Genesis 25 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Michelangelo, 89 years of age, when he painted his most famous work. You can see it in the Sistine Chapel. If you ever visit Rome, it occupies an entire wall of the Sistine Chapel.

It's called the Last Judgment. Magnificent painting. He was 89 years old, and he was about 90 years old when he was still on his back, touching up things on the very ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. John Wesley, you've heard of him, the great preacher. He was 88 years old. He was still preaching, going strong. That is, after having traveled some 250,000 miles by horseback, after preaching 4,000 sermons, after writing prolifically, he's 88 and he's still preaching strong. I don't know why he comes to mind, but J.C. Penney was 95 years of age. He was still keeping office hours, wearing a suit and tie, going into work. And then, as I mentioned, George Beverly Shay, I heard him a couple years ago. He was 98 at the time, maybe 99, and he stood up and he sang pretty great for his age. So some of people's greatest accomplishments can come in the latter years of their lives.

There's an old English saying that says, the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune. I like that. Verse 5 of chapter 25, I know we're moving rather slowly, but again, what do we care? It'll be here next week, the Lord tarries, and we're here. And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

Now watch this. Here's Abraham. He's wealthy. It's now time to get his house in order, to make a will, and to dole out the property to his progeny. Isaac is first because he's the son of promise. And so the will is very simple. Here's Abraham's will. Isaac gets it all. That's the will.

However, it says, but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, and while he was still living, he sent them eastward away from Isaac his son to the country of the east. I read somewhere that you could divide up the lifespan of a man into seven decades, since that's now like the average age. The seven decades of a man, and they all rhyme, spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, and the last one, wills. Abraham is at that last stage. It's time to make a will. And though he has already sent Ishmael and Hagar out with some kind of provision, though the Lord said, let them go, I'll take care of them, and make a great nation out of him, and though he gives some to his concubines and the children who were born to him with Keturah, the inheritance, because the genealogy, and I'm going to explain something very important called the law of promigeniture in just a minute.

Put that out of your mind. You'll get it in a minute. Isaac, the son of the promise, gets the bulk of it. So he gives all that he has to Isaac.

Now did you notice that it says, while he was still living, he sent them eastward? In other words, Abraham is taking the responsibility, he's older now, but he wants to make sure that his family is provided for, and while he is clear and cognizant and cogent, he can make those decisions now. Because if he doesn't make those decisions, it's going to get very complicated when he is unable to make them, and people would argue back and forth. Wherever there's a will, there's an argument. And Abraham knew that, so he gets his house in order.

Very important. I think that's a scriptural principle. I believe in that. One of the best pieces of advices in the Bible is when the prophet Isaiah will come to King Hezekiah of Judah in 2 Kings 20 and says, get your house in order, for you are going to die and you will not live any longer. So he warned him, you're going to die, your time is about up, you need to get your house in order, which to him meant you better select somebody who is going to be your successor to the throne.

Get all that in order now. Now the New Testament takes that principle and moves it up a notch. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Timothy. He says, if a man does not provide for his own relatives, especially that of his own household, he is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. In other words, as a man of the house, you are called to take care of those in the immediate family. It's a calling of God.

Get the house in order and do what you can in advance to provide for them. You will have to trust the Lord eventually, but do what you can now. And I believe we see that even in the life of Jesus. Remember, he is on the cross and the last formal family declaration on the cross is when John is there and his mother Mary is there and even in his agony, he wants to make provision for his mother and says, son, behold your mother. Mother, behold your son. That wasn't Jesus giving Mary to the whole human race as it has been misinterpreted.

It's simple. John, take care of my mother. Treat her as your mother. She's your responsibility.

Mom, you're going to go with him and he'll take care of you. And that is what happened. Jesus even bears that out. So Abraham is alive.

He's making decisions. He has to dole up his property, his money, and he does so and Isaac gets the bulk of it. But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had while he was living.

He sent them eastward, getting them settled away from his son Isaac to the country of the east. Now, I did tell you last week and the week before that Isaac is a beautiful type of Christ. It's very obvious when you get especially to chapter 22.

But consider this. Just as the father, Abraham, gave all that he had to his son Isaac, do you know the Bible says that God the father has given everything into Jesus' hand? It's a beautiful corollary. Jesus even said, all that the father has, he has put in my hand, my authority.

