Genesis 25:1-11

Tonight, we're going to finish our series in the story of Abraham in Genesis.

If you want to turn to your Bible, Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and we're

going to look at chapter 25.

The first, nope, yes, chapter 25.

So we're going to be looking at the first 11 verses of that if you want to look at there.

As we start, you know, I don't know if you've thought about this, but as we've looked through

this whole story, one of the interesting questions in studying particularly the Pentateuch is

to think through when was it written and who was it written for?

Because the Bible always tells history, and it tells true history, but it tells history

with a purpose, often with a pastoral purpose.

And I'm pretty confident that Moses wrote at least 99% of the Pentateuch.

The last part that talks about his death, he probably didn't write, although, you know,

God may have inspired him to write that too.

But if he didn't, the rest of it is all things that he wrote, which means that most likely

this book was written either as Israel was wandering through the wilderness for 40 years,

or as they're coming up to the brink of a promised land, knowing that they're entering into a land

that is full of people who probably aren't going to welcome them.

And there's a whole set of uncertainty that came with that.

And if you know the story of how the Israels handled that, they didn't handle it well.

They were afraid.

They grumbled and complained.

They fled in fear when God said, move forward in faith.

They struggled over and over again to believe that God would actually be faithful to his promises,

that God would actually take them into this promised land that he had said that he would.

They didn't see God at work necessarily in the day-to-day of their lives.

And so they wondered, will God come through for us?

Will God actually do it?

Maybe you've been there.

Maybe you're there even tonight.

Will God come through?

Will he really be faithful?

Can we really trust him?

Will he really have good things for me in this new place that I've moved to?

Will he really comfort me and carry me through seasons of sorrow and loss, depression or loneliness?

Will God really love me to the end?

Even when I'm a nobody?

Can God really wipe away my sins as bad as they really are?

Can God really give me a better life than the life that I can get by ignoring him and going after it all myself?

Will God really watch over me if I am faithful to him, regardless of the cost?

These are questions that have risen in my heart at various seasons in my life.

God, are you really going to come through?

I think as we look at this text tonight, it speaks powerfully to that.

So we're going to look at, we're going to read Genesis 25 verses 1 through 11.

Genesis 25:1–11

We're going to read it and then I'm going to pray and then we're going to dive in and look at it.

So you can bear with me as I'm going to do my best with these names.

You ready?

Here we go.

All right.

So Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah.

She bore him Zimram, Jokshan, Midan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shua.

Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan.

The father of Dedan was Asherim, Letushim, and Leumim.

The sons of Midian were Ephah, Ephor, Hinnok, Abida, and Eldah.

All these were the children of Keturah.

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.

But to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts.

And while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country.

These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years.

Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man full of years, and was gathered to his people.

Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the came of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite, east of Mamre.

The field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites.

There Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife.

After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at Bir Lahai Roy.

Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word, and thank you that in its dramatic, momentous, and its more mundane parts,

Lord, you speak to us, and you reveal yourself to us.

Lord, I pray tonight as we look at this passage for a few minutes together,

that you will help us to see what kind of God you are.

Lord, and that you will strengthen us in our walk of faith through that.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, so you might have thought after that grand introduction that we were going to get a grand passage,

and we don't, do we?

We have a very mundane passage here, don't we?

It's a little bit about this, and a little bit about that, and there are no grand pronouncements.

And yet there are, in the midst of it, little clues where the writer is tying up threads that have woven through the story.

And in tying up those threads, he's answering the question that any story reader would have thought,

if you're reading this for the first time, well, Abraham has died.

What's going to happen now?

This was, you know, there were promises to him, like, how is this going to go forward?

And in the midst of it, the writer is reminding us about who God is.

In fact, I think that the writer is reminding us about the things that Abraham had learned about God.

That God would be a faithful God, worthy of faith and trust to the very end.

So let's look at the signs of God's faithfulness in this text as we remember God's story together.

So first, the first thing we see, and we see this in verses 1 through 6,

is that God fulfilled his promise to Abraham to make him the father of many nations and to be a blessing.

Okay?

