• “I will make you exceedingly fruitful.” • “I will make nations of you.” • “Kings shall come from you” (verse 6). All of these promises described physical blessings to be fulfilled through Sarah, who now was 90 years old! “She shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (verse 16). This prospect seemed humanly implausible, but Abraham would soon understand how God is truly “the God who does wonders” (Psalm 77:14). But again, these covenant blessings were conditional—Abraham would have to “walk before Me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1). He would also have to fulfill a third test: He and his descendants would have to be circumcised (have the male foreskin surgically removed) as “a sign of the covenant” (verse 11). Though the prospect of undergoing this procedure as an adult must have been very uncomfortable and unpleasant, Abraham, Ishmael and the other males of his household obeyed and were circumcised (verses 23-27). To learn more about circumcision, read “The Sign of Circumcision” on the Life, Hope & Truth website.
The fourth test
With the covenant and promises sealed, all that was needed was an heir. Although the likelihood of a 90-year-old woman becoming pregnant seemed ludicrous, God reminded Abraham and Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). Then, as promised, “the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age” (Genesis 21:1-2). They named him Isaac, which means, “he laughs,” likely a reminder of Abraham and Sarah’s prior amusement at the idea of their having a child. But Isaac was indeed the son through whom the promises would be fulfilled—“in Isaac your seed shall be called,” God declared (verse 12). As we will see, the lost tribes of Israel would even be identified by terms derived from the name Isaac. Abraham, now 100 years old, had experienced many trials, hardships and tests throughout his lifetime, yet now he finally held the son born from the wife of his youth, Sarah. The promises now seemed assured. But God had one final test in store for Abraham—the hardest test of his life. Some years later, God told him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2). 14 THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH IN PROPHECY