Isaac was the only son of Abraham by his wife Sarah, father of Jacob and Esau. God promised to make Abraham's descendants a great nation that would become God's Chosen People. But the promised son ( Isaac ) was long time in coming. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. Both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they heard they would have a son in their old age. This explains why God's named their son Isaac, which means "to laugh or laughter."

God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah. I will bless her and moreover give you a son by her. I will bless her and nations shall come out of her; kings of peoples shall descend from her.' Abraham bowed to the ground, and he laughed, thinking to himself, 'Is a child to be born to a man one hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?' Abraham said to God, 'Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!' But God replied. 'No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son whom you are to name Isaac. With him I will establish my Covenant, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him. For Ishmael too I grant you your request: I bless him and I will make him fruitful and greatly increased in numbers. He shall be the father of twelve princes and I make him into a great nation. But my Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you at this time next year.' When he had finished speaking to Abraham God went up from him. - Gen. 17:15-22 -

'Where is your wife Sarah?' they asked him. 'She is in the tent' he replied. Then his guest said, 'I shall visit you again next year without fail, and your wife will then have a son.' Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah had ceased to have her monthly periods. So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, 'Now that I am past the age of child-bearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again!' But Yahweh asked Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?" Is anything too wonderful for Yahweh? At the same time next year I shall visit you again and Sarah will have a son.' 'I did not laugh' Sarah said, lying because she was afraid. But he replied, 'Oh yes, you did laugh.' - Gen. 18:9-15 -

On the eighth day after Isaac birth, Isaac was circumcised. - Gen. 21:4 - As he grew, his presence as Abraham's rightful heir brought him into conflict with Ishmael, Abraham's son by Sarah's handmaid ( slave-girl ) Hagar. The strained relationship caused Sarah to send away Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham was very sad. God comforted Abraham by telling him that Ishmael would become the father of a great nation.

The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham gave a great banquet on the day Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah watched the son that Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 'Drive away that slave-girl and her son' she said to Abraham; 'this slave-girl's son is not to share the inheritance with my son Isaac.' This greatly distressed Abraham because of his son, but God said to him, 'Do not distress yourself on account of the boy and your slave-girl. Grant Sarah all she asks of you, for it is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. But the slave-girl's son I will also make into a nation, for he is your child too.' Rising early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water and giving them to Hagar, he put the child on her shoulder and sent her away.

She wandered off into the wilderness of Beersheba. When the skin of water was finished she abandoned the child under a bush. Then she went and sat down at a distance, about a bow-shot away, saying to herself, 'I cannot see the child die.' So she sat at a distance; and the child wailed and wept.

But God heard the boy wailing and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven. 'What is wrong, Hagar?' he asked. 'Do not be afraid, for God has heard the boy's cry where he lies. Come, pick up the boy and hold him safe, for I will make him into a great nation.' Then God opened Hagar's eyes and she saw a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the wilderness, and he became a bowman. He made his home in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother chose him a wife from the land of Egypt. - Gen. 21:8-21 -

Isaac's birthright was an important part of his life. The blessings which God gave to Abraham were also given to his descendants. Thus, to inherit this covenant with God was of far greater value and utmost important than to inherit property and material goods. Isaac's life gave evidence of God's favour. His circumcision was a sign of the covenant with God. God's favour toward Isaac was also evident in Ishmael's disinheritance. The dismissal of the sons of Abraham's concubines ( slave-girl's Hagar ) to the country of the east is associated with the statement that Isaac inherited all that Abraham had, including God's blessing.

Isaac was in a unique and true position historically because Isaac's would carry on God's Covenant, a Covenant in perpetuity. Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob ( Israel ) to the "Messiah" The Lord Jesus Christ, Who, is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Amen!

When Isaac was a young man, God tested Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac as an offering. But when Abraham placed Isaac upon an altar, an angel appeared and stopped the sacrifice, providing a ram instead. This affirmation, showed clearly that Isaac was God's choice to carry on the Covenant.

Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian maid-servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, 'Listen now! Since Yahweh has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps, I shall get children through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. Thus after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian salve-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife. He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she ( Hagar ) knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, 'May this insult to me come home to you! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Let Yahweh judge between me and you.' 'Very well,' Abram said to Sarai 'your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.' Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her.

The angel of Yahweh met her near a spring in the wilderness, the spring that is on the road to Shur. He said, 'Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?' 'I am running away from my mistress Sarai' she replied. The angel of Yahweh said to her, 'Go back to your mistress and submit to her.' The angel of Yahweh said to her, 'I will make your descendants too numerous to be counted.' Then the angel of Yahweh said to her: 'Now you have conceived, and you will bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress. A wild-ass of a man he will be, against every man, and every man against him, setting himself to defy all his brothers.'

Hagar gave a name to Yahweh who had spoken to her: 'You are El Roi' for, she said, 'Surely this is a place where I, in my turn, have seen the one who sees me?' This is why this well is called the well of Lahai Roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave to the son that Hagar bore the name Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old ( 86 years old ) when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

When Abraham was ninety-nine years old ( 99 years old ) God appeared to Abraham to tell him that Ishmael was not the promised heir. Ishmael was thirteen years old ( 13 years old ) then. God made a Covenant with Abraham that was to be passed down to the descendants of Isaac - a son who would conceived by Sarah [ Abraham wife ] the following year, and because Abraham loved Ishmael, God promised to bless and make him a great nation.