So, we look through this, and there's this whole thing.

Do you remember, first, let's go back and just remember the promises.

Chapter 12, verse 2.

This is what God said to Abraham.

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse you.

And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And then again, later in chapter 17, verses 4 and 5, he picked up and he said,

And God said to him, Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham.

For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Okay?

So, when we look at verses 1 through 6, what do we get?

Basically, we get an account of here to, previously up to now, never heard of, oh, by the way, there was another woman.

Oh, and who was she, and what the heck?

So, here's the thing I want you to say.

Don't get distracted by that.

Right?

Verse 1 says she was a wife.

Verse, which one?

Verse 5, 6.

Verse 5 seems to be referring to her actually as a concubine.

It is clear from the story that Abraham must have known her for a long time.

She was a part of the household for a long time.

Because do you remember when God came to Abraham when he was 100 and said,

I'm going to give you a son?

And what did Abraham say?

Uh-uh, that doesn't happen anymore.

The plumbing doesn't work.

I can't do that.

Right?

You're going to have to do a miracle for that to happen.

Which means that Keturah was on the scene even before then.

We don't know anything else about her.

We don't know a lot about God's intent.

We need to recognize that God in the Old Testament is often descriptive and not prescriptive.

So, this isn't license for us to go out and get a second wife when we are struggling with fertility.

Just to sort of throw it out there.

Like, this is, this is, so, what it is though is it's saying that God in his grace would use someone even like Abraham with all of his faults.

And we've seen his faults.

He already tried to produce an heir through Hagar.

Here we see another, what I would say is a fault.

But again, the Bible, he's, the writer here isn't dwelling on it.

He's just being factual about, hey, by the way, this was also true about Abraham.

So, why does he say it?

If it's not a moral story about do this or don't do this.

He says it because he wants to, he wants to show you that at the very end of Abraham's life,

God had fulfilled his promises to Abraham.

Suddenly, he had all these children.

Oh, by the way, there, it wasn't just Isaac and Ishmael anymore.

There were all, there were other children as well.

And likely, Midian was the father of the Midianites, who were people who lived on the Arabian Peninsula.

We don't know what happened with the rest of these descendants.

But what do we see in this text?

Look with me again.

What did Abraham do for them?

First of all, he blessed them.

He gave them gifts.

He, out of the bounty of what God had given him.

Remember, Abraham seemed to be a pretty wealthy guy.

He gave them good gifts and blessed them.

And the second thing he did is he sent them away.

And we'll pick this up in point three, so I'm not going to dwell on it now.

But he sent them back to his homeland, back east, to where he came from originally,

so that they would live in a good land where he knew they would be well provided for,

yet not dwelling in the very land of promise that would be a greater fulfillment of other parts of God's promises to them.

So we see the fulfillment of him being a blessing and a father of many nations.

And do you see God's character in being overflowing in this?

God isn't saying, hey, I've got a very strict plan and all these other things.

Oh, I'm sorry, you, Ishmael, you're not a part of it.

These children of Keturah, no, I'm sorry, you're not part of it.

So you get thrown in the trash heap.

That's how we would think God would work, is that he'd just throw those people off.

But it's not true.

Instead, God in his abundant riches blesses Abraham and makes him a blessing to all of these children,

even the ones that aren't the ones through whom God is going to work his great work in the world.

And this is the character of the God that Abraham had faith in.

So that's the first thing we see, that God was faithful to that promise.

Secondly, look with me in verses 7 through 10.

Verses 7 through 10, we see that God gave Abraham a greater sense of a down payment

on the land that he had promised him.

Do you remember back in chapter 12, again, God comes and this is the promise he gave.

God led Abraham to Canaan and it says this in 12.5.

When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem,

to the oak of Morah.

At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your offspring, I will give this land.

Now look, here's the thing.

At the end of Abraham's life, they had not gotten the land, right?

Even the audience, the Israelites having gone to Egypt, been delivered and brought back,

they hadn't received the fullness of this promise.

And yet, the author wants you to know,

oh no, but God has been, God has shown that he will be faithful because,

do you remember the story in chapter 23?

