Genesis 21:1-7. 1The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
At last. It’s been 25 years since Abraham left Ur, and heard the promise that he would be a great nation. This promise has brought both hope and anxiety to Abraham and Sarah’s lives. Not to mention a bit of mockery too.
Genesis 18:10-12. 10The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
As the years passed, God has narrowed down his promise. No it is not Lot or Eliezer that will carry on Abraham’s legacy. No, it is not Hagar and Ishmael that will fulfill God’s redemption plan. It is an offspring from the bodies of Abraham and Sarah themselves. From their love and commitment to one another. But mostly from God’s power.
Sarah’s mocking laughter in Genesis 18 has been completely transformed into the laughter of unbridled joy. The joy of motherhood. No longer is she living in the cultural shame of barrenness. God has made laughter for her.
It is not only Sarah’s mind and heart that have changed, it is her body too. This ninety-year-old woman will nurse a baby. Sarah’s womb has literally been resurrected from the dead. In a very literal and physiological sense she is fulfilling the words of the Apostle Paul, she is dead to sin and alive unto God. As a preview of all who will be raised in Christ, God’s plan is being fulfilled through her resurrected body.
The lesson for us today is that the grace of God always delivers what it promises. And surely this joyful fulfillment of God’s promise is all of grace. By grace alone God walked through the bloody covenant pieces in chapter 15 while Abraham slept entranced. By grace alone God protected his promise in both Egypt and Gerar when Abraham endangered it with his foolish pride. By grace alone God opened the womb of a geriatric woman to bear a child, the offspring of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. By God’s grace alone nothing shall be impossible with God.
Yes, God’s grace always delivers his promise, but rarely (if ever) does that deliverance come quickly. The Israelites reading this book of Moses have been waiting over 40 years to enter the Promised Land. It’s been hundreds of years since the promise of the serpent crusher in Eden (Gen. 3:15), and the people of God will wait hundreds more for their Messiah to come. If you are more than 25 years old, then you have waited longer than Abraham and Sarah for the redemption of your own body. And however old you are, you have waited that long for the return of Christ. And we haven’t even begun to talk about how slowly your sanctification is going. Like Abraham, two steps forward, one step back.
But no matter how slowly God is working in your life, he is working all things for your good – the goodness of Christlikeness. Primarily, like Abraham and Sarah, we have the promise of THE Son. The Son of God, begotten of the Father, born of a woman, and born in us. Jesus is our promised resurrection life alive in us today. Our mockery turned to rejoicing. He is the love and laughter of our souls. The reason we can take joy in all of life is because Jesus is being formed in us as the seed of faith. Just as Sarah watched that baby grow inside of her, we too are watching the life of Christ grow in us by the resurrection power of the Spirit.
Imagine those nine months for Sarah. Something she had laughed at, the grace and power of God, was now growing inside of her. Her first morning of nausea was a breakthrough of faith into her doubting heart. Each time the baby moved or kicked inside of her it was a miracle of love and mercy. The swollen ankles, the hurting back, the constant trips to the bathroom, for Sarah these weren’t annoyances, they were assurances that her God had done what he said he was going to do. They were the daily delights of a promise fulfilled and a shame removed.
The birth of a son changed Sarah completely. Her mocking laughter has been transformed into the laughter of sheer pleasure. Has the birth of Christ done the same for you? Does the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus fill your heart with so much joy that you might just burst? Has it removed your shame and brought you into the covenant plan of God? Have you surrounded yourself with those who will share in the joy of your salvation with you?
Our joy is the goal of the redemptive plan of God. Turning humanity’s sorrow into laughter was and is God’s end game. The end of all things in Christ is laughter. Yes, God wants us to be holy, but he also wants us to be truly happy. He wants his grace in our lives to do both works – produce righteousness and joy. The same grace of God in Christ must both humble us in our sin and exalt us in the joy of our Savior.
To live is Christ means that this life is a journey of joy. The culmination of all things is entering into the joy of our Lord. One day each and every one of us who have placed our faith in Jesus will say, God has brought me laughter. Until that day, let us walk in the joy of the Lord, let us delight in his promises to us in Jesus, and let us laugh in the goodness of a God who does all things for his glory and our good.
You: Would you say that your Christian life is full of joy and laughter?
You in Christ: How does knowing that you are in Christ bring you daily joy?
Christ in you: What promise of God in Christ can you delight in today?
Prayer: Father, fill my heart with both your holiness and your happiness. I know that you take joy in me, cause me to take joy in you and all your goodness in me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 