Genesis 070 – God’s Laughter

Genesis 070 – God’s Laughter

By Dr. Andy Woods – 02/20/2022

Genesis 17:15-21

Let’s take our Bible says this morning and open them to the book of Genesis chapter 17, taking a look this morning, Lord willing, verses 15 through 21 (Gen 17:15-21). The title of our message this morning is “The laughter of God”. The laughter of God. Does God laugh? Yes, He does. He usually gets the last laugh too.

GENESIS STRUCTURE

1. 1. Beginning of the Human race (Gen. 1‒11)
   2. Beginning of the Hebrew race (Gen. 12‒50)

1. 1. Genesis 1-11 (four events)
      1. Creation (1-2)
      2. Fall (3-5)
      3. Flood (6-9)
      4. National dispersion (10-11)

1. 1. Genesis 12-50 (four people)

1. 1. 1. Abraham (12:1–25:11)
      2. Isaac (25:12–26:35)
      3. Jacob (27–36)
      4. Joseph (37–50)

We’re continuing to go through verse by verse through the book of Genesis having already completed verses 1 through 11 (Gen 17:1-11), which is basically tracing a promise of a coming Messiah and then when we get to chapter 12, the tension is well, which nation is this Messiah going to come from and God says, I’ll solve that problem by creating a nation. So beginning in chapters 12 through 50 is the creation and the preservation of the nation of Israel and it all begins with a man named Abraham.

Genesis, 12‒16 – Abram’s Early Journeys

1. 1. Unconditional promises (Gen 12:1-3)
   2. From Haran to Canaan (Gen 12:4-5)
   3. In Canaan (Gen 12:6-9)
   4. In Egypt (Gen 12:10-20)
   5. Abram and Lot Separate (Gen 13:1-13)
   6. Reaffirmation of Abram’s promises (Gen 13:14-18)
   7. Abram Rescues Lot (Gen 14:1-24)
   8. Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:1-21)
   9. Hagar & Ishmael (Gen 16:1-16)
   10. Circumcision (Gen 17:1-27)

So we have been working our way gradually, slowly, through the life of this man Abraham and we’re now in chapter 17, been moving through chapter 17, which deals with the whole subject of circumcision.

Genesis 17:1‒27 – Circumcision

1. 1. 1. Covenant Restated (Gen 17:1-8)
      2. Covenant Token (Gen 17:9-14)
      3. Sarah’s Role (Gen 17:15-21)
      4. Abraham’s Obedience (Gen 17:22-27)

This is one of the things I like about verse by verse teaching is it forces the preacher to talk about things he probably wouldn’t normally talk about. I mean, I don’t know if in my own will I would have come to the Bible and say, okay, it’s time to learn about circumcision. Let’s grab a verse or two but when you’re moving verse by verse you’re sort of forced to deal with every subject. So in this chapter we’ve seen the Abrahamic Covenant restated. We’ve seen the token of the covenant which is circumcision verses 9 through 14 (Gen 17:9-14) and this morning we move into the role of Sarah in this whole outworking of God’s purposes. So here is our outline for this morning and it’s got seven parts to it, which is nice, that’s a biblical number.

1. Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21
2. 1. 1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
      2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
      3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
      4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
      5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
      6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
      7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

So I’m always happy when the outline comes out that way but notice if you will verse 15 (Gen 17:15) where Sarah, her actual name at this time is Sarai, has a name change and notice if you will Genesis, 17 and notice if you will verse 15, it says: Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but rather Sarah shall be her name… Sarai means in Hebrew “my princess” and a lot of people would acknowledge that the name Sarah which is what her name is being changed into here, means  The princess. God of course, you remember back in verse 5 (Gen 17:5), has already changed the name of Abram to Abraham. The father of many nations and this whole subject of changing names of people, it actually is pretty common as you start to study it through the Bible. For example, in Revelation, 2, verse 17 (Rev 2:17) to one of the churches there in Asia minor. Jesus says, to him I will give him manna, I will give him a white stone and upon that stone, a new name written which no one knows but he who receives it. Why is it that God is so interested in giving new names throughout the Bible? The answer is very simple, when a person trusts in Christ they become a new creation in Christ Jesus. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17 (2 Cor 5:17) says: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come… With a new status before God, as a new born child of God, as a new creation of God, a new creature of God, comes a new identity. We need a new identity to fit our present reality because our present name many times doesn’t fit the reality that God has now given us in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s interesting to me that the Lord did this with the Apostle Peter. God said to Peter, I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it… There his name is changed from Simon to Petros or in Aramaic Cephas, meaning little stone. No offense intended to the Roman Catholic Church but this is not saying what they teach it says that somehow Peter was the first pope when you just look at this in the original language you see that Jesus is using two stones. There’s the big stone and the little stone, He is building his church on the big stone. That would be Peter’s confession of who Christ is. But Peter’s name is changed from Simon to Petros, meaning little stone and it’s always encouraging to me to see the fact that when God gives people a new name, it’s the name not so much based on how they’re currently acting, but what they will become. Peter was hardly a stone, which implies stability, because just a few verses later, he’s going to open his mouth again and Jesus is going to say, get behind me who? Satan. Peter is the man of course, that’s going to betray the Lord three times. Peter as I like to call him is the Apostle with the foot shaped mouth. That’s why I think we can all relate to him, he is always sort of sticking his foot in his mouth saying the wrong thing and it’s interesting to me that Jesus gave him a name based on not who he was or how he was currently acting but what he would become and as we have said before, boy! Did he become that. There’s no more pivotal character in the book Acts chapters 1 through 10 than this man the apostle Peter. This is the man who, although he denied the Lord three times, would open his mouth on the day of Pentecost and proclaim these words and three thousand people were saved. 7:48

