Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20080727.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
I. Accepting The Bible's Account Of Ishmael's Parting To Be Blessed
(Genesis 21:1-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

On September 11, 2001, teams of Muslim terrorists aboard three different passenger jets that were flying in the air over the United States suddenly stood up from their seats, shouting, "God is great!" in Arabic! They rushed the cockpits, killing the pilots and taking control of the planes, and flying them into New York City's World Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon in Washington, D. C. [One plane failed to hit a high profile target, crashing in a Pennsylvania field due to the brave actions of passengers who learned of the intent of these hijackers, and who tried to overcome them.]

These attacks took the lives of thousands of people, leading to war in Afghanistan and Iraq and raising questions in the minds of many on the differences of belief between the Islamic faith and Judaism and Christianity.

Actually, at the root of these belief differences is the WAY that ISLAM'S ACCOUNT of HOW its alleged ancestor, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, LEFT CANAAN DIFFERS from the account given in Genesis 21:1-21 of the BIBLE! Up to that event, Islam generally agrees with the Bible's account of Abraham's life, but at that point the accounts "deviate" from one another , cf. Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas, 2007, (National Geographic Society) p. 68. Accordingly, a Muslim Internet web site claims the Bible's record of that parting has been unfairly tampered by editors who were biased against Ishmael, ancestor of Muhammad. This editing is claimed unjustly to have omitted Ishmael and his descendant, Muhammad, and thereby Islam, from the Abrahamic Covenant's divine blessing! This pro-Islamic claim is reportedly NOW being used successfully to cause people in Christendom to question the Biblical record, and thus to convert to Islam!

Thus, since we are scheduled to study that Genesis 21:1-21 passage today, we consider the question, "HOW does Islam's account differ from the Bible's Genesis 21:1-21 account on the exodus of Ishmael and Hagar from Canaan? WHY, and WHICH account is RIGHT, for I need to know WHICH FAITH is TRUE?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "How does Islam's account of Ishmael's and Hagar's exodus from Canaan differ from Genesis 21, why, and which one is right, for in today's world, I need to be sure just WHICH FAITH is TRUE?!"
  1. Islam's view of Ishmael's exodus from Canaan contextually errs:
    1. Islamic writers claim Abraham went with [Sarah's] bondwoman, Hagar and her infant son, Ishmael 775 miles south from Canaan to what later became Mecca, Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Bibl. World: An Illus. Atlas, 2007, p. 68-69. However, this claim contextually errs:
      1. Sarah owned Hagar as a slave (Gen. 16:1; Roland DeVaux, Anc. Israel: Soc. Insts., 1965, p. 84), and Abraham honored Sarah's rule over her (Genesis 16:6). As such, Sarah would NEVER let Hagar who had scorned her BARREN status as Abraham's WIFE (Genesis 16:5) GO on a LONG TRIP with her HUSBAND as the ONLY OTHER ADULT to be WITH him -- that would be OFFENSIVE and THREATENING to Sarah!
      2. God had led Abraham to Canaan (Gen. 12:1-7; 15:18-21), and he had learned he was to stay there (Gen. 12:20-13:1), so going 775 miles into Saudi Arabia would be far out of God's will for him!
    2. Islam claims Abraham then left the Red Sea coast to go inland to the desert, soon running out of water , Ibid., p. 69. He allegedly left Hagar to look for a well, and she ran 7 times between the mountain As Safa and the hill Al Marwa desperately searching for water until the angel Gabriel showed her water gushing from the ground. This spot allegedly later marked the well "Zam-zam" in Mecca, Ibid., p. 69; Compt. Ency., 1973, v. 13, p. 195. This claim contextually errs:
      1. It is illogical for a mother with an infant in the desert who is out of water to run 7 laps over the same route looking for water!
      2. Elsewhere in Scripture, Gabriel always announces key prophetic truth (Daniel 8:16; 9:21; Luke 1:19, 26), so having him merely show Hagar water is out of character for such a messenger of God!
      3. To show Hagar the water and not Abraham who also allegedly sought it would be for God uncharacteristically to upstage the man with whom He had made His important covenant by another party!
      4. The well name, "Zam-zam" is absent godly truth opposite the well, "Beer-lahai-roi" that Hagar herself named in Genesis 16:13-14!
    3. Islam claims God then had Abraham and Ishmael construct the Ka'bah in Mecca that contains the Black Stone allegedly from heaven that Muslims kiss in their pilgrimage there , Ibid., Isbouts, p. 69; Ibid., Comp. Ency. However, secular historians and God's past work with Abraham in the Genesis 12-20 context counters this claim:
      1. Will Durant (The Story of Civilization, IV: 160-161 as cited in the Feb. 2000 The Berean Call) claims Arabs worshiped the Ka'bah's Black Stone in Mecca with its idols, Allah and his 3 daughters, Uzza, Al-Lat and Manah by 400 B. C. as confirmed by 5th cent. B. C. Greek historian, Herodotus. Muhammad was born in 570 A. D. (Robert Spencer, The Truth About Muhammad, 2006, p. 35), so Mecca's Black Stone, Ka'bah and "Allah" were PAGAN in origin!
      2. However, we have seen in our studies of Genesis 12-20 that God had long sought for Abraham to FORSAKE such PAGANISM!
  2. Genesis' view of Ishmael's exodus from Canaan is contextually true:
    1. The Bible claims Sarah gave birth to Isaac in line with God's promise, and Abraham held a great feast the day he was weaned, Gen. 21:1-8.
    2. Abraham's elder son, Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, Hagar, saw this feast as a threat to his heirship, so he mocked Isaac, Genesis 21:9.
    3. Sarah was upset at Ishmael's mocking, so she told Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael as he would not be heir with her son, Isaac, 21:10.
    4. Abraham was very upset over this, but God confirmed Sarah's urging as His will; Abraham thus sent Hagar and Ishmael away to preserve Isaac as the heir to the Abrahamic Covenant, Genesis 21:11-12, 14.
    5. Even so, God honored Abraham's concern for Ishmael, pledging to make of him a great nation since he was Abraham's seed, Gen. 21:13.
    6. Hagar and Ishmael ran out of water in the nearby desert of Beersheba, but God showed her a well, and promised to make of Ishmael a great nation just as He had promised Abraham, Genesis 21:14-19, 22-33.
    7. God was with Ishmael, he lived in the wilderness of Paran in the Sinai Peninsula 100 miles south of Abraham [who was then in Beersheba], and Hagar got Ishmael a wife from her land of Egypt 120 miles east of there, Gen. 21:20-21, 22-33; 16:1. ( Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, map 3)
    8. Thus, the Bible's account is both logical and fair toward Ishmael as the non-heir, evidence that it is the credible account of events!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ for salvation, and (2) trust the Bible as God's true revelation to us versus Islam's account!

Lesson: Islam's account of Ishmael's and Hagar's exodus from Canaan on which it as a FAITH is BASED ERRS, so ISLAM is FALSE. The Genesis 21 account is CORRECT, and so Jesus as Abraham's Promised Seed in Isaac (Galatians 3:13-16) and our CHRISTIAN faith are TRUE!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

One of the great evidences for the credibility of the Christian faith in contrast to Islam is to note the tremendous change that occurs in Muslims who have been born into a land and culture that is steeped in the Islamic faith, but who have then converted to Christ.

We have such an example for us in the Reverent Mehdi Dibaj. While on trial for the capital offense of converting to Christ from the Islamic faith, and, realizing he might be executed for standing for Christ, the Reverend Mehdi Dibaj spoke these words to the Sari Court of Justice in his homeland of the nation of Iran on December 3, 1993:

"[translated from the original Farsi text] . . . They say 'You were a Muslim and you have become a Christian.' This is not so. For many years I had no religion. After searching and studying I accepted God's call and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive eternal life . . . They tell me, 'Return!' But to whom can I return from the arms of my God? It is right to accept what people are saying instead of obeying the Word of God? It is now 45 years that I am walking with the God of miracles, and His kindness upon me is like a shadow and I owe Him much for His fatherly love and concern . . . " (http://www.farsinet.com/dibaj/dibaj.html)

The court sentenced Reverent Dibaj to death, but international pressure led to his release on January 16, 1994. However, five months after his release, he was covertly kidnapped and suffered martyrdom.

For a man like this to be born into a Muslim family in the highly Islamic nation of Iran, and for him to have lived for 45 years there only to be converted to Christ and then to decide to be willing to die for his faith at the hands of his countrymen, and that with the clear, gentle but firm state of mind evidenced in this testimony he gave while presuming it could likely end in his execution, could only be done by the indwelling power of God the Holy Spirit!



May we thus accept the Genesis 21:1-21 account, thus believing Isaac is the heir of God's covenant with Abraham, and that Jesus, the fulfillment of that covenant's promises, is the Son of God to be believed for eternal life, John 3:16; Galatians 3:13-14.

May we be as SETTLED on that fact as the Reverend Mehdi Dibaj of Iran became, that we might be blessed in Christ!