Genesis 18:1-22:24
2 Kings 4:1-37
Introduction
Three messengers of God arrive to foretell the tidings of Isaac’s birth.
Genesis 21:1-7 1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age." (ESV)
Sarah laughed when she first heard the promise that she would have a child, because she was well beyond child bearing years and did not believe the promise she heard.
Genesis 18:9 They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" And he said, "She is in the tent." 10 The LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh." (ESV)
The Lord made a promise to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in a year’s time. Abraham had despaired he would not have an heir from his own blood line, though he had Ishmael by Hagar. He desired to have a child by Sarah even though she was past child bearing years, but is anything impossible for the Lord? Isaac stands at the crossroads in the Biblical text between the story of Abraham and Jacob. He seems to be a brief moment in time that flashes by too quickly, and we can only catch a brief glimpse of what is taking place. Out of many Biblical characters Isaac gives us a glimpse into Yeshua. Yeshua was born to a young girl who had not had sexual relations with a man. She had been blessed by the Almighty with a gift the likes of which the world had never seen before. Abraham and Sarah had been blessed by the Holy One with a gift the Lord had promised to Abraham. We don’t know if Abraham and Sarah
had sexual relations to bring this miracle about, but even if they had it was still a miracle, because we are told she was past being able to bear a child. Is anything too hard for our God, and can’t He accomplish what seems impossible to man?
Jeremiah 32:27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? (NKJ)
Strong's 06381pala' {paw-law'}
Meaning: to be marvelous, be wonderful, be surpassing, be extraordinary, separate by distinguishing action, be difficult to do, to be difficult to understand, to separate (an offering), to show oneself wonderful or marvelous
In Genesis 18:14 we see the same Hebrew word being used and translated as "hard", but it can also be translated as "wonderful". In the case of the promise to Abraham and Sarah it was wonderful what the Lord had promised to do. He would bring to fulfillment the promise He made to Abraham many years before. It would be through the seed of Abraham and Sarah that the son of promise, Isaac would come. Through Isaac and then Jacob and their descendants would later come the Son of promise, who would be born into the tribe of Judah of the line of David. He would be a king, the King who would come and rule over not just Israel, but the world. He would be a son of David, but in truth He would be the Son of the Holy One of Israel – Yeshua! The story of God's promise to Abraham of an heir might seem like a little blip on the radar in the Bible, but it carries such importance in the prophetic word. It should teach us not to take the Bible for granted, because it is the little things that count. Simply because Sarah was physically past child bearing did not mean it was impossible for God to take care of the problem. He created us, the laws of nature, everything in fact, but all of creation bows down to Him. He can think it, say it, or just do it and nature bends to His will. Not the other way around.
Man may believe He is in control, but in reality he is not. It is the Almighty who is in control, though He allows us leeway to choose the way we want to go. We are urged constantly to make the right choices, and we are told if we choose the right way there are promises of blessings for us. We are told if we make wrong choices there is the promise of curses. I can’t tell you how many people choose the curses because they do not believe God. Yet there is the appearance that those who have chosen to follow the other way are being blessed, and they may well be, but the question is who is doing the blessing? If Satan can imitate the ways of the Holy One and mislead people, isn’t it at all possible he can imitate blessing and lay it upon those who have chosen to follow him? People stand at a crossroad: choices must be made, because those who desire to straddle the fence will be left behind with those doomed by the Holy One in the Day of Judgment. Isaac stood at a crossroad between Abraham, his father and Jacob, his son. He bridged the gap and made the way for one generation to receive the promises from another generation. Isaac was born to a mother too old to have children, yet she paved the way for a young Jewish girl to bear the Son of Promise to a world greatly in need of what He had to share with them.
Instead of wiping out mankind in another flood, God provided the way for them to overcome the curses through the sacrifice of His Son Yeshua. He is the promise, and He is standing at the crossroads waiting for you to choose which way you want to go.
Revelation 3:20 Here, I'm standing at the door, knocking. If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me. 21 I will let him who wins the victory sit with me on my throne, just as I myself also won the victory and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities."(CJB)
All you need to do is open the door to the Son of Promise, the one who came after Isaac but also came before him. What a conundrum this idea is of a son who comes afterwards but also has come before. This speaks of the power of our God and what He can do when He so desires. He called out individuals until the day He called out a nation, or a nation from the Hebrews who were in Egypt. They went to Egypt for safety, but were enslaved. The Holy One increased their numbers and they grew into a nation, but were not yet a nation. He would bring them out of Egypt into the Wilderness, where over a forty year period of time He would build a nation and harden them into an army of the Lord, who would step up and take the Promised Land. All of this from a child who was a son of promise. He was a miracle who could not have been if seen from our limited perspective. The same can be said of the miraculous promise of a Son who would come from a young girl who had never known a man. If we looked at it from our limited sight it would never have been, but thank God He is in control. He made the impossible possible.
2 Kings 4:1-7 1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves." 2 And Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me; what have you in the house?" And she said, "Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil." 3 Then he said, "Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. 4 Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside." 5 So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another." Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She came and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest." (ESV)
When I looked at this week’s Haphtarah portion, the first thing that came to my mind was what Yeshua had done at the wedding feast when He turned jars of water into wine. At first He was not going to do anything, but His mother asked Him to help, and who can refuse their mother? With Elisha it was the widow of one of the prophets who had died. She and her family were in debt and would become slaves of the creditor if something was not done. Once again we are faced with a situation which seemed impossible, but by now we should know that which seems impossible should not be taken at face value. As men we are limited by how we see things around us, but we need to open up our eyes and see what the Holy One of Israel sees.
John 2:2 Yeshua also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Yeshua said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Yeshua said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Yeshua said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast." So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now." 11 This, the first of his signs, Yeshua did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (ESV)
Yeshua told His mother it was not yet time to begin His ministry, which would commence with a miracle. He would step out in power and bring about a change the world had been seeking for thousands of years. Since his fall in the beginning, man has been looking for the way back to reconciliation with his Creator. He fell from God's grace because he could not do as the Almighty had asked – obey the voice of the Holy One. God does not tell us not to do something because He wants to deny us. He wants us to have everything, but before we can have everything we have to learn there are limitations, because there is a right way and a wrong way to follow the voice of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:20 Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. (ESV)
1 Samuel 12:14 "If you fear the LORD and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the LORD your God. (NKJ)
Jeremiah 42:6 Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the LORD our God." (TNK)
Jeremiah 42:6 says it like it is: Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the Lord our God. We must learn to do this if we desire to enter into the Promised Land the Lord God of Israel has promised to those who listen to His voice. His voice, His Word brings life everlasting to those who hear Him and obey. To refuse to heed the Lord’s word turns you away from Yeshua, the living Word. Without Yeshua what is there? Our lives should revolve around Him, with Him at the center of who we are. As Elisha did for the family of the dead prophet, so does Yeshua do for us if only we choose to embrace Him as He is willing to embrace us.
Genesis-Bereisheet is the book of beginnings. We are told the story of creation, of the heavens and the earth, and everything that is in them. On the 6th day He created man, the capstone of all He created. He created us to have fellowship with Him and to be joined to His Son, who is our intermediary between the Father and us. He stands up for us to defend us, but only if we belong to Him.
Hebrews 4:14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Messiah did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"; 6 as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." (Heb 4:14 ESV)
He is a priest of the order of Melchizedek, which precedes the Aaronic priesthood. His Father called Him to be the High Priest. He follows His Father’s word, because He is the living Word of the Father, who was with Him in the beginning and will be with Him forever.
Blessings, Mordecai Silver
Torah Man Says: “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.”
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