Aren’t you glad that the Lord doesn’t look at you as how you are now but what you will be made into by His grace? And here we see the same thing happening with Sarai. In fact, the best I can tell, she is the only woman in the Bible that has experienced or will experience this new name and so, why the new name changed to The princess? Well, I’m glad you asked because verse 16 explains her blessings. She needs a new name according to her new blessings and those blessings start getting articulated there in verse 16. The first thing we see here are blessings for Sarah.

Sarah’s Blessings – Genesis 17:16

1. Blessings (Gen 17:16a)
2. Son (Gen 17:16b)
3. Nations (Gen 17:16c)
4. Kings (Gen 17:16d)

Look at verse 16 (Gen 17:16): I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come forth from her. Notice that God in verse 16, two times says He’s going to bless Sarah. I find this very interesting because a lot of people will tell you that the Bible is sort of a woman hating book. It’s misogynistic, we’re told. It’s chauvinistic and yet the blessings fall upon Sarah and articulated for Sarah just like they are for Abraham. In fact, you don’t have to get far in the Bible to see this blessing on both genders. Genesis, 1, 27, and 28 (Gen 1:27-28) says: God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them… It doesn’t say here God blessed him. It says God blessed them, male and female. What are these specific blessings? She’s told twice here. God speaking to Abram, now Abraham, two times I’m going to bless Sarah, what are those blessings? Well, they start to get articulated in the rest verse 16 (Gen 17:16). One of her blessings is Sarah is going to be the mother of the covenant son. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her… And keep that language in mind because a couple of verses later Abram or now Abraham is going to forget that. Sarah is to be the mother of the covenant son Isaac. Notice very carefully that the covenant son is not Ishmael coming from the Abraham-Hagar-Ishmael line. That will not continue the genealogy leading to Jesus Christ but the covenant son is going to be through the Abraham-Sarah-Isaac line, yet to be born, more on that in just a second. But the first reason she’s blessed is she’s the mother of this covenant son. Another reason she is blessed is right there in verse 16 is she is going to be the mother of many nations. Now, that makes sense because Abraham was told back in verse 6 that he would be the father of many nations and how’s that promise materialized? In time it has, because through the nation of Israel came two nations.

The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Israel and Judah and as we continue through the book of Genesis what you’re going to see is Edom is going to come through the lineage of Abraham and Sarah and the blessings continue on. 12:05

As you look there at the end of verse 16: I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her… So she’s not just going to be the mother of nations, she’s actually going to be the mother of kings. Has that promise materialized? Well, it must have materialized because we have a book in our Bible called the book of 1st and 2nd Kings. The northern kings, the southern kings in the nation of Israel, 19 kings in the north. Sadly not a single good king. When your team goes 0-19 that’s not a good season. God had more grace on the south. There’s 20 kings, at least there we have eight good kings, still not a winning season when you think about it. But it’s interesting to me that when God says nations are going to come from you, kings are going to come from you. That’s exactly what God means and that materialized in real history. There’s something to understand about Bible prophecy when you start to see fulfilled prophecies; it’s very literal and the prophecies that God makes are extremely reliable; they don’t always get fulfilled when we think they’re going to be fulfilled. But in the course of time God always keeps good on what He said.

So, Sarah’s name has been changed because Sarah is a woman who has been blessed and you would think Abram would just kind of, now Abraham, would stand up and say, praise the Lord. But he doesn’t. He falls into unbelief. He has here verse 17 three reactions.

Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21

1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

Number one, we’ve got a physical reaction; number 2, we’ve got an emotional reaction; number 3, we have what’s happening in his heart.

