And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.(Gen 21,1)

What a simple description of the most significant events in the history of the world: the Lord visited... the Lord fulfilled. As if it were the simplest thing that could happen to man! But we've been telling the story of Abram's transformation for too long to make it clear that it's not so simple from man's perspective - that is, until he finds himself in the position of blessing. Abraham and Sarah had been working towards this for 25 years, and it was only at some point in their journey that it became so easy and natural. But then it actually seemed more natural to them than the opposite! Unless one is in a position towards God that God wants to bless, it is far more natural that things don't work out and accepting them from God seems difficult. Once he is in such a position, he finds it strange, on the contrary, why shouldn't these God´s things work?

Isaac's birth was a pivotal point in the history of the salvation of the world for God. Without Isaac, there would have been no Israel and no Christ. God worked on Abraham for years, and we know that at times it was pretty bitter medicine for him. But when Scripture gloriously announces the fulfillment of the promise, it does not first say that God fulfilled His promise to Abraham, but to... Sarah! Yet it seems to us that the struggles of faith have been waged primarily by Abraham all along, and his wife even often appears in the position of doubter. But this description of the birth of a son, the diction of the text, proves that God was also working on Sarah and her faith all along, even if it was done more covertly, "behind the curtain."

Sarah was in a simpler position than Abraham in the sense that he could not afford to doubt publicly. He was a bit like today's clergy in this regard: his responsibility to the whole community led him to keep certain struggles to himself and not show doubt in order to keep their faith in God from wavering. Sarah had more freedom in this, and could vent her skepticism more easily - so she laughs at God's messengers instead of believing, invents another path when God's way seems to lead nowhere, etc.

But we see that in the end, even Sarah rose to the heights in her heart and believed against all reality that God is faithful and able to fulfill what He promised, so God "fulfilled...her".

God doesn't want to leave anyone behind, He wants to lead everyone to higher paths without exception! And how precious it is when spouses can walk on them together.

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. (Gen 20,17-18)

In particular, we find six kinds of healing in Scripture:
1. healing by power accompanying the preaching of the word (as a sign from above)
2. healing by the faith of the sick person (e.g. the case of the woman with the hemorrhage)
3. healing through the gift of healing (1 Cor. 12)
4. healing as a prophetic sign (e.g., the healing of Naaman)
5. healing through intercession (see petitions for fellow workers in the epistles)
6. healing through confession of sin and forgiveness (and note, this is not speaking of new believers, but of confession of sin and its forgiveness among long-time believers (see Jam 5:15)

It is interesting that today in the Church (i.e., by people who have been believers for a long time) the issue of supernatural healing is viewed primarily at two extremes. The first more or less denies it. According to him, the power of God does not operate today as in the beginning, when it was necessary for it to confirm the preached word. But after the period of the first apostles, it is said, it was no longer needed to that extent, and so supernatural manifestations ceased. After all, today we have doctors and God uses them to heal.

The problem is that none of these inferences are explicitly in the Bible. Even Jesus, in his last discourse in J14, apparently did not count on the manifestations of his Spirit gradually subsiding, quite the opposite. (And doctors were around then too, by the way, though obviously not on the level of today's medicine).

The other extreme is the claim that if we believe properly, we are all healthy, right HERE and NOW. Of course, anyone who has tried practicing this for a few years (and isn't in their twenties anymore, so naturally there already are some issues in their body) could develop their own opinion about the reality of this approach.   

Somewhere between these two extremes is the "intercessory" approach. Its proponents pray for healing, often in secret, but they also have no problem praying openly with the person. They believe that it is in God's power to heal, but they do not claim it by force, rather they wait to see if there will be intervention from above, that is, if and what will happen. (Admittedly, the results today are not somehow dazzling, but it still happens occasionally - I wish there were more of it).

The first two extremes don't actually count on God acting specifically and personally with a given case. According to them, it works either never or always. It is not God directly at work, but his principle - which works according to the theology being held: in no or every case.

It is therefore remarkable to realize that Abraham's prayer for the women of Abimelech's house, this first prayer for healing in Scripture (!), was not a prayer of faith but a prayer of restoration. It falls into the last category of the six named. It teaches us that perhaps more often than we admit, physical healing requires breaking down the barriers that stand between God and the person. To remove the block, the disfavour, and often to confess and forgive the guilt. And then to allow the flow of God's life to renew that person again, from spirit to body.

God dealt with Abimelech in a very specific and personal way, not as an impersonal principle, but with a clearly manifested will and through a specific revelation given to his servant Abraham.

