The Promised Seed – Part Four

Who is the Seed of Abraham? H We can make at least five nominations, all with Bibli­cal support, as fulfilling the criterion “seed of Abraham:”

1. Isaac
2. Ishmael
3. National Israel
4. Spiritual Israel
5. Jesus Christ

The question we want to answer in the next two installments of our study of the “Faith of Abraham” is: “What did Abraham believe concerning his seed?” The answer to this question will include all of the above, and others, depending on when in Abraham’s life we ask. Scripture records a progression of his belief; this makes a fascinating study as we learn how God leads us in the devel­opment of our faith.

We will first consider the development of Abraham’s belief concern­ing his immediate offspring, that is, the way he would have perceived the promise being fulfilled in his lifetime. In the next article, we plan to discuss his belief in Messiah, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise.

The promises

Genesis records six times when God made promises to Abraham. God also spoke to Abraham at other times, giving him other instructions, directions, encouragement, but these six passages form the basis of what we call “The promises to Abraham.” These promises covered many as­pects of God’s providential purpose with Abraham, and their main focus had to do with a seed, or offspring. Every one of God’s declarations of what He would do to and through Abraham included mention of the seed; it was the pervasive aspect of the Lord God’s activity. The prom­ises developed as God gradually revealed the identity of the seed to Abraham.

The six texts are:

Genesis 12:1.
Genesis 12:7.
Genesis 13:14-15.
Genesis 15:5.
Genesis 17:2-8, 15-21.
Genesis 22:17,18.

Additionally, we have inspired New Testament commentary on these passages. Concerning the seed, Paul is explicit: “The promises were spo­ken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16, NIV). Paul clarified this point for two reasons. First, as noted above, there is an aspect to the promises which embodies a plural seed, that is, the Hebrew nation. Second, the Hebrew word translated “seed” or “offspring” is like the English word “fish;” it can denote the singular (as in “a fish”) or the plural, (as in “a school of fish”).

Paul, anticipating (or perhaps al­ready having dealt with) various in­terpretations and identifications of the seed, declared by inspiration the seed to be singular and identified that one individual as the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is the seed of Abraham, and the one individual on whom the promises focus. Other as­pects of the seed become secondary or derived through Jesus. We have firm evidence that Abraham believed in the Messiah as his seed (John 8: 56). A future (to Abraham) Messiah would necessitate a line of progeny, so obviously some application would have to obtain during Abraham’s life.

Immediate fulfillment

The immediate fulfillment of the promises concerns an individual ap­pointed during Abraham’s life. We say “appointed” rather than “born” because it took some time before Abraham believed that this heir would actually be his own biological offspring. We can trace the development of his belief in the immediate seed through four individuals, each of whom at one time he considered as the seed. They are, in order: Lot, Eliezer, Ishmael, and Isaac. Let’s ex­amine the evidence for proposing this sequence.

Lot

As we saw in the previous article, God’s promise was first to Abraham’s seed, and then to Abraham personally. However, Abraham was already an old man, and Sarah had already been barren into her “golden years” when these promises came. It could not have occurred to them at first that the seed would refer to their own offspring. Abraham’s nephew and adopted son Lot, the son of Abraham’s brother Haran, who accompanied him on his journeys from Ur, would have been the first person Abraham thought of as the seed. In Abraham’s mind, God must have meant Lot—who else was there?

Moreover, we have Abraham’s behavior in Genesis 13 to support this: he offered to Lot the land which God had promised to the seed (Gen. 12:7). The most natural fulfillment of God’s promise would reckon Lot as his seed. However, Lot’s lack of spiritual discernment and maturity gave Abraham opportunity to reflect on this man’s likelihood of being God’s appointed.

Eliezer

After the debacle in Sodom, when Abraham rescued Lot from the combined forces of the Elamite kings, Lot returned to live in Sodom. This must have disappointed Abraham greatly, and he gave up on the idea that Lot would be the seed of promise. Abraham then reluctantly recog­nized Eliezer, his servant, as his heir (Gen. 15:2,3).

When Abraham complained to God that he was still childless and Eliezer was his only heir, God said, “your own offspring will be your heir, born from your own body” (v. 4). This was a monumental promise to a childless old man! Even greater was Abraham’s response: he believed God. This belief, recorded in Genesis 15:6 and thrice cited in the New Testament, stands as one of the pil­lars of our faith. It was upon this occasion that Abraham’s faith was reckoned as righteousness. Abraham’s faith resulted in two blessings from God: the birth of his own child, and justification before his Maker.

Ishmael

When God said, “This man [Eliezer] shall not be your heir, a son coming from your own body will be your own heir,” He did not specify who the mother would be. Thus Abraham, at Sarah’s suggestion, went in to her handmaid Hagar (Gen. 16:1,2), whom he had acquired dur­ing their sojourn in Egypt (Gen.12:16). The child to be born, as this was the custom of the day, would be reckoned as Abraham and Sarah’s.

So this would be the way God would work His plan! However, prob­lems arose even before the birth of Ishmael when Sarah’s jealousy led to the banishment of Hagar. The angel’s ensuing oracle (Gen. 16:11,12) concerning Ishmael clearly precluded his being the promised seed. However, the prophecy also said “he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” The word “brothers” would tell Abraham that another seed was still forthcoming.

Isaac

Nonetheless, the disposition of Ishmael must have left Abraham puzzled and wondering. What was God doing? For years he had waited for elucidation of this mysterious “seed” promise, but now over a de­cade had passed, and still no seed. However, according to Romans 4, he grew stronger in his hope, even though his body was as good as dead. He remained confident God would do as He promised.