Abraham said to God, 'Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!' But God replied, 'No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son whom you are to name Isaac. With him I will establish my Covenant, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him, - Gen. 17:18-19 -

Even though Ishmael was not Abraham's promised son and out of respect or love for Abraham, God made a great nation of the Ishmaelites. They lived as nomads in the deserts of northern Arabia. In fact, any wild and war like peoples of the desert could claim to be the descendants of Ishmael, as do most Arabs. - Gen. 21:12-13, 37:25-27; Ezek. 27:20-21 -

Isaac married Rebekah when he was forty years old ( 40 years old ) She became Isaac's wife when God directed one of Abraham's servants to her. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible reveals that Isaac loved Rebekah and that she was a comfort to him after his mother Sarah's death. - Gen. 24:67 - Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob, who were born when Isaac was sixty years old ( 60 years old ) - Gen. 25:20-26 -  Famine prompted the family to move to Gerar, where God appeared to Isaac and reaffirmed the Covenant. Moving through the valley of Gerar, where he reopened the wells that Abraham had dug - Gen. 26:23, 28:10 - Isaac made a camp at Beersheba. This place became his permanent home. There he built an altar just as his father had done. - Gen. 26:24-25 -

The elder twin, Esau, was Isaac's favourite son, although God had declared that the older should serve the younger. - Gen. 25:23 - Jacob was Rebekah's favourite. Disagreement arose over which of the twins would receive the birthright and carry on the Covenant which God had made with Abraham. Rebekah conspired with Jacob to trick the aging, blind Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob rather than Esau. Shortly thereafter, Isaac sent Jacob to Laban in Paddan-aram to find a wife and to escape Esau's wrath. Esau soon left his father's household. Many years before the two brothers were at peace with each other. But they were united at last in paying last respects to their father after his death. Isaac lived to be 180 years old. He was buried alongside Abraham, Sarah, and Rebekah in the cave of Machpelah. - Gen. 35:28-29, 49:30-31 -

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible contains many references to Isaac's good character. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible gives evidence of his submission, meditation, trust in God, devotion, peaceful nature, and his life of prayer and sincere love and faith in God. - Gen. 22:6-9, 24:63-67, 26:20-22, 26:24-25 -

It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.

All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth. People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland. They can hardly meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.

It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead. It is was by faith that this same Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob and Esau for the still distant future. - Heb. 11:11-20 -

In the New Testament, Isaac is called a 'child of promise.' The Book of the Acts of the Apostles points to Isaac significance as the first to receive circumcision on the eighth day. Thus, his position as the first of the 'elect' to receive God's blessing by birthright is also emphasized. Saint Paul uses Isaac and his mother as historical examples when discussing those who are justified by faith in God's promise.

Then he made the covenant of circumcision: so when his son Isaac was born he circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same for Jacob, and Jacob for the twelve patriarchs. - Acts 7:8 -

You want to be subject to the Law? Then listen to what the Law says. It says, if you remember, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise. This can be regarded as an allegory: the woman stand for the two covenants. The first who comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar - since Sinai is in Arabia - and she corresponds to the present Jerusalem that is, a slave like her children. The Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the wedded wife. Now you, my brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise, and as at that time the child born in the ordinary way persecuted the child born in the Spirit's way, so also now. Does not scripture say: Drive away that slave-girl and her son; this slave-girl's son is not to share the inheritance with the son of the free woman? So, my brothers, we are the children, not of the slave-girl, but of the free born wife. - Gal. 4:21-31 -

Does it mean that God has failed to keep his promise? Of course not. Not all those who descend from Israel [ Jacob ] are Israel; not all the descendants of Abraham are his true children. Remember: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on, which means that it is not physical descent that decides who are the children of God; it is only the children of the promise who will count as the true descendants. The actual words in which the promise was made were: I shall visit you at such and such a time, and Sarah will have a son. Even more to the point is what was said to Rebecca when she was pregnant by the ancestor Isaac, but before her twin children were born and before either had done good or evil. In order to stress that God's choice is free, since it depends on the one who calls, not on human merit, Rebecca was told: the elder shall serve the younger, or as scripture says elsewhere: I showed my love for Jacob and my hatred for Esau.

Does it follow that God is unjust? Of course not. Take what God said to Moses: I have mercy on whom I will, and I show pity to whom I please. In other words, the only thing that counts is not what human beings want or try to do, but the mercy of God. For in scripture he says to Pharaoh: It was for this I raised you up, to use you as a means of showing my power and to make my name known throughout the world. In other words, when God wants to show mercy he does, and when he wants to harden someone's heart he does so.

You will ask me, 'In that case, how can God ever blame anyone, since no one can oppose his will?' But what right have you, a human being, to cross-examine God? The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this shape? Surely, a potter can do what he likes with the clay? It is surely for him to decide whether he will use a particular lump of clay to make a special pot or an ordinary one? - Rom. 9:6-21 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

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Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -