Genesis 17 & 18

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Genesis 17:1-27

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 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. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. 15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19 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. 20 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. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. 24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.”

Introduction: God Re-Affirms His Covenant With Abraham

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED528]

“Chapter 17, God is going to speak to Abraham after a thirteen year silence. We’ve come through the circumstance with Hagar, Abraham and Sarah trying on their own to produce the promise that God had made. Abraham is 86 at the end the chapter, for 13 years God is silent. And now at 99 years old, God speaks to him again, and reaffirms the thing that he had said before. God waiting now, as it were, until every human resource is dried up, Sarah is past the age of women, Abraham is past the age of virility and reproduction, God waits until everything is good as dead, that he might fulfill his promise miraculously. God is more interested in this Isaac that will come than Abraham and Sarah put together. All of the ages hang on this one that will be conceived, all of the news that we see today, the fact that we’re gathered here this evening hangs on this miraculous conception-birth that will take place, because it will begin the lineage that will bring the Messiah into the world, the Sacrifice of God to pay for the sins of mankind, and that Abraham’s seed indeed would be like the stars and the sand upon the seashore. Here we sit this evening, Abraham’s children by faith (see https://unityinchrist.com/galatians/Galatians3-1-29.htm). Thirteen years of silence, suddenly begins by saying “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (verse 1) not many 99 year old hearts could endure that without having a cardiac. “walk before me, and be thou perfect” upright, walk in integrity before me, no nonsense is what he’s saying, leave your Hagar’s and your own schemes behind, “walk before me.” Now that’s a challenge that he’s making to Abraham, he doesn’t have a New Testament, doesn’t know Christ the way we do, is not indwelt with the Holy Spirit that way we are [now this doctrine about Old Testament saints not being indwelt with the Holy Spirit is strictly a Calvary Chapel doctrine that has no Scriptural substantiation, and personally I believe anyone who is called of God and given the Holy Spirit, whether they be in the Old Testament or New is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We’ll find out for sure at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation 19:7-9.] God can make that challenge to Abraham, certainly something he can make to us, walking before him, in the sense that we realize our thoughts are before him, our language is before him, what we watch on television is before him, what we do on the computer is before him, we live in his presence. You know, Elijah, stood before the Living God, ‘The Living God before whom I stand,’ and here is this challenge to Abraham, ‘walk before me, Abraham, live your life cognizant of the fact that you’re in my presence, live there, walk before me, and be upright Abraham, do this right.’ At 99 he’s still being exhorted to grow and to change, God speaking to him. In verse 2 he says, “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face:” great response, and please notice, “and God talked with him, saying,” (verses 2-3) God talked to him, Abram fell on his face. Now we’re going to hear from the LORD “I will” 24 times in this chapter. This is the chapter of God’s will, God’s covenant, not dependent on Abraham, Abraham’s all dried up, he’s all through with his Hagar, he’s got nothing else to contribute, he’s laying on his face, and there’s a monologue now to verse 16, just God talking, Abraham listening, “I will do this, I will do that, I will do this, I will do that,” Abraham is just laying there listening, God talking to him. And it’s hard to imagine what that must be like, I’m sure this is personalized to some degree. Remember when Jehovah [Yahweh] speaks and gives the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, it says the mountain shook, it quaked, and when God gave the Ten Commandments, 2 to 3 million people hearing that, Bose doesn’t have anything like that as far as a PA system, they came to Moses and said ‘Moses, from now on you go and talk to him, whatever he tells you, you come and tell us, and we’ll listen to it, because if he gives 11 Commandments we’re going to drop dead of a heart attack.’ There was something awesome and majestic about that. But here he’s speaking to this 99 year old laying on his face, and I have to believe there’s a degree of tenderness, certainly there is his sovereignty and his power. And I’m overwhelmed at the times when God will come and make an impression on my heart. I am not foolish enough to play games and be saying ‘The Man upstairs,’ and ‘God is my buddy,’ and all that kind of stupid stuff that people who have never experienced his presence say, because once you experience his presence you’re on your face, no longer buddies. But even in that, when God comes to us, we’re his sons and his daughters, yes he’s Almighty, he’s sovereign, but there is level of tenderness that none of us could presume upon, but he’s free to extend that to us. And I have to believe there is some of that here. Nine times he’s going to talk about “his covenant” he’s making, “I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” (verse 2) Again, no record in ancient history of any deity making a covenant with a subject. There were always people trying to pacify their god by sacrificing things, trying to assuage their anger, but there’s no ancient record of deity coming to fallen man and making, initiating, making a covenant between themselves and man. “Abram fell on his face, God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” (verse 4) Just imagine, the first thing, Abraham falls on his face and he hears God saying “As for me,” that’s remarkable. “As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” (verses 3-4) Now I don’t know if for 13 years he thought ‘God’s not talking to me anymore? I did this Hagar thing, I messed everything up, he’s done with me, he’s not talking to me.’ Now at 99 God comes back and says “As for me,” ‘on my end of this, Abraham, I’ve made my covenant with you, you will be a father of many nations.’ “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” (verse 5) “Abram,” which kind of, the idea is “exalted father.” And both with Abraham and Sarah he takes the 5^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 5 always being the number of grace, and inserts it into both names, very interesting. ‘Your name now is Abraham, the father of a multitude or the father of nations,’ he changes his name, at 99, imagine that. “thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations” past tense “have I made thee.” It’s already done, only problem is, he don’t have any kids. But God says, ‘From my side of this, I made the covenant, and a father of many nations have I made thee.’ It’s done. “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations” please notice “for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” (verses 6-7) Please take notice of what’s happening in this chapter, for 16 verses God is speaking, 24 times he says “I’m going to do this,” 9 times he says “I’m going to make this covenant,” and he says to Abraham “it will be with you and with your seed forever, an everlasting covenant.” There’s no replacement theology here, there’s none of the foolishness that we hear in the Church today sometimes, with the setting aside of Israel and saying all of the promises belong to the Church. This is Jehovah-God speaking to Abraham, and I wouldn’t change any of his words. He says “I have made an everlasting covenant with you, and with your seed after thee.” He talks about the people he’s made it with, now the land. “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,” notice, “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (verse 8) You and I can know it, the U.N. doesn’t know it. The Palestinians don’t know it, and the Hezbollah doesn’t know it, and Achmud Abujinadab doesn’t know it, but the Bible knows it. ‘I have given you all of the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.’ And any covenant after this, the Davidic covenant, none of them supersede this, they are all lesser parts of this covenant. Again, it’s so amazing for me to read some of the commentators I have, who wrote in the 1860s, and to hear some of them be insightful enough to say ‘You know, the way I read the Scripture, Israel has got to be reborn as a nation, for God to fulfill his promises,’ writing in the 1860s, with none of the evidence we have today, not able to go and turn on the news and see the tension in the Middle East, just like the LORD said, that Jerusalem, Israel would be a cup of trembling, and a stumbling block of all of the nations of the world. In the 1860s, the Civil War is going on, and some of these guys are studying the Bible, saying ‘You know what, Israel’s gotta be reborn as a nation for these to be fulfilled.’ And certainly it’s before our eyes. How close are we? An everlasting covenant, he says, read Ezekiel 11:17 on your own. [“Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” Context of chapter 11 of Ezekiel, God has taken Ezekiel into the Temple in Jerusalem before the total fall and captivity of Jerusalem and Judah to Nebuchadnezzar, where extreme corruption was going on inside the Temple of God. So verse 17 is addressing Judah, the Jews, not the ten northern tribes of Israel who had already been taken captive and deported by the Assyrians. God is making this promise to the Jews.] Imagine him having to go back into the camp now and say ‘Now don’t call me Abram anymore, God gave me a new name, I’m no longer exalted father, I am the father of a multitude of many nations, in faith.’ Did they believe him? Were some of them going ‘Oye Vey, here he goes again, another experience with God.’ You know, as we get through this chapter, I think he was held in incredible regard, in his family, and amongst those with whom he lived.

