Dr. Lawrence Butler

The Bridge Church, Pembroke

As those who study the Bible are aware, Isaac was not the only son of Abraham. After waiting some ten years without a child being born to them, Sarah decided on another plan to seek the fulfillment of God’s promise. It is never a good idea to “assist” the Lord when His promises are slow to come to pass.

Human wisdom does not equate to God’s providential workings.

Thus, Sarah’s plan resulted in a child being born, but he has never been blessed as the elect seed of Abraham. The promised blessing through Abraham’s seed would come through Isaac, the only child of Abraham and Sarah.

Isaac represented those who would follow Abraham’s example of faith, not just by being of the same bloodline as their notable patriarch. They must live by faith as Paul reminded us in Romans 4:11-16. This life of faith makes Abraham our father of faith. Isaac was the son of faith, one who could not be born because of the incapability of his parents, but who came because God said he would. Abraham’s older son (the child of the Egyptian handmaid) was brought to life because of Sarah’s suggestion and the couple’s lack of faith. His name was Ishmael and he represented the nation of Israel as they rejected Abrahan’s greater Son, the Son of Glory, Jesus Christ, the promised seed who would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The nation of Israel has by and large refused to recognize the Seed of Abraham as the promised Messiah. Ishmael was observed mocking Isaac when he was young.

Unfortunately for Ishmael and his mother Hagar, Isaac’s mother Sarah saw this and demanded they be forced to leave the family.

Close to two thousand years later the descendants of Abraham were again mocking and refusing to bow before the Son of Promise, Jesus Christ. As a result Israel has spent much of their history “wandering in a wilderness,” as Hagar and Ishmael had to do, having no place to call home. It took the birth of Isaac to reveal the true character of Ishmael, just as it took the birth of Jesus to reveal the true character of Israel. This is not an attempt to bash Israel, but merely to point out that they missed their time of visitation (Luke 19:41- 42) and the sad price there is to pay when we make the same mistake. However, the Bible tells us that God will again call to Israel and their spiritual blindness will be healed (Romans 11:26-27