Isaac, the son of promise

Genesis 17:17-19

17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.

As you get older, you begin to understand that some things in life are in the past.  Old people don’t have babies.  Abraham believed that God would give Him a son as promised.  But, the possibility of how this could be was beyond Abraham. He tried to help God save face by offering the idea of using Ishmael.  But, God didn’t need Abraham’s assistance.  The son of promise would come, at God’s time and through God’s chosen instrument, Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Abraham laughed.  It isn’t the kind of laughter that one has at a joke.  It was the laughter of a man caught between his understanding and his faith in God.  The impossibility of the promise, which was also so wonderful that it seemed too goo to be true, struck Abraham deeply.  He was moved, and all he could do was laugh.

The son of promise did come and his name “Isaac” means “he laughs” so that all would remember that though the promises of God seem too good to be true, God keeps His Word.  His plan of salvation will be accomplished.

Isaac was a living prophesy of the one son of promise, Jesus our Lord.  When Mary was with child of the Holy Spirit, who would have dreamed that anything good could have come of her situation.  Yet, God blessed her, and Jesus, true God and true Man was born.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus, the true Son of promise, prompted a kind of Isaac laughter in the world among the faithful.  He helped those who were hopeless.  He drove out demons, healed people, and even raised the dead.  Ultimately He gave His life on the cross and through faith forgives the sins of all hopeless sinners who trust in Him.  

In the end even the sorrow of death will be broken as Jesus, true God and true man, has promised.  He will raise up to eternal life all who trust in Him.  Then, together with Isaac and all the saints in light, there will be laughter.  But, not the laughter of painful struggle in this life.  It will be the laughter of the love of the Father, the face of the Son and the Song of the Holy Spirit in the heavenly feast of light.

Let us pray

Lord Jesus Christ, help me during all seasons of my life to remain faithful.  Even if I am tempted by my lack of understanding to laugh over the great promises you have given, by your grace may I never doubt your power to save.  You keep your promises. I trust in You.  AMEN

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.  Amen.