Greg preached it in a couple weeks ago.

But the writer makes sure we know exactly where Abraham was buried.

He was buried with Sarah.

He was buried in a plot of land that did not belong to anyone else.

Again, go back and read 23 and you'll see,

Abraham insisted that he buy it and purchase it and own it as his very own.

And God gave him favor to be able to do that.

And that little plot of land with a grave, with a cave,

in which Abraham and Sarah were buried,

was God's down payment saying,

I will give you this land one day.

I have not forgotten my promise.

And even though you can't see it yet,

this is the foretaste of what I'm doing.

It reminds us of what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 11,

that great chapter about the hall of faith,

about Abraham and others like him.

These all died in faith,

not having received the things promised,

but having seen them and greeted them from afar,

and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out,

they would have had an opportunity to return.

But as it is,

they desire a better country,

that is a heavenly one.

Therefore,

God is not ashamed to be called their God,

for he has prepared for them a city.

What the writer of the Hebrews does

is take this little promise of a plan,

of land,

of a physical place where God's people will dwell.

And he blows it open to say,

look,

those who know God on this earth know that no place on this earth is actually their final home.

There are strangers and exiles on this earth as long as they live,

because they're looking forward,

because they know that the homeland that their hearts are longing for

is so much greater than anything that they've seen on this earth

that is in fact heaven.

And that's where they have set their hope.

And that's where they have set their desire.

And so,

as they live here,

they have these little foretastes

of what is to come.

I wonder if you've experienced a foretaste of heaven

in your life.

I think it can take all sorts of different forms.

Stand at the base of the Rocky Mountains

and look up at the majesty and grandeur of God's creation

and know it's just a taste of how glorious the world was

before the fall came in.

Maybe it's sitting around with some good friends

after supper with a fire in the fireplace

on a cold winter evening

talking and sharing,

deeply connecting with each other and with the Lord,

talking about significant and life things together.

And the sweetness of that connection with friends

and fellowship with God

is a foretaste.

Maybe it's sitting in the symphony hall

listening to Beethoven's Ninth

swell and move and stir your soul.

A foretaste.

There are so many different ways and different places

where we experience foretastes of heaven.

We experience it when we've sinned against our friend

and we go to them and say,

I'm sorry, it was wrong.

Will you forgive me?

And they look at you

with tears in their eyes

and they say, I do.

I forgive you.

This is a foretaste of heaven.

This is what it will be like

forever

in all of it.

C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory writes this,

the books or the music

in which we thought

the beauty was located in

will betray us

if we trust to them.

He's writing about

these kind of foretastes

and these experiences.

It was not in them,

it only came through them.

And what came through them

was longing.

These things,

beauty,

the memory of our own past,

are good images

of what we really desire.

But if they are mistaken

for the thing itself,

they turn into dumb idols,

breaking the hearts

of their worshipers.

Do you see what he's saying?

He's saying,

if you long

for these things,

for friends

or for music

or for nature

to bear the weight of heaven,

if you try to ask them

to do that,

they can't do it.

He says this,

for they are not

the thing itself.

That is that thing

that we most desire

in our hearts.

They are only a scent

of a flower

we have not found,

the echo of a tune

we have not heard,

news from a country

we have never yet visited.

God gave Abraham

and those Israelites

reading this account

a taste,

a foretaste

of the fulfillment

of his promises

by giving him this land

and saying,

I will give you this land,

this land that points us ahead

to heaven

and being with God forever.

So we see God's faithfulness

in making Abraham

a father of many nations

and a blessing to them.

We see secondly,

God's faithfulness

in the down payment

of a land

for his offspring

to live

and to display

God's glorious grace.

And finally,

in verse 11,

we see God's

sovereign providing

for the line of promise

through which the fulfillment

of all

that God has promised

will come.

Right?

Now we mentioned it earlier

in verses 5 and 6,

there's a little foretaste

of this.

Right?

The writer

is writing

about this

wife

that we never knew

anything about

and listing all

of his descendants.

And then in verse

4,

right?

Nope.

