10 – Promise of Isaac
Genesis 18:1-15 21:1-7
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord said to him, “You’ll be the father of many nations and some of your descendants will be kings! Therefore I’m changing your name to Abraham, which means the ‘father of many nations’. I will be with you and I will give this land to you and your descendants. As a sign of these promises, you are to circumcise every male among you.”
Then the Lord said to him, “From now on, your wife will be called Sarah. I will bless her, and she’ll bear you a son.”
Abraham laughed and said, “How is it possible for a man who is a hundred years old and a woman who is ninety years old to have a child? Perhaps Ishmael could inherit all your promises to me.”
God said, “No, Sarah will have a son and you’ll call his name Isaac. I’ll give my promises to him and his descendants, and I’ll be their God. And the whole earth will be blessed because of them.
But I will bless Ishmael as well. I will also make him a great nation. Twelve tribes will come from him.”
Sometime later, Abraham was sitting at the door of his tent. Suddenly he noticed three men standing nearby, and realized that one of them was the Lord. He rushed over to them and said, “Sirs, Please, come sit under this tree. I’ll give you some water so you can wash your feet. Then you can rest while I prepare a meal. After you have eaten, you may continue on your way.”
They said, “Yes, we’ll stay for a while.”
Abraham rushed into the tent and told Sarah to make some bread for his guests. He then went to the field and selected a choice calf and gave it to his servants so they could use it to prepare a meal. As soon as the food was ready, Abraham served it to his guests and then stood back and watched them eat.
As they ate, the Lord said to Abraham, “Where’s Sarah, your wife?”
“She’s in the tent.”
The Lord said, “I’ll come back in about a year.
At that time Sarah will have given birth to a son.” Sarah was listening to this from inside the tent. She was ninety years old, so she laughed inside herself when she heard that she was going to give birth to a son. She said, “That’s impossible. I’m too old to give birth to a child.”
The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I WILL come back, and she WILL have given birth to a child!”
When Sarah heard this, she ran out and said, “Lord, I didn’t laugh!”
“Ah, but you DID laugh!”
Soon Sarah found that she was expecting a child.
- Why does it sometimes seem to be easier to look at the obstacles blocking our goals instead of the trusting in the word of God?
- Watch the video The Promise of Isaac.
- Form 4 teams or groups. Refer to Genesis 17 to complete the following tasks:
- Group 1 – Make 3 lists of God’s promises: one list for Abraham, one for Sarah, one for Ismael.
- Group 2 – List what is required of Abraham
- Group 3 – List what is required of Sarah
- Group 4 – List what is required of Ishmael
- What do these lists teach us about God?
- Sarah laughs when she hears the Lord’s promise and then she lies to Him about laughing. Why does God still fulfill His promise to her instead of punishing her for laughing and lying?
- Abraham also laughs while speaking to God but this doesn’t seem to upset God. Why doesn’t this laughter make God angry?
- Clearly, Abraham’s relationship with God developed over many years. Examine your relationship with God; is it static or growing?
- Retell The Promise of Isaac as a group.
Group Discussion
- Tell about a time that you “laughed” when you realized what God wanted you to do.
- Tell of a time when something seemed impossible, but God caused it to happen anyway.
- To whom have you quietly admitted your doubts, and how did they respond?
- Describe a time when God unexpectedly provided something you deeply longed for.
- Tell of a time when you or your parents hosted a spiritual team or a godly person for a meal, and tell what impact it had on you.
- What should we learn from Abraham’s hospitality? How can we be more hospitable in our lives?
