Abraham and Isaac

The story of the conception and birth of Isaac, found in Genesis 18, is hugely important in God’s unfolding story. It was through Isaac that God demonstrated how His people, Abraham’s descendants, would become a miraculous people, born as a result of God’s power and not of human capacity. While scholars disagree on the precise dates of Abraham’s life, the Bible is clear that Abraham lived to be 175 years old (likely somewhere between 3,000 BC and 2,000 BC). It was when Abraham was around 100 years of age that his wife, Sarah, finally gave birth to their first and only son, Isaac. God promised that Abraham would give birth to a great nation, and that nation would be used to bring restoration to a broken and sinful world. Isaac was the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise. Even so, Abraham and Sarah had to wait many years before Isaac was born–far past the time Sarah thought she could give birth. Yet, as the angel who gave Sarah the good news said: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sure enough, when he was born, Isaac was a miracle child and his descendants (the Israelites) were a miracle race! By this story, kids can learn that, sometimes, God’s promises take time to come to fruition, but He is always faithful to His promises and his people. Nothing is too hard for the Lord!