The Founder of Our Future Rest - Genesis 21:22-34

Do you ever wish you could just rest? Maybe you want a good night’s sleep, like you slept when you were younger.

Maybe you feel overworked, or worn out from caring for others.

Maybe you’ve had some kind of conflict going on for a long time, and you just want to rest.

You may have anxiousness, worry, depression, fear, regret, and you just want to rest.

You have probably had some times of rest in your life; I hope you have. But there are always troubles and problems; we age, we struggle, we wrestle with questions.

Do you ever long for a lasting rest from it all?

The Scriptures reveal what we should recognize: that in this life, there is no perfect, lasting rest like the rest we long for.

But that never stopped anyone from trying to get it. So we think, “If I can just make some more money, and get this new job, or this house on this land or in this neighborhood, then I can rest. If I can be with this person over here, or get away from that person over there, then I can rest. If I could change, or if they could change; if I can accomplish this goal, or if I can get everything in my home or my family or my life just right, then I could rest.”

But our resting in this life is simply keeping at bay things that are always there. Sin is still there; death is still there. We do get respite - we get short periods of relief, which we absolutely need and must have; and yet lasting and complete rest eludes us now.

But we can be hopeful because the delivery of lasting rest is yet another aspect of the saving work of Jesus Christ. Jesus brings sinners to God so that we may know and be with God forever, and this includes having an everlasting rest from all the troubles of this life.

Jesus brings us to God by being our Mediator; He intervenes between the holy God and sinful people to make peace. In 1 Timothy 2, the apostle Paul writes, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And as our Mediator, Jesus is not only the Savior of our sinful souls; He is the founder of our future rest.

Revelation 21 describes the rest Jesus has founded for us. In that place, “the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Our encouragement and hope is made strong as we look to Jesus, as we worship our Mediator and as the good news of what He has done envelops our lives. He and He alone established our future and lasting rest.

But how did Jesus do this?

This second part of Genesis 21 helps us understand. How so? You may think, “Didn’t the events of Genesis take place long before the life of Jesus?” Yes they did. But what God first promised to Abraham was fulfilled in and through Jesus. So much of Abraham's experiences were intended by God to foreshadow and point to what Jesus Christ has done.

Moses wrote these things by the power of God for the instruction of the Israelites, who understood Abraham to be the founder of their nation and their future rest. Abraham represented his descendants as God dealt with him; and in this way, Abraham performed the work of a mediator, and as such he was a forerunner of Christ.

Through Abraham’s life we learn some things about the duties of the true Mediator, Jesus. Notice the outline on page 6 in the WG. Genesis 21 shows us that our Mediator founded our future rest by displaying God's great favor, claiming God's promised land, and glorifying God's covenant name.

Here we find Abimelech, the king of Gerar (which was within the land of Canaan), interacting with Abraham again. In Genesis 20, Abraham deceived Abimelech by saying that Sarah was his sister (which was only half the truth). She was his half-sister, and also his wife (which was a common thing in the ancient world).

Abimelech then took Sarah to be a wife to him, and so God struck Abimelech with disease and revealed to him that Sarah was the wife of Abraham and must be returned to him. So Abimelech releases her and he gives them riches as a symbol that he did not consummate a relationship with her; and also, Abimelech allows Abraham to live peaceably in that land. Abimelech recognized that Abraham had God’s favor.

Now, in Genesis 21, God’s favor is even clearer because Sarah has supernaturally borne a son. There may have been additional things that displayed God’s favor in Abraham’s life, and Abimelech felt threatened. So threatened, in fact, that he takes along the commander of his army for this meeting. It seems to be a bit overboard.

But notice again verse [22] At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.” God’s great favor is apparent. Verse [23] Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” Abimelech wants to make a deal for his own security. He knows that a very real and powerful God is with Abraham.

In John 3, in the NT, during the earthly life of Jesus Christ, there was a powerful teacher and ruler among the Jews named Nicodemus. And John writes, “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Later on, others would state that clearly God was with Jesus.

Jesus displayed God’s great favor in his life. This is a characteristic of the Mediator, which makes sense, because it is God who causes mediation between Himself and mankind. God is the one who makes a covenant. God is the one who initiates peace with sinners. 2 Corinthians 5 says, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The founder of our future rest displayed God’s great favor.

Now in verse 24, Abraham accepts the agreement, but then he brings up a concern that he has. Remember I said that Abimelech had previously told Abraham that he could live peacefully in Gerar with his family and all his servants. During that time, Abraham dug a well. They needed water to live.

But Abraham says that some of Abimelech’s servants came along and took possession of the well. Notice verse [26] Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” What happens next here is very important. Abraham initiates a covenant with Abimelech.

One curious thing about this is that it’s backwards from how covenants normally worked. You see, in the ancient world, the more powerful leader would come to the less powerful leader with demands and with terms for peace. The big nation held all the cards, so to speak. This is clear, for instance, as God came to Abraham and made a covenant with him. God made the terms of the agreement.

It is true that Abimelech comes to Abraham in ch. 21, but that is based on Abimelech’s previous terms that he gave to Abraham. What we see here is that by God’s grace, Abraham has the leverage. He has God on his side. Look at verse [27] So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.

Back in chapter 20, it was Abimelech who gave livestock to Abraham. Abimelech does not need anything from Abraham. He’s a rich king! Notice verse [28], Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. [29] And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” [30] He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” Abraham is boldly staking a legal claim over this water well, and by doing so, he’s claiming his first possession of a piece of God’s promised land.

And Abimelech does the deal. No argument! Then he takes his army commander and they go home, but look where they go. The end of verse 32 says they “returned to the land of the Philistines.”

