Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. Tonight, is study #9 of Genesis, chapter 21. We are continuing to read Genesis 21:6-10:
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 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. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
I will stop reading there. To begin, I want to look at verse 4, which I did not read today, but we read it in earlier studies. It says in Genesis 21:4:
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
We will first discuss “circumcision” and then we will look at the weaning of Isaac and the terrible situation that developed when Sarah said to Abraham to cast out the bondwoman and her son, Hagar and Ishmael.
But before we get to that, let us talk about circumcision. We know that God first gave the right of circumcision to Abraham and Abraham circumcised his household when he was 99 years old. We discussed that a few chapters back, but now Abraham circumcised Isaac when Isaac was eight days old. And God did command that a male child was to be circumcised when he was eight days old. It says in Genesis 17:9-12:
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 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. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 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.
Every male child was to be circumcised when the child reached the age of eight days old. Of course, there is a spiritual reason for this, and we will try to look at one possibility. I will not say that it is absolutely what it points to, but it is interesting how these things work out.
First, regarding circumcision, God had commanded this physical act be performed by Abraham in his family, as well as with all their descendants; they all circumcised their male children. God commanded this to be done because it points to salvation. A “circumcision” was a sign and Law that God gave that pointed to a deeper spiritual reality. On one hand, the “cutting away of the flesh” of the reproductive organ of the male child at eight days old pointed to Christ and the shedding of His blood. Christ would come and demonstrate His atoning work from the foundation of the world by coming forth into the world through the lineage of God’s people. Christ did come forth through that line. But, primarily, it has to do with the “cutting away of the flesh,” because God likens the unsaved as being “in the flesh,” so God said in Deuteronomy 30:6:
And JEHOVAH thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love JEHOVAH thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Of course, God did not command Abraham to circumcise his heart, but he was to circumcise the reproductive organ and, yet, the spiritual meaning has to do with the heart of man. That is why it was only a sign, an outward act that pointed to a deeper spiritual reality that man could not perform. Yes – a man could be circumcised and circumcise their male children physically, but man cannot circumcise himself or anyone else spiritually. This could only be done by God: “And JEHOVAH thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed.” There, again, we see the reference to “seed,” which points to Christ and all the elect that are in Him that are also counted for the seed.
In the New Testament, it says in Romans 2:28:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Of course, it is outward circumcision in the flesh, but when God says, “neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,” He means that is not the point of the act. The true meaning of circumcision is not the cutting away of physical flesh, so one could say, “Now I have kept the Law of circumcision,” but it goes deeper in its spiritual meaning. Therefore, it says in Romans 2:29:
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
This is the reason we can say that those God has saved are “spiritual Israel.” They are the true Jews, even though the majority are Gentiles. But they are made a “Jew” in the sense of what God has in mind with the circumcision of the heart when one is born again.
There are many physical Jews and some of them are also “true Jews,” because God did save some Jews as well as Gentiles. They are the physical descendants of Abraham and even though they have the sign of circumcision upon them, most of them are not circumcised in heart – they are not born again. They are not part of spiritual Israel and, therefore, they are not of the true “seed” of Abraham.
Of course, this is a problem that many in the corporate churches fail to understand. They are not able to perceive these things, even though God says it plainly in Romans 2:28-29. You wonder how they can miss it, but they do. As a result, they lift up the physical descendants of Abraham and they think God has some wonderful plan for the nation of Israel because it says in Romans 11:25:
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery…
By the way, when we see the word “mystery,” what do we know God is doing? He is giving a “parable.” Again, it says in Romans 11:25-26:
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved…
Natural-minded people that are still in the flesh because they are not circumcised in the heart are prone to misunderstand the Bible. They see the phrase, “And so all Israel shall be saved,” and they jump to the conclusion that God has a plan to save all Israel. Then they work out their scenarios about how this is going to work out, and it causes them to exalt Israel to a place they no longer have in God’s plan. God has rent the veil of the temple in twain and ended His relationship with national Israel and He will never return to them. When Christ cursed the fig tree, He said, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.” Israel is a type and figure of the fig tree (as the corporate church), but Christ was cursing Israel. The elect children of God would do as He did, as is Lord tells us that we have cursed the corporate church, which is also likened by the fig tree. So, no fruit will grow in the corporate church forever, after God brought judgment on the churches.
But people focus on the sentence that says, “And so all Israel shall be saved,” and they miss what it said at the end of verse 25, where it says, “that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” which refers to the fulness of the nations. And those Gentiles are part of spiritual Israel. They will be circumcised in heart and, therefore, they will become the seed of Abraham. And then as it goes on to say in the next verse, “And so all Israel shall be saved.” It is not referring to physical Jews, but there will be a remnant of them, just like there is a remnant of the Gentiles. Of course, a remnant of the Gentiles is a far greater number of people because it includes people from all nations. So, God has written the Bible in parabolic form, hiding truths that must be searched out, as when God tells us in Genesis 21:4: “And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old…”
Now let us discuss another aspect of this historic parable. It says in Isaiah 54:1:
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith JEHOVAH.
