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The All-Seeing God Strengthens His Promise
Genesis 17:1-18:16
Sometimes we feel God has forgotten us. Perhaps we’re clinging to hope - for provision, for strength in trial, for some solution - but circumstances scream that God is either absent or powerless. The lack of answers has been deafening. Waiting has stretched our faith to breaking point. But God sees. In the chapter 16, he saw Hagar’s desperation and restored her. She called him the God who sees - El-Roi. He sees all his people’s weaknesses. He responds by strengthening us. We see this today. God had given Abram precious promises of a land, a nation, and descendants. But these promises didn’t seem to assure him. In chapter 16, he failed to seek God’s guidance. He misread God’s delay of children as a denial of children. So he added human effort to divine promise. He violated the one flesh principle. And by his flesh, got Ishmael. So he needed to be strengthened. After 13 long years, he was as good as dead and his wife barren. But the all-seeing God revealed himself. But he didn’t come to chastise Abram for his weakness, but to strengthen his promises. And he did it in 3 ways. Firstly, he gave a sign to strengthen his promise. Secondly, he described the fulfillment of the promise. Thirdly, showed himself to strengthen his promise.
Firstly, he gave a sign to strengthen his promise. Verse 1 - when he was ninety-nine years old, “the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” God appeared most likely in physical form, like in chapter 18 where he could eat and drink. The fact Abram knew it was God there, suggests his physical presence here. And notice God’s word to him here - I’m El-Shaddai - the Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. But Abram was anything but! Yet this powerful God revealed himself to such a blameworthy person. When he was in Egypt, he feared for his life and got Sarai to lie for him. He forgot God’s promises and feared death by Pharaoh. When he tired of waiting for a child, he listened to Sarai to lie with Hagar. He failed to lead as a husband. He let her dictate how things should run. Because of her, he didn’t wait on God, even after God made covenant with him in Genesis 15. So God saw his weakness. That’s why he called himself the Almighty God. He was there to strengthen Abram. Now with such a name, we’d expect judgment. But no. He’d made a covenant with him. In fact, God should judge us, if not for the fact we’re in covenant with him through Christ. Therefore, when God appeared to him, it was an assurance. Although he hadn’t walk blamelessly, the Almighty God would help him. He’d fuel his ability to walk blamelessly in gratitude.
And why God appeared to him was to repeat his promise to bless him. Verse 2 - “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” Now, why did God make a covenant when he already made one 13 years earlier? Technically, Genesis 15 was a unilateral and unconditional promise. God will bless Abram no matter what. He’d multiply his descendants and give them a land. Genesis 17 added something else. Abram’s multiplied descendants aren’t just biological. Verse 4 - he’ll be a father of many nations - he’s a spiritual father. Verse 6 said of even kings - those with a name - will be his descendants! And additionally, verse 7 said this covenant will be an everlasting covenant. So the blessing of land and people extended beyond biology, time, and locale. Abram wouldn’t just be ancestor to a minor people in a minor region. He’d be ancestor to different peoples all over the world, who’d inherit an everlasting land. So God’s promise wasn’t just biological or geographical. It was spiritual. How can all people of the earth fit in that piece of real estate in the Middle East? How can all people be descendants if they aren’t biological? So the covenant was clarified. And covenantal obligations were added. Abram and his descendants were to walk before God and be blameless and to keep the sign of the covenant. In other words, if God is the Almighty God who made covenant with us, we must respond rightly to it.
And after clarifying the promise, he strengthened it in 2 ways. So yes, people are weak and sometimes words aren’t enough. We need some sort of guarantee. When we make promises we shake on it to make a gentlemen’s agreement. But this isn’t enough. Some require a written agreement. And sometimes that’s also not enough. They need a formal contract that’s signed. Like how a bank contracts itself to loan you money. And so God made an everlasting covenant promising Abram many descendants from many nations and an eternal land. But he signed it so Abram would be reassured. God strengthened this promise in 2 ways. The first was to change his name from Abram, meaning “exalted father” to Abraham, meaning “father of many.” In Scripture, name changes are always significant. They signified a profound change of a person’s character and purpose. Like Jacob, meaning deceiver was changed to Israel, because he persisted with God. Or Simon was changed to Peter, to remind him of God’s steadfastness. Joshua’s name, meaning the LORD saves, had been Hoshea, which only meant salvation. Therefore, Abram was no longer just an exalted father, but Abraham - a father of many. That name strengthened the promise.