Abraham’s Response – Genesis 17:17

1. Physical response (Gen17:17a)
2. Emotional response (Gen17:17b)
3. Heart-felt response (Gen17:17c)

Look at the physical reaction there, it’s right there in verse 17 (Gen 17:17): Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?… I mean, the first thing he does it looks like it’s something physical here. He just falls on his face and the second thing that happens here is he just starts laughing. That’s an emotional response and it’s not laughter out of joy, I don’t believe. It’s laughter out of unbelief like, what a ridiculous statement that God just made to me! In fact, you might find this interesting, the Hebrew word for laughter used here, laughing is “Yitzhak” where we get the name Isaac. So Isaac’s name actually is referring to laughter except in this case, it’s God getting the last laugh and not Abram or Abraham who is now laughing in unbelief and we have a tendency to think he was laughing in unbelief because of his heartfelt response. We’ve got a physical response, an emotional response and then what’s happening in his heart. As you look very carefully there at verse 17, it says: Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart… Wow! You mean, God knows what’s happening in our innermost being, in our hearts. Apparently, He does. It’s interesting to me that when Satan fell, he wasn’t Satan at the time, he was Lucifer. But Isaiah, 14, verses 13 (Isa 14:13) describes what was happening in his heart when he fell.

Satan’s Original State and First Sin

• Isaiah 14:12-15
  • 5 “I will” statements
    • Ascend to heaven (13)
    • Raise my throne above the stars of God (13)
    • Sit enthroned on the Mt. of the Assembly (13)
    • Ascend above the tops of the clouds (14)
    • Make myself like the Most High (14)

These various “I will” statements that he was making in his heart leading to his fall. I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in front on the Mount of the assembly, I will ascend above the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the most high; and God saw these things emanating from Lucifer’s heart, because Isaiah, 14, verses 13 (Isa 14:13), which starts this whole section, says: …but you said in your heart… I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. God could look into the heart of the angel Lucifer and that led to his fall. There’s an interesting verse concerning one of the enemies of Israel in Ezekiel, 25, verses 3, and 4 (Ezek 25:3-4) Ammon and why God is going to bring judgment on Ammon and it says: and say to the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says, Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile, therefore, behold, I am going to give you to the people of the east as a possession, and they will set up their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk… And God dealt with Ammon in terms of articulating a future judgment just based on what popped out of his mouth, aha!, because the mouth is the window to the heart. The things that are happening in the heart eventually come out of the mouth. This is the kind of thing that’s happening to Abraham. I mean, he’s laughing. He’s falling on his face. This is silly, this is ridiculous because he had a heart at this point that was a heart of unbelief. 18:49

Psalm, 139, and verse 4 (Psalm 139:4) says: Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all… It is an astounding thing that God sits in judgment not just on the things that we have done. Not just based on the things that we have said but on the inward desires and motivations of the heart. Action trouble, speech trouble is related to heart trouble and Abraham just sort of didn’t feel like God could pull this one off. God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, of course, but this one is a little too hard for Him. I mean, how could a child be born to my wife, Sarah? Given our advanced age and the ages of the two of them are given right there in verse 17. That’s how we know, by the way, that there’s a ten year difference between the two, age wise and yet what is all this leading to? It’s ultimately leading to the next chapter Genesis, 18, verse 14 (Gen 18:14) where we will read these words, is anything too difficult for the Lord? Rhetorical question cause the answer is what? The answer is no. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Now, we might not trust the Lord, but that doesn’t somehow handicap God or put a set of handcuffs on God or put a strait jacket on God. God can do anything and many times we believe he can do things and other times we just think it’s too much for him. This is sort of what’s happening to this man, Abraham. But it is interesting to me to note that God can see exactly what’s happening inside of us. Do we have a believing spirit or an unbelieving spirit. It says in Matthew, 12, 24 and 25 (Matt 12:24-25): But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons… And then Matthew, 12:25 says: And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and no city or house divided against itself will stand… He knew exactly where they were because He has the ability as an omniscient God to look right into the heart. So Abraham’s reaction physically and emotionally gave them away but God didn’t have to wait for those reactions; He knew where they came from. He knew he had a heart or spirit or mind set at this time, that some things are just too hard for God and of course this very convicting and indicting to us because we limit God all of the time. That’s why we’re always nervous about everything. I mean, if we really trusted God, we wouldn’t be as nervous as we are. Gee, Lord, I’m really worried about my finances. Oh! So you don’t believe I can provide for you. I’m really worried about the things going on in the world, the great global reset, I’m worried about inflation, I’m worried about unemployment. Oh! So you don’t think I can take care of you in the midst of all of that, right? That’s why you’re worried. Well, Lord, I didn’t mean it that way. Well, it doesn’t matter how you meant it, I can see what you really meant. You just don’t trust me. 22:50

You know, it took me quite a while as a Christian to learn this but one of the most grievous sins the Christian can commit against God is the sin of anxiety. This is why Paul in the book of Philippians chapter 4, verses 6, and 7 (Phil 4:6-7) in the form of the command says, be anxious for nothing… For zero and I find that when I’m anxious, I’m not trusting and when I’m trusting, I’m not anxious and so if you’re here today just filled with anxiety about life, look at your heart. Do you trust God? (inaudible voice from audience) Actually, we planned that that way cause her name is Sarah as you guys know. Do we trust God or do we not trust God? So this leads to Abraham’s misunderstanding.

Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21

1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

See, this is not an intellectual problem. This is a heart problem. But now he is moving into an intellectual misunderstanding. Not because he’s slow mentally or intellectually, but because he has an unbelieving heart and so he takes God’s promises and rewrites them and that’s typically what we do with the literal words of God, when we don’t believe them we just sort of rewrite them, as if we were in a position to amend the things of God. I mean, God really didn’t mean what He said, it couldn’t be; and so, this conception you see there in verse 18, notice Genesis, 17 and notice if you will verse 18 (Gen 17:18), it says: And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before You!… Kind of a normal thing he would say from the human perspective because Ishmael had been his physical son for about 14 years from this point. He originally wanted to say, well, before the birth of Ishmael, Eliezer of Damascus in my household is going to be the heir of these things and God was very clear, He said, this man will not be your heir but one who will come forth from your own body shall be your heir; and then we’ve studied the Hagar line leading to Ishmael, Ishmael is born, Ishmael has been around for fourteen years and Abraham takes God’s promise that you’re going to have another son, this time through Sarah and I will fulfill my covenant through him and he just rewrites the promise and He makes it sound like the promise is going to be fulfilled through Ishmael and the truth of the matter is Abraham should have known better, because didn’t God say right there in verse 16 (Gen 17:16): I will bless her indeed I will give you a son by her. “Her” is Sarah, not Hagar and so here’s a case where Abraham simply takes a promise that God gave him as God is speaking to him and he rewrites it because he really doesn’t believe it. 26:24

I don’t know about you but this kind of thing encourages me because I have these struggles with God myself. I can go through times of great victory with God, trusting him and then the next crisis arises and suddenly I’m not trusting him anymore, because this is a different crisis and a different problem and how is God going to help me now? Well, probably the same way He helped me through the other crisis. So we’re all on this faith journey of learning to trust God more and more and more through the different emergencies of life

Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21

1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

and now we have God’s response concerning Isaac verse 19 (Gen 17:19), then he will make a response concerning Ishmael verse 20 (Gen 17:20) and then he will make some concluding remarks concerning Isaac verse 21 (Gen 17:21) what does he say about Isaac yet to be born?

God’s Response: Isaac – Genesis 17:19

1. Seed-son through Sarah (Gen 17:19a)
2. Name: Isaac (Gen 17:19b)
3. Abrahamic Covenant through Isaac (Gen 17:19c)

There it is in verse 19 (Gen 17:19): But God said, No… And some of the Bible translations say Nay, you know neigh kind of thing… But God said, No but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him… So the first thing God says is no. The seed’s son is not going to come through Ishmael, Hagar. It’s going to come through Sarah. Sarah is going to bring forth a son named Isaac and what does Isaac’s name mean? It means laughter. “Yitzhak”, laughter, earlier in the passage, a word play on Isaac in Hebrew which means laughter. This is God responding to Abraham’s emotional response. I mean, you’re laughing cause the thing seems ridiculous but God says, no, I’m laughing at you. In fact, your very son that you’re going to get for me, his name is laughter. Because I’m laughing at your unbelief. I mean, I’m laughing at how little you think I am. I’m laughing at the human box you just put me in. Do you not understand who you’re dealing with here? You’re dealing with the God of heaven and the earth, you’re dealing with the one who spoke and the heavens and the earth leapt into existence and you think it’s hard for a woman in her nineties and a man who is one hundred, I guess it says, to have a child? I mean, that’s nothing for me. Now, to you it’s a big deal. But it’s nothing to me. So you can laugh all you want in unbelief but I’ll laugh back at your unbelief, that’s why I’ve entitled this message the laughter of God. God gets a good laugh out of us, you know that? 29:28