And when he prays in John chapter 17 verse 2, he says, as you have given him authority, that is the father given him the son of man, the authority, that he may give eternal life to as many as you, the father, has given to him the son. In other words, you have given me these people. They're mine. You gave them to me. They're my people. They're followers of me. I have that authority, and I have the authority from you to give them eternal life to all those you have given to me. Now, here's a thought based on that. If we belong to Christ, if the father has given us as a special gift to his son Jesus Christ, and if we were to, as the Bible says, live our very lives for the glory of Jesus Christ. And what if this thought sort of dominated our day? When you get up in the morning, you go, I belong to Jesus.

I'm his. Jesus purchased me with his own life. The father has given me into his authority.

I want today to live for the one that the father has given all things to. Think how different your day would be, how different my day would be. You would see everything as a divine appointment rather than as a distraction or rather than as a bother.

Why do I have to go through this? You would. Let's say you have a job that isn't so exciting to you anymore.

Maybe you work for the post office and you deliver packages or for Federal Express or for UPS. What if you saw that as, I'm doing this by the will of God for the glory of Jesus so that every house you stop at, as you deliver that gift, you pray for those who are inside. God bless them. Somehow, Lord, open up their hearts to Jesus Christ. And you prayed for every single person on your route, how radically different it would go for you during the day. Or if you work in a doctor's office or a dentist's office or you're a clerk somewhere, every person you come in contact with, how can I be a blessing to them?

How can I pray for them? Because I want to glorify the Lord. All things are for the Son.

It's a thought, beautiful thought. Verse 7, this is the sum of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, 175 years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, I'll say. An old man full of years and he was gathered to his people. So we're even given the reason for his death. Well, what did Abraham die of? Years. He just had a lot of them.

Too many. It's time to go. Now, in my Bible and perhaps in yours too, the words of years are italicized, are they? That's because in the Hebrew, of years isn't there.

It's thought to be implied by the text. It simply says, Abraham died full. Isn't that a great way to die? I'm full. I'm satisfied.

And by the way, the term can sometimes carry a more than quantity but quality of life. He died full. God had blessed him. He was full. He was rich, enriched, satisfied. He had walked with the Lord.

He had walked with the Lord for over a hundred years in a relationship and he died full and he was gathered together with his people. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, it's more important than ever for Christians to stand for truth in our broken culture. And in the God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets from Skip Heitzig, you'll get equipped to speak God's timeless truth into the big issues of our time. God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your resources when you give $50 or more today to help reach people around the world with the good news of Jesus through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Years ago, I had the privilege of asking Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who's now in heaven, to speak here on a midweek service.

He was in his 80s or around 80s something. Feeble even then, he had battled cancer, but still preaching. And I remember him saying that night, and he said many other times, he goes, the Lord is going to have to retire me. I'm not going to retire. Well, here is God retiring Abraham at a good old age. There's a beautiful proverb in Proverbs 16. I'll turn to it and just read it to you. Listen to this. The silver-haired head, do we got any of those? Got a few of them.

I'm developing my own. That's why I like this verse. The silver-haired head is a crown of glory if it is found in the way of righteousness.

You see, old age is good if it's accompanied by the presence of God, the blessing of God. Now, notice something about the text that we just read in Genesis 25. Notice it says in verse 9, oh, we didn't get there yet, so let's get there. And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, remember that's the place he bought for his wife and buried her Sarah in, which is before Mamre in the field of Ephron, the son of Zoar, the Hittite, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried and Sarah his wife. Notice that Ishmael and Isaac are together at the funeral, right? Now, they have been separated, haven't they, for a number of years. There's been a rift in the family, a division. Hagar was sent away with Ishmael. Sarah and Abraham raised their son Isaac. So they haven't seen each other for a while until the death.

And this is unfortunately too often the case. You can almost be guaranteed that there's going to be a couple of times where families who have been split apart, broken apart, where there's been strained relationships, get together. Always funerals, but almost always funerals.

It's always good to settle as many accounts relationally as you can before funerals, so they don't get messy and weird as they often do. But they're together because a will has been pronounced and because He is their mother, they bury Him in the cave where their mother was buried. Verse 11, it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Bir lehayroi. Do you remember that place? Remember Hagar named that place? It's just a well in the middle of nowhere. It's in the middle of the desert. But there she conceived and she bore a son, Ishmael, and she called the name of the place Bir lehayroi, which means in Hebrew, I believe, the well of the one who lives and sees. And that's where Isaac now dwelt, in the middle of nowhere, but there was water. Now this is the genealogy, verse 12, of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maidservant, bore to Abraham. Okay, you got to know something.