Circumcision, The Sign Of The Covenant God Made With Abraham

“And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.” (verses 9-12) Now look, circumcision was not unknown in the ancient world. In some cultures, when you reach puberty, when you reach 13, it was a symbol of manhood, and their young men were circumcised. In some ancient cultures, if you took a wife from another tribe, her father and her brothers would take you before the wedding and circumcise you. It wasn’t something that was unknown. But God now says, to you, this is going to be a token or a symbol, it’s not going to be the covenant, that’s very important, because remember now when Christ will come, and Paul the apostle will preach, the Judaizers will follow him, and try to say that Christian believers were not going to heaven because they were not circumcised. And in Romans chapter 4, and Colossians, it says in Romans chapter 4 Paul will say, ‘Did God ascribe righteousness to Abraham in circumcision or before circumcision?’ He says it was before circumcision. Genesis chapter 15 says it was counted unto him for righteousness because he believed God. He says then circumcision doesn’t provide righteousness, circumcision is a token or a symbol of the covenant of faith that God had already made with Abraham. [And the Jews are perfectly free to wear the symbol of that covenant, which up until recently, most English speaking people wore that symbol as well, strangely enough. It just speaks of them being God’s covenant people, whether they’re righteous or not has nothing to do with wearing the symbol. By the way, the name British, Brit-Ish, in Hebrew means “Covenant-man.”] So he gives this to him as a sign, certainly it is both a physical sign that was to be through their generations, and it was a symbolic sign. It was death to the flesh, it was a picture of the cutting away of the flesh, certainly a cutting away of everything he had done with Hagar, all of his own attempts, there is something about that. And because that was the means by which this seed would be passed, in the male there would be a constant reminder, we are in a “covenant,” with a covenant God. And there is a seed that is coming, that the whole world is waiting for. And there is a land that is ours, that no one can ever take away, and there is a people that are God’s that no one can ever take from his care. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him [her or them] that curseth thee” has never been revoked. And you can study the history of nations and see what happens to them when they turn on the nation of Israel, Rome, Babylon, meet any Babylonians lately? [the Kurds are the descendants of the ancient Medes, and it was the Medo-Persian Empire that released the Jews from Babylonian captivity, as well as the Hikawa Maru I described in the Genesis 12 transcript, being blessed for being good to Jewish refugees, treating them like royalty, the Genesis 12:3 blessing and cursing goes both ways.] Britain [the British merely made the mistake of promising the same Promised Land to both the Jews [the Balfour Declaration] and the Arabs. The British empire has gone down due to national sin, just as we are about to do in the U.S.]. Now it’s interesting, it says the male child on the eighth day shall be circumcised. Because between the 5^th and 7^th day is when an infant begins to produce vitamin K. Vitamin K is necessary for clotting. Now of course as soon as the baby’s born they’ll give him a shot of vitamin K. But any circumcision before the 8^th day would have been a chance. There’s another chemical in the blood called Profombrin and the very interesting thing about that is, it’s also the other necessary clotting agent. On the 3^rd day it’s only at 30 percent, it’s increasing. On the 8^th day it reaches 110 percent of what is normal, and by the 9^th day it goes down to 100 percent of what is normal and levels off there. So the best clotting day is the 8^th day. Coincidence [laughter]. 8^th day is the day of new beginnings, it’s in the octave when it starts over again, it’s in the light spectrum, 8 of course is the number of new beginnings. But there’s some marvelous things here. Now, the 8-day-old wasn’t exercising any faith by being circumcised, I’m sure he was just screaming. It was the faith of the parents being exercised then. And in the nation of Israel, if the parental obedience was not there, it was incumbent of that young man when he came of age and realized, that he had not this token of the covenant in his flesh, it became incumbent on him to make sure that happened in his own life. “And he that is eight days old” it says, “shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generation, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.” (verses 12-13) You can read Romans 4:9-12, Colossians 2:9-12, Philippians 3:1-3, just there are enough places in the New Testament that talk about this, as a sign of the covenant, and it’s the symbol of what the Holy Spirit does to us in the New Testament in the putting away of our carnal nature of our flesh. “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.” (verse 14) he hasn’t had enough regard to make sure in his family this thing took place, as a remembrance or a token of this covenant that God made in regards to the seed. And of course we’re going to see Moses in Exodus 4 run into a problem with that, with his own sons and so forth.

“Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?”