Psalm, 2 is very interesting because it talks about the nations in rebellion against God. It talks about Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum and the great global reset and it talks there about the United Nations and all of these things that are being hatched today to push world government. It’s right there in Psalm, 2:Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? In other words, this plan that you have to create a world without me, it’s silly, it’s vain, it’s a waste of your time. The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!… Let’s go to Davos and let’s design a world without God in it; and what does God do? Oh! no, Gosh! They’re rebelling against me. I guess I’ll take my toys and go home. Verse 4 (Psa 2:4): He who sits in the heavens.. That’s God… laughs… I mean, it’s hilarious, it’s funny that they would even think they can pull something like this off and then it says: …the Lord scoffs at them… I mean, they’re designing a world without God in it and God is just laughing and laughing and scoffing and ridiculing them and making fun of them, the laughter of God, what a subject that is in the Bible. Abraham laughs at God in unbelief and God names Isaac laughter, his own son is named laughter. You can laugh all you want but God gets the last laugh. In fact, the name is given there in verse 19 (Gen 17:19): But God said, No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac… Which basically means laughter and Isaac is very special because it’s through Isaac, not Ishmael. It’s not through the child of works that was created in Genesis, 16, it’s through the child hatched miraculously in faith Genesis, 21, that God is going to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant that has already been given in Genesis, 15. We know that there’s a covenant, we just don’t know yet through whom this covenant will be fulfilled. Abram thinks it’s his son Ishmael, God says, absolutely not. Verse 19: But God said, No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish… Not cut, not cut a covenant in Hebrew, but… I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him… God here is not cutting a new deal. There’s a different word for cut a covenant in Hebrew all God is doing is establishing an existing covenant. He’s just clarifying through which descendant the covenant is going to be fulfilled. 33:09

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum – The Book of Genesis, 306

“Normally, the Hebrew would read, ‘to cut a covenant’; but here it states He is going to establish a covenant, which involves the maintaining of an existing covenant. Therefore, God did not make a brand new covenant with Isaac; He was establishing with Isaac a preexisting covenant, which is the Abrahamic Covenant.”

Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his Genesis commentary says: Normally, the Hebrew would read, ‘to cut a covenant’; but here it states He is going to establish a covenant, which involves the maintaining of an existing covenant. Therefore, God did not make a brand new covenant with Isaac; He was establishing with Isaac a preexisting covenant, which is the Abrahamic Covenant… and by the way, that covenant as it’s being executed in real time in history is forever.

Evidence of Abrahamic Covenant’s Unconditional Nature

• ANE covenant ratification ceremony (Gen 15)
• Lack of stated conditions for Israel’s obedience (Gen 15)
• Covenant’s eternality (Gen 17:7, 13, 19; Ps. 90:2)
• Covenant’s immutability (Heb 6:13-18; Mal. 3:6)
• Trans-generational reaffirmation despite perpetual national disobedience (Jer 31:35-37)

Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom, 149-52

It says it right there in verse 19, an everlasting covenant which means it’s got to rest on the shoulders of an everlasting God for this to be pulled off. Human manipulation will not pull this off. Genesis, 16, should have taught us that. This is eternal, this is my business. This is on my shoulders. In fact, three times in this chapter the covenant, that’s not being cut here but established, is called “eternal” the Hebrew word “Olam” meaning everlasting and it’s going to be trans generational because it’s going to be fulfilled through Isaac’s descendants after him. Not Ishmael’s seed. But Isaac’s seed. Do you understand that Islam completely and totally rewrites passages like this? They completely rewrite it and they make it sound like Ishmael is the son of promise, when the Bible clearly states the opposite. In fact, here’s a sign that I don’t think it’s there now but it’s just a couple of miles from this church.

One of our joggers took the picture for us, fortunately she is short and she can move in and out of that freeway fast to get a good picture, but it says there, one family, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, one message. Islam and Christianity. Islam and Judaism, common Abrahamic faiths; and yet, how could that be when the two religions are saying the exact opposite. I mean, in Islam the focus is on Ishmael, in the Bible the focus is on Isaac. In fact, do you understand that in Islam it really wasn’t Jesus who died on the cross? It was Judas pretending to be Jesus. You want to talk about getting something completely and totally wrong? That would be it and yet there’s this huge push today to make it sound as if Islam and Christianity and Judaism are all one big happy family because they all are connected to Abraham. In fact, you might know this, that in the United Arab Emirates, there has been built the Abrahamic house.

One for Judaism, one for Christianity, so called, I would rather call it Christendom and one for Islam, because don’t you understand we need a one world religion and we got to take all of these religions and put them on the same page and the way they’re doing it is through this man Abraham, common Abrahamic faith. 37:02

In fact, we have in politics today the Abraham Accords, why would they pick that name? Because they think that’s the name, the Muslims and the Hebrews can agree on in the Middle East and yet it’s like mixing oil and water. I mean, you’re mixing two things that are giving completely and totally opposite messages. One says, the child of promise is Isaac; the other one says no, it’s Ishmael. One says Jesus hung on the cross to die for the sins of the world; the other one says no that was really Judas pretending to be Jesus. Common Abrahamic faiths? Have we lost our minds? This is insanity and yet that’s the name of the game today. The name of the game today is to find middle ground between the two and I’m ashamed to say that it’s evangelicals that are leading the charge into this, as evidenced by something that happened a few summers ago between Dr. James White representing Christianity, supposedly and Yasir Qadhi representing Islam.

