Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible Part in the Book of Genesis. Tonight is Part #21 of Genesis, chapter 17 and we are going to read Genesis 17:18-22:

And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 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. 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. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

I will stop reading there. We have spent a good amount of time speaking of circumcision and the covenant that are both in view in this chapter. We also looked at the word “laughed” and how that relates to God’s programs of times and seasons.

Now we are going to turn our attention to Ishmael because he is being brought up as Abraham made his plea to the Lord: “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” This was Abraham’s plea and, of course, he would do this because Ishmael is his son. He was born of a handmaid, but he is still Abraham’s son and he has love for Ishmael and desires the very best for him.

After responding to Abraham by pointing, again, to Sarah and how the promised seed would come through her, the Lord very kindly addresses Abraham’s plea for Ishmael in verse 20: “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee.” The name “Ishmael” means “God has heard.” That is exactly what the Lord is saying to Abraham: “I have heard.” What did God hear? He heard Abraham’s prayer which was a prayer that Ishmael might live before God. This is unusual. It is not something we have been taught, traditionally, throughout the church age regarding God’s (future) plan to bless the descendants of Ishmael because Abraham besought the Lord on his behalf. And, yet, it is something that we learned during the Great Tribulation. We learned that God had a plan to save people from every tribe, nation and tongue outside the churches and congregations, a great multitude that no man could number. Based on this passage and information found elsewhere in the Bible, we also learned that among that great multitude would be many “sons of Ishmael” or many of his descendants, as the Lord would fulfill His promise to Abraham: “I have heard thee.”

God went on to say in Genesis 17:20:

… 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.

Here, the Lord is strongly emphasizing His intention to bless Ishmael. First, God blessed the request that Ishmael might live before Him. As the Bible discusses life, it often has in view spiritual life or eternal life. Therefore, if Abraham made a request concerning Ishmael and God responded that He had heard him, we would have to consider that it was possible that God intended to save Ishmael (in the first instance) or the descendants of Ishmael. Regarding the descendants of Ishmael, God said, “Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.” We see the multiplication of Ishmael’s seed and that leads us to look at the descendants of Ishmael. For many generations, we would say that the descendants of Ishmael were largely those that lived in the Middle East and were Part of the Arab nations. Their religion is mostly Islam – they are Muslims.

Some people may have gotten upset or disturbed by the idea that during the second Part of the Great Tribulation period during the sending forth of the Latter Rain into the nations of the world God’s intention was to save many “sons of Ishmael.” At the same time, it was God’s plan to save none that remained in the churches and congregations; that is, no professed Christians that were members or regular attendees of the corporate churches. God had commanded His people to come out. It was God’s program to save many descendants of Ishmael that were followers of the Islamic religion while not saving professed Christians that claimed the name of Christ and used the Bible and believed that their Christian religion was the true religion. This was extremely disturbing to these people.

It was a similar reaction to when the Lord Jesus Christ said that there were many “widows in Israel,” but He blessed a certain widow outside of Israel. Christ also said that there were many lepers in Israel when Naaman the Syrian was cleansed of his leprosy, but none of the lepers in Israel were cleansed of their leprosy at that time. That point was disturbing to the Jews and it was very offensive to them that God would save “outsiders” or Gentiles that were not of the physical seed of Abraham. Not only did God save these, but He did not perform healings of leprosy for the Israelites at that time. That fact caused the Jews to become very angry. Likewise, this was the reaction of professed Christians when they heard of God’s plan to save a great many Muslims while not saving even one person within the churches during the Great Tribulation period. We can understand why it would be troubling to some people, but it did not change the fact that it was God’s plan and it was what He did accomplish during the second Part of the Great Tribulation period.

We have spoken of this before, but this is a good time to point out that 1988 was the 13,000th year of earth’s history. The Great Tribulation began in that year and the church age came to an end. For the first 2,300 evening mornings, there was a grievous time period in which virtually no one become saved in the world, but in September 1994, in a Jubilee year, God stretched forth His hand a second time to evangelize the earth and recover the remnant of His people. All of these people were found outside of the institution of the corporate church. So, the 13,000th year would be the turning point and the milestone year to usher in the final stage of earth’s history. God would save that great multitude after those 2,300 evening mornings and among that multitude would be many “sons of Ishmael.” We can understand the number “13” to relate to that whole scenario of the Great Tribulation and God’s plan to save the great multitude, including many of the descendants of Ishmael. Remember, we spent some time discussing how God made a big point of letting us know how old Abraham was when Ishmael was born, back in Genesis 16:16:

