God of Isaac

May 2, 2021 · Ben Hoyer · 30:07

Continuing the Easter series on the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, this message centers on Isaac in Genesis 26, where God forbids him from fleeing the famine to Egypt, showing how God hems in this improbable child of promise and calls us to cast our lot with him.

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We've been thinking through in this Easter season, we've been thinking through what it means that we have a specific God, not a general God, that our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If we wonder who the God of Easter is, this God is known first as the God of creation and life, but then as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and finally the God of Christ in the Church.

And when you look through the story of the New Testament, God adopts this name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob early in what we call the Old Testament, but then retains the moniker of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the life of Jesus, through the Acts of the Apostles, and into the Age of the Church. This God, the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sticks with our God through the whole story of Scripture and then down to today.

So what we're saying is we can learn something about our God by understanding why, what it means that God attaches God's identity to these stories, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the selection of Abraham. Abraham, most theologians agree, Abraham comes from this group of people that have been called the Ha'Piru people.

It's like a kind of a catch-all term for people in that kind of Middle East Mesopotamia region that were kind of bottom of the barrel socially and economically. It's interesting that God in the story of Scripture doesn't give an explanation for why God chose Abraham, so it's best not for us to assign motivations to God as though we might know the God's mind, instead just to assume God chose Abraham because God wanted to.

So God does the things that God wants, and God picks Abraham. Great. Abraham says, I'll go. And God promises to give him these things, land off spring and blessing. And then a couple weeks ago, we looked at how many times God has to reaffirm, acknowledge, and explain the promises to Abraham, which I thought was kind of interesting. That Abraham gets this great promise from the God, I'm going to give you all the land, I'm going to make you more kids than the six.

And the promise is strong. Abraham believes it. It's like a mind-blowing opportunity for a dude like Abraham and takes it. And then a couple chapters later, God has to come down and go, remember, I told you, why are you doing the things that you're doing? Remember, I told you, stick with me, stick with me. And then when Abraham dies, he has one kid and one cave, the cave of MacPella. Interesting. I looked up a little bit, where is the cave of MacPella now?

I think it's in the modern day city of Hebron. Apparently, there is a tradition around it that it also is the doorway to Eden, which is kind of fascinating. I don't think about cave of MacPella. And then last week, Aaron took us through this, like, the improbability of Isaac. How improbable, actually laughable, right? That it is that Abraham and Sarah would have Isaac still laughable that they named him laughter.

And that he comes according to the promise. And I want to look a little bit more at the life of Isaac today and think about what it means that our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The section I want to look at is in Genesis chapter 26. I think we put some copies of the scriptures around there. Or, of course, if you have the portal to the internet, you can type it in, Genesis chapter 26, right at the beginning of the chapter.

I don't know, you know, I know some of us have children that we feel like are this miracle in the world. I have a friend who, his son, went through a bunch of operations when he was real little. And he was just like notion. Or some of us had trouble conceiving and then through much trouble and trial, we end up with this child.

I don't know what it feels like for Isaac to growing up, like being this so improbable child of the promise. And then, of course, he has that experience on the mountain. I wonder if Abraham ever told Isaac that he was intending to sacrifice him there, but the ram came, you know. Of course, Isaac would remember that. He was tied up. I wonder if they ever talked about that.

I think that Isaac may have this notion as he's moving through life that he's destined for something. Let's look at Genesis chapter 26. Now, there was a famine in the land besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. It's interesting if you follow the life of Abraham and Isaac, there's like some things that repeat.

In this famine, Abraham had a challenge with the famine. He goes down to Egypt. Isaac has a challenge with the famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Garar to Abimalek, the king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Now, this is where I was starting to think about Isaac is making some choices already, right? If Isaac is the sole inheritor of everything Abraham had, says before he died, Abraham,

bless this male and sent him out and then gave gifts to all of the children of his concubines and sent them away, he's lining up for Isaac to have no competitors on his inheritance. So Isaac already has this notion that he is the improbable child, so improbable that he is named laughter. And then he is spared by God himself with the ram in the bushes, right?

And then he is the sole inheritor. And he has this notion of himself maybe as a child of destiny headed for something. And one of the chief interactions we see with God is God hemming him in, saying, don't do the thing that you might want to do. Don't go down to Egypt. And Garar and Abimalek, and the Lord appeared to him and said, don't go down to Egypt. Dwell in this land of which I shall tell you. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so

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with great grace to cast our lot with you. When the powers of the world offer us the power that they have, when the enticence of the world offer us the diversions or distractions that are theirs, when the pleasures of the world come knocking with the pleasure that they have, teach us, Lord, to cast our lot with you.

Lord, the life you give to us is better than the life we could take on our own. We love you, Lord. Give us faith to go with you throughout life. Give us faith for that today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.