And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
REFLECTIONS
THE long exercise of Abraham and Sarah's faith respecting this child of promise, and the happy issue of it, may serve to teach us how sure God's promises are; and the certainty, that those who, with faith and patience, wait the fulfillment of the divine promises, shall not be disappointed of their hope. It is exceedingly precious upon all occasions to remark, the Lord's gracious dealings with his people. Faithful men love to dwell upon the evidences of a faithful God.
My Brother! Look, I beseech you, beyond the subject of this promised Isaac, unto Him, of whom Isaac was but a type; even unto Jesus, in whom all the promises center, and in whom they are all ye and amen. And as Sarah rejoiced in her Isaac, may it be your mercy and mine, with all the children of promise, as Isaac was, to rejoice in infinitely higher strains of joy in our Redeemer; that unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given: whose government is upon his shoulders, and whose name is Wonderful: Counsellor: the mighty God: the everlasting Father: the Prince of Peace.
When the Reader hath duly contemplated his person, of whom Isaac became a striking type, and in whom all the promises center; I would beg of him to make earnest enquiry concerning his own personal interest in this divine Saviour, Paul tells the believing church of Galatia, that as Sarah was a figure of the church, so Isaac became a figure of the children of that church. Now we, brethren, (says he) as Isaac was, are the children of promise. My brother, is this your privilege? Are you of the seed of the bond-woman or of the free? Are you one of the descendants of Hagar or of Sarah? In other words, (according to the apostle's beautiful illustration of it), do you seek favour with God from a covenant of works, which gendereth to bondage; or are your hopes of salvation founded on a covenant of grace, which maketh free. Upon the decision of this grand question will depend your everlasting welfare.
May it be the happy portion, both of the Writer and Reader, to be found as Isaac was among the children of promise! The Lord in mercy grant, that we may not be looking for justification from a covenant of works, which never did, or ever will, be able to save the soul! The law is the ministration of death. It is the dispensation of terrors from Mount Sinai. For Hagar is Mount Sinai, which is in bondage with her children, a spiritual bondage to sin, and a legal bondage to wrath. But the gospel is the ministration of life: freeing the soul, by the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the guilt and condemnation of sin, and bringing it into that liberty, wherewith the children of grace are made free. Grant, O Lord! that this may be our mercy: that in the great day it may be found that we have not been children of the bond-woman, but of the free.