Genesis 11.27-32
Because He lives (vs 1 & chorus)
OT:
pastor michael champoux
Exodus 32.13
NT:
dr. brett eckel
Romans 4.16-5.1
song:
Christ the Lord is risen today
Historical reading:
pastor zack mcguire
Apostles’ Creed
song:
Lord I need you
Confession & Pardon:
pastor Andrew loginow
song:
King of kings
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Genesis 11.27-32
Introduction
If you’re like me, you were raised in a Christian home, grew up going to church, kids’ Sunday school, etc., then you’re probably familiar with the song, “Father Abraham.” I’ll spare you the torture of my singing, but if you’re unfamiliar with the song, “Father Abraham,” the lyrics we sang are as follows, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so let’s just praise the Lord;” and then you progressively do silly things with your body – right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot, turn around, sit down. The original lyrics, written in 1971 by Dutch singer-songwriter Pierre Kartner are, “Father Abraham had 7 sons; 7 sons had Father Abraham. And they never laughed. They didn’t cry. All they did was go like this: right arm, etc.
For a certain generation of us, this may have been our 1st introduction to the great Patriarch, Abraham. Father Abraham’s influence and legacy on global history needs no introduction. Three major world religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant) are all roots from the tree of Abraham. Our Scripture passage today is our 1st introduction to Father Abraham in the Bible. We just met him in verse 26, although at this point in Genesis, he’s going by the name Abram.
This transition from Genesis 11 to Genesis 12 tightens the focus of redemptive history. The remainder of Genesis is about Abraham, his son, grandson, and great grandsons, which lead us to the nation Israel, which leads us to Jesus Christ. All of the prehistory, the protohistory we’ve read in Genesis 1-11, from Adam to Noah to Babel has been building to this man, Abraham. In these remaining verses of Genesis 11 we move from the table of nations to the Father of nations, which will bring us to the hope for the nations.
Barren Sarai
But before the nations understood the blessing that came through Abraham, there was one nation that did understand the blessing that came through Abraham, at least they should have, and that was ancient Israel. Remember the book of Genesis was written by Moses as the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness, post-Exodus, preparing to enter the Promised Land. These stories from Genesis 1-11 had been passed down orally, but were first inspired by God in Scripture when Moses wrote Torah, the Law. So for the children growing up in that generation hearing Genesis read and taught, learning all about Adam and Noah and everything we’ve already covered, this is the point in the text where they would know, “wait a minute, this isn’t just the story of world history, this is our story.” Adam is the father of humanity, and the flood was global, and Babel dispersed the nations and languages of the ancient world, but when they heard the name Abram, they knew this story was about them, Israel’s identity was grounded in the fact that they were/are sons of Abraham.
And even in this terse pericope Israel saw that they’re following in the footsteps of their father, Abraham. One of the first things we learn of Abraham is that he is moving. Along with his father, Terah, his nephew, Lot, and his wife Sarai, Abraham is sojourning from where he was born in Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan. At least that was the plan until they get sidetracked and settle in Haran where Abraham’s dad dies.
This is exactly what the nation Israel is doing when they receive this story from God. Both Abraham and Israel were exiting a foreign pagan land. Of course Israel made their exodus from Egypt where Pharaoh and other Egyptian idols were worshipped, but Father Abraham is making a similar trek. Abraham is leaving Ur where the people worshipped the moon instead of the maker of the moon. And what’s true of Abraham and Israel is also true of us – this is the journey every follower of Jesus must make.
Every since Adam chose idolatry over the one true and living God, we have all inherited Adam’s original sin, guilt, and idolatry. Adam broke God’s Law and so we’re all Law-breakers. The 1st commandment is to have no other Gods before the one true God. Left to our own devices we’re all idolaters – some people worship false gods through pagan religions, some worship the creation through naturalism, or pantheism, or panentheism, some worship astrology, but here in the West, more than anything, we worship ourselves. We make ourselves the judge of the knowledge of good and evil and we trust in our own righteousness.
Like Abraham from Ur and Israel from Egypt we need an exodus from our sin and idolatry – we need good news. And thanks be to God, that’s what He gives us! After Adam rebelled against God, God preached good news to His fallen creatures. In Genesis 3.15 God told Adam that even though Adam had aligned himself with the serpent, God would put enmity, war, between the serpent and the woman, between the serpent’s seed and Eve’s seed, and that while the serpent’s seed would strike the heel of the women’s offspring, ultimately this man would crush the serpent’s head. This man would reverse the curse of sin and death.
God’s promise was preserved with each son from Adam’s line, though none thus far fit the bill. Noah’s father thought Noah would be the Christ, and while Noah was certainly a type of Christ, he was not the one. And this gospel hope of the seed of the woman is why verse 30 is so devastating – now Sarai was barren; she had no child. The further you move into the Abraham narrative, the more you feel this tension, but suffice to say right now, this doesn’t look good.
And it’s not just because family was infinitely more valuable to people in the ancient Near East than in the modern West, though that’s true. It’s not just devastating because every ancient Near Eastern man wanted a son to be his heir, or every women wanted a son to take care of her if she was widowed, or even that women were viewed as worthless and cursed if they were barren, though all of these things make this verse devastating. It’s not even the fact that Abraham and Sarah could not fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, though that was hurtful too. The most concerning thing, especially for Israel who read this story as their story, is how does he become Father Abraham if his wife is barren? How is the seed of the woman born of a barren woman?
