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God's Future - Genesis 23- 25; Hebrews 11
A sermon preached by Andrew Giffen

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INTRODUCTION

If you have seen the film The Matrix, you will know that a large part of the film deals with the question what is reality? The main story line involves human beings living in a computer simulated world, completely unaware that their daily experiences are not real. They think that what they are experiencing is the real thing, but they are not in fact living in true reality. They don’t have the correct perspective on their current existence.

This evening we are looking at the question of God’s future. His future for us and for the world. God’s future is real. In fact God’s future of a new heaven and a new earth for all eternity is so real that living in this world should in some ways be thought of as unreal – a virtual experience of the reality that is yet to come.

That was Abraham’s experience of life. His life was fundamentally governed by a future reality that he had not yet experienced. His life as recorded in Genesis is dominated by God’s promises to him that have yet to come about. And as we look this evening at Genesis chapters 23 to 25, the final part of the story of Abraham, we have three separate and important narratives that demonstrate Abraham’s hope, faith and belief in what God had promised about the future.

The death of Sarah – GOD HAS A FUTURE FOR THE LAND

The first story we come to tells us of the death of Sarah, and also about God’s future for the land. That is our first heading (on the sermon outline in your service sheet) – God has a future for the land. Have a look with me at chapter 23 (page 23 in the Bibles in the pews). In verse 1 we read that “Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.” (23:1-2).

³Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, ⁴“I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” ⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.”

¹⁰ Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹¹“No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.” ¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.

¹⁷ So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded ¹⁸to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. ¹⁹Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.” (Genesis 23, NIV)

You might wonder, why all the detail in this story? Do we really need to know about the negotiations? Well the answer is yes. The details of the transaction are highly significant because they make it clear that this burial plot really did become the property of Abraham.

The transaction was valid – it followed the correct legal proceedings. It took place at the city gate – the place of business. It was witnessed by the rulers of the city. Abraham bought the field at a fair price – in fact Ephron received a very very good price. Abraham didn’t barter or negotiate at all. He just paid the first price that Ephron suggested. There was no way anyone could suggest that Ephron received an unfair price.

So the details are here to make it very clear that there are no legal loop holes. If it was brought back to a court of appeal this transaction would stand. But why is that important? Well it is important because this field, this burial ground, is the first piece of God’s promise. This is the first piece of the Promised Land that Abraham and his descendants have actually owned.

Abraham and his family have been aliens and strangers in the land, verse 4. And there is deep irony here that the only bit of the Promised Land that Abraham owns is a burial plot, that his wife Sarah, and eventually Abraham himself are buried in. They end up owning a bit of the promise just as they pass through death and step out of the world.

But the story shows great faith on the part of Abraham. Yet again he believes God’s promise. By faith he believes that God is going to give this land to his descendants. And even in the midst of his grief he takes the step of buying a burial plot so that his and Sarah’s bones can be anchored in the land that God will give him.

We know from the history of the people of Israel that Joshua did eventually bring the people into the Promised Land. The people of Israel received the land of Canaan just as God had promised to Abraham.

But what can we learn from this story this evening? Well I think that we are reminded first and foremost about God’s faithfulness to his promises. Abraham might be the key figure in this narrative but the big story is really about what God is doing. We are reminded to trust God for the future even though there is little sign that things are going to work out. Abraham had little evidence that the land would one day belong to his offspring, but he acted by faith and he bought a field. God can be trusted. Like Abraham, we can take practical action secure in the knowledge that God is faithful to his promises.

Some time ago I read a story about a missionary who went off to serve God by taking the Christian message to a small tribe on a remote island. I think it was somewhere in Indonesia. The man spent his whole life trying to reach this tribe with very little visible impact. Yet he trusted in God’s promise that one day there will be a great crowd in heaven from every tribe, nation and tongue praising God (Rev 7:9). He didn’t see any visible success during his lifetime yet he trusted in God’s promise and kept working. Some years after his death visitors to the island found a small group of native Christians worshiping God together. Their faith had been founded on the practical action of the missionary who had served God even though there was no visible sign of God at work.

Is that true of you and me? Do you take action on the basis of faith even when there is little visible sign of God’s presence? Are you trusting in God’s promises for the future? God promises that he is building his church, that he is establishing his kingdom. Are you willing to take practical action on that basis? Maybe there is something that God is asking you to give up in order that you can participate in what God is doing.