So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. (Gen 20,17-18)

Abraham did not just receive protection, compensation, and multiplication of his flocks in Gerar, all in spite of some unbelief on his part. This kind of blessing accompanied him on his journey and he experienced it many times. But now he had a completely new spiritual experience: God had answered his prayer for healing in a very concrete way.

Virtually all ancient cults related to fertility in some way, because it was a guarantee of the continuation of the lineage, of simple survival. Without its own offspring, the tribe had no other fathers, shepherds or warriors. In times when there was no medical security and local tribal wars often broke out, disputes were settled by the extermination of whole families or tribes, a considerable loss of offspring had to be reckoned with, and so only its abundance gave some guarantee for the future.

God "closed...every womb". God was thus demonstrating His power over the deities of Abimelech's tribe (to whom they certainly tried to appeal for help, as they normally did) and confirming Abraham as his own man before them. "Touch him not, or calamities will befall you," he was announcing to them in a way they understood well. All sorts of ideas about how to deal with Abraham were very likely in the minds of Abimelech and his people, so it was necessary to give him additional protection. But what exactly happened with the women? We don't know, but from the general tenor of the text, it is certain that they discovered their barrenness very soon after the incident with Sarah - for it is clear that Abraham prayed for them shortly after her release, not after many months when none of them would have had a child visibly. As much as the people of that time did not have a deep knowledge of medicine, they understood the area of childbearing, for it was so important to them. Therefore, though we do not know for sure, of course, the simplest explanation is that what had happened to the women in Abimelech's house long before had happened to Sarah, namely, that "it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women" (18:11, NRSVA).

Abraham's prayer is the first prayer for physical healing that we find in Scripture. The man of God, the prophet, prays by direct commission from God for the deliverance of the people from the sickness that is caused by their having fallen into God's displeasure. It is interesting, therefore, that unlike other healings in Scripture (e.g., prayers accompanying the preaching of the gospel), this is more of a prayer that accompanies the restoration of grace over a person's life in the sense of James 5:15, "and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." Today this kind of prayer is understood and practiced rather rarely.

Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver..." (Gen 20,14-16)

We know that Abraham did not behave in an exemplary manner, yet he emerged victorious from the situation. It is amazing to see how God's people are carried higher by sheer grace even when they are not excelling in God's way! But something must be added to this: Abraham's guilt here did not consist in throwing himself into some excess or sin. It was not a calculated act, a premeditated decision. It was far more a weakness of faith, a failure to stand the test, which was greater at that moment than how far his faith had grown. God has great grace for such.

In the end, the whole episode brought him, as it had once done in Egypt, riches - "oxen, cattle, slaves, and maidservants" and "a thousand shekels of silver." But more importantly, the incident brought him closer to Abimelech. He offered to let him settle anywhere in his land - meaning that Abraham would now be under his protection, seen as his own, not a foreigner. Now he no longer has to feel any fear here!

This protection was actually the most precious thing to him. For it is in this land that, a few months later, the most desired moment of his life will occur and his son, Isaac, will be born.

God uses even our weaknesses and mistakes to build something precious, something valuable. Corrie ten Boom recalls how one mission tour took her to Asian countries. But she had great difficulty remembering the faces of the locals; they all looked the same to her, as they do to many Europeans. So it happened that she approached a person in confidence whom she thought was her helper from the local church, but she was wrong; he was a stranger and even a non-believer who did not react well at that moment. She was ashamed of her faux pas - until she found out later that because of her mistake, the man had found himself in her congregation and eventually turned to Christ.

And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her: This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” (Gen 20,13)

It is not easy for most people to understand why God made Abraham wait so long for the birth of the promised son. As El-shaddai, the Almighty, he could have acted long ago, but he did not. Why?

We have already mentioned that God did not want the son to be given to that Abraham (actually Abram) who he was like in the beginning. It is a mystery that the untransformed mind cannot comprehend: God's treasures cannot be possessed by a carnal man. After the fall, God denied man, whose defining component had become "flesh," access to the tree of life. A person without deeper spiritual experience believes that God is essentially a kind of St. Nicholas who distributes gifts to people. Since he does receive some in the beginning and encounters the incredible principle of God's grace in salvation, he is affirmed that this is true: everything is free and most certainly immediately. But later he discovers that it doesn't quite work that way, and his faith withers as a result; he hasn't understood or not been told, that his faith will be tested, his heart transformed in the wilderness of life. It is not an easy road, but it is the only road to spiritual riches and victory. Abraham walked that path, too, and for 24 years by now. The events in Gerar probably take place shortly before the miracle of Isaac's conception, and now he was approaching the glorious moment when the promise could be fulfilled.