Historically, the Philistines did not yet exist as we know them later on in biblical history, during the life of king David. What Moses was showing the Israelites was that Abimelech was an ancestor of the Philistines, who were bitter enemies of the Israelites. Goliath, for instance, who David fought and killed by the supernatural help of God, was a Philistine.

This is just one reason why David’s confidence against Goliath was appropriate. He knew God was on his side. Even when the enemy seems more powerful, God’s people have the upper hand because they have God; or maybe I should say, because God has them. Even when it seems that God’s people cannot win, that the odds are stacked too high, the favor of God is stacked higher.

Now, here’s a question: do the descendants of Israel today have a claim to the land that was once known as Canaan because of what Abraham did here? We should understand this in light of redemptive history as a whole.

You see, God’s covenant promises to Abraham could be simply summarized this way: God promised to establish a people and a place. God would produce descendants for Abraham; they would number more than the stars in the sky. And God would give them a place to live. God would live there with them, and they would be able to rest. So there would be a people and a place established by the power of God.

In the first part of Genesis 21, which we looked at last week, Isaac and Ishmael are compared and we learn about how God established the people. This part of the chapter deals with how God establishes the place, the Promised land.

In Genesis 17, God said to Abraham, “I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” During the history of ancient Israel in the OT, this promise was fulfilled many times, although never perfectly and completely.

The reason for that incomplete fulfillment was the continual sins of the Israelite people. They strayed from worshiping God and bowed down to false idols. They strayed from God’s holy and healthy ways to follow the sick, sinful ways of the world. They fell apart as the people of God, and they forfeited the place of God. They lost the earthly promised land of God through their wickedness, but Scripture reveals that their earthly promised land was only a type of the perfect and eternal land that only God Himself can secure for His people forever.

The land of Canaan was a shadow of the greater and perfect promised land to come, of the place of peace and rest coming when history as we know it draws to a close, when Christ returns to gather His people, to judge and destroy sin and death forever, and to renew the earth and the heavens. In that place, sin and the potential for sin will be no more.

That place will be filled with the people of God, people not from just one nation, but from every nation - not just one race, but every race - not just one language, but every language - with all those saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

When Abrarham staked this small claim in God’s promised land, he foreshadowed Jesus Christ. Jesus staked His claim in the eternal promised land. In John 14, in the NT, Jesus speaks to his disciples shortly before His death on the cross. He says to them, [1] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” [5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way.”

Only Jesus gives access to that perfect, complete rest that God provides.

Now notice that this account is not quite done. Abimelech and his army general go home, but look at what Abraham then does, verse [33] Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba. What does this mean?

It seems to indicate that Abraham is celebrating the covenant that has been made in the land, and also planting a tree for future generations to see and remember what God did on that day. And a tree is nice, but look at the rest of the verse, “Abraham…called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.” Abraham gives credit where credit is due. The mediator glorifies God’s covenant name.

In John 17, shortly before his death, Jesus prayed what is called “the High Priestly Prayer.” He tells His followers not to be troubled, but to trust God, and Jesus prays aloud to the Father: I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” Our Mediator founded our future rest by glorifying God's covenant name.

But what is God’s “covenant” name? Perhaps you’ve heard me say before that when we see the word “LORD” in all capital letters in the OT, we know that in the Hebrew manuscripts, the covenant name of God is written. We pronounce it “Yahweh.” For a long time, the people of God would not say this name aloud out of reverence for God. So they used “LORD” instead.

“Yahweh” is presented in the Scriptures as the personal name of God which He revealed to His covenant people. “God” is obviously a general name, used widely today and meaning different things to different people.

It was the same way in the ancient world. But Moses communicates here in verse 33 that it is only Yahweh who is the everlasting God. He is the only true God, and therefore, He alone is worthy of glory.

And let me add one more thing here; notice verse [34] And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. Abraham never possessed the promised land during his life. God told him that his descendants would possess it. Verse 34 tells us that he lived as a foreigner, living in the land by faith.

In the NT, Hebrews 11 tells us something important about Abraham’s faith. It says, “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land…he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Even with the promise of an earthly land, Abraham had a sense of something greater, something better and eternal, a place of everlasting rest. It was there that he looked by faith.

Florence Chadwick was an American swimmer who famously swam the Strait of Gibraltar (which took just over 5 hours) and the English Channel (which took more than 13 hours). In the early 1950s, she attempted to swim from the California coast to Catalina Island, a distance of over 20 miles.

As she swam, boats traveled on each side of her at a distance to watch for sharks and help her if she needed to stop. After swimming for many hours, a heavy fog set in and she could not see the shore. So she called for help and was pulled from the Pacific waters, but then she learned that she had given up with less than a mile to go.

Sometime later, she tried again, and though a thick fog set in once more, she made it to shore. It has been said that when she was asked how she could make it without seeing the shoreline, she said that even though she could not see the shore, she knew it was there, and that helped her keep going.

As we come to the Lord’s table today, we do something similar. Though our journey is difficult, though we long for rest, and though we cannot yet see that place of rest - with the eyes of our hearts we see Jesus our Mediator, and we keep going. By faith, we carry on.

How does the finished work of Jesus come to bear on your circumstances today? What guilt and shame do you need to shed at the feet of Jesus? What situation do you need to surrender to Jesus, the King?

Where in your life do you need to apply the humility of Jesus? Whom do you need to forgive, whom do you need to love, or to serve? From what sins do you need to turn? What secrets must you confess, so that you may be free? Come to Jesus today.

It is Jesus on whom we fix the eyes of our hearts.

It is Jesus who will carry us all the way to the shoreline of that place of future rest.

It is Jesus who can restore us and give us rest along the way.

Let’s bow in prayer.