Genesis 18:1 ¶
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the
tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And
he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he
saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the
ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I
have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched,
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and
comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come
to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto
Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and
make cakes upon the hearth. 7 And
Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto
a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8
And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set
it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Genesis
18:9 ¶ And they said unto him, Where is
Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto
thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.
And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well
stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself,
saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13 And the LORD said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am
old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the
LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of
life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15
Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he
said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
These three men
are appearances or angels of spiritual beings and one of them is God Himself,
in the form of pre-incarnate Christ; the Word by which all things were and are
created (see Psalm 104:30; Isaiah 48:7; and John 1:1-18).
Abraham tells
Sarah to make three cakes from three measures of meal. It is interesting to
note that three of the world’s great religions will come from Abraham and
Sarah’s offspring; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Note the corrupting
influence of leaven as it is kneaded into three measures of meal in the
following verse. Perhaps God is not impressed with the practices of either of
these “great” faith traditions in their hypocrisy.
Matthew
13:33 Another parable spake he unto
them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in
three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Luke
12:1 In the mean time, when there were
gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode
one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy.
As Abraham has a
meal prepared for these men they ask where Sarah is, another question for which
they obviously know the answer and one of them makes an important statement.
He, clearly the Lord, promises to return
unto thee according to the time of life which is a reference to the
presence of God’s will in Sarah’s childbirth.
Now it is Sarah’s
turn to laugh, as both her and Abraham are now very old and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women meaning
she was no longer fertile and no longer menstruating.
The Lord’s
response was to make the claim by way of a rhetorical question that nothing was
impossible with God and to repeat the certainty of Sarah’s childbirth. Jesus
made a similar statement when comparing the difficulty of becoming a believer
if one is possessed of wealth.
Mark
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God. 26 And they were astonished out of
measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? 27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men
it is impossible, but not with God: for
with God all things are possible.
Sarah, afraid at
being challenged for laughing, denied she laughed but the Lord contradicted her
attempt to hide her doubt. Many conservative Christians will deny that they
have any doubts about God’s promises, about the truth of the gospel, or even
about God’s very existence but God knows what is in your heart. Don’t be angry
at the atheist when you yourself have said in your heart at certain times, “how
is this possible?”
Mark
9:24 And straightway the father of the
child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
We live in bodies
of flesh, assailed by misfortune, disappointments, disease, fleeting joys and
pleasures, and then death. Often, we are overcome by the apparent randomness
and uncertainty of life. And yet, if we belong to God and are sensitive to His
involvement in our moment to moment lives as clearly laid out in the Bible we
are assured that His power is real and His promises are true.
Modern Christians
have been led to believe by their preachers that if a thing happens like
childbirth it is just by a natural process that God started but is not really
involved in unless He is asked to intervene and wills to do so. Modern
Christians believe that God cannot be involved in the evil that can befall
them. They ignore the lessons of the Book of Job and wrench the promises made
to Israel out of context and apply them to themselves to their eventual dismay.
Or they embrace worldly values, lusts, and pride and insist they have not,
harming their faith when things go wrong.
But, if you are
honest, speaking to God in prayer and opening your Bible inviting the Lord to
speak to you through His words, then you know that nothing is impossible with
Him and He will do and has done what He has promised. Don’t pretend you’ve
never doubted God as Sarah has here.
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