MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Scripture: Genesis 17 & 18
“LAUGHING AT GOD’S PLANS” February 2nd, 2025 Genesis 17:1-27; 18:1-15 Have you ever observed someone laugh at another who is much more powerful than they? Perhaps those Canadian politicians who laughed at Donald Trump’s tariff threats are now realizing that they are laughing at one much more powerful than them. Let’s face it – laughing at Donald Trump makes him angry. It is unwise to mock or doubt him because he will simply retaliate. Perhaps Donald Trump will change his thinking about tariffs, but it won’t happen until the border is secure, which was his one demand at the start of this entire fiasco. I use that example to state a point: for every one of us, laughing at one more powerful than us is unwise, to say the least. Today, we will read that Abraham and Sarah laughed at God. Let’s start:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1)
God describes Himself as “God Almighty”, which in Hebrew is “El Shaddai”. Being El (which means “God”) Shaddai (which means “Almighty One” means that God has unlimited/universal power. He is the only One the Latin word “Omnipotent” can be applied to. No one should laugh at Him. Though it does not happen every time, I have read about or seen videos of people, and churches, that have mocked God, only for the people to suffer heart attacks, strokes, or for the churches to have lightning strikes, or destructive storms. In saying that, I realize that there are some who will mock what I am saying, claiming that God is not to be feared. But God is Almighty/El Shaddai. However, I don’t believe God was trying to scare Abraham with His new self-identification but, rather, was trying to assure him that He/El Shaddai had the power to fulfill all that He had promised to him. People “fearing” God’s power we will see next week in Genesis 18 and 19 when we look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. But Abraham was to be in awe of Him, overwhelmed by His power.
“Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:2-5)
Abram here realizes for the first time, perhaps, that God is not like the gods he grew up with in his homeland of Ur where Abram and his family worshipped the moon god, the sun god, the god of the trees, the god of the river, etc. Abram now realizes how limited the power of those other gods was, particularly in comparison with El Shaddai/God Almighty. That realization drove Abram to the ground, falling facedown “facedown” before God. Then, while Abram was still on the ground, facedown in the dirt, God told him that He would be changing his name from Abram, which meant, “exalted father” – a name that had brought Abram mocking and grief as he went 86 years before having a child – to Abraham, which means “father of many”. The name “Abram” looked backwards to his past, who he once was, but “Abraham” looked forward to who he would be, the father of many people, nations, and kings. “I, the Almighty One/El Shaddai, have a plan for you, Abraham. You have a future and a hope.”
That pleased Abraham, and I know hearing me say the name, “Abraham” it also pleases you for you won’t have to listen to me preach about “Abram” anymore, a name I know many of you haven’t liked hearing or saying. The name “Abraham” no doubt brought comic relief and laughter – or maybe awe and wonder – to Abraham’s servants when he went and told them that from that point on, they were to call him “Abraham”, the father of many people, nations, and kings. No doubt they nodded and then, in private, laughed about this news. As for Abraham, he didn’t really understand how all those promises would be fulfilled but the Bible says he “believed God”. It doesn’t say that he “believed in God”. Demons and many non-worshippers or followers of Him “in” God. You know many people who believer “in” God but there is nothing impressive to that. Abraham “believing” God means that he trusted God Almighty/El Shaddai to fulfill His promises. God told him…
“I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. (Genesis 17:6-9)
That little phrase, “And I will be their God” must have been so reassuring to Abraham, particularly as he listened to God tell him that he and his descendants would be given the land of Canaan, the land where Abraham was, in God’s words, “now residing as a foreigner” (which would have been a confusing, even grim, situation for Abraham). Abraham wouldn’t have known how that would come about, but he “believed” God. At this point, we need to skip some verses in order to stick with the theme we have been reading through thus far, but we will be picking them up later. So, let’s go now to Genesis 17:15 –
God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17:15-17)
It appears that Abraham hadn’t really thought things through concerning the fact that God would carry out His covenant promises by having Abraham’s wife, Sarai, bearing a son. The news of his 89-year-old wife getting pregnant caused Abraham to fall over, over again, but this time in laughter: he was laughing with a big “wow” on his lips, his mind racing with a combination of awe, wonderment, and incredulity. God’s assurance of this came in that he renamed Abraham’s wife from the possessive “Sarai”, which meant “my princess”, a term of endearment that Abraham would have had for her, to “Sarah” – which also meant “princess” as a general descriptive word about who she was, a princess in the sense that everyone seeing her could see it was so and acknowledge that she was a princess, not just Abraham thinking of her as “my princess”. That princess, Sarah, would be the mother through whom many people, nations, and kings would come. At that news, Abraham fell facedown in laughter, confused at to what it all meant. Remember, he still had a hope that perhaps Ishmael, the son born to him through Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar, would be the son to whom and through whom God’s blessings would flow. But that wasn’t to be.
And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” (Genesis 17:18-21)
Ishmael would not be forgotten or neglected by God. We will read more about him in the Genesis chapters ahead of us. But, in hoping that God would bless the product of his sinful union with Hagar, Abraham was like so many of us in that when we mess-up we still hope that God will bless us. We pray, “Lord, I messed up but still bless me and my future.” But none of us, not Abraham then nor anyone now, should ever be asking God to bless bad decisions or acts. God explained to Abraham that a coming son would be born to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, whose name meant “he laughs” – God has a sense of humour, it would seem – and that he would be the chosen son through whom God’s promises would flow. Once Isaac is born, the storyline in Genesis moves from Abraham to him and Ishmael is barely heard of, again. Returning to the event at hand, though, we see that Abraham – for some strange reason – didn’t immediately share God’s big news with his wife Sarah.
