Immanuel in the Creation of Each Person

they thought they could help God out by having Sarah's handmaid sleep with Abraham (the earliest recorded surrogate mother in history!). Even when Jahweh told Abraham that the following year he and Sarah would finally be proud parents, Sarah laughed at the idea. She was 89 years old, so who can blame her for her skepticism. Yet when she gave birth to Isaac, she found joy and laughter in the gift given her by God. Thus the name "Isaac," which means "to laugh."

God used this episode of granting to barren Sarah a son to illustrate something to all believers, not only to Abraham. He illustrates that he keeps every promise that he makes. He also illustrates that he has the power to fulfill these promises. Would God's integrity be the same if the promises were made when Abraham and Sarah were in their twenties? God wished to display his power and glory and majesty and mercy. He wanted to show us his faithfulness in making and fulfilling promises. In so doing he strengthens his Promise of full and free salvation to you and me.

During the history of Abraham we see an incident in Genesis 20. Abraham, afraid that the local king would find Sarah attractive and seek to eliminate Abraham, had Sarah tell people she was Abraham's sister (which was true, since Sarah was Abraham's half-sister). Abimelech did find Sarah attractive, and did send for her, and did have fantasies about her. Jahweh, however, intervened and let Abimelech know that he was getting involved with a married woman. As a result, Moses reports God's warning:
"Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die." (Genesis 20:6, 7)

Now, what type of threat did Jahweh convey? Did Jahweh offer up a vain threat with no power to back it up? Jahweh did have the power and he displayed it in that "ordinary, daily, run of the mill" event in human history-conception. The final verses bear out how God would have carried out this threat:
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave

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