Advent Women: Sarah
December
4,11,18 [Midweek Advent] Genesis 21:1-7;
Hebrews 11:1 J.D.Roekle
Genesis
21:1-7
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had
said, and the Lord did for Sarah
what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to
Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham
gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac
was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham
was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God
has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would
nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hebrews
11:11
By
faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was
enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the
promise.
Advent Women: Sarah
Dear
Friends in Christ,
Just over 3 months ago, it was
reported that a woman from southern India had given birth to her first
children: twin girls. They will almost
certainly be her only children since her age was also reported: she is 74 years
old. She had become pregnant through in
vitro fertilization. When the twins were
born, her husband said: “We are the happiest couple on Earth today. We have our own children.” That’s quite a remarkable, isn’t it?! A woman 74 years old gave birth to
twins! The USA Today headline reporting
this read: “A 74 year old woman reportedly gave birth to twins, may be
the oldest to ever give birth.”
The writer of that article either
doesn’t read the Bible or he doesn’t believe what the Bible says. We have one woman before us today who is
older than the woman from India. When
Sarah gave birth to Isaac, she was 90 years old. Not only that, artificial means weren’t used
in order for her to become pregnant. The
fact that she was able to conceive and bear a child is something that can only
be explained by what it is: a miracle of God.
And this miracle brought great joy to Abraham and Sarah, as Sarah
indicates: “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this
will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to
Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old
age.”
Sarah laughs with joy in her heart
because God had made good on his promise to her and Abraham. He gave her the son they longed for. She laughs because God has accomplished this
in spite of her doubts. With this
miraculous child, she now realizes that she should always trust God’s promises.
Trusting God’s promises wasn’t always
the case for Sarah. In fact, her
laughter is also a reminder of how she once laughed at God. Sarah and Abraham received 3 visitors. When the visitors first arrived, Sarah and
Abraham didn’t realize that one of them was the Lord posing as a human. The Lord told Abraham that in one year from
now, He would return and Sarah would have a son. Sarah was in her tent, and when she overheard
that, she laughed. By her laughter here,
Sarah was saying that’s ridiculous!
I’m worn out and my husband is old.
We’re past the time of being capable of having children! How can that possibly be true!
Do some of God’s promises seem too
good to be true to you? God promises to
answer your prayers. But then it seems
like he’s ignoring you. He’s not really
ignoring you. He’s just saying ‘no’ or
‘not yet.’ God promises that he will be
with you always. When you are afraid,
your fear may get the best of you and you think that God has abandoned
you. He’s there the whole time. Listen to his Word! He’s never gone back on any of his
promises.
Or maybe you think that since God
isn’t making good on his promises, then you’ll just have to do it
yourself. Such was the case with
Sarah. When she didn’t think God was
going to make good on his promise of a son, she took matters into her own
hands. She told Abraham that he should
sleep with her maidservant, Hagar so that they could perhaps start a family
through her. Do you remember how that
turned out? Once Hagar became pregnant,
Sarah immediately resented Hagar, and was angry at her husband for getting her
pregnant.
When we try to force the issue with
God’s promises, it never works out. It
is God who has to fulfill his own promises.
And he does it in his own way, and in his own time.
In fact, with Sarah, he waited until
it seemed it was too late. She was just too
old to have a child! But by having her
wait, God was doing what was best for Sarah.
God had really been molding her (and Abraham) all along.
It started many years before. Abraham and Sarah had settled in Haran. It was there the Lord told Abraham: “Leave
your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will
show you.” Sarah was already a
senior citizen at this point. She was 65
years old. She was asked to uproot and
go to a land that was foreign to her.
And why? Because God said
so. Now wrapped up in God telling them
to move was the indirect promise of a son.
The specific promise was that they would become a great nation, and
everyone on earth would be blessed through them.
Do you see what God was doing? Trust me with this move. I promise I will
deliver great things through you. You
will indeed have offspring! From
that time on, Sarah and Abraham essentially became nomads. They traveled from place to place
frequently. As a result, their trust
that God would provide for them would grow.
And in fact, Sarah learned that she
had to trust God even above her husband.
There were two incidents where they had entered foreign territory where
Abraham feared they would kill him if they found out that Sarah was his
beautiful wife. So Abraham lied and said
that Sarah was his sister. On both
occasions, Sarah was taken to the palace.
How frightening that must have been for her! But, because God intervened on both
occasions, Sarah and Abraham would remain safe.
God gives us people around us for
companionship and to help us during difficult times. But all those surrounding us have their own
frailties just as you do. God is the one
steady companion that you can always trust and who never
disappoints.
That is especially true when you
remember God’s ultimate purpose for Sarah.
How is it that all peoples on earth would be blessed through her and
Abraham? Their son Isaac would be a
joy to them for more than just the fact that the family lineage would be
carried on. You see, Sarah’s child would
be a link between the promise in Genesis 3:15 and the Christchild.
Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience in
the Garden of Eden led to a broken relationship with God which would affect all
people. God promised that the seed of
the woman would conquer Satan.
Ultimately, God was talking about the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, would be born of the virgin Mary. This
was the Savior of the nations!
From Eve to Mary, there would be many
generations in between that would carry the unbroken line of the Savior. And Sarah and Abraham would play a key role
in that line.
Because their son, Isaac, would
continue the line of the Savior, is it any wonder that Sarah would laugh in amazement
at his birth?! Oh yes, that God could
miraculously open Sarah’s womb to have such a child was amazing in and of
itself. But that God would use a frail sinner like Sarah is that much more
amazing.
God was gracious to Sarah. And in being gracious to Sarah, he was
gracious to us! We are the beneficiaries
of the promise given to Sarah. We are
among the number of people who have been blessed through her. We have ultimately been touched by Jesus
Christ.
You can see why a 74 year woman from
India, along would her husband would be so happy at the birth of their first
children, twin girls. How much more joy
can we have that 90 year old Sarah would give birth to her first child, a son. A son whose line would ultimately lead to the
birth of the Son of God. Paul Gerhardt
expresses the reason for this joy in his hymn “Once Again My Heart Rejoices.” Listen
to two of those verses in closing:
Hear!
The conqueror has spoken:
“Now
the foe,
Sin
and woe,
Death
and hell are broken!”
God
is man, man to deliver,
And
the Son
Now
is one
With
our blood forever.
Should
we still fear God’s displeasure,
Who,
to save,
Freely
gave
His
most precious treasure?
To
redeem us he has given
His
own Son
From
the throne
Of
his might in heaven. Amen.
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