Daily Bread for Jan 5, Gen 16-18

Today's readings are Gen 16-18.

In Gen 16, we see the results of human impatience at God's speed in doing things. God promised Abram he would have offspring. Sarai accuses God of preventing her from bearing children (Gen 16:2). Both of them decide God needs some help in getting His plan accomplished. It was what made sense to the aged couple. None of it goes well. Hagar has Ishmael by Abram.

God is gracious and faithful to his promise to Abram. He will multiply Abram's first offspring into twelve nations. Except, because of Abram's lack of confidence in God and because Abram, like Adam (Gen 3:17), listened to the voice of his wife (Gen 16:2), Ishmael and his offspring will be anything but a blessing to the world. This will be another biblical pattern we will see going forward. Whenever God gives an explicit command, and His people modify it or try to "help it along," disaster looms. God's commandments are not negotiable nor are they subject to revision by any of His children. If they are to walk in His full blessing, they have to do things His way, not theirs.

Gen 17 depicts God giving His chosen people a mark, circumcision. This is a physical characteristic that sets His people apart, making them unique. In other words, God’s children will bear the outward evidence of His presence in their lives.

Gen 17:19 tells us the covenant between God and Abraham will pass to the new baby, Isaac. Notice that Ishmael is to be circumcised as well, but is not the recipient of the covenant. Ismael will live under God’s blessing but not be an heir to the promise. This shows us that, while all the people on the earth are descendants of Noah and his family, not all of them will have an ongoing relationship with God. We learn that all mankind will be the beneficiary of God’s “common grace,” the grace that sustains all living things while God’s plan to redeem His children is being worked out. However, not everyone will be the beneficiary of God’s promise of being one of the “chosen people” of God. Ishmael was born of Abram but was not chosen to be the beneficiary of the covenant. Isaac, born of Abram as well, is chosen to be in covenant with God. Yet, both men and their descendants receive the overall blessing of living in God’s creation while His plan is being carried out (common grace). This is an early demonstration of the biblical truth that merely being born to a particular people does not guarantee status as a chosen one.

Abram has been the recipient of God's grace in the whole affair with Ishmael even though he has failed to trust in God completely. God's unmerited grace brings a change when Abram goes down on his face and surrenders to the Lord (Gen 17:1-3), and a transformation begins. Abram gets a new name to demonstrate that transformation. He is now Abraham. Abraham hears that God's plan has not been thwarted by his actions. His wife, now called Sarah, will still have a son. Her son will bless the nations.

There are similarities between Abraham & Sarah and Adam & Eve. Both couples represent a new beginning, the promise of intimacy with God. God speaks directly to Abraham as He did to Adam. Both men stumbled by listening to the good-but-not-godly intention of their wives. Both couples saw the unmerited grace of God even though they had stumbled. The primary difference between the two couples is the covenant. In Adam and Eve, we see that man is unable to follow God’s commandments on his own. Still, God exhibits grace and gives them a vague and broadly reaching promise (Gen 3:14-15).

In Abraham and Sarah, we begin to see the promise made to Adam and Eve in more detail. We also see His grace and His willingness to fulfill His promises despite His chosen people’s lack of ability to be faithful. To understand the magnitude of grace we see in Abraham’s story, we have to look at the lack of holiness and faithfulness in Adam, then in Abraham. Both men stumble. Both men receive grace. In Abraham, we get a poignant reminder that grace is unmerited and that God remains faithful when His children are not.

Why is this true? We must keep in mind the purpose of the overall narrative, indeed of all creation. It is to reveal God’s glory. It is His story, not Adam’s, nor Abraham’s nor ours. God is faithful; He sheds His grace. All He does is to reveal His glory, not to save His children. Not that our salvation is neither precious nor spectacular, they are! But our redemption is in every way a manifestation of God revealing His glory to His creation. If we understand this as we read through the Bible, the constant stumbles and failing of His people and God’s faithful response in preserving them begin to make sense. He will reveal His glory despite them, not because of them. This applies to us, as believers. God intends to reveal His glory in our ongoing transformation even though we are imperfect and flawed. We can’t save ourselves, so God, to put His power and His faithfulness on display, saves us Himself.

God gives Abraham a convincing demonstration of the power to back up His promise in Gen 18. We also see the terrifying results of unholy living carried out in the lives of those who are not recipients of God’s grace. God tells Abraham He is going to destroy Sodom. Abraham knows Lot lives in Sodom and pleads for God to relent on behalf of the righteous in Sodom. God agrees to spare Sodom if ten righteous men are found in it. Abraham is a mediator for the righteous! Another biblical pattern is revealed. God designates a mediator between Him and His people. God chose Abraham, declared him blameless (Gen 17:1) and provided a mediator for His righteous ones. God demonstrates that His designated mediator can spare the righteous from judgment. Abraham is clearly far from being completely righteous. But, we see the principal of a mediator being carried out.

This is not a story about negotiating with God. It is a demonstration of how effective one who stands between man and God can be. It will be many hundreds of years before the truly effective and perfect mediator, Jesus Christ, appears. Meanwhile, we get a glimpse of how God chooses to relate to His children.