Born of the Virgin Mary
The rest of Genesis is going to tell that story, the story of how through divine intervention the barren woman births a baby boy. This tension of an unlikely pregnancy juxtaposed with the Genesis 3.15 promise is preparing us for and pointing us to the true seed of the woman – the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the eternal 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the only begotten Son of God incarnate. And His incarnation is the initial means of fulfilling the gospel promise.
Like Sarai, Mary was barren, at least functionally because she was a virgin. And we all know virgins can’t get pregnant. Didn’t they teach you that in school? The only 100% guaranteed method of birth control is abstinence; well, Mary was abstinent. She was a virgin.
And just like Sarah’s conception of Isaac after 90 years barren is only explained by divine miracle, so it is with the birth of our Lord. We confess it just about every week here at church – the Lord Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” The eternal 2nd person of the Holy Trinity became incarnate, took on humanity by means of Spirit conception in a virgin. And because Jesus was conceived by the Spirit and born of the virgin, Jesus did not inherit Adam’s original sin. Jesus is truly human, yet without sin (Heb 4.15).
And because Jesus knew no sin – He was righteous in thought, word, and deed, by what He did, He never left anything undone, He always Loved God with His whole heart, He always loved His neighbor as Himself – Jesus secured righteousness on our behalf, the righteousness we lost in Adam. And when Jesus died on the cross He took our sin, our guilt, our shame, our judgment, our wrath, our hell and Jesus submitted Himself to death. Though Jesus never ate of the tree like Adam, like us, Jesus was cursed on the tree. The serpent struck His heel.
But don’t forget the rest of Genesis 3.15 because Jesus isn’t dead anymore. No! He is risen indeed! And when Jesus walked out of the tomb on that first Easter morning, with His first step, His bruised heel crushed the serpent’s head. This is the good news: Jesus has satisfied God’s wrath against sin and Jesus has defeated death and everyone who repents and believes in Jesus alone receives the forgiveness of their sin and the hope of resurrection and eternal life. Forgiveness and eternal life are only possible through Jesus because Jesus is the righteous one and by faith His righteousness is imputed to us.
This is the good news that God doesn’t merely forgive our sins, but that Jesus’ righteousness becomes ours. Through the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are made holy. As the Heidleberg Catechism says, “as if we never sinned.” That means if you have faith in Jesus Christ, when God looks at you, He sees the unblemished righteousness of His Son. But the key word here is faith – we are declared righteous through faith alone.
You Must Be Born Again
This is why the most important thing any human being can do is placing his or her faith in Jesus alone. You must have faith in Jesus but you can only have faith if you are born again. Just like Isaac from the barren womb of Sarah, or Jesus from the virgin womb of Mary, we need the Holy Spirit to regenerate life from death. We are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2.1); we need to be made alive. We need spiritual resurrection.
But the good news is this is what the Holy Spirit does. For those elected by the Father and redeemed by the Son, the Spirit initiates regeneration and indwelling. God acts first to bring life to the spiritually barren soul. And when the Spirit moves on us, it is then that God gives us faith – regeneration precedes faith.
Since the initial work is God’s business, our business is to work out our salvation – work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil 2.12-13). In response to the gospel we must reflect on the state of our faith. Well if you’re gonna reflect on your faith it’s helpful to know what genuine faith is. The Reformed tradition rightly defines faith in terms of knowledge, assent, and trust. Faith begins with knowledge. You must know that God is holy, you are a guilty sinner who deserves eternal conscious punishment in hell, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5.8).
Knowledge of the good news is where faith begins, but knowledge alone is not faith. Many unbelievers have heard the gospel. Faith moves from mere knowledge to assent. You must assent to the validity of the gospel’s truth claims. You must confess and not deny that God is your holy creator, that you have sinned against Him, and that Jesus is the only way to make it right.
Knowledge and assent are indispensible to faith, but on their own they still don’t constitute faith. Demons have knowledge and assent, but they don’t have trust. Trust is the key and final element of faith. You must transfer your trust to Christ alone. You must humble yourself, crucify your pride, and rely exclusively on Christ for the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of resurrection and eternal life.
And Scripture tells us that those who receive the gift of faith also receive the gift of repentance. When Jesus began His public ministry in Mark 1 He announced, “The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.” Repentance means humbling yourself, confessing your sin, not denying it, and then turning away from your sin to Jesus. When the Holy Spirit works regeneration and we receive faith this is when we practice initial repentance, but repentance is not a one-time thing, it is a life-long discipline. A lack of repentance reveals a lack of faith, which indicates a lack of regeneration. If the Spirit indwells you, He will convict you of your sin and you will respond in humility to confess and turn.
And after we believe we then practice the sacraments to keep us following Jesus on this sojourn to the true and final Canaan. Just like Abraham had circumcision and Israel had the Sabbath, the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist are the signs and seals of our new covenant from Christ. They are His means of grace that accompany the preaching of His Word to persevere and sanctify us. They preach the gospel to us. This good news first given to Adam and passed down to Abraham and Israel is that Abraham’s offspring, in spite of his barren wife, would outnumber the stars.
Conclusion
“Father Abraham had 7 sons, 7 sons had Father Abraham.” Those original lyrics do teach us truth about Abraham, he did have 7 sons – Ishmael with Hagar, Isaac with Sarah, and 5 with Keteurah; he also had 1 daughter we know of, though I don’t believe they never laughed and never cried. But I still like the lyrics I was taught better because it’s not merely the original 7 sons, or even ethnic Jews who are sons of Abraham, but all who place their faith in Jesus are sons of Abraham too! By faith in Christ we are imputed the same righteousness that Abraham was, through faith in Jesus we are the blessed nations who outnumber the stars in the sky. “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you,” if you trust in the Son of Abraham, the Lord Jesus.