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. (Genesis 18:1,2)
That it was the Lord who appeared to Abraham is stated in verse one, leading some to claim that the three men in this passage were God the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but the three men mentioned in this passage are called “angels”. They spoke for and represented God. Abraham understood that this was a divine encounter and he wasn’t about to let the moment pass him by.
He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” (Genesis 18:3-5)
The tents that Abraham lived in were likely made from goatskin, designed to hold the heat in by night, and to let the cool breeze of the day blow through as the tent was giving shade to the occupants. It was the hottest part of the day and Abraham was sitting in the tent enjoying the cool breeze blowing through his tent when the three angels appeared.
So, Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree. (Genesis 18:6-8)
As the angels ate Abraham’s food, they spoke to him.
“Where is your wife, Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So, Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (Genesis 18:9-12)
Unlike Abraham’s laughter of “Wow, can this really be happening?”, Sarah’s laugh was one of disbelief and mocking of what she heard.
Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18:9-15)
Yikes, that would have been uncomfortable for Sarah! As things turned out, Sarah’s laughing at God did not sever her relationship with Him. Unlike Abraham, who “believed” God when the covenant was made, Sarah had to learn to trust God, to believe Him, but she did, probably because the Lord was open with Sarah in a way He had not previously been with her husband, being precise about the timing of the blessings to come to them: “I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” The angel asked rhetorically, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Centuries later, the angel Gabriel would say a similar thing to a young woman named Mary, the one through whom the Messiah, Jesus, would come: “Nothing is impossible with God.” “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” No! Why not? Because “Nothing is impossible with God.” He is El Shaddai/ God Almighty.
Ok, we now will return to the verses we skipped past in Genesis 17 as they apply to us Christians in a consequential way. Do you recall that in verse one, God had instructed Abraham, “Walk before me faithfully and be blameless”? We are about to learn how Abraham would do this.
“This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner – those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:10-14)
“Really, Lord, circumcision?” A painful, humiliating ritual that Abraham – and his (no doubt) chagrined male household members, as well as any sons born to him, and all future male descendants born into Abraham’s family line – would be expected to do. Until now, God’s covenant with Abraham had been all one-sided. God had been the only active participant, but now was Abraham’s turn for action. The covenantal promises had been merely theoretical to Abraham thus far. But, with circumcision, that would change. Why circumcision? Just as the promised blessings would originate in his sex organ, that part of the body considered dirty and unrighteous to him and to the people in his culture, in circumcision that dirty part would be cut away and a constant reminder of God’s covenant would be ever present. Again, I smile when I think of the reactions of Abraham’s son Ishmael as well the hundreds of males in Abraham’s household when he told them, “Ok, not only did God change my name to Abraham, but He also told me that all of us need to be circumcised as an outward, visible sign of agreeing to His covenantal plans.” Those men wouldn’t be laughing this time! Other Ancient Near Eastern people groups, such as Egyptian priests, practiced circumcision as a way of declaring themselves set apart from the masses to serve their respective gods and for Abraham and the Israelite nation to come, circumcision would be the sign of them having been “set apart” for God’s blessings and to follow Him.
When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him. (Genesis 17:22-27)
Centuries later, we read that God was concerned not just with the physical act of circumcision but of a spiritual act wherein the people would be dedicating themselves to Him. God stated that a time would come when all the people, male and female, would have a “circumcision of the heart”. We read,
“I will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)
This would happen through once Jesus came and died on the cross for us. Christian leaders in the New Testament decided in the Council of Jerusalem conflab in Acts 15 that we Christians do not need a physical circumcision, but a spiritual circumcision. We read,
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:9-15)
El Shaddai/God Almighty was glorified when His son Jesus, on the cross, showed His power on the cross of Jesus, triumphing over Satan and the demons in his death and resurrection. As we accept that fact and believe God for it, we are declared “righteous” by God. Being circumcised or uncircumcised means nothing: “What counts is a new creation”, Paul writes. Listen to his words in Ephesians 2: “Put off your old self and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Like Abram who was given a new name, Abraham, believers are given a new name of identity: “Christian”, a “follower of Christ”. When people ask me, “Are you a Christian”, I respond, “I am Christian”. That answer confuses them, but I am proclaiming the new name God has given me through my faith in Jesus. Just as the hero of the book Pilgrim’s Progress was named “Christian”, so that is our new name. Our new name, “Christian” is a powerful statement to the “powers and authorities”, Satan and his demons, that we belong to Jesus and are found righteous in Him. By the way, the sealing of the deal in Ancient Near Eastern covenants happened when new names were given: “El Shaddai/God Almighty” and “Abraham”. We accept the Lord’s new covenant with us and are given a new name, “Christian”. Don’t think you need to compromise with the world to make it through this life. Don’t conform to the world. Don’t ever laugh at God or His words. Don’t camouflage your life thinking you have to blend in with the crowd. Live boldly for your God. Walk before him in all you do. He will take care of you and make you “righteous” in His sight. He has the power to do so for he is El Shaddai/God Almighty.
