“A Great Feast” (Gen 21:1-8)

vs8, “So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.”

Feasting and laughter are good gifts from God, whereby we CELEBRATE His grace to us. Let us feast upon Christ, continually, receiving grace from God in promises that haven't yet happened, and let us rejoice in what He's done for us already. Solomon wrote, “A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry; but money”, atonement money, “answers everything” (Eccl 10:19). Religion without joy is not the salvation that God gives; it is not His grace fulfilling promises to chosen sinners.

First, rejoice always, for this is your strength. “Abraham made a great feast” (vs8). Nehemiah 8:10 says, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”. Joy strengthens us to honor God BY the forgiveness of sins, and the more powerfully we believe in reconciliation, the more that we can achieve for God.

Too many spend the day looking at themselves and magnifying failures above the mercy of God. They do not know the lesson CA Coates so clearly illustrates by the man who looked in the garbage over and over, hoping to find something good. He was warned and instructed, but he still looked and looked. Finally, he stopped looking, and his friend asked, “Why? Why have you stopped your pursuit of the trash?” The man responded, “There is NOTHING in there”.

It is the same with us: there is NOTHING inside of us, and no amount of crying or weeping can put away sin. Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). The only hope is to believe the goodness of God and receive fresh mercies. He is for us now in reconciliation, and we have all the power that we need. Now, instead of staring at ourselves, we go love others in faith that we're forgiven, and doing this, we experience joy for real, lasting joy that abides with us. He says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Is 26:3). In Nehemiah, after hearing pardon, “all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them” (Neh 8:12). Forgiveness is the door to obedience in character, and you can't please God any other way than believing that He is pleased with you in the Son.

Secondly, feast upon the gospel truly. Do not feast on half a gospel. Scripture says, “Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned” (Gen 21:8). The feast was not made for Ishmael, but for Isaac, the son of promise. We don't rejoice in our methods, our ways, and our notions; we rejoice in God's faithfulness to us by the word. We don't have a sin that grace might abound joy; we don't have a joy that is devoid of fear and trembling. We are commanded clearly, “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Ps 2:11). Many think that joy in the Lord means that I have no fear of God, and they are wrong. We pass the time of our temporary life in fear, and “happy is he that fears always” (Prov 28:14; 1 Pet 1:17). We rejoice with holy joy, we rejoice with God, and we rejoice in what He has done for us, making us whole, able to walk, and loving.

Thirdly, rejoice in the Lord and not yourself. We read, “And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him... Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen 21:1-7). Don't think that you've brought the promise to pass. It was God's grace, God's gift, and God's love, so respond in love and not pride. It is shameful to see us confess grace ungraciously, and behave unmercifully, when we've obtained mercy. Jesus warned Peter, “So My heavenly Father also will [not forgive you] if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matt 18:35). Don't FORGET that we're saved by grace and all we have is God's gift. If I grow spiritually, if I obtain a wife, children, and a home, then let me rejoice in the Giver, and not merely the gift. Let me FEAST unto the Lord.

Abraham and Sarah show their joy by circumcising Isaac and raising him in the gospel, “Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him” (Gen 21:4). They tell God “thanks” by being faithful to people and doing things that show belief in mercy.

Finally, you rejoice in the Lord and feast with Him. “Abraham made a great feast”, and you have one too (vs8). Don't look at everyone else happy and content, others at peace, and not get in on it yourself. Don't be the Prodigal's older brother who hated the music and the dancing, thinking GRACE was too gracious a term.