White brings Yasir Qadhi into a church before the assembled saints of God and the two of them won’t debate each other. They just share. Share ideas, share commonalities. James White is a very skilled debater. He knows how to cross examine, he knows how to object and he doesn’t do it here, because the title of this whole thing was beyond debate. A friendly dialogue between Christians and Muslims in the church of Jesus Christ before the assembled saints of God and beloved, I can find absolutely no scriptural evidence for any kind of practice like this anywhere in the Bible. I mean, never does Jesus bring in the Pharisees in front of the disciples and say, let’s have a friendly dialogue and discover some middle ground. You won’t find Paul doing this in all of his missionary activities. The Muslims, they come here, you know that, don’t you? They find out where Christians are congregating; they’ll show up after the service. Very nice people. You reach out and want to shake their hand and they don’t want to shake your hand because their religion won’t allow it and they’ll invite you over to their cultural center to learn about the similarities that supposedly exists between Christianity and Islam and they’ll have a lot of neat, fun games and face painting and things for the kids, like a carnival atmosphere and the Christians say, well that’s just great let’s go join them, not understanding that they’re sitting down to a rigged game, because in Islam through something called Taqiyya, you are allowed to lie to advance your cause. You can’t do that in Christianity, cause Christianity has a commandment, thou shall not bear false witness. That doesn’t exist in Islam. In fact, Allah’s name actually means deceiver. The God that they’re following is not even one hundred percent truthful. That’s why they don’t even know on the day of judgment, if they’re going to make it into heaven or not cause the deceiver could have changed his mind. I mean, after all he ushered in the great deception of the crucifixion of Jesus and it really wasn’t Jesus. So here’s James White bringing in Yasir Qadhi, the two of them are sitting on a platform in a church in front of the assembled saints of God and James White is calling this evangelism? This isn’t evangelism. The church isn’t for this sort of thing. Evangelism is when you go out to where the Muslims are and you tell them to repent, which means to change your mind about who you think Jesus is. Here’s the truth, that’s evangelism. That’s not what’s happening here. It’s something that has taken over evangelicalism to a large extent called interfaith dialogue and let me tell you something, the Muslims are laughing all the way to the bank when we do this, because they see it as an opportunity to spread their doctrine under deceit, which they’re allowed to engage in. 42:04

Seyyid Qutb

The Muslim Brotherhood’s senior theoretician, Seyyid Qutb, was transparent in the true agenda behind Islamic participation in interfaith dialogue, when he wrote, “The chasm between Islam and the Jahiliyyah [the society of unbelievers] is great, and a bridge is not to be built across it so that the people on the two sides may mix with each other, but only so that the people of the Jahiliyyah  [the society of unbelievers] may come over to Islam.”

Sayyid Qutb, Milestones, Salimiah (Kuwait: International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, 1978 [written 1966]), 263.

In fact, here is a quote from Seyyid Qutb, the Muslim brotherhood’s senior theoretician, back in 1966 in his book he says this: The Muslim Brotherhood’s senior theoretician, Seyyid Qutb, was transparent in the true agenda behind Islamic participation in interfaith dialogue, when he wrote (quote) “The chasm between Islam and the society of unbelievers… that would be us… is great, and a bridge is not to be built across it so that the people on the two sides may mix with each other, but only so that the society of unbelievers may come over to.. What?… To Islam… See, the deception is oh, we’re just going to go into the middle and find common ground. That’s what the naive Christian thinks when he agrees to this sort of insanity and the Muslim who is allowed to lie knows exactly what they’re doing. The agenda is not to find common ground, it’s to convert America to Islam or at least, desensitize Americans to Islam and yet how do you mix these two things together when the doctrines of the two are teaching two different things? I have absolutely no interest in interfaith dialogue. I’ll tell you where my interest is, it’s an interfaith evangelism, where we are calling them to truth, to the claims of Jesus Christ. If we’re not doing that, we’re just deceiving ourselves into an activity that is designed ultimately to destroy evangelical Christianity. These people at the end of the day, they have no interest in dialogue. In fact, you see those three houses there? Islam can put whatever it wants on its house but not the Christian house, you can’t put a cross up. Now isn’t that interesting? I thought Christianity was all about the cross. Oh! You can’t put that up in the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, well why not? Well because that’s against Islamic law. So, I guess you’re really not that tolerant after all, are you? I mean, these three houses that they’ve set up, they’re not even being fair to one of the houses. That’s the nature of Islam. I’m hearing a lot of bad stuff right now folks, I’ll just be honest with you. We’re in an election cycle. I’m hearing members of one party are opening the door to Islam because we have to win. Well, beloved, you elect a bunch of Muslims to the highest offices in the land, I don’t care what party you belong to, the end result is not why that party was started because Islam is not just a religion, it is a political conquest ideology. Its agenda is to enslave and yet it masquerades on the front end as interfaith dialogue. Muslims change very fast depending on the amount of population they control in the host country. Mohammed was the exact same way. When Muslims are in the minority they quote one set of text in the Quran that make them look like they’re very loving and peaceful. Once the population reaches a certain threshold, once they get enough people elected to power, which we now have or we’re moving in that direction, it’s called the Squad. Keith Ellison who is the Attorney General in Minnesota. Once they reach a certain population level, you’ll see a radical change because it happens everywhere around the world. They stop quoting the nice sections of the Quran and they start quoting the sections of the Quran about “kill the infidel wherever you find them” and you say, well, what ever happened to the nice sections of the Quran? Oh! Those were, and you need to learn this word: abrogated, canceled. 46:54

