encounter and word from God.
God’s prophecies to us can be delayed—sometimes years before fulfillment. Tension can occur between God’s promise and its fulfillment. Prophecy invites us into God’s perfect will for our lives. Remember, only God can arrange the timing—be patient.
Don’t let human reasoning guide you—wait on the Lord! Consider the instruction in Proverbs:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Prov. 3:5-6 NKJV
Know that “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19 NKJV)
Understand that with God, all His promises are yes and amen! (2 Cor. 1:20) James declared there is “no change or shadow of turning with” God (Jam. 1:17 NKJV). God’s word is His bond; He shall bring to pass what He has promised.
God reveals Himself to Abraham as Almighty God, translated from the Hebrew El-Shaddai, the eighth name God attributed to Himself and whose root meaning emphasizes God’s might over man’s weakness. El-Shaddai first occurs here in Gen. 17:1, regarding the promise of the birth of Isaac—the son of promise. El-Shaddai is a title for the true God, often focusing on the power to complete promises of blessing and prosperity.1
Other meanings of El-Shaddai, He is “The God Who is Enough,” “The All-Powerful,” and “The One Who is Self-Sufficient.” All these descriptions signify God as our source of all blessings and power to deliver.
El-Shaddai is used in situations where people are hard-pressed and need assurance. For example, in Gen. 28:3, we read of Isaac asking El-Shaddai to bless Jacob as he goes to obtain a wife; in Gen. 35:11, El-Shaddai reaffirms the Abrahamic covenant with Jacob and affirms his new name as Israel, just before Rachel’s death, and in Gen. 49:25 Israel declares that El-Shaddai will bless his son Joseph.
My simple definition of El-Shaddai is, “He is the all-powerful God who is enough! He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves!”
When Jesus said, “I and My Father are one,” He was saying, “I am El-Shaddai, the all-powerful God who is enough!”
In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples that He will soon leave. But He wants us to know that we can be with Him, tells us the way, and then declares plainly that He is the exact representation of the Father:
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” NKJV
Then Philip says, 8 … Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. NASB
Jesus replies, 9 … He who has seen Me has seen the Father. NKJV
The English word “enough” in verse 8 comes from the Greek word arkéō,” which means to be content or satisfied, filled with unfailing strength—a strength that wards off negativity and fear.
Jesus is enough—He is El-Shaddai—the all-powerful God who is enough in every circumstance of life! He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves!
God speaks prophetically and builds Abraham’s faith to be a father of many nations. He changes his name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude). God is El-Shaddai, and this will happen. Abraham—I Am Enough!
Our story continues with God giving Abraham instructions for circumcision as the external sign of the Abrahamic covenant.
10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Gen. 17:10-11 NKJV
The cutting away of the foreskin represented the cutting away of dependence upon the flesh. Abraham and Sarah’s son of promise, and the promise of many descendants, was to rest upon El-Shaddai—Almighty God! Their future prosperity and posterity were not found in their ability, but in God’s ability.
In writing to Christians, Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with being led by the Spirit and Godly character. I believe he had Abraham and Sarah in mind and their attempt in the flesh to bring about God’s promise and purpose in their lives:
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Gal. 5:16-18 NKJV
When we are led by the Spirit, we do what is right freely, not by the compulsion of the law. Abraham and Sarah, because of human reasoning, acted apart from God when they schemed to have a son through the maid Hagar. They were acting by human compulsion rather than being led by God’s Spirit.
Paul adds in Gal. 4:24, “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” NKJV
We, therefore, are free from the legalism of the law because there is the law of the Spirit found within our hearts—hearts that are circumcised to the lust, passions, and desires of the flesh.
New birth in Christ creates the desire to live by the Spirit. You may have issues to work through, but your heart desires to follow the Spirit. This reality also pertains to faith-filled living that waits upon God to fulfill promises. It is not our religious efforts (flesh) to be in right standing with God or to bring about His promises—Jesus did it for us—we believe and trust Him!
But often, like Abraham and Sarah, we hear God’s promise and begin to plan. But the promise invites us to trust and wait, allowing God to unfold the details. God’s promises prepare us for increase.
God changes Sarai to Sarah, from “a princess” to “the princess;” she shall have a son to be named Isaac, and she who is barren shall be the mother of nations!
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” Gen. 17:15-21 NKJV
Abraham falls on his face and laughs! But a few years before, we read:
“And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” Gen. 15:6 NLT
Paul twice quotes this, Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6, and once in Jam. 2:23. It is the basis for the NT teaching that God’s way has always been by faith, as we obediently trust His word, which causes right living.