When a man is slowly changing within, it is rather his surroundings that take notice. We ourselves notice our changes when they are greater and take place at a particular moment, i.e., in leaps and bounds. Most of the time it is a stage of crisis, a trial, which forces us to change our attitudes and outlook and throws us into the arms of God.

According to what he said to Abimelech, Abraham still perceived his situation as very dangerous just before the conception of Isaac. He certainly thought a lot about his situation. If he had had the opportunity to look at it from God's perspective, he would have come to the conclusion - that he didn't actually have to tell a half-truth at all. He was in the center of God's view, literally the apple of His eye. Nothing would have happened to him - for that would have made an end of the line of God's nation on earth, His plan for the whole world! But Abraham still sees God (literally the deity - Elohim) - as those who have "let him wander" while he is given over to the adversity of life, he must protect himself by every means available.

Let us be careful not to judge the mistakes of others - it makes us feel good, and so we love doing it. I do not point it out for this reason. But it is good to understand how Abraham grew spiritually by this example.

For we will continue to witness how he completely let himself into God's hand as he reached the heights of faith in his life. Now such a "leap" in growth is before him. Perhaps it was the situation he found himself in at Gerar and his thinking about it that helped him to do so. It has brought him to an even greater degree of self-surrender to God for life and death, to the heights of faith that God is able to do anything for him, even the utterly impossible.

Shortly thereafter, the promised Isaac came into the world.

And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.” (Gen 20,9)

Abimelech was clearly shaken. He was a king, and no one in his territory exceeded him, but he had just encountered the power of God Himself, before which he and his men were in fear. He summons Abraham and reproaches him for his conduct. How strange it is when a heathen king morally rebukes a man of God!

It is good to perceive how other people see us. It is good not to live a life that arouses disgust at our faith. But there is a balance to be struck. It probably happens to every follower of God from time to time that he is judged unfairly by those around him. When people feel that we are superior to them in certain things and we care about how our lives are perceived by those around us, they like to point out something in which we are not exactly perfect. But such criticism may not be fair, for it is often carried by the slogan "it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog...". Often we come to the conclusion that if we were to live up to all expectations and meet everyone's criticism, we would end up being unable to do anything at all, we would be completely paralyzed - if we behave this way, it bothers someone, if differently, it bothers someone else.

On the contrary, it's more often a trap to throw us into feelings of guilt and justification in front of people. When we fall into this, the criticism doesn't stop. Since it is working and fulfilling its purpose, it will continue. Therefore, it is wisest to draw our own conclusions about the matter and not fall into a state of inwardly reporting to men and not to God. If there is anything we need to change, let us confess and bring it to God, knowing that He alone is the judge of us, not men.

Abraham's present case is a little different, however, because we know for certain that the fault was on his side. Nevertheless, God remained at his side and ultimately vindicated him against Abimelech ("He will pray for you and you will live" Gen. 20:7), for he rather could not bear the pressure of the current situation (a sense of danger) than to have plunged into sin through his own initiative.

How good it is that God sees not only the act, but also the motives that led the person to it! For this reason, too, our judgment is never entirely just. The same act of two men may be judged differently by God. This is also why Scripture advises us to be very careful about our judgment of others.

But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.” And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” (Gen 20,4-7)

Well, Abimelech has just shown us how to usurp a stranger's wife with integrity and "clean hands" - and God may yet vouch for him!

To understand places like this, we must remember that in ancient times, people acted on the basis of customary law, because, unlike in our time, no other law was yet widespread. The king of a given area obviously had the right to take into his harem any unmarried woman in his territory. Horrible as it seems, it is perhaps worth mentioning that thousands of years later, in the 18th century, we also find references to the so-called law of the first night in so-called Christian Europe. According to this, a feudal lord had the right to have first intercourse with the wife of his estate who had just entered into marriage.

God certainly did not approve of such a thing, for we know from later Scripture how He views marriage - only that this standard was not even reached by many patriarchs, let alone by Abimelech, who did not honor the Lord at all. Therefore, this must be understood to mean that God is now only treating him as a stranger, based on his understanding, his culture, the generally accepted principles of the time - which he did not actually violate. Of course, if Abimelech were to become a worshiper of God, his morality would have to undergo changes far more far-reaching than that - and God would certainly require it!