Mohammed was the exact same way. When he was in the minority it was one set of texts. When he got the majority everything changed, and we have political leadership even here in Fort Bend County. I don’t care if this gets canceled from the internet. Someone needs to start telling the truth at some point (applauses) and you have, even politicians in Fort Bend County, that are opening the door to Islam. Do you not understand what you’re doing? Well, they don’t, apparently because they’ve been lied to and the Islamic faith has lied to countless Americans. It has lied to evangelical Christians. Convincing us that interfaith dialogue is really a form of evangelism when in reality it’s a form of entrapment and you say, well, Gee pastor! Why would you bring up all of these things here? Well, what better place to bring it up? The covenant son is not Ishmael as Islam teaches. It’s Isaac and the more you move into a common faith’s mindset, the more you’re trying to mix oil and water together.

Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21

1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

So to Ishmael now we have God’s response. This is pre Islamic, remember? Islam doesn’t even come about until the seventh century AD. So there is blessings not just on Isaac the covenant son but also Ishmael the non-covenant son.

God’s Response: Ishmael – Genesis 17:20

1. Blessing (Gen 17:20a)
2. Multiplication (Gen 17:20b)
3. Beget twelve princes (Gen 17:20c)
4. Great nation (Gen 17:20d)

So what does God say? Look if you will at verse 20 (Gen 17:20). It says: As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him… So apparently God heard Abraham’s concern for Ishmael, the child that was in existence through the Abraham-Hagar-Ishmael line for about fourteen years or thirteen years. It shows you that God loves everybody. Yes, Ishmael was not the covenant son but God still loved Ishmael and had a plan for him. Yes, I can say a lot of terrible things about, I would call them truthful things, about the ideology of Islam but that doesn’t change the fact that God loves individual Muslims. They’re souls for whom Christ died; He might hate what they stand for. You don’t have to support their theology, you don’t have to support their ideology but when you see someone in the heat of the Houston sun in the public library in a full blown burqa, where only the eye slits are visible in a woman, you have to see that person is a victim and God knows… maybe I shouldn’t say this but I’m going to… God knows how many bruises she’s covering up, because of an abusive husband. Get the movie if you want to see this and become familiar with it. Watch the movie “Not without my daughter” and you’ll start to get a glimpse of what Islam is like. In fact, that movie I don’t even think could be made today in our politically correct environment. But you really owe it to yourself to get that and to watch it, with Sally Field and so forth. 51:13

So there is a blessing here on Ishmael. What’s the specific blessing? Well, he too is going to be multiplied. It’s also there in verse 20 (Gen 17:20): As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly… So there is a large and extensive Arab population today, coming from this Ishmael line and then it goes on and it says that through Ishmael, he will beget twelve princes. Again verse 20 (Gen 17:20): As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes… Now where are these twelve princes coming from? Eventually we’re going to get to Genesis, 25, maybe not the side of the rapture, where it will say, now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son whom Hagar, the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave, bore to him and it mentions these twelve names. So there is a blessing on Ishmael. It’s just not the line leading to Jesus because God at the end of the day loves everybody and it continues on in verse 20 and it says at the very end (Gen 17:20): I will make him a great nation… and the Arabic people coming from this lineage are to this day of great number and then you come to verse 21 (Gen 17:21) which is the concluding remarks that God makes concerning Isaac.

Sarah’s Role – Genesis 17:15-21

1. Sarah’s name change (Gen 17:15)
2. Sarah’s blessings (Gen 17:16)
3. Abraham’s response (Gen 17:17)
4. Abraham’s misunderstanding (Gen 17:18)
5. God’s response: Isaac (Gen 17:19)
6. God’s response: Ishmael (Gen 17:20)
7. Concluding remarks: Isaac (Gen 17:21)

So God has a love for the non-seeds son and his descendants because God loves everybody. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Then you look at verse 21 and you have some concluding remarks concerning this man Isaac. The Abrahamic covenant is coming through Isaac, verse 21 (Gen 17:21): But My covenant I will establish… Watch the Hebrew word there, it’s not cut, it’s not create, it’s establish an existing covenant… But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year… Wow! Now we have a prophecy with a date attached to it. God is a date setter, look at that. 54:13

So the Abrahamic Covenant is going to be fulfilled through Isaac, that’s exactly what we learned at the end of verse 19. What else does God say about Isaac? He says here that Sarah will be the mother of the seed son, Isaac, not Hagar. That point was made earlier in verse 16 (Gen 17:16) and then God says, by the way, by the way, by the way, the child is going to be born one year from now. So it’s a timing passage. It’s a timing prophecy. You know, in these last days that we’re living in, if there’s ever a book you should get into besides the Bible, it’s this book right here.

