The life of Sarah - Is there a call of God on your life?
The life of Sarah - Is there a call of God on your life?
Yes, because when our hearts are won for the Lord we should know where we are going!
We can learn from the early chapters of Genesis and the life of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, how she was later entered on the roll of faith in Hebrews 11 v 11 – “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised;...”
In Genesis 11 v 30 we read that Sarai, as she was then known, was barren. (We live fruitless lives today without the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ). Her husband was then known as Abram (Exalted Father). Then in chapter 17 v 5 God declared a change of name from Abram to Abraham (Father of a Multitude) and in verse 15 from Sarai (Quarrelsome) to Sarah (Princess), linking her in co-rulership with Abraham, because God was including her in His Covenant promise to Abraham, a covenant ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. Name changes correspond to either character change or a major call from God, and so it happened.
What a wonderful change of name for Abram and Sarai, the introduction of the letter of ‘out-breathing’ - a type of the Holy Spirit! Here, the Lord takes something of His own name (for the added H is a special part of His Divine name) and adds it to the ELECT, thus in a new name giving them a new character! The letter ‘H’, that sound ‘HE’ which is only formed by an ‘out-breathing’, the addition of which, making Abram into Abraham, showed how the ELECT should be made fruitful, even by the LORD’S ‘out-breath’, that is, the Holy Spirit!
They became by His breath AbraHam and SaraH, both receiving His Divine strength and energy to conceive the Son of Promise! Until we are breathed upon, though beloved and elect, faith in us IS and WILL BE barren.
To bear fruit we must obtain the ‘new name’; and a new character must be in-wrought, the result of the gift of the Spirit. He moulds us to His pleasure. He had changed their names to signify their royal claims, to make them regarded in the future ages as noble ancestors of a long line of prophets, kings, priests and nobles! THEY WERE BY HIS BREATH THE TRUE ARISTOCRACY OF GOD! A PRINCELY RACE! Abraham was never addressed but as ‘My Lord’.
Only let us be empty and the breath of God will fill us abundantly with His ‘out-breathing’! Those disciples in the evening of the first day of the week after their crucifixion with the doors tightly shut for fear of the Jews received the beautiful life-giving and changing message of the risen Lord Jesus Christ “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent ME, I also send you”. AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, HE BREATHED ON THEM, AND SAID TO THEM, “RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.” (John 20 v 19/20).
But first, we read in Genesis 11 v 27/29 that Abram’s father was Terah (Hebrew ‘delay’, Chaldean ‘to delay, wild goat, turning, wandering’). He lived in Ur of the Chaldeans (in modern Iraq near Basra).
Joshua 24 v 2 states that Terah served ‘other gods’ while living beyond the River Euphrates, in Haran. Haran is in northern Syria, so Terah must have followed the line of the River Euphrates in a north- westerly direction to reach Haran, and that’s where Terah died – beyond the River.
Genesis 11 v 31/32 recounts the event:
Verse 31 “And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.
Verse 32”....and Terah died in Haran.”
If we get stuck in ‘Haran’ we may never cross the ‘River Jordan’. The River Jordan (the stream of judgement, to come down) is a picture of the death of ‘self’ through which everyone must pass who would enter rest! Even faith cannot take the ‘old man’, the flesh, into the place of promise!
But Terah settled in Haran, where there was no water, no cleansing of the Word, no Holy Spirit. He stayed dry and parched like the land! That’s sad because God says He has got so much more to give us! GOD HIMSELF SAYS HE HAS GOT WELLS OF LIVING WATER!
Jesus said “If any man is thirsty let him come to me and drink. He who believes in ME, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7 v 37/38).
Don’t stay where the flesh wants to dies, move on. No one likes the message ‘Dying to self’. But the reason dying to self is so good is because where we are ‘dead’ we can then receive resurrection life!
Abraham followed God’s call on his life. He moved from Haran southwards crossing the River Euphrates to Canaan (in modern Israel) with his wife Sarai, nephew and servants (Genesis 12 v 1,4,5). His journey of 1,500 miles from Ur via Haran was fuelled by faith, “......and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise as in a foreign land.....for he was looking for the city which has no foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11 v 8/10). Genesis 11 v 31 shows that Abram’s destination was known to the writer at a later date. He was called to give up all that was dear, for an unknown land. But the God of Glory had called him to Canaan. His inheritance ‘lay there’.
The death of Terah finally broke the link that held him bound to Haran, that dry and parched land! We so often take the lower ground rather than the higher ground that His Divine call has set before us (Ephesians 1 v 15/22). Terah had received no fresh revelation whilst he stayed in Haran. We must live up to the light that has been given to us before new light is revealed!
I recently saw the film ‘Defiance’. It is the extraordinary story of a heroic partisan brigade formed by three Jewish brothers in the Belorussian forest (between Poland and Russia) that helped more than 1,200 Jews survive the Nazi persecution. It is also the subject of a book ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Peter Duffy.
The three Bielski brothers witnessed the execution of their parents and siblings by the Germans.
They took to their horses and fled to the vast forests near their home. They sent out word that everyone who made it to the woods could find a sage haven. A community of 1,200 people was eventually established and for two and a half years they managed to elude the Nazis. But finally, they had to retreat to an island in the middle of a swamp to escape capture and stay there until the Germans ended their siege. The portion of the swamp that the group waded into was overgrown with tall grasses and they were able to hide their escape in the vegetation ( a type of Red Sea crossing through the papyrus marshes). They trusted God for their salvation. They wanted to get through the waters onto the island of refuge. They wanted to live and go one.
My message is, don’t stay in a ‘parched’ place with a man who wants to die there. That’s the ‘old man’ inside of us. Press on in belief, trusting the Lord!
So what happened next in the life of Abram and Sarai?
Genesis 12 tells us ..
1 – “Now the Lord said to Abram “Go forth from your country.....to the land which I will show you:
2 – And I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing;
3 – And I will bless those who bless you (Israel), and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This promise to Abram and his seed was not for their sake only. It was intended ultimately to bring redemption to the whole world. Abram (and Sarai) actually received the good news of the Gospel. Get out from where your ‘old man’ had died and go to the land I will show you, says God.
We’re not going to die in that old land are we?
We’re going forward!!
| Tweet |