Maybe God would like you to consider giving up you current job and going as a missionary to an un-reached people group. Maybe God would like you to give up more of your time and use it to build Christian faith into the lives of young people. Maybe God would like you to use more of your money to invest in his kingdom.

Acting as a Christian, living on the basis of Christian values, following a God we can’t see often seems silly to people around us. One person told me that his friends thought he was mad to give so much time to his church. From a purely human perspective it often appears ridiculous to live in the way God wants us to live.

And it might not be easy to see how God is at work in your situation – but are you willing to invest in his kingdom anyway? Are you willing to take practical action on the basis of your faith? Abraham bought a field – the first piece of the Promised Land. He was prepared to take practical action on the basis of God’s promises. God had a future for the land – and Abraham, by faith “bought into” that promise.

The marriage of Isaac and Rebekah – GOD HAS A FUTURE FOR ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS

If the first story is about God’s future for the land, and Abraham’s faithful action in the light of God’s promise; then the second story, chapter 24 is really about God’s future for Abraham’s “seed”, or the outworking of God’s promise for Abraham’s descendants. That is our second heading – God has a future for Abraham’s descendants.

God’s promises about the land and about descendants have dominated the story of Abraham throughout the book of Genesis. The miraculous birth of Isaac, the child of promise, was a climactic event in the story. But as Abraham’s life draws to an end, the question becomes, what is going to happen to Isaac? What is God’s future for Abraham’s descendants? How is God going to fulfil his promise to give Abraham numerous descendants and bless all nations through his offspring?

Well one obvious and crucial step in the process of God blessing Abraham with numerous and significant descendants is the finding of a wife for Isaac. Isaac is going to need a wife if he is going to have children. And that is what chapter 24 is all about. Abraham has exercised faith and practical action by buying a field in the Promised Land. Now he exercises faith and practical action as he prepares for the future of his son Isaac.

This is a beautiful story, demonstrating the faith of Abraham, the faith of his servant, and the faithfulness of God. Have a look with me at verse 1 of chapter 24.

“ ¹Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. ²He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh.³I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, ⁴but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” ⁶“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said.⁷“The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.⁸If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.” (Genesis 24:1-9, NIV)

Unfortunately we don’t have time to read the whole story. If you are not familiar with it please take a few minutes this week to read about what happens. But basically God grants the servant success in a remarkable way. The servant meets the beautiful Rebekah at the well, and in answer to the servant’s prayer, Rebekah offers to water his camels, which is the sign that the servant requested to indicate that she is God’s chosen wife for Isaac. It turns out that she is the daughter of Bethuel, a close relative of Abraham, and despite the interference of her brother Laban, trying to delay things, Rebekah returns promptly with Abraham’s servant, and marries Isaac.

In some ways it is a marriage made in heaven. God is so clearly at work in this story, bringing events to pass, arranging for people to be in the right place, granting success, and making provision. God is protecting the future of the child of promise. God is working out his future for the descendants of Abraham. The narrative reminds us that God can be trusted. He is working out his purposes in our lives and in the world.

The story also provides us with yet another example of the faith of Abraham. Abraham believes that God is going to give him numerous descendants, and that God is going to bless all the nations of the world through his descendants (Gen 22:18) – So Abraham takes practical action to secure the right wife for his son Isaac. We find Abraham again being governed by the unseen reality of God’s promise.

Ultimately that promise to Abraham, that his descendants would be a blessing to all nations, – ultimately that promise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Jesus the Son of God, came into the world in human terms as a descendant of Abraham. Throughout the hundreds of years of history between Isaac and the birth of Jesus, God preserved the line of descent and eventually his Son was born into the world as a son of Abraham.

It is through Jesus that God brings the blessing of salvation to all nations. It is by trusting in Jesus that our sins are forgiven and we are restored to relationship with God. It is because of Jesus that you and I can be the descendants of Abraham in a spiritual sense.

As Abraham looked around him as he approached the end of his life, there wasn’t much sign of numerous descendants. But God had said that he was going to bring about those “numerous descendants” through Isaac, and Abraham believed God.

