Genesis 16
We have learned how God had said that Abram’s children should be like the stars. He believed God’s word and God counted his faith to him for righteousness.
After Abram had lived in Canaan about ten years and had no son, his wife Sarai, instead of waiting for God’s promise, said to Abram, “Go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her.” Abram listened. But he was wrong in this for he believed, at first, that God could make Sarai have a son. He should have waited. A Christian should not take more than one wife.
Now, you can see the sad result in Abram’s household. When Hagar, the maid, saw that she would have a child, she did not honor Sarai. Sarai hated Hagar and was hard on her, so Hagar ran away from her mistress Sarai, and went to the desert by a fountain of water. Then God’s angel said unto her, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence earnest thou? and whither wilt thou go?” Hagar said, “I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.” The angel said, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.” And he said, “Thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name, ‘Ishmael’,” which means ‘God has heard’. And Hagar called the name of the Lord “Thou God seest me.” Can idols hear, or can they also look after men? No, the true God of heaven alone could hear and see when Hagar had run away. He is the same today. He hears you and sees you in the way you go. And not only that, but He loves you too. Can idols of wood and stone love you? No. Does the devil love you? No! The devil wants to harm you, but the true God never forgets to love you.
When Ishmael was thirteen years old, the Lord said to Abram, “I am the Almighty God: walk before Me and be thou perfect.” He said again, “Thou shalt be a father of many nations.” God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means a father of many nations. God further promised to give to his children the land of Canaan for all time, and that He would be their God.
God gave Abraham a mark of the promise, called circumcision. He commanded that his son Ishmael and all the males in his house should have that mark. When God spoke these words to him, Abraham was ninety-nine years old. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means “a princess.”
Have you ever seen a Jew? Jews are Abraham’s children, their land is Canaan, which we call Palestine or Israel. Because they sinned against God, worshipped idols, and afterward killed God’s Son, He broke down their city of Jerusalem, and scattered them nearly 1900 years ago to every country of the world, and now there are many Jews in many countries. In the last few years many Jews have gone back to their own country. God said that at the end He would gather the Jews to their own land. He also tells us that the Lord Jesus will come again from heaven for His saved people. Are you ready to meet Him?