February 7: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. –Genesis 21:1-4
Notice the actions:
“as he had said…
“as he had promised…
“at the time of which God had spoken to him…
“as God had commanded him…
Genesis 21 with the birth of Isaac seems like it would never come and when it finally did, it’s not exactly the most exciting of the Genesis narratives. But when you think about the 20+ years preceding this birth, you may recall so many very exciting moments of the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
If you had lived it, surely all those times Abraham had jeopardized the promise (how many of us have had our wives taken into the household of foreign men…twice!) and other disasters made life seem chaotic, out-of-control, and cruel. We know because of previous obedience and laughter that Abraham and Sarah had times they believed God’s promise, and times they found it too wonderful to be believed.
Now, though, with the Genesis 21 passage, we see that things came about “as he had said,” “as he had promised,” at the time of which God had spoken to him,” as God had commanded him.”
Looking at the whole of Israel’s history up to the ascension of Christ, don’t we see exactly the same thing amplified? Messiah was to come and finally did, but in the world’s estimation, it was most inglorious. He taught pretty well, but had a bad reputation with a lot of people—especially the conservative religious leadership, and then ended up finally getting killed without many people even noticing.
Yet, loud and clear we see that in the fullness of time God sent his Son born of a woman, born under law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption. The Lord was guiding it every step of the way. From earth’s perspective it was horribly misfortunate; from heaven’s perspective, as the Heidelberg Catechism says so beautifully:
All things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
And that’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
The King of Love My Shepherd Is (Psalm 23)
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (on a Bible book) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!