What promises has God made to you? What do you need to believe God for? What unseen reality do you and I need to believe in? I am not talking about dodgy or wacky or misunderstood promises that people sometimes claim God has made to them. What I am talking about are promises that are biblically based – that are consistent with the Bible, promises that are consistent with God’s character.

In the church I grew up in there was a time when promise boxes were in fashion. Small red plastic boxes, containing white rectangular cards with a Bible verse typed on them. I realise that such boxes are helpful to many people, and lots of the verses are indeed promises of God, but many of them, if you look them up and read them in context, are not really promises of God to us today. I have also read books that talk of “naming and claiming” God’s promises, and of great heavenly store rooms of promises waiting to be claimed. I think it is probably dangerous and misleading to speak in such ways. Yet God really has promised us certain things and no matter how unlikely they might be those promises of God do stand firm.

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that God has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5-6). The writer of Proverbs speaks of God’s promise to direct our lives if we trust in him and seek his will (Pr 3:5-6). Paul in Romans tells us that God is sovereign and that in all circumstances he is at work for our good – namely that we be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. (Ro 8:28-29).

In Jeremiah God promises his people that he has plans to prosper them and not to harm them, he is going to bring them back from exile (Je 29:11). It is still true today that God has good plans for his people – he is building the church of Christ. Jesus in Matthew’s gospel promises that God our heavenly father knows are needs and cares for us in such a way that we do not need to worry (Mt 6:25-34). And Jesus also promises in John’s gospel that he has now gone to prepare a place in heaven for his disciples, for Christians, and that he is coming back to get us (Jn 14:1-4).

No matter how unseen God’s promises are, they are still true. No matter how absent God feels – things are not the way they appear. No matter how unlikely heaven looks – God’s promises still stand. He is faithful. He is working out his purposes in the world. Are you going to trust him? Are you and I like Abraham, going to trust in God’s promises no matter how unlikely they appear. Perhaps when you go home this evening you should find a quiet place and bring before God the turmoil of your life. Pray telling him of all that you are facing. Telling him that his promises seem so unreal – but telling him also that your are going to trust them by faith. Thanking him that he has not left you. Thanking him that he cares for you. Thanking him that Jesus is coming back. And asking him to help you live in the light of that reality.

God had a future for Abraham’s descendants and Abraham trusted in that promise by faith.

The death of Abraham – GOD HAS A FUTURE FOR ABRAHAM

Abraham did not see the complete fulfilment of the promises God had made to him before he died. His death, as read for us from chapter 25, brought an end to his earthly life. “. . . He was gathered to his people . . .” (25:8). He was buried in the field he had bought from Ephron, with his wife Sarah. He had lived a long and blessed life and he left much wealth to his children. And as verse 11 tells us “After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac . . . ” (25:11). God’s earthly plan for Abraham’s descendants and for the land continued on, but Abraham’s earthly life had ended.

Yet God still had a future for Abraham. That is my third heading – God has a future for Abraham. And that is the perspective of the writer of the book of Hebrews. Turn with me please to chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews (page 1209). The author of Hebrews sees in the promise to Abraham something even more permanent and lasting than the land of Canaan. God’s future for Abraham involved something far greater than the land of Israel or the Jewish people. God’s promises related to an unseen eternal reality that Abraham, and you and I, enter into through death.

Have a look with me at verse 8 of chapter 11. “8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10, NIV).

The writer of Hebrews sees the promise to Abraham as pointing to the future reality of a new heaven and a new earth – what is described as a heavenly country, verse 16, a city with foundations, verse 10. God’s future for Abraham as he passed through death and stepped into eternity was so much more that the physical earth and the physical offspring of this world.

God’s future for us is the same. It is about a new heaven and a new earth, it is about a city with foundations that will endure, it is about God dwelling with his people. The writer to the Hebrews says that Abraham grasped that reality of an eternal city by faith, even though there was little sign of it.

God’s future is so amazing, so beautiful, so incomparable. The picture from the book of Revelations is of the jewel covered heavenly Jerusalem coming down to the new earth as God makes his dwelling with his people (Rev 21). Every tear is dried (21:4), every thirst is quenched (21:6), and all evil, and all people who do evil are removed (21:8) from that perfect re-creation. CS Lewis in the children’s book The Last Battle describes the new earth as “more real and more beautiful” than this earth (The Complete Chronicles, pg 523). He talks about this life as but “the cover and the title page” of the Great Story of God’s future – a story that will go on forever, “in which every chapter is be better than the one before” (pg 524).