But God knew something more than a name change was needed. The second way was to give him a permanent mark on his body - circumcision. Now, this wasn’t something Abraham did to show his loyalty to God. It was something God did for him, to show he’d fulfill the promises. It was a physical reminder that descendants wouldn’t come by the power of the flesh but by God’s power. Abraham thought he had to adopt a servant. Then he thought he had to reproduce with a servant. No. It would be by God opening Sarah’s womb. But it also symbolized the blameless walk expected of him - flesh was cut away to show the cutting away of sin and self-reliance. He belonged to the Almighty God. His heart was to be blameless. So this outward sign pointed to an inward holiness. That God alone could remove sins. So that’s why all the males in Abraham’s home - those born, those adopted, those bought - would bear this mark, reminding them daily of God’s promise to bless and save them because of Abraham. Taking such a sign would identify them as those who trusted God. That’s why verse 14 warned that anyone who refused the sign was rejecting God’s promise. That soul would be cut off. Why? Rejecting the sign is like rejecting the promise of eternal life to be part of God’s people.
After giving this sign to strengthen, God got into specifics. He now described the fulfillment of the promise, that’s the second way the all-seeing God strengthened his promise. In verse 15, God mentioned Sarai by name. He changed her name from Sarai to Sarah - showing that she wouldn’t merely be Abram’s princess, but a universal princess. Verse 16 - “she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” For the first time, God explicitly stated the heir will come through her. But she was almost 90! Exactly! God’s point was that blessing would be God’s work and not by human effort. God would show his power despite her age. God’s always showing his power despite our weaknesses. We can’t save ourselves, we’ve no works good enough - but God saves us. He even gives us the required faith to believe. And we can’t live the Christian life on our own - Jesus said that only when we abide in him, can we bear forth fruit. So the Almighty God promised Sarah a child.
Now when God said this, Abraham laughed in verse 17 - just after the name change, just after a sign was given. Where was his faith? He wondered if such a thing was possible. And even if we say it wasn’t unbelief - his faith was weak. He laughed because he was overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility - how can a 100 year old man and 90 year old woman have children? But God reassured him despite his unbelief. And we know it was unbelief because Abraham still suggested the heir should be Ishmael - the child of flesh instead of the child of promise; the child of manipulation instead of the child of surrender; the child of man’s effort instead of the child of faith. But God said no! Sarah will bear a son. You’ll call him Isaac - meaning laughter. You laugh in unbelief? Every time you call your son, you’ll be reminded of God’s power in your weakness. The promise will be fulfilled not by you but by God’s power. How gracious God was. He took his weak and faltering laughter as a name to strengthen his faith.
So how did Abraham react? His faith was strengthened. He walked blameless before God - he fulfilled the covenant obligations. Verse 23 - on that very day, he took every male in his household and circumcised them. Despite his inward struggle, his outward obedience was immediate and total. Yes, his inward faith was imperfect, but he was strengthened to obey. Verses 23-30 tell us what happened. Abraham - 99 years old, Ishmael - 13 years old, and his servants, and all biological sons of his servants, including slaves - were all circumcised. This means all the 318 fighting men, and their sons, and all other males were circumcised.
Now, there’s far more than meets the eye. Consider the context. In verse 12, we’re told every male child would be circumcised on their 8th day. Medical studies suggest that vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors reach their highest levels on the 8th day of life. This would minimize bleeding risk. They also suggest that nerve endings aren’t fully developed in infants that young, making it less painful. But consider these grown men. If they all received circumcision without today’s medical care, there’d be bleeding and pain without analgesic. There’d also be infection and fever, like in Genesis 34 when the men of Shechem lay in pain and fever after their circumcision. In their weakened state, they succumbed to Judah’s attacks. So this meant Abraham’s nation was vulnerable as well - in that ancient climate. But he obeyed, walking blamelessly before God; trusting that despite pain and fever, God would be true to his promises - that Abraham would be father of many nations.
So we’re asked a question. As children of Abraham, we have the same covenantal promises of an eternal land. If we believe in Christ, we’re children by faith. But do we exercise the same faith of Abraham? Do we still live according to our flesh? What immediate obedience and blameless living will be exercise today? God told Abraham how the promise would be carried out. Christ has also told us God will supply all of our needs. We’re not to worry about our daily provision nor live like the Gentiles - in the lust of our flesh. But in what way, beloved, are you living as a cleansed child of Abraham? What must you circumcise from your lives? What deprivation from the world must you endure? What sin must you cut off? So for Abraham, the covenant was clarified, and promises strengthened with a name change and a sign.