“And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.” (verse 15) Abe’s gotta go back to the camp and say ‘Don’t call me Abram anymore, call me Abraham, and by the way God changed your name too.’ You know, these are humans, it’s a remarkable scene no doubt. He’s still talking, Abram’s still laying there listening. “And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” (verse 16) And the name “Sarah” has the idea of “Princess” or “Queen” in the literal sense. If kings are going to be born of her and nations, she certainly has a royal place as it were, ‘she shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her.’ Look in verse 17, “Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” he must have tried to get up a little, this knocked him down again. Now Sarah’s going to laugh for another reason, in the next chapter. She’s going laugh because of the biological problems involved. I have to believe that Abraham is laughing with joy. Paul says this in Romans, ‘As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were, who against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be, and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead,’ when he was about 100 years old, ‘neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.’ So his laughter was not the laughter of unbelief, it was the laughter of joy. Listen, God has given us the gift of laughter. Just think of that, he made tear ducts, because I’ll see Christians ‘I shouldn’t be crying, it’s unspiritual,’ well Jesus wept. God gave us tear ducts, if you don’t cry your head will explode, so he gave us tear ducts. It says in Psalm 56, that we don’t shed a tear that he doesn’t take note of, are they not written in my book and kept in my bottle, there isn’t a tear that we shed, and how many times have we been bitter at God, we feel like he doesn’t care, we’re sitting alone somewhere, and there’s tears. The truth is, because Satan will tell us he doesn’t care, your heart is broken, the Bible says ‘no, every one of them is recorded, and one day you’re going to stand in front of me and realize, I wept every tear with you, my heart was broken.’ But he had something else going on, it’s interesting, I was reading an old writer from England as I was looking through this, and he was talking about Abraham’s struggles, and he talked about a friend of his who was a zoologist in England who had this huge moth, and he had the cocoon and he was waiting, and he couldn’t wait until the huge moth came out of this cocoon. And he started watching the motion, and saw it struggling, trying to get out, and it struggled long enough that it drove him crazy, so he took a pair of scissors and he snipped the end of the cocoon open so that the moth could get out without struggle. He said the problem was, we didn’t realize then, it’s the struggling of the moth or butterfly in the cocoon to get out, that forces blood and flued into the wings, that enable it to fly when it finally gets through the struggle and gets out of the cocoon. And he said that moth never spread its wings and it never flew, and he had waited so long, just for the day that it would spread its wings. And he said, how often we have tears, God allows us this struggle, because it’s producing something in us that will enable us to soar. Easy for me to say, I know if you’re the one whose crying tonight. But on the other side of that, God has given to us laughter. What exactly is that all about? You know it says a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. I have articles in my office about scientific studies, in fact there are cancer wards around the country now where they get people that are terminal in a room and they show them Mark’s Brothers and Three Stooges movies and they laugh, because they realize that laughing, the force of it within, massages the lymph system and increases your immunity. And they’re actually seeing some people improve from laughing. What is laughter all about? We’re created in his image and likeness, you know it tells us the nations are raging around us, in Psalm 2, ‘Let us break away from the LORD’s restrictions from us,’ it says, ‘He sits in the heavens and he laughs,’ Hezba-who? [laughter] He sits in the heavens and he laughs, those who mock him, those in the Senate or the House, or those somewhere that are voting against him, immorality. What is laughter, here’s Abraham. You know, it’s a shame, because it’s a gift no doubt, it’s a shame when people are laughing at filthy jokes, here’s this gift that God’s given to us. Sarah’s going to laugh in unbelief, ‘wew, that’s stupid.’ And you have friends that have done that when you share Christ with them ‘wew! Bible-thumper, leave me alone.’ That’s the wrong thing to use laughter for. But it’s ok when God blesses your socks off, to laugh. Abraham’s 100 years old, and he hears ‘I’m changing your name and Sarai’s name, and man, you guys are going to have some kids.’ After 16 verses of God telling him what he’s going to do, and the first thing he does is he laughs, he just can’t contain himself. Abraham fell on his face and he laughed, “and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old?” ‘wait till they see this, this is going to blow some minds, wait till the family see, all the ones that thought I was nuts, wait till this happens, I’ll invite them to the dedication, wait till they see.’ “and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (verse 17) Now he talks, “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (verse 18) Now he loves Ishmael, Ishmael is 13 years old about this time, and now he’s just heard the promise is going to come through Sarah, through another son. And no doubt he loves Ishmael, when any father would, and he beseeches God, ‘But let him walk before you also.’ “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac:” “Izak, laughter” “and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” (verse 19) So imagine, every time they called him, ‘Laughter, Laughter,’ that’s how they were reminded of the fact that he was 100 and she was 90, every time they said that word, Izak. What a God we serve. “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.” (verse 20) there’s over 18 nations that Ishmael covers right now in the Middle East, and with all the oil they are blessed, God’s done that. ‘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.” (verse 21) So not only does Abraham go home, his and Sarai’s names are changed, ‘my name and your name, but next year the baby’s going to be born. His name’s going to be Laughter,’ she probably said ‘Abraham, this isn’t funny.’ [loud laughter] “at this time next year.” “And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.” (verse 22) What in the world was that like? The conversation was over, the Person, Yahweh, the Person of God went up. You know Abraham, he came staggering back in the camp, with his eyes, ‘Uh-oh, we’ve seen this look before.’

Abraham Circumcises All The Males--What Kind Of Man Was Abraham In His Family & Camp?

Now look, let’s read the rest of this chapter and think about this a little bit, not too much, but. “And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” (verses 23-24) So the first thing we see is personal obedience, he was 99 years old when he was circumcised. No novicane, and you know he’s not going to ask them to do something he’s not willing to do. What a level of personal obedience is this, what has God asked you to cut out of your life, what flesh has he asked you to trim away? HBO? No comparison. Any one of you guys, if I sat in a room alone with you and handed you a telephone or a knife and say take your pick, cancel HBO or…HBO’s going bye-bye. You know, personal obedience, he loved God, 99 years old, was willing to cut away as it were, there is a symbol in this, a picture of the flesh in his life. He was a man in his house, he didn’t ask anybody in his house to do anything that wasn’t real in his own life. So there was personal obedience. I think that’s tremendous, I think we need to learn about it as we see here. Look at the next thing, “And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.” (verse 25) That’s parental obedience. What does it cost you to tell your 13-year-old ‘We’re cutting this out of your life, you’re not going to listen to that music, you are not going to see that movie, you are not going to hang with those people, I don’t want to hear you’re drinking, I don’t want to hear about drugs.’ There’s personal obedience, there’s parental obedience. And I don’t think Ishmael just said ‘Oh, ok.’ I think there was some dialogue, there was some convincing, and maybe there was ‘ok, you hold his arms, I’ll hold his legs.’ Parents, we need to stand up. You know what, you can’t ask your kids to do anything that isn’t real in your own life, because that is only confusion. If you’re using fowl language, watching pornography, you’re compromising, you tell them about Jesus, you might as well keep your mouth shut, because it’s such a reproach to Christ, it sends a signal that is so confusing. [No, the signal is pretty strong, and teens can spot it a mile off, the signal is hypocrite.] And look, this is condemnation time, this is, look at this exhortation here, and look at the reality, the historical reality of what this guy does. Ishmael is then circumcised, and then “In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.” (verses 26-27) That’s patriarchal obedience, personal obedience, parental obedience, patriarchal obedience, this guy had an influence in his family. He not only challenged his son, he would not only challenge in his own life, if you were his aunts or his uncles or his cousins and you got around him, you heard the truth, and he was not afraid in his own house to reel things in. And we can’t be either. I know in my family, if something’s going on in my family, I had somebody tell me the other week ‘I’m not responsible for anything that people in my family say,’ and I thought ‘How sad,’ because I’d get on the phone and in fifteen minutes I could shut down anything in my family, my kids, my mom, my family, I could say ‘This doesn’t honour the Lord, I want it to stop, I don’t want to hear about that again, it’s dishonouring to Christ.’ And we should be that kind of salt and light in our families. I think it’s important. And lastly there was positional obedience. Here’s a guy then, everyone whose bought in his house, everybody that’s not in his family, and every stranger, they were circumcised [of course, within his camp, he didn’t go out try to circumcise his Canaanite neighbours 😊]. So, the people you work with, the people you’re around at work everyday, the people that sit next to you in school, what kind of position are you in their lives? Can you challenge them, can you talk with them? I look at this, and I think, ‘Man, this Abraham,’ he’s not coming back into camp saying ‘ok, God talked to me again, changed my name, changed Sarah’s name, next year we’re gonna have a baby,’ and everybody’s saying ‘You’re nuts.’ That’s not happening, because if he said ‘Guess what, we’re all getting circumcised today,’ they’d say ‘See ya!’ They must hold him in tremendous regard. His home’s in order, his family’s in order, the people he works with, he’s held in esteem, the people born in his house, the people that serve. I look at this and think, what a remarkable scene. We can gloss over it, but this is reality, and again, this is without painkillers, this is cutting away. And we complain about things the Lord asks us to give up, fleshly things he wants us to cut out of our lives sometimes.

Genesis 18:1-23

“And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2 and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 and said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Wherefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is grievous; 21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?”

God Pays Abraham A Visit--Abraham’s And Sarah’s Hospitality To Yahweh-God

“And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;” (verse 1) So this is some time within a year, Abraham’s sitting there, he loves Mamre, the desert areas in the south. He’s sitting there in the doorway of his tent, it must be hot, it’s in the heat of the day. And I wonder if he’s sitting there, thinking about the promises and the things that God had said to him. When all of the men in that camp were circumcised, they were indefensible for several days. Any surrounding tribes of the giants, that was done in faith. Now here he is, he’s sitting here, time has gone by, ‘and he lifted up his eyes’ the second time we’ll read that of Abraham, “and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,” (verse 2) Now the Hebrew grammar gives us an abruptness here. If you’re sitting in your tent door in the plains of Mamre, you can see for a long ways. And it gives us the idea he’s sitting there looking around, and looks up and three guys are there, there’s an abruptness to it. And there’s enough of an abruptness to it he realizes these are not just regular visitors, they just showed up here. And he must have some sense, and he runs and bows himself down to the ground “and said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.” (verses 3-5) Abraham says ‘Let me extend hospitality, let me do this, this is the reason you’ve come here, let me serve you, let me extend myself.’ Now isn’t it an interesting scene we’re going to see here. “And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.” (verses 6-7) He’s a hundred years old, he runs to the herd and grabs a calf, ‘arrrhh!’ you can hear the noise, he’s running with this calf, and gave it to one of the young men and said ‘Butcher this thing, cut it up, I want some nice thick veal steaks.’ Now look, I look at this and think, here’s another scene of this guy’s home. Ladies, imagine this, with five minutes notice, ‘Honey I’ll be there in five minutes, the owner of the company, the Chief Executive Officer and the President of Operations will be there for dinner in five minutes. I don’t want any storebought bread, I want you to grind some grain, I want you to knead some bread, I want you to get to work on it in the kitchen, and get one of the guys to slaughter something in the yard.’ Hey look, we’re laughing because it seems so ridiculous. But you know that so easily causes friction in the home. This is a setup from God, Abraham didn’t plan this. Did he do the right thing by being hospitable? You men, you know what it’s like to just, you bring somebody home without warning your wife, you might as well just don’t come home with him, just go live with him. You know, 1^st Peter chapter 3 tells us there of Sarah and her relationship to Abraham. And it says ‘Ladies, if you have a husband whose not living according to the Word,’ capital W, ‘not living according to the Scripture, then you, without a word, without your mouth, by your chaste conversation [“conversation,” King James word meaning “conduct”], by the way you live bear testimony to that man,’ because you make a lousy Holy Ghost if you got an unsaved husband. And always by gouging your spiritual opinions into his ear, he’s offended, he feels like he’s being raped. But if without a word, by your example, he takes notice, then instead of getting in the ear-gate, he decides to let you in the eye-gate of his own will, and says ‘What’s she being so nice for? This is a little fishy.’ And the testimony, and then Peter says ‘Remember the way Sarah and Abraham were.’ This is a remarkable household, where he could do the circumcision, the way he could run and say ‘Honey,’ and I imagine when you’re 100 and your wife’s 90 you still call her Honey. He ran and said ‘Quick, grind some grain, knead some dough, we got company!’ ‘Company, company?! I’m going to strangle you!’ Look at verse 8, “And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.” Please notice, this is before the Levitical law, this is not kosher under the Levitical law, because he has butter, milk and meat in the same meal. [Comment: Messianic Jewish pastor-rabbis know that the passage in Leviticus that states “Do not seethe a kid in it’s mother’s milk” does not in any way command that milk or dairy products can’t be mixed together or eaten in the same meal, that that particular interpretation is Scripturally inaccurate, and merely a Jewish custom. These more knowledgeable Messianic Jewish pastor-rabbis also use Genesis 18 as an example showing Yahweh himself and two angels sat down and had dairy products and meat together in one meal, showing the Kosher laws the Orthodox Jews follow are not really Scripturally kosher. But Pastor Joe is giving the Jews a pass on this one.] And just think what’s happening here, this is Jehovah-God who spoke the worlds into existence. Abraham says ‘Let me make you some bread, let me wash your feet, let me give you a morsel to eat.’ He could have said ‘I’m GOD, I don’t need any of that, Abraham, haven’t you learned anything?’ Just think how he stoops down to sit with Abraham and to eat, and he has two angels with him. It says some of us have entertained angels unaware. But just think of this, God sits there. Did he ask for seconds? Did he say ‘Abe, pass the salt?’ This is our God, he’s willing to sit at the table with you. Are we aware of his presence sometimes? I can never eat without being aware people are starving all over the world, and never take it for granted. ‘Lord, bless this, it’s full of Strontium-90, it’s full of all kinds of spray, sanctify it, strengthen my physical frame that I might serve you, and that I enjoy it.’ But just imagine this, he stands there with them and they’re eating. You know, there’s so much of this, those of you who have been to Israel, maybe some of you from that part of the world, there’s a whole culture there. If you go to Israel today and you go to a Bedouin, and there’s still Bedouin all over the country, it’s very interesting. Because if they invite you into their tent, first of all you’re under their hospitality then. The first thing they do is they give you a small extremely bitter cup of tea, and you have to drink that, it’s part of the protocol. Because they want you at that point to remember all the bitter experiences of your life and then put them aside, so they don’t have to be part of your conversation and part of your fellowship in their tent. After that bitter cup of tea is gone, they will make you a very small, extremely sweet, extremely strong cup of coffee, so that you’ll be ready to talk by the time you’re done that, and they’ll give that to you, and it is so that your fellowship there will be sweet, that your time there will be blessed. They then will prepare the food for you, and stand by and watch you eat, till you can’t eat anymore. And they’re happy if you belch. They want you to glut yourself, that is their joy, they want you to eat, and they won’t eat until you can’t eat any more. After dinner, their coffee comes out again. If a Bedouin offers you that cup of coffee from his right hand, that means you’re welcome to stay, ‘I’m glad you’re here.’ If he offers you the cup of coffee from his left hand, he says ‘Dinner’s over, it’s time for you to go, when this coffee’s gone.’ If after he offers you a cup of coffee with his right hand, he then offers you a second cup of coffee with his right hand, that means ‘You can stay here as long as you want to, for months, for years, you are now under the hospitality of my tent,’ it is a sacred trust, you can stay as long as you want. Abraham stands by. Some of these traditions, of course it’s different now, you see a black Bedouin tent with a satellite dish with a TV antenna, a Honda generator alongside, some things have changed, now they’re watching Bedouin Shopping Channel, I don’t know what they watch, Bowling for Dollars. I’m sorry, what would they be watching? But these traditions go way back.