Death was not the end for Abraham – God continues to have a future for him.

GOD HAS A FUTURE FOR YOU AND ME

But if you take away anything form the sermon tonight I want you to go away this evening knowing that God has an eternal future for you. That is my fourth and final heading – God has a future for you and me. Abraham believed God’s promise for his future even though there was very little sign of it. In a similar way you and I need to believe in God’s future for us even though there is currently very little evidence of eternity.

Christ’s return is imminent and eternity is soon going to start. That city with foundations that Abraham was looking forward to will not long be delayed. This world seems so real but it is not the ultimate reality. Like Abraham we are pilgrims, sojourners, wanderers on earth. This world is not our home we are just passing through (Larry Norman). We are looking and waiting for something that is so much better – something that will endure forever, a city with foundations, a city in which God will make his dwelling with man. We are waiting and groaning along with the whole of creation for the inauguration of the new heaven and the new earth.

Do you believe that? Do you have faith like Abraham to truly believe in what is unseen? Are you taking practical action on the basis of your faith? Are you prepared to become a Christian on the basis of God’s promise about the future?

I find it so hard to live in the reality of eternity. It is so hard to do. This physical world seems so real, but it is not! The bricks that form the walls of our houses seem so solid, the foundations that hold up this church building seem so secure. But it is all just a passing shadow of what is coming. It is all just a breath, a vapour, a passing moment.

This world is not the real thing! This world is only a foretaste, a foreshadowing, a glimpse into eternity. The new heaven and the new earth that are coming are going to be totally superior. In comparison our current physical existence will seem so dull, so flat, so fleeting, so transitory. As one song writer put it: this will be like living in a garbage can in comparison to what heaven will be like (Keith Green).

Yet, I don’t want you to think that I am saying that this world is not important. Of course it is important. We are to be good stewards of this creation, because that is the role God has given us. We are to be good parents to our children. We are to work hard at our jobs. We are to buy houses and live in them, settle down, and enjoy all that God has given us.

Abraham for instance bought land, he grew in material wealth, he cared for his children – he planned for their future. Abraham didn’t just say that this world doesn’t matter. He didn’t live out his existence as a wandering labourer, he didn’t ignore his family – but as the writer to the Hebrews makes clear, by faith he trusted in all God’s promises to him, and he was very conscious of what was yet to come, even though the reality was unseen.

God has promised that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. He has promised that he is going to bring those who trust in Jesus to be with him for eternity, for ever. What are you doing about that promise? Are you living in the light of God’s future, or are you only investing your wealth in the physical possessions of this world – in larger and larger houses for instance? Are you solely concerned with you earthly family and the security of your children’s earthly future? Or are you striving to have spiritual children, spiritual offspring? Are you and I making every effort to tell others about Jesus, and to help people (even our own families) become Christians?

Surely if we believe in God’s promises to us, and live in the light of eternity it should affect our priorities and our actions. Jesus said that we are to store up treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20). He warned us to get our relationship with God sorted out, through his death on the cross, so that we could share eternity with God in the new heaven and the new earth (Matthew 13:37-43).

Maybe you need this evening to do some preparation for eternity. Maybe you need to sit down when you go home tonight, and make a list of all the things you are involved in, and reassess your priorities in the light of Christ’s imminent return.

Maybe tonight you need to become a Christian. I haven’t wanted to talk this evening about judgement and hell, I wanted to focus on the beautiful future that God has in store for those who trust him, but I do need to say that hell is also an eternal reality, a reality for those who choose to reject Christ. Please take Jesus’ warning seriously.

God has a future for us. For those who like Abraham trust in God, for you and for me as Christians, God has an amazing and indescribable wonderful future awaiting us.


CONCLUSION

The life of Abraham demonstrates that God has a future for the land, God has a future for Abraham’s descendants, God has a future for Abraham, and God has a future for you and for me.

Let us therefore decide to live more and more consciously in the reality of God’s unseen future, trusting daily in God’s certain promises until we enter the new heaven and the new earth.

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