SUBJ: The birth of Isaac as the realization of the promise of God to Abraham with emphasis on the timing and how it was rendered.

AIM: That we might look to the promises of God as those who are fully vested and see it all realized in the person and work of Christ our Lord.

INTR: After the issue was settled with Sodom (Abraham's intervention and the subsequent destruction) and Abraham’s lapse of faith at Gerar, it was now time and the significance of the event is great.
1. We question some of these things, such as Abraham's approach regarding Sodom and obviously we do not understand his lie about Sarah (Perhaps to reinforce to Abraham the matter of his personal weakness.
2. It is thrilling at any point to watch the things that occur under the hand of God work out in perfect timing and circumstance and they are quite profound.
3. The precision of God's timing is never questioned - He is never late or early and sometimes He allows us to see why. (In the fulness of time He sent forth His Son...)

THESIS: All the promises of God are ultimately fulfilled in Christ our Lord and on time with the design of God fully intact and there shall not fail one thing that He has promised.

I. The Promise Received (vv. 1-2)
1. It was as He had said and
2. It was as He had promised to do unto Sarah.
3. Hebrews 11:11 declares that it was through the faith of Sarah and the emphasis here confirms that she had come to believe God.
4. It was in the manner determined and at the set time - from all eternity (we remember that time is for us and we are thereby taught to wait on the Lord).
5. It is to be assumed that Abraham had now come to focus on the promise and the long wait would seem as nothing to him now.

II. The Promise Acknowledged (vv. 3-8)
1. The name Isaac means "laughter," He was the son that Sarah bore to him!
2. And in obedience to God and acknowledgment as to who this son was Abraham administered the seal of the covenant.
3. The scripture continues to emphasize the miraculous nature of this birth and point to the timing as to confirm it being the work of God.
4. Sarah is seen as now playing a more significant and powerful role - God had made her laugh and
1) Abraham had laughed at the prospect (Genesis 17:17)
2) We are reminded that a year before that Sarah had laughed in doubt of the Lord and
3) That now she is laughing with joy as she was nursing her own son.
4) It is further noted that she believed that all who would hear would also laugh and the implications are of the good news that all the families of the earth would be blessed through the cause of Sarah's joy.
5. We clearly see Isaac as a type of Christ as we consider the miraculous things surrounding his birth and that Christ would come into the world through this means.

III. The Promise opposed (vv. 9-21)
1. The time came for the weaning of Isaac and this was traditionally a cause of celebration.
2. There seems to have been a special relationship between Abraham and Ishmael
1) For several years now (he may have been as old as seventeen) he was the only son
2) It is evident that Abraham cared for him and
3) Reacted accordingly at what happened next.
3. Sarah caught Ishmael mocking Isaac (Paul reports that he persecuted him).
1) It is to be noted that the opposition to Christ quickly appeared and it was from the Jews.
2) It will be the occasion that the Godly line was the object of contempt by the world and Satan would try to destroy any that seem to be Christ or in the line of Christ.
4. Paul puts this all in proper perspective in Galatians 4 (read 4:21-31) and relate to promise in opposition to the works of the flesh.
5. Sarah would have none of it and God concurred - there could be no other heir that the one promised.
6. God honored the concern Abraham had for Ishmael assurances were given that he would be blessed with success in life.
7. A tender scene is recorded concerning Hagar (she is not to be blamed and was not abandoned).