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Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah.\u00a0 He was born when his father was one hundred years old and the mother ninety years.\u00a0 He was a covenant child which God promised Abraham.\u00a0 Ishmael had already been born to Abraham at this time and he was almost giving up hope, thinking that it was no longer possible for him and his wife Sara to have children.\u00a0 Abraham was pleading with God on behalf of Ishmael, Genesis 17:15-18.\u00a0 “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed: and thou shall call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him”, Genesis 17:9.\u00a0 God is the covenant keeping God, “what He had promised, He was able also to perform, Romans 4:21b.\u00a0 We can be rest assured that God is too faithful to fail.\u00a0 Whatever promise He makes to us as His children, He will surely bring to pass.\u00a0 He is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He will repent.\u00a0 His word is Yea and Amen.<\/p>\n
In this study, we shall discuss the birth of Isaac, his growth and progress in life from childhood to adulthood.\u00a0 We shall also highlight some lessons we can learn from the story of his life to see how we can apply them to our lives.<\/p>\n
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1. To discuss how Isaac’s birth marked the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham;<\/p>\n
2. Highlight the lessons we can learn from the Scriptures concerning Isaac as a child.<\/p>\n
3. Examine how Isaac handled the barrenness of his wife and the lessons we can derive from it.<\/p>\n
4. Identify the secret of Isaac’s prosperity and the lessons that can be derived from it.<\/p>\n
5. To identify some shortcomings in the life of Isaac as recorded in the Scriptures that we must avoid.<\/p>\n
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Isaac was the son of Abraham, who was born to him by Sarah his wife when Abraham was one hundred years old and Sarah ninety years.\u00a0 The birth of Isaac was the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham.\u00a0 “…I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son”, Genesis 18:10.<\/p>\n
Therefore Isaac was a child of promise.\u00a0 God had promised Abraham that Sarah his wife was going to give birth to a son and that the child should be named Isaac which means laughter.\u00a0 God also told Abraham that He would establish a covenant with Isaac for an everlasting covenant.\u00a0 Although God entered into this covenant with Abraham a long time before the period of the birth of Isaac, the covenant found its fulfilment at the birth of Isaac, Genesis 15:18.\u00a0 God’s word will surely come to pass: no matter how long it takes, it will never fail.<\/p>\n
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There are many lessons we can learn from Isaac as a child.\u00a0 It was very obvious that Isaac knew and believed in the God of his father.\u00a0 His father must have taught him the ways of God and he understood the fact that one of the acts of worship was sacrifice to God.\u00a0 So it was not strange to Isaac when his father mentioned to him that they were going to the place they would offer sacrifice to God.\u00a0 He was also an obedient child and never questioned his father’s authority at any time.\u00a0 He was very humble.\u00a0 When his father laid the wood on him, Isaac did not refuse carrying it.\u00a0 He did not say that his father’s servants should be asked to carry the wood.\u00a0 He had unquestionable faith in the God of his father.\u00a0 When he asked his father concerning the lamb for the sacrifice and he told him that God would provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering, Isaac never doubted his father’s word.\u00a0 When they got to the place for the burnt offering and Abraham after he had built the altar and laid the wood in order, he bound Isaac his son and laid him upon the wood, Isaac did not struggle or resist his father.\u00a0 If he was not willing to submit to his father’s wish, there was no way an old man of over one hundred years would have been able to bind the lad and lay him on the wood without Isaac over powering Abraham.<\/p>\n
Abraham, his wife, his son and the entire household had a strong regard for God’s word.\u00a0 They held Jehovah in high esteem and dared not disobey Him; this ought to be an example for the believers of today to follow.<\/p>\n
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Isaac’s wife Rebekah was barren for about twenty years before she had her twin children, Esau and Jacob, Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife and he was sixty years old when the children were born to him, Genesis 25:26b.\u00a0 Rather than accusing his wife of barrenness.\u00a0 “And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived”, Genesis 25:21.\u00a0 Hannah had no children but when she payed unto the LORD, He hearkened unto her prayers and she conceived and gave birth to Prophet Samuel and thereafter five more children.\u00a0 Therefore, when we are confronted with the challenge of barrenness, we should take it to God in prayers.\u00a0 God answers prayers and He will surely grant us the desires of our hearts.\u00a0 Delayed child bearing in marriage can result from many factors – e.g. malfunctioning of the reproductive systems (of any or both of the couple).\u00a0 It would also be a satanic attack, ignorance on the part of the couple, etc.\u00a0 It is possible also that nothing may be wrong with any of them but just mere delay.\u00a0 Whatever the cause, God is able to reverse the situation if only we come to Him in prayers trusting in God’s ability to meet us at the points of our need.\u00a0 Christians facing such challenges should not be discouraged.\u00a0 There may be need for them to seek medical advice and also meet Christian Leaders who they can confidently discuss the issue with, for counsel and prayers.\u00a0 We should never be discouraged, God has not changed, and He has promised us children.\u00a0 “Lo children are an heritage of the LORD:\u00a0 and the fruit of the womb is His reward”, Psalm 127:3.\u00a0 We only need to trust God and wait patiently for Him to bring it to pass in the due time, knowing that with God, all things are possible.\u00a0 “…no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly”, Psalm 84:11b.<\/p>\n
