God changed Abram's name to Abraham, meaning "Father of many nations", promising him that he would be.
He told Abraham that kings and nations would come out of him.
God said He would God to all of his seed after him.
God told Abraham that He did HIS part of the covenant, and now it was time for Abraham to do his part. He commanded that all male children in his house be circumcised as a token of the covenant.
By "in his house", he meant EVERYONE, including servants and slaves bought with his money to be a part of the family.
God changed Sarai's name to Sarah and promised the same of her.
Abraham laughed at this. It was preposterous to think that someone so old could bear a child at their age! He prayed that Ishmael might be God's blessing.
God told Abraham that, indeed, Ishmael would also be blessed. He would father twelve princes, but that he was NOT part of the covenant. Isaac, who would be born of Sarah, was the bearer of the covenant. It would be out of Isaac that all the promises be fulfilled.
Abraham was 99 years old when he took 13-year-old Ishmael and all of his house to circumcise them, as God had commanded.
When God makes a promise, it may seem too preposterous to believe Him. But, nothing is impossible for God, and what God says will always come to pass. We must have faith and believe, in spite of however impossible it may seem to us or others. Our faith is counted for righteousness, just as was Abram's in Genesis 15:6:
No comments:
Post a Comment