Genesis 21:1

"And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken."

The context of this verse is the birth of Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah. God had promised that they would have descendants as numerous as the sand by the seashore. This was the start of the fulfillment of the promise.

What is most astounding, though, is at the time of the birth of Isaac, Abraham, Sarah’s husband, and father of Isaac, was 100 years old, and Sarah herself was 90. Recorded in scripture, the promise was given when Abraham was 75. Even at that time in their lives the idea of having their own son seemed very remote. But the promises of God are not limited by those to whom He has promised, but limited by Himself. Is He not God? As God told Sarah previously, Is anything too hard for the LORD (Genesis 18:14)? We rightly say that nothing is impossible for Him. So, as other scriptures say, Abraham considered not the deadness of Sarah’s womb (as being an obstacle to God fulfilling His promises).

It is nonetheless astounding to consider that God had done this thing. And that should make us realize that the God of the Universe is not bound by any of the conventions that we consider to be unbreachable. This is because these boundaries are His invention, and since He established them, He can also go beyond them. Consider the case of Joshua who, while fighting his enemies, prayed that the sun would stop in the sky, and it did for a whole day! Or consider the case of Hezekiah who, on his death bed, was told that he would live another 12 years, and, when asked what sign God could perform to show His intentions, asked that the sun go backwards ten degrees on the sun dial, and it happened!

Or consider the promise that a woman who was a virgin would conceive and have a child that would be the Son of God. Without the intervention of any man this woman did conceive, as the angel told her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). Just as the “impossible” (as we would call it) happened to Sarah, so it happened to Mary. In the end we find that God keeps His promises against all odds, and over great expanses of time, so that we should see that He is God indeed.

But God’s promise to Mary has greater significance than just that He is able to do these things. The promise was made thousands of years before Mary was born. In fact, the promise of this miraculous birth can be found in God’s conversation with Adam and Eve after the fall in the garden. It was a promise to Adam and Eve, in the beginning, and meant to a far greater range of individuals, i.e., all of mankind.

The context of that promise is important to consider, for it gives a good understanding as to why it was necessary. God made the promise of Eve’s seed bruising the serpent’s head immediately after Adam and Eve had disobeyed Him, in eating from the tree. The whole point of the command to not eat of the tree was Who was in charge. Was it going to be mankind in its “wisdom and reason” making choices or was it to be the Creator of mankind. All along the right answer was (and always will be) that the Creator is He Who is in charge. But the significance of the fall is it was mankind’s stand against God, choosing to be in charge, rather than letting God.

God promised Adam that in the day that they ate from the tree they would “surely die.” They did not hit the ground and breathe their last at that moment. But when they ate of the tree they died spiritually, and their communion with God died. From that moment on, justice demanded that they pay a price for their disobedience of God’s law. God Himself said that the judgment against sin would be eternal separation from Him.

But this was His creation. How could this great gulf between God’s heart for His creation and the demands of justice be bridged? Once again, nothing is impossible with God. Scripture tells us that even before He created the universe God had devised a plan by which this very issue would be resolved. Specifically, a substitute would die in the place of all mankind so that justice would be satisfied. Having satisfied justice, God would then be able to deal with His people from His heart for His creation.

So, the promise of a Savior from sin and justice was fulfilled through Mary, and to her was born God in the flesh. This one, called Jesus, was crucified, paying the penalty of death, satisfying God’s justice. When He died He shouted, “It is finished!” The price had been paid. Someone who was himself guilty before God could not have paid the price to satisfy justice for mankind, for he would have also to have died for his own sin. Only someone Who was sinless, and not guilty before God’s law, could have paid the price for someone else. Only God Himself could do this.

So, just as God did for Sarah as He had promised, so has He done for us, His creation, in keeping with His promise to Adam and Eve, through the person of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ. Time is not relevant in this. All of the time between the fall of mankind in Adam and the coming of the Christ did not diminish the force of God’s intentions, just as the 25 years between His promise to Abraham and Sarah and the birth of Isaac did not. God keeps His promises, and in that we can take great comfort!

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

HJK