But the covenant would be strengthened again by the all-seeing God showing himself again. In chapter 18, God drew near in the most intimate way possible. Verse 1 says, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.” Now, the word “appear” is the same as Genesis 17:1. It means to make yourself seen. It’s from the same root word that describes God seeing. He saw the wickedness before the flood, he saw the pride at Babel, he saw. So it’s the same word as El-Roi - the God who sees. So God made himself be seen as a man to Abraham. We see his presence despite his transcendence. And Abraham knew him - he saw 3 men but knew the leader was God, calling him Lord. When God came into the tent, Abraham washed his feet and gave him butter, milk, and roast beef to eat. They dined together like friends in fellowship.
But why did God come? To strengthen them in her unbelief. When God told Abraham that Sarah would have a child, she laughed. Now, what does this mean? It means this was the first time she heard it. Meaning, Abraham didn’t tell her when he heard the first time. Sure, he got all the men circumcised - fighting men and more - but he was still afraid of the old battle axe. How sad! And her laugh wasn’t out of weakness - it was skeptical and cynical. We know this because God didn’t rebuke Abraham in chapter 17, but he did Sarah. He asked her in verse 13, why did you laugh? Is anything too hard for God? And here’s the damning evidence. She denied she laughed. “I didn’t!” But the Lord God was before her. But God saw all. What did he say? “No, but you did.” He saw all her sin, her doubt, her fear, her denial. And yet despite all the trouble she caused, he still promised her a son.
So God’s presence was to strengthen his people. But the context is also a warning. He came for another reason. In verse 16, we learn that as God and his angels rose to leave, they looked toward Sodom. God had appeared - made himself seen by Abraham - to strengthen the covenant, to assure him, to assure Sarah; God saw their weakness. But God also saw the wickedness of Sodom. He came to strengthen Sarah, but he also came to destroy Sodom. This juxtaposition by God of these two events shows us the heart of God.
His heart is toward those who are weak, who sin, who lie, who struggle to walk blamelessly despite being his people. He’s merciful to them. But we also see his justice to those who sin, who lie, who refuse to walk blamelessly. He’s angry at their persistent sin. Congregation, which one are you? How can we apply this?
What’s your identity? God’s beloved belong to God’s people. They’ve embraced Christ by faith in the gospel. They yearn to walk blamelessly before God. How are you walking? Are you doing things in the flesh? God has given to you the sign of the New Covenant. If you’re washed outwardly, then you must also be washed inwardly. But what lusts are you giving into? It could be self-preservation. You lie to protect yourself. You give into your wife because you’re more afraid of her than the Almighty God. You engineer your future and the future of your children, through sinful means, not living by faith. But you can’t walk this way! Why? Our Lord Jesus has appeared - he’s taken on flesh. He was circumcised - cut off at the cross - so that his death would cut us from the body of flesh, to unite us with him.
So what’s our hope? This is how God strengthens us today. Are you weak? Of course you are. Are you wanting to preserve self? Of course you do. But you must walk blamelessly before God. Forsake your sin. And know that you can walk blamelessly - because of Christ. Abide in him. Don’t doubt. Never laugh at God’s promises to us to bless us when we trust in him. Know that because Christ walked blameless before God, we can. Whereas Abraham laughed, Christ’s perfect “yes” and “amen” to all of God’s promises show to us how we can live.
So how must you walk now? Christ stands at the door and knocks. If we repent of our sin and open that door, he’ll come and dine with us as friends. He’s the one who washes our feet. He promises to give himself to us. If you’re struggling with unbelief today, look to Jesus. If you’re struggling with sin today, don’t laugh and deny when he rebukes you. We all have some Ishmael agenda we want to push. Don’t deny it. Admit it. And then circumcise it from you - no matter how painful, no matter how vulnerable it makes you. This desire shows your inward washing.
But if you will not circumcise, you show yourself for what you are. An unbeliever that will be cut off. God sees you, Sodom. But God also sees you, Sarah, in your weakness, your worn out state, weary from your flesh - and he can strengthen you. Is anything too hard for the all-seeing Lord?
1. God Gave a Sign to Strengthen His Promise
??????A. God’s power despite his blame
??????B. God repeated his promise to bless him
??????C. God strengthened his promise in two ways
2. God Described the Fulfillment of the Promise
??????A. God’s power despite her age
??????B. God reassured him despite his unbelief
??????C. Abraham walked blameless before God
3. God Showed Himself to Strengthen His Promise
??????A. God’s presence despite his transcendence
??????B. God reassured them despite her unbelief
??????C. God showed his presence for two reasons
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mark Chen, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2026, Rev. Mark Chen
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