Now would be a good time to point out what the Lord appeared means. We have to refer back to our previous studies of Genesis chapters 1 - 3. God the Father, the Creator of all things, God is Spirit,... (John 4:24; Genesis 1) No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18) However, Lord God is the Son of God, the physical manifestation of God on the earth. (Genesis 2) And Christ Jesus is Lord God in the flesh; And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14:6-11)
Before the baby Jesus was born, before He received the title of Christ, He was Lord God from the beginning. In the garden of Eden, the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,... (Genesis 3:8) And now, the Lord appeared to Abraham, along with two other "men", or angels, based on what we will study in the next lesson, when the two angels meet with Lot in Sodom.
So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.” (Genesis 18:2-5)
So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. (Genesis 18:6-8) This reads quickly, but it took time to make all these preparations of the food. The Lord and the two angels spent hours there with Abraham.
Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” (Genesis 18:9-12)
Sarah responded the way most of us would respond. Really? At the ages of 89 and 99, would she and her husband be able to have pleasure, be intimate again and then conceive a child? And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!” (Genesis 18:13-15)
Fast forward one year, And 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, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. [Genesis 17:9-14] Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:1-7)
The name Isaac means laughter, mockery. Sarah laughed when the Lord told Abraham she would conceive a child in her old age. Well, it happened just as He had said! So, Who had the last laugh? Abraham even named his son laughter, because, as Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” Is anything too hard for the Lord? The answer is NO! "Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You." (Jeremiah 32:17) AMEN!
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