Abraham rejoiced (John 8:56) to see the incarnation of the promise made to him and awaited the city with rock-solid foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). It would have brought him great joy to read the first verse of the New Testament which says, “This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ . . . the son of Abraham.” After so many centuries, the ancient promise had finally arrived, that in him “all the families of the earth would be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). From that promise, from that seed, because it fell into the ground and died, so much more fruit has come.
Perhaps he finally understood what the Lord had said to him shortly after he separated from his nephew Lot, when God told him to look northward, southward, eastward, and westward. God had promised him, “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered” (Gen. 13:16). But Abraham could never have imagined the number of children he would actually have, both Jews and Gentiles, through Jesus Christ. Two thousand years later, the number just keeps increasing.
Perhaps he finally understood what the Lord said to him after he was so disappointed that he was past childbearing age and still had no children. In a desperate prayer, Abraham lamented, “Lord GOD, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Gen. 15:2). Never in his wildest imagination could he have dreamed of the answer. Eliezer would not be his heir; an heir would come from his own body!
Then God went a step further. He took him outside and gave him an unforgettable object lesson saying, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them” (Gen. 15:5). Abram must have been puzzled. Then the unbreakable promise was made: “So shall your descendants be.” In both belief and disbelief, Abram must have fallen to his knees in worship. Perhaps one of those faintly shining stars represented the future Messiah, “the son of Abraham.” One day, a caravan of wise men would see it shining in the East and come to worship.
Little did he realize, looking up at the stars that night, that the Sun of Righteousness would one day arise with healing in His wings. Little did he know the Bright and Morning Star would ultimately come down from the sky and shine so brightly that He would light the entire world. Anticipating the prophecy of Balaam, Abraham might have said, “I see him but not now; I behold him but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Num. 24:17).
I wonder what he would say about the quiet way the promised seed eventually did come. Would he have marveled at how the eternal Son was planted in that small garden of Nazareth, in the virgin soil of Mary’s womb? Would he have been absolutely dumbfounded that “our dear Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend, leaving riches without number, would be born within a cattle stall” (Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Charles Wesley)? Would he have wondered, “how silently, how silently the wondrous gift was given” (O Little Town of Bethlehem, Phillips Brooks)? No doubt, with pure wonder, he would have looked upon that “star of wonder, star of light, star of royal beauty bright” (We Three Kings of Orient Are, John H. Hopkins, Jr.) and rejoiced to see His day.
When many of the Jews were challenging Him, Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). In what way did Abraham see the day of Christ? He must have seen the promise “afar off,” as the writer to the Hebrews puts it. He embraced it and was assured of it, dwelling in the land of promise, looking and waiting for the God who promised. With the eye of faith, Abraham saw the day of Christ—the evidence of things unseen—and the grand vision of it shaped his whole life.
Sarah, on the other hand, laughed when she overheard the angel announce that she and Abraham would be having a son in the coming year. Why did she laugh? She laughed in disbelief.
Evidently, she thought it was completely impossible for God to make a dead womb work again. She and Abraham were well advanced in age, “past the age of childbearing” (Gen. 18:11), and she had probably given up hope of ever having a child. Yet the God of hope had different plans.
Perhaps we should not be too hard on Sarah. After all, she had not yet witnessed many miracles. No deliverance from the Red Sea had occurred. No water had flowed from the rock. The walls of Jericho still stood firm. All those miracles awaited a future day. And certainly, Abraham had his weak moments too (Gen. 12:10-20; 20:1-18).
Then again, could not the One who flooded the whole earth—the One who destroyed everything and made it flourish once again—make Sarah’s womb conceive? Could not the One who plagued Pharaoh’s house “with great plagues” (Gen. 12:17), in order to rescue her from his harem, also opened her barren womb? Surely the One who made the waters teem with life could make her womb teem again?
The Lord then proceeded to exceed Sarah’s expectations with His own incarnation. This time, He would do something that surpassed anything He had done in the past. He would produce a child without the participation of a man.
Although it had not yet been written, the advice Sarah needed to hear was this: “Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with His love He befriend thee” (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation, Joachim Neander). If God can create a world out of nothing, He certainly can create a child without the help of a man.
By contrast, when Mary heard the angel’s news, she did not laugh. She believed that the “power of the Highest would overshadow her,” and that the Holy Spirit would give her the power to conceive. Perhaps she had learned not to laugh from Sarah’s story. Perhaps she remembered the Scripture that said, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isa. 9:6). Perhaps her greatest hero in the Bible was Hannah, who had also received a miraculous child from the Lord.
Although the introduction of Abraham’s seed into this world had been inaugurated with a miraculous conception by way of Sarah’s dead womb, it culminated in a birth event even more miraculous, a birth from a virgin womb. What Sarah thought was impossible was only a foretaste of what God could do. He could and would do so much more. What Sarah thought was the end was only the beginning. What she thought was too hard for the Lord was easy for the Almighty.
Indeed, is anything too hard for Him?