There’s a lot of junk food prophecy out there. This is not junk food, this is meat and potatoes. I mean, it has a very humble title “Every prophecy of the Bible” Wow! By the late Dr. John Walvoord, prophecy expert and it’s an astounding book to read because he takes you from Genesis to Revelation and shows you everywhere in the Bible where God’s made a prediction and then you start to see how many of the predictions God made that came to pass, you’re reading one of them right here. One year from now, that son that you were laughing at, whose very name means laughter, cause I’m laughing at your laughter, it’s going to be born. He doesn’t just say the son is going to come, it’s going to happen in a year and this is the kind of thing that Jesus was seeking to communicate to the disciples in the upper room in John, 13, verse 19 (John 13:19), he says: From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He… And then a chapter later, He says the same thing: Now I’ve told you before it happens so that when it happens you may believe… In other words, Jesus to the eleven, Judas having left the room, in the upper room says, alright! Here’s how you going to know that everything I’ve said is true, I’m going to start making predictions and a lot of those predictions are going to happen in your lifetime. In fact, a lot of them are going to happen this week; and when you see these things happening in real time, you’ll know exactly who I am and if that didn’t happen, there’s no possible way these eleven men would have left the upper room and died horrific martyr’s deaths for the cause of Christ. Peter according to tradition, crucified upside down. How can a man do that if the things Jesus said in the short term didn’t happen? So God here is making a short term prediction. Laugh all you want but one year from now that son is going to be born through you and your aged wife and I’m going to fulfill my covenant ultimately leading to Jesus Christ through Isaac and I’ll be laughing cause I can pull it off. 57:49

So what’s coming in the future in the book of Genesis? Well, God said a year, so we would think, since the pregnancy period is nine months, that it would take him three months to heal from his circumcision and then he would have a sexual relationship with his wife and through that, Sarah would conceive and then following that three month period, when that impregnation starts, three months to heal from the circumcision, nine months later, Isaac is born and what’s going to happen in the interim? Before Isaac is born? Two things. Number one, the Sodom and Gomorrah story (Genesis, 18, and 19). Number 2, the encounter with Abimelech (Genesis, 20). So those sort of fit into this time period, in between the promise and then the birth of Isaac and so that’s what we see coming in the book of Genesis.

So we will pick this up next week, beginning in verse 22 (Gen 17:22) and then from there will be moving into Genesis, 18, and 19 which is the whole story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is sort of inserted in between the promise and the ultimate fulfillment of the promise coming in Genesis, 21. Wow! This is really an exciting book, isn’t it? The things that we learn, and of course, the most exciting thing a person can do, I believe, we have a lot of thrill seekers today, is to really do something radical and there’s nothing more radical than changing your eternal destiny and you change your eternal destiny by placing your personal faith in the promise of Jesus Christ. Jesus through his death, burial, resurrection and ascension did what a mere human could not do. He as the God man bridged the gap between God and man. He paid for our sin problem and His final words on the cross where it is what? It is finished. There’s nothing left for us to do other than to receive what God has done for us as a free gift and you can receive that free gift right now as I’m speaking. You don’t have to walk an aisle to receive this, you don’t have to join a church to receive this, you don’t have to give money to receive this. It’s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Lord convicts you of your need to do this and you respond, not with unbelieving laughter as the world does, but you respond with a heart of faith which takes God at his word and then you exercise faith in that promise, the promise of the gospel and that’s what makes you a Christian. We’re not dealing here with a twelve step process. We’re dealing here with a one step process. It’s as simple as the word “believe”, which means trust. Belief is only as good as the object it’s placed in, it’s got to be placed in the right object. You can’t place it in a person that died on the cross which is really Judas, that’s the wrong object. You’ve got a place it in the right object, the true Jesus who did die on the cross, to pay the sin debt of the world. And then His bodily resurrection from the dead on the third day confirmed His promises and as these promises were starting to be fulfilled in real time, faith was growing in the disciples that this is the Guy! That you may believe that I am He and so our exhortation is for people to, even as I’m talking, to place their personal faith in Christ for salvation. If it’s something you need more explanation on, I’m available after the service to talk. Brent Nasworth and Wanda will be back there too. They would love to talk to you about having a relationship with the Lord. Let’s pray. Father, we’re grateful for your word, we’re grateful for your truth, grateful for the book of Genesis. I do pray that we would walk these principles out this week as your people. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, Amen.