“For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in
accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed…” (Romans 4:16a).
“Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own
body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the
deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not
waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being
fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:19 – 22).
In times past when I’ve
thought of the birth of Isaac I have primarily thought of it in terms of God
bringing life out of the dead bodies (reproductively speaking) of Abraham and
Sarah. This is a prophetic motif echoed in Isaiah 53:2, “For He grew up before
Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground…” Again and
again God brings life out of death, or preserves hidden life when all around is
death and dryness and drought. And of course in Abraham’s offering of Isaac we
see a shadow and type of God the Father offering our Lord Jesus on the Cross,
and in Abraham receiving Isaac back we see a shadow of the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ – keeping in mind that the ram in the thicket and the son Abraham
was offering were one and the same – ah what mystery is the Gospel.
But there is another element,
a raw basic element, that I have not thought much about but which now stares me
in the eye – truly Abraham could do nothing but believe or disbelieve – he could
do one or the other but there was no third option. He did not have the option
of procreation with Sarah because their bodies were reproductively dead.
Abraham and Sarah could not make
something happen in and of themselves for they were past that season of
life. This couple were well past the season that they could reproduce children,
it wasn’t even close so that there could be no question about the source of the
life as the term “the deadness of Sarah’s womb” clearly testifies.
Not only did Abraham not
become “weak in faith” but he “grew strong in faith” and was “fully assured
that what God had promised, He was able to perform.” Abraham knew there was
nothing he could do but he also knew that God would do what He promised.
Abraham knew that having a child was biologically impossible, but he also knew
that God would keep His promise. There is a difference in saying, “I know God
can do whatever He wants,” and in saying, “I believe God will keep His promise.”
There is a sense in which we
must come to the end of ourselves if we are to trust God as Abraham trusted
God. As long as we think that we have the capacity to achieve righteousness in
and of ourselves, by our own efforts, by our own understanding – then we will
hold back just enough of ourselves not to trust God as Abraham trusted God, then
we will preserve our pride, our ego, our vanity, our self-righteousness – then somewhere,
hidden within us, will be a locked room in which we preserve our religious “works”
and hypocrisy and rebellious independence from God. To be sure this is a
pilgrimage and we cannot truly understand our own hearts, but we can pursue
increasing trust in Christ as He draws us to Himself by grace. We can, by grace
mediated by the Holy Spirit, say, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark
9:25).
I do not pretend to understand
this, I really don’t; I do not understand the mystery of faith in God, I do not
understand in the least how trusting in God through Christ results in
salvation, how can a child understand these things? Perhaps it is easier for a
natural child to understand these things than an adult – a child has less
baggage to get in the way, an adult has a lifetime of trash (at least some of
us do). But this I do know, I can do nothing in and of myself to achieve righteousness,
nothing to make God accept me or love me or give me new life in Christ. However,
by the mystery of God’s mercy and grace in Jesus Christ I can, by His grace,
respond to Him and trust Him and believe in Him and I can learn to be “fully
assured” that what He has promised He will perform. I can look to Jesus and not
myself, and in looking to Jesus I can know that the promise is guaranteed once and for all.
God’s promise of salvation is
also a promise to see us through to the end of life, through our struggles,
through our seasons of doubt – for salvation is so much more than having a
ticket punched for heaven, that is not the Gospel; Gospel salvation is holistic
and it is complete in Christ – it is about what Jesus Christ has done, is
doing, and will do – both in our individual lives and in the cosmos. There is
great assurance in this because it does
not depend on me for initiation or sustaining or completion – I can trust
my heavenly Father and Jesus to love me and lead me in relationship, I can trust
them to help me trust them more and more. As the old hymn says, “O for grace to
trust Him more.”
We can no more produce eternal
life in ourselves than Abraham and Sarah could produce biological life. We were
“dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), we were helpless. But thank God
that, “…while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the
ungodly” (Romans 5:6).
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