What is your favorite story about Abraham and Sarah? When God called him to leave his home and family? When God promised to bless him with descendants too numerous to count? When he and Sarah decided to “help God out” and provide a descendant through Ishmael? When they laughed at God’s promise to give them a child in their old age? The lives of Abraham and Sarah are full of lessons from which we can learn much. But will we? Because Abraham believed God was faithful to His promises, he stepped out in faith and followed God’s leading. Because Sarah believed God was faithful, she gave birth to a son well past her childbearing years. They believed God would do what He said He would. It was not always easy for them to believe, but, in the end, God honored them for their faith. Looking at their lives causes me to search my own heart. How will I respond when God calls me to step out in faith and follow Him? Can I wait on God’s timing in my life? Am I able to trust Him for the impossible? Am I looking forward to my heavenly home or am I settled into my temporal one? My prayer for you as you study the lives of Abraham and Sarah is that you would give your complete heart to God. I pray that you would trust Him in obedience to do whatever He asks of you, that you would believe He is faithful, and that you would look ahead to your eternal home while just passing through this temporal one.

So what’s special for Abraham’s family because they clung unto God with all their heart? Two things that touched my heart – Special favor with God and Special favor to Abraham’s spiritual seed.

Special favor with God: Notice the specific language of Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. It is clear in this passage that God establishes a special relationship with Abraham. The question is, how far does this promise extend with regard to time and descendants? In other words, through Ishmael, Abraham’s physical descendants extend over the entire Arabian Peninsula and beyond. However, Ishmael and his descendants are not included in this specific promise. We know that to be the case because of the additional promise from God to Isaac in Genesis 21:12, “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Moreover, God specifically excluded Ishmael in Genesis 17:19 21, “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” Subsequently, God spoke to Isaac in Genesis 26:3-4, “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” That brings up another question: What about Esau’s descendants? Are they included in the provisions of Genesis 12:1-3? The short answer is “no.” We see that the promise originally made to Abraham and extended through Isaac is further extended through Jacob only in Genesis 28:13-14, “And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” There it is essentially the same promise God gave to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac. We see that it is renewed by God to Jacob once again in Genesis 35:9-12. Based upon these passages, it is scripturally indisputable that God established a special relationship with Abraham which extended specifically through the blood line of Isaac, Jacob and then to the twelve sons of Jacob, who later became the twelve tribes of Israel. There is no expiration date on this covenant according to Genesis 17:7, “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” These promises are later confirmed by the Old Testament prophets and Jesus himself. For Believers today, we view prophetic events in light of the promise that was first made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.

Special favor to Abraham’s spiritual seed: Those who have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation are included in this category as clearly stated by Paul in Galatians 3:16. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Paul makes a distinction between the singular and plural usage of the word “seed” in the promises made to Abraham. Paul’s distinction in that passage references the “seed” terminology used in the following passages: Genesis 13:16: And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Genesis 15:5: And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Genesis 16:10: And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. While some of the seed references given to Abraham obviously pertain to physical blessings given to the Hebrews themselves, Paul uses a fine point of grammar here to extend the promise of spiritual blessings to all of those who trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. In other words, we have salvation today in Christ because of the promise that God made to Abraham. The people through the ages who have been blessed with salvation in Jesus Christ are innumerable, just as Paul points out in verse 16. God’s promise to Abraham was unconditional and confirmed with a covenant ceremony in Genesis 15:7-21. Moreover, we see that the provisions of this covenant are “everlasting” in Genesis 17:7. That being the case, New Testament Believers benefit through Christ from the covenant that God made with Abraham.

Are you ready to receive the special favor of God today? So our prayer should be, “Lord, teach me from the lives of Abraham and Sarah. Give me a willing heart to step out in faith and trust You. Help me trust You even when I cannot understand what You are doing.

Help me believe You for the impossible. Show me what temporal or earthly things are entangling me and keeping my focus off of the eternal. Give me the faith to believe that nothing is impossible with You.”

Amen.

Be the covenant child of God!