Two significant events have my attention this morning. First, we have been given the deed to this property and church facility. What a tremendous milestone this is for our church.

But second, who cannot feel the anticipation of the election coming the day after tomorrow? What a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety this is causing, and many Christians seem helplessly caught up in it.

What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to feel and to act? My job is to do what I can to keep us all grounded on the gospel promise, and this current chapter in Genesis can help us with that. Here we see God beginning to bring into reality the promise he made to Abraham. And when God does that, when he begins to fulfill his promises to Abraham, his people are meant to celebrate the moment even as they anticipate what the completion of his promise will be like. Genesis 21 teaches us to delight in God’s fulfillment, embrace it for what it is, and live in the freedom we find in it.

The Delight of Fulfillment

First, notice the delight that God intends for his people to experience and to savor as they catch a glimpse of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

Tangible Proof of Fulfillment

The first seven verses of this chapter tell us of the birth of Abraham and Sarah’s first and only son, Isaac. These seven verses are crucial to the story of Abraham and indeed to the story of the whole Bible. We must not rush past them. These are very important verses.

Remember, when we were introduced to Abraham, we were told that his wife “was barren,” that “she had no child” (Gen 11:30). He was 75 years old when God promised to make him a great nation (Gen 12:2) and promised that his offspring would inherit the land around him (Gen 13:15). Now, at last, 25 years after God first made this promise to Abraham, it started to come true. This is a turning point in the story as hope begins to be realized. It is certainly a turning point in the life of Abraham and Sarah as they now have tangible evidence that everything they hoped for was unfolding right before their eyes. Abraham and Sarah are never the same again.

What if you and I had a similar kind of experience with God? What if you and I had been given a great promise from God, languished as we waited for years to see a hint of it coming to fruition, and then—at last, and against all odds—we began to see it all come true? Wouldn’t that change us?

Well, the point is this: this is not an inspiring tale for us to read and enjoy. This is our story. This is the gospel story. We are meant to see and savor this moment, too. This is the story of salvation and blessing, not simply to an ancient near eastern couple, but to the whole world. From our vantage point in history, we can have the same experience that Abraham and Sarah have here.

Skepticism Becomes Laughter

Those words in verse 2—“Sarah . . . bore Abraham a son”—those are some of the most important words uttered in all of history. Verse 1 invites us to see it that way, too. “The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised.” The verb translated visited indicates God’s special interest in her. And the repetitive language gives to the whole verse “a festive poetic flavor.”[1]

The narrator is telling us about this important moment deliberately, artistically. He is not just reporting bare facts. He is inviting us into the deep emotion of the moment. He is wanting us to not just see what God is doing here but to be delighted by it.

The festivous setting continues with the naming of the child in verse 3. Isaac’s name means laughter, but we were told this would be the child’s name back in chapter 18 when both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the news that they would have a biological son together. That laughter was more so the laughter of skeptical absurdity, but now it is different.

As Sarah says in verse 6: “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” Are you laughing yet? If not, then just take a look at verse 7 and try to imagine the scene, try to imagine the sight here of a 90-year-old woman nursing her own new-born child. This ought to bring a smile to your face and a chuckle in your chest.

The whole thing is absurd. Delightfully absurd.

It’s the kind of thing that makes you say, “I can’t believe it.” Abraham and Sarah couldn’t either. And yet, here is this child, nursing at his 90-year-old mother’s breast. The whole thing must have been surreal.

And funny.

Yes, go ahead and laugh over Sarah. Go ahead. Let it out. It might do your heart good.

In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that unless we laugh over Sarah with a laugh of wonder at the absurdity of this moment, we will not truly understand this story, and we will not truly know God. Laughter is indispensable to knowing God. Because until we experience God as the one who brings about what seemed impossibly absurd, we will not know him as he truly is. A God of wonder and 10,000 delights. Laughing with Sarah is the laughter of faith.

Laughter and Its Delights

Outside of Genesis, Sarah is mentioned by name in just one other place. In Isaiah 51, the prophet urges those who are seeking God to “look to the rock from which you were hewn,” to “look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who” gave you birth. Why? Because, he says, “The LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD.” God turns deserts into gardens. And when God does such otherwise absurd things, “joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song” (Isa 51:1-3).

Or, in other words, laughter. The kind of laughter that is accompanied by joy, gladness, thanksgiving, and music.

The way the prophet Isaiah has made use of this story in Genesis 21 is instructive, because he applies it to a new situation in which the people of God are once more needing hope that God will come through “just as he said” and “just as he promised.” Maybe you do, too. The birth of Isaac is paradigmatic for the people of God, encouraging us to laugh again with Sarah and at the absurdity of God. God is often uncanny in a way that delights the senses.

So go ahead and laugh. It just might be the thing you need to solidify your faith.

The Embrace of Fulfillment

But next, the story in this chapter urges us onward not only to delight in fulfillment but to embrace it, to live in light of it.

Ishmael Must Go

As Isaac began to grow, the day came when Sarah had finished nursing him. In those days, this usually happened when the child was about three years old. That’s right: three years old. Go ahead and laugh some more if you want to!

Indeed, the joyful theme of the story continues. Abraham throws “a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (v. 8). Feasts were apparently held to celebrate the fact that the child had survived infancy. [2]

So, everyone at the feast is undoubtedly happy. There must have been plenty of laughs with Sarah, lots of joyous laughs. Included among them is Isaac’s half-brother, Ishmael. Verse 9 says that Sarah looks over and sees him laughing. Her response is shocking. She demands that Abraham throw him out of the party (v. 10).

Why? Some translations say that Ishmael was mocking Isaac. That would suggest that Sarah’s response to him is done out of motherly jealousy. But the word used of Ishmael’s action is the same word for laughter used in verse 6.[3] And, strangely, in verse 12 God tells Abraham to do what his wife says! It would seem odd that God would endorse the jealous demands of Sarah. So, if Ishmael is laughing and having a good time at the party like everyone else, what’s the big deal?

Hebrew scholar Robert Alter suggests that this deliberate play on words with the name of Isaac indicates that Ishmael is being portrayed as “Isaac-ing-it.” That is, he is “presuming to play the role of Isaac . . . presuming to be the legitimate heir.”[4] That is in fact what Sarah gives as the explanation in verse 10 for why she wants Ishmael and Hagar removed not just from the party but from the family. Insofar as Isaac and Ishmael are seen as competitors for the honor and responsibilities of being Abraham’s heir, there must be no contest.

So, Ishmael and Hagar will have to go. Because so long as he remained in the family, he would be the legitimate heir of Abraham and a threat to the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Tension in the Story

Abraham consents to Sarah’s demands in verse 14, and verses 15-21 tell us what happened to the expelled mother and her child. It’s a distressing story. Indeed, Abraham, in verse 11, is also distressed by the whole thing, so the story welcomes similar emotions from those who hear it today.

There is tension here to be sure. Given the entire situation there doesn’t seem to be a good resolution, except for the appearance again of the mysterious angel of the Lord, who had appeared to Hagar before in similar circumstances, back in chapter 16. However unjustly Sarah had treated Hagar and her son, God is not uncaring or unjust or abusive. He sees to it that Ishmael and Hagar thrive. Perhaps they even laugh. We don’t have to legitimize Sarah’s attitude and actions to see the legitimacy of the resulting outcomes. God, in his sovereignty, often surprises us like that.

The New Has Come, the Old Must Go

Now, if we’re following along closely, we know that the story we are reading is not simply about Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Hagar and Ishmael. Because of what God has said will become of these persons, we are interested in the larger picture, and the application of this story to our own lives must begin with that in mind.

Let’s set one thing straight here. The Bible nowhere hints that this story is about the conflicts and tensions between Judaism and Islam, or between Israel and Arab nations. It is true that Islam considers Ishmael to be the direct ancestor to Muhammad. And a very ancient Jewish tradition teaches that Ishmael is the forefather of all Arab peoples, but any real connection between them remains unclear.[5]

What concerns us is not what Islam says about this story, nor even what ancient Judaism says about it. Because, after all, there is a deliberate Christian interpretation given to us by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 4. Let’s take a look at what he says and how he applies it to Christians.

The distinction between Isaac and Ishmael, Paul says in verse 24, is the distinction Christians must make between two covenants, the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic covenant. Notice what Paul is doing here. He is telling us that the enduring meaning of this story is based on our understanding of what these historical people would represent later in the biblical story. Ishmael does not represent Islam or Arab peoples. Ishmael is a child of the flesh, verse 23 says, that is, a child whose entire existence is owing to Abraham and Sarah trying to bring salvation into the world by their own power. And that, Paul says, is a good representation of what it would mean for a Christian to live by the Mosaic covenant once the Abrahamic covenant had come to fulfillment.

And that fulfillment came with the person and work of Jesus.

So, Paul would have us see, this story remains relevant for Christians today not because it can tell us who the good guys and the bad guys are in modern middle eastern conflicts but because it tells us who you and I are, and how you and I must live now that Jesus has come. We have to embrace the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. What had begun to be true for Abraham and Sarah is now fully true for you and me who believe in Jesus.

The Freedom of Fulfillment

Are you ready to embrace the newness of what has come with Jesus? It will not be easy, let me warn you. But if we will embrace it, we will live in the freedom of fulfillment.

Don’t Go Back

Freedom is the theme Paul is driving home in Galatians. Freedom is the theme he sees in our story in Genesis. But first we have to see what it is we need freedom from. In Galatians 4:8, Paul speaks of the time in which his audience did not know God as a time in which they were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. These Gentile Christians are being told that to be Christians they have to become Jewish-Christians, that they have to be circumcised and observe kosher food laws. Paul says such a requirement puts them back under the Mosaic covenant, puts them back under slavery.

What kind of slavery? Here is where we need to pay close attention: it is the slavery of living as though the Abrahamic covenant has not been fulfilled. It is like being Abraham and Sarah before Isaac is born, their hope resting only on the son that had come through their own efforts to produce a biological heir of Abraham. Countless Christians fall prey to this temptation and are living in the same kind of slavery of self-salvation.

Consider this: After Ishmael was born but before Isaac, Abraham and Sarah would be tempted to think that God’s promise to them would be fulfilled by their own power and plans. In a similar way Christians can be tempted to live under the slavery of the Mosaic covenant which was itself a time of anticipation and waiting, and with it the temptation to think that if God’s promise to save the world is going to be realized it will only come by our obedience, by our plans and schemes, by our political alliances and protests, by our boycotts or by our votes.

But Paul calls this enslavement. He goes further; he calls it torture. Notice in verse 29 he says that Ishmael “persecuted” Isaac, and “so also it is now” when Christians do not live in the reality that Jesus has brought into the world—the new covenant reality of the inaugurated kingdom of God—it is the worst kind of slavery and torture. We are being tormented by the thought that if we don’t detect all the conspiracies and don’t discern the truth from the “fake news” then we are being duped into giving away our inheritance. Listen, brothers and sisters. The voices you listen to on whichever cable news channel or social media thread that has your attention—they have you enslaved and are tormenting you.

Paul says in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom Christ has set us free!” So, don’t go back and live in the slavery of life before Jesus came. We live in the days of fulfillment. Be free in Christ!

Spread the Joy

If we believe that Jesus did not fail in his mission, that he brought the Abrahamic covenant to its fulfillment—indicated by the inauguration of the promised new covenant—then why go back and live under the tension that comes under the Mosaic covenant? Freedom is in the air when Paul cites from Sarah’s voice in verse 30 but says this is what “the scripture” is saying. “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” You and I are free from the shackles that say, “If you don’t make the right decision on this or that matter, everything will fall apart.” I mean, lots of things might fall apart—our decisions and actions in this world do matter, of course—but do we believe that God is in control, that his Son and our Savior reigns, or do we not? Then do not be enslaved again. Who needs Ishmael when you’ve got Isaac?

I heard one famous pastor recently saying that if your pastor doesn’t tell you who to vote for, he’s a coward and you need another church. Well, I say he’s confused and needs a better theology. You are free, brothers and sisters, to vote or not vote for whomever you think best, but you are free to do so only because you must know who is at the top of the ticket, who the real Savior of the world is, and whose kingdom will never end.

We don’t need to go around spreading fear when the fulfillment of God’s promise is here. Our call is to spread the joy because Jesus is King!

That’s what Isaiah does in Isaiah 54. “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor!” (v. 1). He’s talking about the day in which the Abrahamic covenant comes to fulfillment, and when that day comes “you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations” (v. 3). Joy will spread to all the world because God’s people will go there and bring the good news of great joy for everyone. Such is the day in which we live. Let’s live in that freedom and joy.

Laughter Is Missional

Such freedom and joy will be attractive, compelling, and indeed, missional. The chapter ends with Abimelech (whom we met in the last chapter) and his military commander coming to Abraham during the festival[6] and asking for a peace treaty with Abraham. Abimelech recognizes that God is with him in all that he does (v. 22), and as we suggested last week, Abimelech wants in on the Abrahamic covenant.

Abraham agrees (v. 24). The Abrahamic covenant, fulfilled in Jesus, was always meant to be for the nations, for the world. It is a covenant of peace.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t tensions to work through, and Abraham and Abimelech work through their own as they hash out a treaty together in verses 25-32.

And then Abraham planted a tree and uttered a prayer, calling God “the Everlasting God.” Gordon Wenham observes that “the planting of a tree and prayer imply that something of great moment has occurred in this episode.”[7] The promised heir of Abraham has arrived, and Abraham now has water-rights in the land. It seems that the promise is indeed coming true. It’s a happy moment. A time to celebrate.

Abraham needs that moment because a great challenge is about to come to him, the greatest test of his faith he will ever encounter. To pass the test he will need to remember—as will you and I—the freedom that comes in the joyful laughter of God’s promise coming true.

_____

[1] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Books, 1994), 79–80.

[2] M. R. Jacobs, Gender, Power, and Persuasion: The Genesis Narratives and Contemporary Portraits (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 150, cited in Tremper Longman III, Genesis, The Story of God Bible Commentary, ed. Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 272.

[3] Though the Hebrew verb is in the piel rather than the qal in verse 9, this does not make clear what the nature of Ishmael’s laughter is here.

[4] Robert Alter, Genesis: Translation and Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997), 98.

[5] Longman III, Genesis, 279-280.

[6] “At that time” (v. 22) seems to refer to the feast in verse 8.

[7] Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 94.