"But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." I wonder what it's like when God threatens someone with death - and mind you, not through an intermediary, but directly, right to their face! There are not many places in Scripture where we see something like this. It looks like Abimelech took a moment to compose himself after God had agreed at first, but it seems to have strengtened him so much that God had to go further and get tough: if you don't give her back, not only you will die, but all your loved ones as well!

This, too, was a custom of the time, and Abimelech understood it very well: not only the guilty party was punished for the harm done, but his whole family or tribe. The retribution normally exceeded the act committed.

This is also why the later Old Testament provision of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is, in the view of the time, an expression of mercy, not harshness as it appears to us today - it stipulates that the punishment was not to exceed the offense.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” (Gen 20,3)

A remarkable thing happened: God Himself went into action for a man whose attitude was not 100% right at that moment. Abraham caused the situation, though the mitigating circumstance for him is that he spoke a half-truth out of more or less legitimate fear for his life, under great pressure.

It is all the more remarkable that God should have inserted Himself with such vehemence into a matter where His man's actions were not perfectly holy. The vehemence is unprecedented - God announces to Abimelech straight away that he is going to die! Hebrews 10:31 says it is "terrible to fall into the hand of the living God." Not just the dry statement of imminent death, but the very experience of meeting God without mercy must have been truly terrifying for Abimelech.

In situations like this, in our moments of failure, we realize again that God is far greater than our sins! If the measure of His grace matched the perfection of our lives, so that it balanced it like a tongue on a scale, if it were not infinitely greater - just where would we be? Thank God that His willingness to blot out (and forget) sin is many times greater. That He always offers to help us again, even after we have failed Him. If there were no such addition of something MORE on our faith journey - if everything worked only to the extent that we tried our best, we might as well go to the monastery of any religion, and try to achieve sanctification there through superhuman discipline and mortification of our inclinations.

But God has given us the additon of His own MORE! The power of His Spirit is present whenever we acknowledge that we are weak, so that we fail to live truly holy lives. It is near whenever we are willing to receive it, whenever we do not hinder it. He even works with us in secret, at times when we don't really know we need it. She offers herself to us again even after we have grieved her. Again and again God offers us his grace, without any reproach.

This is not to encourage us to take our following lightly, because God always works it out for us in the end. But let us turn our eyes from our imperfection to the One who has given us everything we need to live - and first and foremost, to live a spiritual life. Our journey, true discipleship, is marked by an overflow of God's grace. Otherwise it would be, as we like to say, only a dead religion.

Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. (Gen 20,2)

Abraham certainly could not have been proud of the way he acted, but he justified it to himself by trying to minimize the danger. Scripture does not always offer an interpretation of the events described that is easily detected after the first cursory reading. At this point we are shocked to see Abraham telling a half-truth, and so we make a snap judgment: what a patriarchal dictate, what inequality, he protected himself at the expense of the weaker sex, nothing happened to him, but what about Sarah? What arrogance over the fate of those closest to him when his own wife ends up in the harem of the local king. He should be ashamed of himself!

But we need to go a little deeper to understand and perhaps gain some grace for him. For some places in Scripture tell a story, but not an evaluation of it (and certainly not primarily to us who live in a world so far removed from the one in which these stories took place that certain things are harder for us to understand).

We find two clues that can guide us to be clearer about the extent of Abraham's guilt. The first is this: 'Abimelech sent for Sarah'. Abraham was in foreign territory where he was a guest and felt threatened. It seems that Sarah was simply taken away by Abimelech's messengers. At that point, it was simply no longer possible to take up the fight against the outnumbered inhabitants of Gerar, especially since Abraham was forced by circumstances (probably lack of water) to remain there.

The second clue is even more obvious. Note that God did not reproach Abraham about this unfortunate episode even afterwards. On the contrary, we will see that He strikes Abimelech and affirms Abraham in relation to him - He has him pray for the miraculous healing of his house!

Abraham was certainly aware that this situation was caused by his fear and his resulting half-lie/half-truth. We are not always proud of ourselves... but we can be sure that God understands our weaknesses and the pressures we are under. (After all, who knows how many of us who are critical of him would act differently in his place?)

One thing we can be sure of, however, is that Abraham was aware of his mistake, and in the end he came to the right conclusion in his heart. How can we be sure of that? Because God then stooped to him in even greater power than he had ever known before. Abraham was later not farther from God, but nearer than he had ever been before.