FBCHS-Bible Study Power Hour 5/9/23

God's Promise To Sarah

Genesis 17:15-17 - 18:9-15 - 21:1-7

Consider Sarah, Abraham’s wife. She is often used as a model of feminine submission because, as 1 Peter 3:6 says, “she called her husband lord.” But is that all we can learn from her? How does she fit into God’s plan of redemption? How does Sarah point us to Christ? When God made a covenant with Abram, He promised to give him a son and heir (Gen. 15). God told Abram that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky. Unfortunately, there was a problem. Sarai, Abram’s wife, had never been able to have children.

Sarai gave Abram her slave, Hagar, as his wife in the hopes that Hagar would bear children in Sarai’s place. Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, Ishmael (Gen. 16). But the story doesn’t end there.

Thirteen years later, God renewed His covenant with Abram and gave him circumcision as a sign of the covenant. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, promising that he would be “the father of a multitude of nations” and that his descendants would be kings. This time, God also included Sarai in the covenant promises. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” (Gen. 17:15-16)

Abraham laughed and asked God if Ishmael could be the promised heir.
But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. … My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” (Gen. 17:19, 21)