Why does God say, “for more are the children of the desolate”? Sarah was a desolate woman and this passage in Isaiah 54 is quoted in Galatians 4 and it is applied to Sarah as a representation of the covenant of grace in which God brings forth the children of the “freewoman,” Christ and all the elect in Him. Hagar is the bondservant and she pictures those that have children in bondage because they are born from the Law, or those that have the idea they can keep the Law of God. Mankind has gone after this Law or that Law down through time, thinking that it can save them. Today, the emphasis placed by the corporate church is on “accepting Christ” to become saved. They are obeying the “law of faith.” They say, “If I believe, then I am saved.” Unwittingly, they have placed themselves under the Law and they are bound to keep the whole Law perfectly, which no one is able to do. Therefore, they are children of the bondwoman.
The Bible says that Abraham was as “good as dead” in Romans, chapter 4. If Abraham were dead, that would make Sarah a widow. And God speaks in 1Timothy of a woman that is a “widow indeed, and desolate.” Her husband is “dead” and she had no children, so Sarah qualifies as a “widow” because of the Biblical language. Then God granted her conception of the child Isaac and caused her to give birth. Again, it says in Isaiah 54:1-3:
…for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith JEHOVAH. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Again, this refers to the elect. There is an emphasis her on the great multitude that were saved out of the little season of Great Tribulation.
At this point, we will go to Galatians 4:22-28:
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Then it says in Galatians 4:29:
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
We will look at this verse in a future study when we discuss the “weaning” of Isaac, because it was Ishmael, the son of Hagar, that mocked when Isaac was weaned. It was at that point that Sarah said, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son.” This is a very important statement and it was a very important action that was taken by Abraham when he did cast out the bondwoman and her son at the time Isaac was weaned. But, again, we will get to that in the next study.
It goes on to say in Galatians 4:30-31:
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Do you see how Isaac represents God’s elect here? He represents you, me and all that are born of the “freewoman,” or Jerusalem above. We are born of the Gospel of grace. In this account, Ishmael pictures those that are born of the flesh. It is indicating that Ishmael was not saved. He was persecuting Isaac, and so forth.
This is important because we know that God was bringing together the body of Christ all through history – He was forming the body of Christ. That is the language of the Bible, as the Bible speaks of the elect being part of the body in 1Corinthians where it lists all the parts of the physical body to emphasize this spiritual point. We are part of the body of Christ, and the Bible indicates this body was formed (at the foundation of the world) like a child, in Psalm 139:14-16:
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
First, Christ is the one that is in view here, but the elect are also in view because it speaks of all the members being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life in Psalm 139:16:
…and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
In other words, Christ died for the entire company of the elect, the total number of which is, perhaps, 200 million. We were “fashioned” through the death and resurrection of Christ at the foundation of the world when there were as yet none of us. We did not exist, but God looks at it as if we were “formed,” in manner of speaking. Then during the history of the world, God went forth through His Word to find each “member” to bring into the “body.”
Another way God pictures this is that the elect are all “living stones” and He is building us into his spiritual house. Here is a “living stone,” and He added it to the structure. Here is another “living stone” and He added it to the structure.
But it is also typified as the “body” of Christ, and as we are being formed into a body, just imagine this as a baby in the womb. Is that not where a child is formed? Is that not the place where a child is fashioned together as its members are joined to one another until the child is ready to come forth to the birth? This is the figure or picture God uses regarding the formation of the body of Christ. We should not think we were born like Adam who was created as a full-grown man. Spiritually, we are put together as a child. This is the reason the Bible uses the language of “travailing” in birth when it speaks of the last day in the Day of Judgment. It says in John 16:21-22:
A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow…
We are the child, but we are also the woman that gave birth to the man child, the Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s elect have been involved in the process of the formation of the “child” as the Lord used His people to send forth His Word in salvation. Again, it says in John 16:22:
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
What I am trying to say is that God had a program of salvation to form the body of Christ. He was forming this newborn body of Christ that consists of all the elect. It is a tremendous number of people and, yet, it was not a complete body until the last “member” had been saved. Then it was as if the baby had finished the developmental stage and it was ready for the birth or ready to come forth. And this happened during a time the Bible ties into “seven days” or “seven thousand years” from the flood date. God said to Noah, “And yet seven days,” and then the flood would come, or Judgment Day would come. Also, that seven-day period was the allotted amount of time people had to enter into the ark, which points to becoming saved. So, God gave “seven days” until May 21, 2011 and then the seventh day was completed (the 7,000th year) and in millennial terms it turned from the seventh day to the eighth day. From May 21, 2011 and thereafter, we are living on the earth in the “eighth day.”
We will discuss this further in our next Bible study.