Verse 5,

you would think

he would say something

about,

and this is how

he provided for them.

But no,

the writer takes

a complete left turn

and says,

oh,

by the way,

Abraham didn't give

these people

what he had.

He gave that

to Isaac.

There was a priority.

And you remember,

if you've been here

listening through the story,

the promise in 12

was you will be

a father

of great nation.

Abraham didn't have

any kids at that point.

We get all the way

up to chapter 16

and it's years later

and he still doesn't

have any children.

And they try to

manufacture a child

by using Hagar,

a maidservant.

And God says,

no,

this is not the way.

Even though a child,

a male heir is produced,

he is still not the one

who is the child of promise.

And so again,

then they wait again

for a long time.

And then God finally gives

Abraham and Sarah

a child.

Miraculously,

Isaac is born

beyond the age

when it seemed like

that would happen.

And then God says,

oh, by the way,

when Isaac is 11,

God tells Abraham,

go up on the mountain

and sacrifice

this son,

the son of the promise.

And Abraham,

by that point,

had learned

how faithful God was.

And so he obeyed,

even though he didn't understand.

And even though he couldn't see

how this would ever

make any sense.

Hebrews tells us

that he believed

that God could even

raise the dead

if that's what it would take.

But that God would

continue to provide,

to protect

for this promise

of this son

who would be

in the line of promise.

When we get to verse 11,

look with me at it.

The writer is

very intentional here.

There are places

in the scripture

and even in this story,

you'll see Isaac will do it.

Isaac will want

to give his blessing

to his son.

We see the same thing

with Jacob.

Jacob wants to give

his blessing

to his sons.

There is this

paternal blessing

that's meant

to be passed down

that can be a great help.

But that's not

what this is.

Because what you see

is very intentionally

in verse 11,

it was after

Abraham

had died.

The blessing

came on Isaac.

And who did it come from?

It came from

God himself.

You see,

it wasn't

Abraham's faithfulness

that meant

that God

could move ahead

with his plans.

It wasn't

Abraham's righteousness

that allowed God

to move ahead

with his plans

for the world.

but it was

God himself

who was doing this.

And just as God

who had been faithful

to Abraham

through his faithfulness

and his faithlessness,

through his failures

and his successes,

God who had shown himself

to be faithful

to his promises

to Abraham

now blesses Isaac

and says,

and I'm going to do

the same thing for you.

I will be the same

God for you.

I will be the same

God for you.

Think about how

the Israelites

might have heard

this story.

Do you think

they would have heard it

the way I think

the writer wants us to?

Because the writer,

the Israelites

wandering in the wilderness

or on the brink

of the promised land,

what are they thinking?

Will God be faithful?

And God is saying,

am I not the God

of Abraham

and Isaac

and Jacob

and Joseph?

Am I not the God

who delivered you

from slavery in Egypt

with a mighty hand

and with great works?

I delivered you

from one of the most

powerful nations

on the face of the earth

and I've made you

a great nation

and I've allowed you

to walk through wilderness

for years

providing for you

supernaturally

when there was no way

that you could have

provided for yourself?

Have I not been

that kind of God

for you?

Do you not believe

that I will bless you

as you go forward

in faith?

We struggle with this,

don't we?

We struggle to believe

that God's past results

are indicators

of his future performance

you know that disclaimer

past results

don't always give

right?

That's not true

with God

for God

his past results

are always a guarantee

of his future

performance

which leads us

to today

what about us?

Friends,

I wonder

what are some

of the promises

that God has given

to his people

that you struggle

to believe in?

