Genesis 21

God made a solemn promise to Abraham and Sarah, and at the time appointed, the Lord visited Sarah, and she bore Abraham a son in his old age. The Lord is faithful. He keeps all His promises. Before the birth of Isaac, the Lord sent an angelic destruction team to Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, before the child of promise was born, Sarah was rescued from the harem of the king of Gerar. In other words, their time of waiting was dangerous and eventful, but at the appointed time, the baby with the name “Isaac” or “he laughs” was born.

Abraham's new son was marked with the sign of the Lord's covenant in accord with God's earlier command to Abraham. They had been through so much, but now the Lord had truly placed laughter in their hearts as they looked at the miracle baby whom they held in their hands.

When the child was weaned, his father Abraham invited everyone together for a celebration. On that occasion there was someone else who was laughing, not at the wonder of the gift of Isaac, but in mockery at this favored half brother. Sarah saw the son of Abraham and Hagar, Ishmael, making fun of her boy, and she did not like it. She said to Abraham words that the Apostle Paul would quote two thousand years later: “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”

God confirmed the words of Sarah, instructing Abraham to do whatever Sarah said to him. As the Lord had made clear, the promised seed would come through Sarah. There would be a separation between the seed of the slave woman and the seed of the free woman.

Our deepest problem with slavery is not the scandal of one person owning another person. It is the bondage that comes to us because we are slaves of sin. The singular seed of Sarah, Isaac's greatest descendant, Jesus Christ, has delivered us out of that bondage. All who live by faith in him are counted as children of freedom. Those who reject the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, no matter how wonderful their ancestry may be, are still slaves of sin. They stand with Hagar and her son, and must be cast off. Thus those who have their physical descent from Sarah may sadly reject the Jewish Messiah and find themselves to be children of spiritual slavery. But those who are descended from Hagar and Ishmael may find life in Christ, and may be counted as the true spiritual descendants of Sarah.

God had a plan for both Isaac and Ishmael. Both would be great nations. But no man's eternal hope comes from his ancestry. Either we are sons of God through Jesus Christ, and thus children of the promise through faith in him, or we remain in the bondage of sin.

Many people may applaud the Law of God with their minds, but only one Man has kept the Law with His life. He is our only hope. We need to be connected to Him. Jesus had no physical descendants. He died as a man who had never fathered a child. Yet He has looked upon millions of spiritual descendants with love, and all kinds of people who have descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth have been given the name Christian. Through Jesus they are a part of God's family.

Through His promise of special care for the descendants of Hagar and Ishmael, God hints at His intention to extend eternal hope to all the nations of the world. Now for the second time, the Lord has affirmed that the great multiplication of the descendants of Ishmael will be a part of His eternal purpose. Surely it is the Lord's plan that many from their number will be represented in the new heavens and the new earth, where there will be a great multitude from every tribe and tongue and nation.

As Abraham awaits the further fulfillment of the Lord's promises to him that will only come to pass after his lifetime, Abraham does what he can to live out his days in peace with the neighbors who are around him. The Lord has blessed Him greatly, but he is not to be just another mighty man on the earth who uses his wealth and numbers to force other nations to do his will. He wishes to live as a free man in all godliness and honesty among other clans who would also be free. He is willing to swear to this lifestyle of mutual peace and liberty among the other peoples where he journeys.

Some may deal with him falsely, as did happen when Abimelech's servants repeatedly stole the precious gift of water from the people of Abraham. Yet despite these difficulties, Abraham attempted to live at peace with everyone. His day was not a day of conquest against the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. That special picture of God's eternal judgment would come at a later time. Abraham was to be a man of peace. He would defend his family against enemies as he did when Lot was captured, but he would not be a man that sought advantage over quiet neighbors through force.

Abraham traveled through a land that God had promised to him. During his lifetime he lived as a stranger, facing many dangers and attempting to live as a good neighbor to others in a place that he could not secure even for himself. Eventually one of his descendants would secure for Abraham and for all the true children of promise an everlasting land in the heavens. Christ, the King of Peace and Eternal God, was the one casualty in that war that has won for us our freedom. But now He lives again forever and ever. We have been delivered from the ultimate house of bondage and are citizens of the very best Promised Land because of Him.