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We saw last time that finally after a 25 year wait God fulfilled his promise to Abraham and Sarah give birth to a son, Isaac. Let’s remind ourselves of how Abraham responded.

“Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him  Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him”.

(Gen 21: 3-5)

Abraham is obeying the Lord because back in chapter 17 God told him to name the son Isaac, and that is what he does . Also he were told in the same chapter that he was to circumcise his son on the eighth day. I think we could learn from this when the Lord does get around to fulfilling our promise we should then remember what He said we should do an in obedience do it. I think that the whole Story of Abraham is illustrating that his “faith” is growing and maturing. There were times when he faltered, there were times when he fell, there were times when he was clearly not trusting the Lord, but he's getting stronger and stronger in his faith. Picking up Sarah’s reaction again in verse six, it tells us.

“Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with meAnd she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”.”

(Gen 21: 6-7)

These verses are telling us that Sarah had a reaction and her response was one of joyful laughter. Earlier we saw that Sarah laughed and first time she was told about these events, but it was the laugh of unbelief, but this time it is the laughter of joy . “God has brought me laughter”, she says, so  she is full of joy because God had fulfilled his promise to her. So, this time when God fulfils his promise Abraham’s response was obedience and Sarah’s response was one of joyful praise. I think this is illustrating what we should all try and do when God fulfils his promises. When he does come through for us, these events should remind us to be obedient and encourage us to thank and praise him. When God does fulfil his promises, the proper response is always obedience and praise. What I want to talk about now is Abraham’s sons and how this passage talks about those two different sons.

We've looked at the first son Isaac but if you recall he's already had a son remember. Remember when Sarah had the bright idea thinking God couldn't possibly give her a son and so she suggested that Abraham spend the night with her handmaid Hagar. As a result of that Hagar had a son named Ishmael. There’s been quite a bit of tension between Sarah and Hagar, as you could imagine there might be. First of all, Hagar had the first child, and that elevated her status. She was Sarah’s handmaid, and so that’s obviously going to be rather awkward. Then she lorded it over Sarah because of the fact that she got pregnant so easily. We can easily see a situation, where Ishmael is likely to do the same thing with regards to this new child Isaac. That might cause a substantial amount of trouble, a family split is on the horizon. We will just take a short detour and talk about that second son Ishmael and his mother Hagar in the next episode.