What Abraham didn’t know was God was waiting for this – Abraham being as good as dead – so the child of promise would be truly a miracle. (We plan to discuss at length the “bio­logical” aspect of the birth of Isaac in a future article.) The setting was now complete for God’s marvelous work in their lives. But how would it come to pass?

Thirteen years after the Ishmael fiasco, when Abraham was now 99, God spoke to Abraham again, identifying himself by the name El Shaddai (Gen. 17:1), “God Almighty.” God reiterated and magnified His promises concerning the land and the seed, changed his name from Abram to Abraham, and gave the covenant of circumcision. Then, He declared, fi­nally, that the promised seed would be born of Sarah.

Abraham laughed in utter amaze­ment, but he believed the promise. His statement on Ishmael’s behalf (v.18) means, “Don’t forget Ishmael in your blessings.” God assured Abraham that he would indeed bless Ishmael also, but the covenant would be established in Isaac.

Now all was set for Isaac’s arrival except for one item – Sarah’s faith. Hebrews 11:11 states that “by faith Sarah received power to conceive.” Evidently, she still did not believe that she could become pregnant. So when Sarah heard the news about her up­coming motherhood, she laughed, too, but unlike Abraham’s laughter of delight and joy, her laughter came from disbelief (Gen. 18:11-15).

The Lord God rebuked her, ask­ing Abraham why Sarah laughed, and He added, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Abraham was ready, but Sarah wasn’t. Inasmuch as both of them were involved in the birth of Isaac, the time wasn’t quite right. However, God was about to use an odd incident to help grow Sarah’s faith so she could become the mother of Isaac.

In Gerar

It was in Germ that the unusual incident recorded in Genesis 20 played a vital role in the birth of Isaac. This happened after Abraham wit­nessed the destruction of Sodom from a distance (Gen. 19:28), not knowing that angels had dragged Lot to his es­cape. He must have worried terribly about the fate of his nephew and his family, or possibly was grieved that not even ten righteous were found in Sodom and his intervention had failed. So Abraham and Sarah moved their encampment south into the Negev, and then back to Gerar.

Abraham and Sarah again tried the “she is my sister” ruse as they had in Egypt years before. Abimelech’s servants took Sarah into his harem, and God revealed the truth about Abraham and Sarah in a dream to Abimelech. God warned him to leave her alone, for her husband was a prophet (Gen. 20:6,7). This was good news to Abimelech, for his entire household and court had not had a pregnancy for some time. Before he dismissed them from Gerar, he asked Abraham to pray for him and his house. Abraham did so, and their barrenness was lifted (vv. 17,18). However, several months would elapse before they knew for sure that a miraculous cure had been effected.

Now consider the last verse of chapter twenty: “For the Lord had closed up every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Abraham’s wife Sarah.” Given that Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 and the movement to Gerar occurred when he was 99, there is not enough time for a closing of wombs to be noted and the certainty of cure to be evident in the available few months. Thus the closing of wombs could not have been as a result of Sarah’s going into Abimelech’s harem. What the verse must mean is that God closed up the wombs of Abimelech’s household for Sarah’s benefit.

Conceived by faith

The real purpose of this seem­ingly odd incident comes in the be­ginning of chapter 21, where, immediately after the Gerar experience, the Lord visits Sarah and she becomes pregnant. As noted above, scripture says “by faith Sarah received power to conceive.” Therefore, we can piece together the following scenario: Abraham believed that God would give him a son by Sarah, but Sarah did not yet accept this. When they went into Gerar, Abimelech’s household had suffered some mysterious malady that kept anyone from getting pregnant. Abraham prayed for Abimelech, and his wife and slaves became pregnant. Sarah saw the ef­ficacy of her husband’s prayer and the power of God to grant fertility. Her faith now grew so that she could be­come pregnant by Abraham.

So chapter 21 starts with, “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah…and Sarah became pregnant and bore a son.” The incredible promise had fi­nally come to fruition! Abraham would have no doubt any longer – Isaac would indeed be the fulfillment of God’s promise, a miracle child born to aged but faithful parents. Probably 30 years after God first promised him a descendant, he now had one. And not just a son, but one through whom Messiah would come.

A pattern and a lesson

The sequence – Lot, Eliezer, Ishmael, Isaac – follows a common Bible pattern in which the fourth item in a series stands in contrast with the first three. The parable of sower (three kinds of bad soil, then one good soil), the birds’ flights from Noah’s ark (three that came back, then one that didn’t) and the four gospels (three synoptics, then John) are but a few examples out of dozens of occur­rences. We see this pattern as some evidence that Abraham did consider each one of the first three individuals as possibly being his heir before the birth of Isaac.

More importantly, however, is what we learn from Abraham about how he believed, how his faith af­fected his life. Clearly, Abraham’s faith grew with each experience and each promise God made to him. God didn’t give him the whole picture at once, but He gradually revealed it over three decades. This would mean Abraham was continually refining his ideas about God’s promises. As Abraham grew, God revealed more. As Abraham waited, God taught him patience and trust.

The way of faith is not a once and done issue, it is a lifelong quest. We reject the teaching of “once saved, always saved” on this ground. We must look at our lives as continual quests to learn and grow. As God works in our lives to do His good plea­sure, we must continually be aware that He can only work in us as far as our faith will allow. When we grow more, He can reveal more. Like Abraham, we can have complete trust in Him, but that doesn’t mean we are spiritually mature. It means we are ready for the next step in the growth of our faith.