The Incredibly Human Dialogue Going On Between Yahweh-God, Abraham & Sarah

Here’s Abraham standing by as they’re eating, there’s a dialogue going on, now that dinner’s over. How long did it take, you know, here’s Yahweh-God, eating, grease on his fingers, crumbs in his beard, can you imagine that? Because it will happen in the New Testament. The Pharisees and Sadducees will come in and say to Jesus ‘What are you doing, eating with tax gatherers and sinners? This is no representation of Jehovah, he’d never eat with sinners like this!’ Then Jesus says, ‘You don’t know what God is like.’ and Jesus tells them the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son (which is really the parable about the older brother, the Pharisees, not so much the parable of the prodigal son). And Jesus is looking at them, Jehovah-God, with crumbs in his beard and grease on his hands, and saying ‘No, as a matter of fact, you have no idea what God is like, because here I am crumby and greasy sitting right in front of you.’ And here in the Old Testament, here’s the LORD sitting with Abraham, the angels, eating. “And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.” (verse 9) I’m sure they said it loud enough for her to hear, and they knew where she was. They’re saying this for her sake. “And he said, Behold, in the tent” because women remained separate, she wasn’t allowed to be there with them as they were eating, it was just a different culture. ‘She’s in the tent.’ “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.” (verse 10) she’s there with a glass, you know, she’s eves dropping, “Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” (verse 11) not just stricken, here’s the Bible saying “well stricken,” they were stricken man. She’s past menopause, no more menstrual cycles, no more ovulation, she’s past the time of women, childbearing, gone, she’s 90 years old. “Wherefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (verse 12) not out loud, she laughs within herself, saying, now this is a different kind of laughter, “After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” now she’s not just laughing at herself either. ‘Abraham don’t have any more either.’ Now the LORD’s going to fix them. Because after Sarah dies at 127 years old, when Abraham is 137. Abraham is going to remarry and have six more sons from Keturah. At that age it’s better to marry than to burn, you know, if God fixes you he fixes you. And my lord being old also, how in the world is this going to happen, this is ridiculous,’ so her laughter is a laugh of unbelief. “And the LORD said unto Abraham,” this must have shocked Sarah, since she laughed within herself, “Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?” (verse 13) He actually says what she said while she was laughing within herself. “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (verse 14) Solomon tells us there’s a time for every purpose under heaven. Now she says it out loud, “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.” (verse 15) Up until this point it’s been silent, ‘Where’s your wife?’ ‘She’s in the tent,’ she’s in there listening, ‘Whose this guy, talking about babies again.’ ‘Well according to this time next year she’s going to have a child,’ ‘Raspberry sound’ ‘I’m old? He’s old.’ And then she hears outside the tent ‘You know, why did your wife laugh, saying I’m too old to have a baby?’ And she’s freaked out, saying ‘I didn’t laugh!’ a voice comes from inside the tent saying ‘I didn’t laugh!’ These are humans. Because she was afraid, she was just terrified by this circumstance, you have to understand. Now he’s talking to her, notice, “Nay; but thou didst laugh.” So he turns toward the tent and says ‘No, Sarah Honey, you did laugh.’ Now look, here’s this gal in unbelief, lying to the Living God. Does he just smoke her? Does he just explode the tent. Here is this woman, or it could be a man, lying ‘I didn’t laugh, I didn’t say that, I didn’t do that.’ God in his tenderness says ‘No, you did, as a matter of fact.’ What a Father he is. He could have just picked the tent up and Sarah would have been like this. So tender, ‘No, you did laugh,’ he said to her.