Abraham says, “I’m 100, Sarah is 90, oh that Ishmael …” He begins to doubt God again, and like before, begins to rely on the flesh—his human reasoning and abilities.
In Gen. 17:19, God instructs them, “You shall call his name Isaac (Isaac is from the Hebrew Yiṣḥāq: he laughs, or laughter (this laughter can be joyous or incredulous—laughter in disbelief 2)).”
God reminds Abraham, “Abraham, your son’s name will remind you of this day. You laughed in disbelief, but I am God Almighty! Is there anything too hard for Me?” God reaffirms the promise of a multitude of descendants.
Why does Abraham doubt God now? Two reasons: 1) more delay; another 13 years have passed, and 2) now he can’t have children either! Not only is Sarah’s womb barren, but now Abraham also physically can’t have children either!
Paul writes in Romans,
“He did not consider his own body, already dead,” (NKJV) in other words, he was impotent!
Another translation says, “He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body,” Rom. 4:19 AMPC
God waited 24 years until there was no way they could have children on their own so that they, and all who would hear their story, would know He is God Almighty!
What promises have you been waiting for? You’ve tried in your strength, and there is no hope in the natural? Good news, you’re ready for El-Shaddai to bring the miracle!
Abraham doesn’t remain unbelieving; he responds in faith and has all the males circumcised in his house the same day.
So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. Gen. 17:23 NKJV
Something happens in Abraham; he goes from laughing in disbelief to believing God and acting on God’s word. He puts action to his faith!
Faith, in its simplest form, believes and trusts that what God says will happen. The very One Who promises gives us grace to believe. Ongoing dialogue with God builds faith in our hearts. Rom. 10:17 says that “faith comes by hearing.” It does not say that faith comes from having heard but from hearing God today.
Faith increases as we position our hearts and minds to receive what God is presently revealing. It’s all by His grace, but we posture ourselves by believing and acting on what is shown.
The Lord appears (theophany) with two angels and once again reaffirms to Abraham and Sarah that they shall have a son, and Sarah laughs.
10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” 13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” Gen. 18:10-14 NKJV
At this point, it may seem that Sarah had no faith and was only filled with sorrow. However, Heb. 11:11 says:
“Because of faith also Sarah herself received physical power to conceive a child, even when she was long past the age for it, because she considered [God] Who had given her the promise to be reliable and trustworthy and true to His word.” AMPC
Sarah considered what God said and determined He was reliable, trustworthy, and true to His word. She believed, God moved in power, and the promise was fulfilled. Sarah didn’t operate in just hope but also in faith.
Hope without the foundation of faith will not persist. Hope can be blinded; hope can be hurt, and hope can make an excuse where it says, “Well, I was only hoping for it anyways.”
Faith is a strength, a foundation, a fort. Faith is an impregnable mountain that will not move. Faith persists; it has staying power! Sarah stood on what God said, she didn’t look at her bareness!
Promise Fulfilled—Isaac Born!
At the appointed time, Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac:
1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.” Gen. 21:1-7 NKJV
God made Sarah laugh, and all who heard laughed with her! No longer laughter in disbelief, but joyous laughter of the promise fulfilled! The critical understanding for Sarah’s faith is “because she judged Him (God) faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead…” an innumerable multitude (Heb. 11:11 NKJV)!
Sarah judged God to be faithful as He had promised. If we could speak to Sarah and ask, “God said you had faith, so what is faith?” She would reply, “Since God said it, that is the final word on the subject; I simply took Him at His word.”
When God makes a promise, He will fulfill that promise. When He says He will do something, He doesn’t want us to cringe and say, “Well, maybe.” There are no maybes with God! Sarah saw with the eye of faith that her son was being born and held on!
Final Thoughts
The Lord saw the end from the beginning, and He knew Abraham and Sarah would have Isaac, the son of promise. God knew through Isaac that Jesus would come, and the spiritual barrenness over humanity would be broken! Abraham and Sarah couldn’t fully see it, but God could
God hears your prayers and sees your situation! Don’t lose faith in what He has promised you; God will bring it to pass in His perfect timing.
Continue to walk with Jesus faithfully, through God’s word, and by following the Spirit. Don’t yield to the flesh or human reasoning. God will answer your prayer—He hears! You may encounter God with His love, presence, and power anytime!
Remember, you can’t earn the promise! It’s by His grace!
Footnotes:
1 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
2 J. Barton Payne, “1905 צָחַק,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 763.
