WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - SARAH - A CHILD IS BORN TO ONE OLD AND WORN

SARAH – A CHILD IS BORN TO ONE OLD AND WORN

Genesis 21:1 And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Flash forward to the time the Lord had predicted, and Sarah did deliver a baby as promised! God reminds us that Abraham was over 100 years old, but think about poor Sarah! She had the hard part of carrying and delivering a baby at 90+ years old! Who got the better and easier end of this deal? However, Sarah must have been delighted to finally hold her own baby in her arms. Abraham was extremely pleased to finally have a son by the wife of his youth. He finally had an heir to receive all the Lord had given him in blessings as well as the promise of becoming a great nation.

Genesis 21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

Abraham named his son Isaac as the Lord had instructed him, and it is certain that many people joined Abraham and Sarah in celebration and laughter at the birth of this miraculously conceived baby. God had given Abraham the command to circumcise all the males of his household. You can read about this in chapter 17 when Abraham circumcised himself and every male belonging to him. So he circumcised Isaac when he was just eight days old in obedience to what the Lord had commanded as the sign of their covenant relationship.

Genesis 17:12 (KJV) 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.

So the nation of Israel began with a miraculous birth of a baby given to a couple in their extreme old age. Abraham had been told that all nations would be blessed through his seed.

Genesis 18:17-18 (KJV) 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?

All nations would be blessed through Abraham’s seed because the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, would be a descendant of Abraham specifically through the line of Isaac who was born of Sarah. Laughter, joy, would surely enter the world and spread to not only the Jews but the gentiles as well through Abraham’s descendant born in a stable and laid in a manger in Bethlehem. The Baby born to die so that we may believe and trust in Him for redemption and live with Him forever!

Genesis 21:6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

“I did it! I did it!” Sarah marveled. And she realized that only the power of God had made it possible. God had chosen Sarah as much as He had chosen Abraham. There could be no doubt that this was true because of the miraculous nature of Isaac’s conception and birth.

Genesis 21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Abraham and Sarah had the joy of watching their baby become a young child and celebrated the rite of passage from babyhood to boyhood with a great banquet.

Ponder this: Over and over, the Lord made it clear that Sarah was to be the mother of the promised son. Abraham even tried to settle for second best by asking the Lord to choose Ishmael. But what a blessing when Isaac was born! Do we try to settle for plan B instead of waiting on the Lord? Do we settle for good instead of best? Do we fail to remember Psalm 37:5a (ESV) “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him”?