If you haven't seen it yet, and you probably have, and so I'll just reiterate what you probably already know. When it comes to biblical genealogies, there are some that are included very briefly and then they pass away very quickly, while others are highlighted, built upon, amplified, picked up later on. And that is because, though the authors want you to know in the Bible, the authors of the Bible, ultimately it's the Holy Spirit, wants you to know the genealogical records, they're giving you just enough information here with Ishmael, and you see it with others, to let you know the history and the historicity, but then it's done. Because there's only one genealogy the Bible is ultimately concerned with, Jesus Christ. The line that goes to the Redeemer to fulfill the promise of Genesis 3, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.

The Bible's all about unfolding who that is. And so we have the genealogy, it's very brief, and there's also many nations that come from him, fulfilling the promise of God to Abraham. And these were the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations. You ready for these names?

I'll try to give them their more original pronunciation. The first born of Ishmael, Nebaiot, then Kedar, Abbeel, Mipsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massah, Hadar, Timah, Jethur, Nafish, and Kadima. These were the sons of Ishmael, these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, notice 12 princes according to their nations. These were the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years, so he died at the same age that Abraham was when his wife Sarah died.

That's trivial, doesn't mean anything, it just came to mind. And he died, he breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur. And so you might read that and go, I don't know where that is, so the author wants you to know this, which is east of Egypt as you go down toward Assyria.

That's helpful isn't it? No it's not, because we don't know where that is. That's somewhere in the Sinai peninsula, it's out in the desert regions in ancient Arabia, that's where it was. He died in the presence of all his brethren. Okay, what we just read, the names of these 12 princes, and then the 13th, the big Kahuna, Ishmael. The early genealogies of Islam begin here. Islam regards Ishmael as a very important person, and though not every Muslim on earth can trace his physical genealogical heritage back to Ishmael, all Muslims can trace their spiritual heritage back to Ishmael. And that is because 12 times in the Qur'an, his name is mentioned, and he's mentioned as a very important person. In fact, in the Qur'an, it's called Surah or section, Surah 19 verse 54, it tells the reader that Ishmael was a prophet. A prophet.

An apostle and a prophet, those two words are used. So it's very important, and they trace a lot of their lineage back to Ishmael. Okay, so keeping that in mind, I've got to take you back, if you don't mind, a couple of chapters, go back to chapter 16 to see something.

To be reminded of it. I think it will be helpful in the rest of the biblical future as well as even in modern times. Verse 8 of chapter 16, he, the Lord said, Hagar Sarai's maid, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said, I'm fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit yourself under his hand.

You see the word submit? Very important concept in Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits. A submissive one. And they even believe that Abraham was the one who coined the term Muslim. Submissive ones to the will of God. There is, in their tradition, the sentence that says, and Abraham called you Muslimim, or the submitted ones. A very, very important concept.

Submit under her hand. According to Islamic tradition, Abraham and Ishmael traveled to Mecca. And there they built a shrine called the Kaaba. The Kaaba is the holy shrine in Mecca where people go every year and make the pilgrimage. It is believed that Abraham and Ishmael are buried in Mecca, even though the Bible says Abraham is buried where?

Hebron, the cave of Machpelah, Israel. His tomb is there even to this day. But according to Muslim tradition, Abraham and his son Ishmael are buried in Mecca. They found it, they built the Kaaba, the sacred shrine. Just a note about the sacred shrine, the Kaaba.

It was once a shrine that housed 360 different idols representing 360 various gods that were worshiped by the various Arab tribes in the region. Allah was one of those gods, of the multiplicity of gods. Allah was the moon god. Muhammad took a special, should I say, liking to Allah, and claimed that he was the one true god. And he wanted to unify all of the tribes, he squelched all of the other gods, killed those who did not submit, and Islam was established.

But isn't it interesting that what is called today one of the three great monotheistic religions of the world actually began as a polytheistic religion? Well, you move on, and it says in verse 12, notice what is the future of Ishmael. He shall be a wild man. Literally, it's a wild donkey, is the text, a wild donkey. The term wild donkey refers to an animal called the anagar. It was not a slur, it was a compliment. We think, well, that's not very good.

No, it's very good. An anagar was a fiercely independent animal of the desert, and regarded and valued highly in that day. He's going to be fiercely independent, is the idea. But notice this, his hand shall be against every man.

And it speaks of a state of war or a state of being at feud with other people. And every man's hand against him, and he will dwell in the presence or literally against all of his brethren. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resources that will help you confidently speak God's timeless truth into our culture.

Pastor Skip's God Speaks biblical answers for today's issues collection of booklets is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can get a weekly devotional and other resources from Pastor Skip sent right to your email inbox? Simply visit connectwithskip.com and sign up for emails from Skip. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.