And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Abram was 86 years old. We can break that number down to “2 x 43” and it gives us a little information, but in the next chapter, it says in Genesis 7:1:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, JEHOVAH appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Now we know that Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born and now he is 99. Let us do the math: 99 minus 86 equals “13.” So, right at the beginning God is focusing on the number “13” and He would expect the student of the Bible to pick up on that. Of course, the Spirit of God would assist the child of God by guiding us into all truth, especially at the time of the end when the things that were sealed up are being opened to the understanding of the people of God. Already, we have an emphasis on the number “13,” but remember we also counted the number of times the word “covenant” was used. It says, beginning in Genesis 17:2:

And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

The word “covenant” is here and it kept reappearing throughout the chapter, so we counted and we found the word covenant was used 13 times in Genesis, chapter 17. That is the second point of emphasis on the number “13.” Then as we continued reading, it says here in Genesis 17:23-24:

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.

Here, again, we see that there are 13 years from the time mentioned in Genesis 16:16, from the birth of Ishmael to this statement, but just in case we missed it, notice what God said in Genesis 17:25-26:

And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

Ishmael was 13 years old. God did the math for us. Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born and 13 years later Ishmael was 13 when God was giving the covenant. What did we learn about the covenant? It had to do with the “cutting off” of sin or removal of the flesh. It had to do with salvation of the soul, as God commanded to “circumcise the heart.” It also has to do with circumcision of our bodies on the last day when we will receive our new spiritual bodies. At that point, all flesh will have been “cut off.”

Ishmael was 13 when Abraham beseeched the Lord and said, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” And God said, “I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.” When would all that happen? It would happen when the world reached the point of 13,000 years and the time of the end of the world and then in the second Part of the Great Tribulation God saved the great multitude, including many of the “sons of Ishmael.” This verse gives strong evidence that this, indeed, was God’s plan, but it is supported in another passage in Isaiah 60 and I will read the first three verses to establish the context, in Isaiah 60:1-3:

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of JEHOVAH is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but JEHOVAH shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

This language is figurative, pointing to salvation. First, it says, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” The world is in darkness and the light is the light of the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the light would come and penetrate the darkness of a sinner’s heart, it meant salvation. Then it said, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people,” and this language gives us a little insight that it is at the time of the end of the world. At the time of the end was when Satan was loosed and during the Great Tribulation there was incredible darkness that overtook the churches as well as the nations of the world. All were falling into sin, like never before in history. There was gross darkness that covered the entire world after 13,000 years of earth’s history. However, even with that horrible event of Satan being loosed and all the evil that was taking place, yet it was said, “but JEHOVAH shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” JEHOVAH arose and He was the bright Light and the Gentiles (or nations) came to the light and kings to the brightness of His rising. It is language of salvation because the normal reaction of an unsaved person is to flee the light and run to the darkness for cover whenever the light shined. But, here, they were coming to the light, which can only point to God drawing His elect to Himself. Again, the majority of the elect were saved during the Great Tribulation in the Latter Rain period.

Then it says in Isaiah 60:4-5:

Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

We do not have time to get into detail with all of these statements, but remember that the “sea” can refer to people, if you read Revelation, chapter 17 or you read in Isaiah that the “wicked are like the troubled sea.” The forces of the Gentiles are the nations coming to God in abundance. You will not find that this happened at any other time in history because He reserved the salvation of the great multitude for the little season of the last (about) 17 years of the Great Tribulation.

Then it says in Isaiah 60:6:

The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of JEHOVAH.

Here, we have to listen carefully because it has pertinence to what we read regarding Ishmael and God’s promise to multiply him, as it goes on to say in Isaiah 60:7:

All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

You are probably thinking, “I do not see it because I did not see the name of Ishmael.” No – but you did hear the name of his sons, if we go to Genesis 25:12-13:

Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham: And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar…

These two names are the names I just read in Isaiah 60:7, where it said, “all the flocks of Kedar” and “the rams of Nebaioth.” These two are sons of Ishmael that are seen in the context of the great multitude of Gentiles that would come to God for salvation.

We will have to look more at this when we get together in our next Bible study.