“And The LORD Said, Shall I Hide From Abraham That Thing Which I Do?”

“And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.” (verse 16) he saw the look in their eyes, no doubt. Notice verse 17, “And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him,” listen to what God says, “that he will command his children and his household after him,” that was evident in the end of the last chapter, he has control over his children and over his family, “he will command his children,” not suggest, “and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” (verses 17-19) Now this is what God says, he’s going to go and judge Sodom and Gomorrah from here. He says “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” because Abraham is going to argue with him, and say ‘Shall not the God of all the earth do right, surely you’re just, you’re not going to punish the righteous along with the wicked?’ And he’s saying ‘I want this to be fixed in Abraham’s mind, because I know the kind of man he is, and he’s going to raise up his children and his household, and pass the truth of who I am onto them. So I don’t want to hide from him what I’m doing, because I don’t want him passing on to his children, to his household ‘God is a cruel God, God punishes the righteous along with the wicked, he has unjust weights and measures,’ he says ‘no, I’m not gonna hide from him what I’m doing, because I know he needs to know and understand, because what he knows and understands about me he communicates to his children, to his household.’ “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned” the angels “their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.” (verses 20-22) Now Abraham’s thinking about Lot, Abraham’s thinking…And Sodom and Gomorrah are sinning against light. Remember in chapter 14, Chedorlaomer and the five kings of the north had raided those cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain and carried everybody away captive, and Abraham comes with 318 armed servants and some of the local chieftains, had a miraculous victory, and set them all free, and brought them all back, and told them about his God. And Melchizedek came out and met him, they’d been warned. They’re sinning against light. They’d been delivered by the God whose going to judge them now, and their hearts are still hard. “And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.” (verse 22) Please notice this in verse 23, “And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Man, do I love that, he drew near. You know, we find him on his face, we find him serving, he helps Sarah, he grabs the calf, he’s part of it, he brings the food and sets it before them. And he spends that time with them as they eat. He realizes Sarah’s been deceitful, but God has been gracious with her, ‘No, in fact you did laugh, Sarah.’ And now, Abraham, one of the things that makes him the friend of God, one of the things that holds him before us, is now he draws near to God. You know when Jonah hears that Nineveh is going to be judged, he rejoices. When Jesus draws near to Jerusalem, knowing it’s going to be judged, he weeps over it. When Abraham hears that Sodom and Gomorrah are going to be judged, he pleads with God over it. You know, I’m going to confess, I don’t plead with God enough for our nation. I do, but not enough, and what I see going on in the world, and I’m always reminded ‘if my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek my face, then would I hear from heaven, I would heal their land.’ Abraham is that kind of man, he begins to plead. And I love this, he drew near. Here’s God in a physical form, and he gets close to him. Whatever God looked like when he manifested himself to Abraham, Abraham wasn’t afraid. That’s why Jesus when he came, came the way he did, so no one would be afraid to approach him. “And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (verse 23) We’re going to have to pick up there next week. Look, think about that, because that’s no longer an academic exercise for you and I. We have people in this world, wanting to smuggle nuclear weapons into cosmopolitan areas, into metropolitan areas, into cities where the death of civilians would be unimaginable. I don’t believe that we can see an all-out nuclear exchange on this planet till after the Rapture, because of this very truth. God’s going to say ‘If there’s ten righteous in that city, I’m not going to bring down,’ we’re told in Jude he brings down eternal fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. We live in a scary world, that’s for sure…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 17:1-27 and Genesis 18:1-23, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]