Genesis 21:1-7--The Birth of Isaac

READ:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+21%3A1-7&version=ESV
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.21.1-Gen.21.7

The Birth of Isaac​

21 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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A VERY short passage today, but a very important one, as the child of promise is born and we finally start to see the Abrahamic covenant coming to fruition.  The Lord visited Sarah and opened her womb even in her old age so that she could bear a son.  While this birth was miraculous, it was only a foreshadowing of the most miraculous birth that would occur when the true Child of Promise was born to the virgin Mary.

Just as God had said, they named this child Isaac because they both laughed at the promise of his birth, but also because this child would bring them much joy and laughter in their old age.  Isaac was the first that we know of to be circumcised at birth and to passively enter into the Abrahamic covenant (it was not his choice to receive the sign of the covenant).  

Sarah also recognized that not only did she laugh and will Isaac bring laughter to Abraham and Sarah, but that others would laugh when they hear this unbelievable story and think, "Surely, you must be joking."  How could a man at 100 years old and a woman at 90 years old bear a son in their old age?

We will soon shift away from Abraham being the central character in the narrative to Isaac being the central character in the narrative (I'll point out when that happens but we are not there yet).  Please note thought that when that change happens, we will jump back in time a bit to a time when Abraham is still alive even though we will have already read of the end of Abraham's life at that point.  Don't be confused by this because this is an anthology of biographies and some of them will overlap (if we do the math Abraham is alive will into the life of Jacob/Israel).  So, do not assume that just because you read that someone died at the end of their biography that they aren't living and active in someone else's biography.