just read a few

of them to you

Philippians 1-7

he who began

a good work in you

will bring it

to completion

in the day

of Christ Jesus

John 10-10

I have come

they may have life

and have it abundantly

2 Corinthians 12-9

my grace

is sufficient

for you

my power

is made perfect

in weakness

2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 4:14

verse 14

he who raised

the Lord Jesus

will also

raise us

will raise us

also with Jesus

and bring us

with you

into his presence

John 6-37

all that the Father

gives me

will come to me

and whoever

comes to me

I will never

cast out

John 10-28

I give them

eternal life

and they will

never perish

and no one

will snatch them

out of my hands

friends

these are the promises

that God has given us

greater promises

yes

than even what

he gave to Abraham

we are in some ways

the fulfillment

of God's

promise to Abraham

and yet God

has these greater promises

for us

how do we know

that God

will be faithful

to us

the way he was

in the past

the way he was

to Abraham

well friends

we go back

to the very center

of the Christian faith

we go back

to the very center

of all that it means

to know and believe

God

and the God

of this Bible

it's about Jesus Christ

and about his life

and his death

and his resurrection

we look to the cross

and the empty tomb

and we see

God has been faithful

to do all

that was needed

to fulfill

all of those promises

for us

when we look

to those things

we are certain

of his love

because he came

and offered his life

for our salvation

we look

and we see

that his death

for us

because of his

perfect sinlessness

and because of his

willing sacrifice

was perfectly

sufficient for us

that there's nothing

else that we need

to do

for our sins

to be forgiven

we look at the

empty tomb

and we know

that today

we worship

a savior

who is not

an idea

or a character

in a book

but who is a living

God

who today

is active

seeking us out

calling us to him

fellowshipping with him

when we look

at the cross

and the resurrection

we know

that sin

and death

and sorrow

and evil

do not have

the last word

in our lives

or in the world

because Jesus

has conquered them

we look

at the cross

and we know

that God

has the power

to deliver us

at any time

we know

that God's love

has never been

dependent on

our goodness

but on his

merciful initiation

to us

friends

we look at the cross

and we look at

the empty tomb

and we see

that Jesus

is enough

Jesus is enough

for our lives

today and tonight

and whatever it is

that is causing

doubt for you

that God

will come through

that God

will be faithful

that he

will be with you

and the promises

that he has given

to you

that he will

carry them through

perfectly

without fail

this is what

Genesis 25

1 through 11

wants us to remember

that is not

the walk of faith

is not because

our faith

is so great

but it is because

the faithfulness

of God

is so

unbelievably

secure

that we

then are drawn

to give our faith

and our trust

to him

and to walk

in the footsteps

of Abraham

and to walk

a walk of faith

not because

we think

we can

get to where

we need to go

but because

we are putting

ourselves

in the hands

of one

who has shown

himself

to be

perfectly

faithful

so friends

this is where

Abraham leaves

us

looking at

God

and meditating

on his

faithfulness

and trusting

that he

has been

will be

good

to us

and so

we can

trust him

and so

as Paul

writes

in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

so we don't

lose heart

though our

outer self

is wasting

our way

our inner self

is being renewed

day by day

for these light

and momentary

afflictions

whatever our

trials of life

preparing us

for an eternal

weight of glory

beyond all

comparison

as we look

not to the

things that are

seen

the trials

the challenges

the pain

the evil

the hurt

the brokenness

of this world

but looking

to the things

that are unseen

God

sovereignly ruling

it over

his love

shown to us

at the cross

the reality

of his power

at work in us

and in the Holy Spirit

we look to the

things that are

not to the things

that are seen

but are unseen

for the things

that are seen

are transient

and they will

pass away

but the things

that are unseen

these are eternal

let's pray together

Lord as we

consider this

odd little story

about the death

of Abraham

and the end

of his life

Lord we pray

you would help us

to take hold

of these signs

in even the telling

of this story

to remind us

of what a faithful

God you are

and Lord

that we would

respond tonight

in faith

Lord if some

of us tonight

have been wrestling

with faith

and doubt

Lord I pray

tonight that you

would meet them

meet us

and remind us

and call us

Lord

to a life

of faith

by reminding us

of how faithful

you are

Lord I pray

if there is anyone

here tonight

who has not

put their faith

in Jesus Christ

who looks at

the cross

and didn't

think that was

for them

till tonight

Lord that they

would consider

putting their

faith tonight

that Jesus

which died

for them

to save them

from their sin

Lord I pray

for all of us

that we would

learn to walk

with our eyes

fixed on you

oh Lord

the faithful one

Lord we pray

these things

in Jesus name

amen