The Promises of God

Read Genesis 13

Abram and Lot and all of their substance (cattle, servants, and riches and belongings) went back to Bethel, where the altar was built after God showed Abram the Promised Land.

Because Abram had lots of cattle, and so did Lot, their herdsmen were arguing over which cattle would eat and drink where. Abram and Lot grew tired of their skirmishes.

Finally, they met together alone to discuss the problem and come to a solution.

"We are family! Our families should not be arguing this way!" they said. Abram decided to be the bigger person. He told Lot, "You choose, and whatever you choose, I will go the other way. I think it is time we split up for the good of our relationship and that of our family's." Lot looked and saw that Jordan was well watered. And there were cities on the Jordan for him to dwell in. So, Lot chose Jordan, where Sodom and Gomorrah resided.

Abram went to the Promised land and dwelled in the Land of Canaan.

When he got there, God told him to walk the length and breadth of the Promised Land, and again, that He would give it to his descendants, and that his descendants would be many. In fact, his descendants would be so many that it would be impossible to number them all.

Abram went to the Hebron, in the plain of Mamre, in the Land of Canaan. There, he lived and built an altar to the Lord.

Abram worshipped God and gave thanks - for something He had not yet received.

If only we could have the faith of Abram and believe that one day, we too, would receive the promises of God!

Discussing Abraham: The Covenant

Genesis 17
1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, 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 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.

A covenant is much stronger than a promise. A covenant is when both parties give up something in order to insure that a promise is kept. For instance, if you made a promise to your best friend, and your best friend made a promise to you, it would be well and good that you and they keep your promise to each other. But, to INSURE that that promise is kept, you take something from them (such as their deepest darkest secret, which, as best friends, you more than likely know). You agree that if that promise is not kept, then the thing that you took would be destroyed. (If your friend does not keep his/her promise, then you agree that you have permission to tell their shameful secret to everyone). That, then, would be a covenant.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would have the Land of Canaan. God promised Eve that, one day, her descendents would bruise the head of the serpent that deceived her. Each child born after that was subject to scrutiny by God. "Is this child worthy of bearing My Name?" This is the question God asked as He looked at each generation and made His choices. Seth was chosen. Then there was Noah. God chose Abram. Only those in the line of His descendants who were faithful, righteous and just were worthy; and, even they were never perfect. God never left them. His Spirit covered them. His love for them endured.

God made a promise to Abram, and now He wanted to make it official.

God told Abram to walk before Him and be perfect. Abram was human. How could he be perfect?

Genesis 15:6
“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”


Abram believed, and that was enough. Abram could do no wrong worthy of damnation because of his faith in God. As long as he believed, he trusted. As long as he trusted, God would count him as righteous, perfect, and without flaw. You've heard people say of other people, "In his eyes, she can do no wrong." That person doesn't have to be perfect. She only has to love. This is how God viewed Abram, who became Abraham. It was as if He were saying to Abram, "If you walk with me, then you are good enough for me to walk with you."

The covenant is a contract between God and the family of Abram. Instead of signing a piece of paper, God requires the trading of blood. God requires obedience before He gives up anything. In order to see this obedience, God commanded that Abram circumcise his household. This was to be a token of the covenant. Anyone who was circumcised from that day forward was worthy of receiving the promise.

What did God give up?

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 18
30 They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

John 19
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

God changed Abram's name to Abraham, meaning "Father of many nations". God changes each of our names when we are adopted into the covenant with him. My name was "Shonda, the destructive", and "Shonda the weak" I am now called, "Shonda, the strong", and "Shonda the stubborn", and "Shonda the faithful". God does that, and no one but God CAN do that.

God promised Abraham that kings would be descended from him.

The old covenant required circumcision. The new covenant requires belief and acceptance of Jesus as Christ, the Risen Saviour, the Lamb of God.

In the Old Testament, we look forward to the cross. After the New Testament, we look back at the cross.

Sarai was renamed "Sarah", meaning "Princess". She would be the vehicle chosen to bear God's chosen seed, Isaac.

Abram laughed at the thought of fathering a child at such an old age -- but he did not doubt that God could do it.

God doesn't expect perfection, just purity of heart. He expects you to try your best in all you do to be perfect -- this includes your relationships with others as well as with Him. Perfection is judged by how well you follow His rules, with pure intentions of the heart.

God's Promise

Previous

Genesis 21
1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived, and bare 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 that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.


Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Sarah named him Isaac, which means "Laughter", as the angels of the Lord had instructed, because she laughed at the thought of having a child at her age. Abraham, too, did as God commanded, bringing Isaac into the covenant when he was eight days old by circumcision.

8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

On the day that Isaac was weaned, Abraham celebrated with a great feast. Every facet of Isaac's life was worthy of celebration in Abraham's eyes; because each day when he looked upon his son, Isaac, he was reminded of God's power, and His grace, and His promises. The sight of his son, Isaac, gave him even more faith and love for God because Isaac was the product of God's blessing on him.

Ishmael, being fourteen years old, I am sure was jealous. After all, HE was the first born. To see all of the attention placed upon Isaac would lead up to no good end. Cain's sin would inevitably catch up to Ishmael if something wasn't done to stop it. For now, though, Ishmael mocked the whole fiasco.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

Sarah, being the good mother that she was, sought to protect her son, Isaac, and his future. When she became afraid that Ishmael would come between Isaac and the future that Abraham had to offer him, she demanded that Abraham get rid of Ishmael.

Abraham was a good father. He loved both of his sons. He wanted to do right by both of them -- but he knew that God had plans for Ishmael, too. And God had already proved His ability to keep His promises through Isaac.

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

God assured Abraham that Ishmael would be blessed; but, Isaac was who the promises belonged to.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

So, Abraham provided food and water for Hagar and Ishmael, and sent them away.

Can you imagine how Ishmael must have felt? I'm sure, as the child he still was, just growing into manhood, he felt that his father had somehow rejected him. I'm sure, looking at the world today, that his resentment was vengeful and grievous. But, he said nothing.

Hagar traveled in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

After days of travelling, they ran out of food and water. Ishmael was weak from travelling, thirst and hunger. She helped him lie down under a shrub in the shade, to protect him from the heat, and walked away from him a little ways, but not out of sight.

She, being tired, thirsty, hungry and alone, sat down and cried to the only one left to cry to, pleading, "Please, don't let me, his mother, see him die."

I can only assume that Ishmael heard his mother, and he, too, began to cry. Abraham had been a good father. He taught his son to pray; and, God heard them.

"Hagar, why are you crying? I hear your son praying, and I am going to make him a great nation. If you had faith in me, you would understand that I can't do that if he dies. Now, get up, and go get your son."

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

She lifted her eyes and saw a well of water off in the distance -- so desperately needed at that moment.

God is the great provider. What He promises, He will make come to pass. We must trust Him, and trust that no matter where we are, or what we are going through at any given moment, God is in control.

I need to remind you that the Muslims today are descended from Ishmael. The fighting in the Middle East is a direct result of Ishmael's departure from Abraham. The education about God and His grace and mercy was stopped when Ishmael was sent away.

Ishmael learned about God from what he already knew: that God was a God of vengence (as Abraham told him about how God helped him rescue Lot in the war); and, God was a God of war, and destruction of all who oppose his laws (as Abraham told him about Soddom and Gomorrah).

This is how Ishmael grew to view the God of Abraham, and he taught his children accordingly.

Today, Ishmael is still fighting for his birthright. It is up to us to teach him that God still loves him, and that his birthright is much greater than a piece of land. Jesus died for his children, too.

Ishmael became an archer, and he married an Egyptian woman. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, between Egypt and Israel.