NIV.Gen.17.1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
from teaching notes by Ruth Wilkinson
The story of Abe and Sarah is long and complicated; messy and glorious. It’s an actual event which help us learn about God from how he interacts with ordinary people; about ourselves and where we come from, where we’re going…
So: Where is God in this story? What is He doing?
Their story has a lot of moving pieces, multiple locations, assorted friendships (and enemies), children (finally) and an assortment of good and bad decisions. They’ve been on the road for 25 years. For most of us a two-week vacation is long enough.
The journey began when God told Abram all he had to do is leave home and go, but 25 years later they’re still living out of a suitcase, and still Abram has not fathered Child of promise.
There are two questions we need to ask. First: Where is God? Travelling with them, meeting several times with Abram, announcing, affirming, ratifying.
Second: What is He doing? Two things.
First thing is He is bringing Sarai into the covenant.
This is a different kind of covenant. It takes things further. It reminds me of Genesis 2 when the world was first online, God created a human, gave the human an impossible task and consequently brought in a second human being. Now there are two. Man and woman together being God’s image in the world. It’s like the covenant is for one person completely, physically, logically impossible.
It is in this moment that we see the end of the waiting part of covenant; we see fulfillment after 25 years. Enter Sarah…
► Sarah is brought into the covenant – Isaac becomes possible.
► Sarah is brought into the covenant – Hagar is free from being a pawn in an ill-conceived attempt to make things happen.
► Sarah is brought into the covenant – Blessing becomes tangible.
Most importantly, Abram is no longer alone. He has been provided with a corresponding strength. A corresponding partner. Sarah is an equal partner in the fulfilling of the promise.
God is redefining what is possible. (see appendix below)
Second, they are given new names.
It’s not unusual for names to get changed in the Ancient Near East. Examples:
► Daniel and friends: Daniel becomes Beltashazar. The King’s chief gave all four of them new names.
► The story of Ruth: Naomi is a tired, grieving, embittered Mother-in-law and gives herself a new name to reflect this.
► The Gospel of John — When Andrew brings his brother Simon, Jesus looked (into) him and gave him a new name, Peter.
All different situations, but in common?
1. Each one is starting a new chapter,
2. Each one had or was under someone who had authority to do so.
3. The new name reflects a reality about the future of the recipient.
► Daniel — at the command of a foreign king, separated from his homeland, his language, his Temple and his Jewish name replaced by slave name.
► Naomi — living life without family, hope, no way to see way forward.
► Peter — beginning journey following Christ – would become supremely faithful advocate of the gospel, and would ultimately die for Christ and would earn the name which means “rock.”
► Abe and Sarah –- enter a new stage: Within a year or so, Sarah has given birth to Isaac: Son of Covenant, Child of Future, fulfillment of promise
Just as everything was about to change, God gave each of them a new name.
► sacramental names – given by God for His reasons: to remind them of a powerful truth.
► by God who claimed the authority to give them names.
► establishing his authority to define identities of Abram and Sarai.
So why change Sarai to Sarah? One letter in English. It’s essentially the same meaning: a noblewoman or princess. What is God doing? He’s changing the name from “my princess” to “the princess.”
God is saying to this woman that El Shaddai – The God of power, the God of the mountain — had seen her. He knew her name. He commissioned her as equal partner in the fulfillment of a covenant with God. She heard her husband tell her that she was no longer ‘my princess.’ God himself had named her ‘the princess.’
What was God doing?
► raising up the humble,
► strengthening the weak,
► empowering the vulnerable,
► opening a new chapter.
That is the God we serve. TODAY
There are times when everything changes.
Times when you take that next single step not realizing that by the time your foot lands, you will be someone new.
There are days when you look back over a long season and the person reflected back at you from the beginning of that season is not who you saw in the mirror this morning.
Paul understood this. In Philippians 3 he writes:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
And we will someday all experience a new name. In his Revelation, John foresees this day:
These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword… To the one who overcomes… I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it. (2:7)
Someday…
Everything will change.
We will all take that next single step and by the time our foot lands, we will be someone new.
For the believer in Christ, for the one who follows Him, for the one who endures…
It will be the beginning of a new chapter.
Appendix:
Text comparison of Abraham’s and Sarah’s covenant calling:
Christianity 201 