The Scriptures have made it clear in Deuteronomy 7:14b that “there shall not be make or female barren among you or among your cattle”.\u00a0 It follows then that barrenness is not from God.<\/p>\n
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The secret of Isaac’s prosperity was as a result of his absolute obedience of God’s instruction.\u00a0 Despite the fact that there was famine in the land where he found himself at that time, when God instructed Isaac not to go down into Egypt, he never argued or judged the matter based on the obvious condition in the land.\u00a0 IN obedience to God’s instruction, Isaac sowed in that land not minding the famine, because he judged Him faithful who had promised.\u00a0 “If ye be willing and obedient , ye shall eat the good of the land”, Isaiah 1:19.\u00a0 We should realize that it is only in obeying and acting on divine instructions that we can prosper and find fulfilment in life.<\/p>\n
Isaac was very diligent and determined to achieve his goal.\u00a0 Even in the face of opposition and contention, he was not discouraged, neither did he give up.\u00a0 Any well Isaac’s servants dug and the Philistines tried to strive with him for I, he would move to dig another one.\u00a0 He continued to dig until a point when the Philistines did not strive with him.\u00a0 If we do not get discouraged in the face of opposition, God will establish us on that which we have set out hands to do.<\/p>\n
Abimelech who had earlier asked Isaac to go from him was the one who in the company of his people went to meet Isaac to make peace with him.\u00a0 When we live in obedience to God and HIs word, He takes over our battles and even those against us would have no choice than to turn to us, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”, Proverbs 16:7.<\/p>\n
In addition, diligence is very crucial in our endeavors: without diligence, we cannot go far in whatever business or career we embark upon.\u00a0 Diligence will take us from obscurity to limelight.\u00a0 “Seest thou a man diligent in his business?\u00a0 He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men”, Proverbs 22:29.<\/p>\n
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Isaac preferred one child to the other.\u00a0 “And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison”, Genesis 25:28.\u00a0 We should try as much as possible to love all our children equally and unconditionally.\u00a0 We should not prefer some to the others simply because of the benefits we receive from them.\u00a0 Such situation can create strife and strive and division amongst our children.<\/p>\n
When Isaac and his wife Rebekah got to Gerar, he told the men of the place that Rebekah was his sister because he feared that he would be killed by the men of the land if they know that Rebekah was his wife.\u00a0 Isaac told a lie because he wanted to save his life.\u00a0 We must not tell lies thinking that that is a way of escape from imminent danger.\u00a0 When we do this, it shows that we do not trust God’s ability to defend and rescue us from the enemy.\u00a0 God is able to keep us when we live to please Him and stand for the truth.\u00a0 Notably, summary of Isaac’s life is worth admiring, as a child he was very obedient to his father, never doubted God’s instruction to him.\u00a0 As a man he obeyed the voice of God, he has married to one wife, faithfully weathered the storm of childlessness with her for twenty years.\u00a0 God rewarded his faithfulness.<\/p>\n
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Our God is the covenant keeping God.\u00a0 He is able to bring to pass the promises He has made to us. The birth of Isaac marked the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham.\u00a0 Isaac was a covenant child.\u00a0 His father Abraham taught him the ways of God.\u00a0 These were exhibited in his lifestyle both at childhood and adulthood.\u00a0 Isaac had faith in God; he was humble and obedient both to God and his father.\u00a0 We must remember that God will always keep His own side of the promises He has made to us as a long as we keep our own side of the Covenant.<\/p>\n
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Genesis 26:12 – “Then Isaac sowed in the land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Isaac The Covenant Child Central Thought: God keeps His covenant with His people. Text: Genesis 22:1-18, 25:19-21, 26:1-6 Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah.\u00a0 He was born when his father was one hundred years old and the mother ninety years.\u00a0 He was a covenant child which God promised Abraham.\u00a0 Ishmael had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/covenant_child_toddler_long_sleeve_tee_pink-r88f0aaf019d1441091bb5b5b3d0d1091_j2nh1_307-e1528866859543.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1893"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1893\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}