After a person dies, we read the obituary, and after the burial, we read the will. Let’s do that with Abraham.
Abraham’s obituary (vv. 27–8). He died “in a good old age’’ as the Lord had promised him (15:15). He had walked with the Lord for a century (12:4) and had been “the friend of God’’ (James 2:23). Old age is “good’’ if you have the blessing of the Lord on your life (Prov. 16:31). In spite of physical deterioration and weakness, you can enjoy His presence and do His will until the very end (2 Cor. 4:16—5:8).
Like Sarah before him, Abraham “died in faith.’’ For 100 years, he had been a stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, seeking a heavenly country, and now his desires were fulfilled (Heb. 11:13–16). His life had not been an easy one, but he had walked by faith a day at a time, and the Lord had brought him through. Whenever Abraham failed the Lord, he returned to Him and started over again, and the Lord gave him a new beginning.
He also died “full of years’’ (Gen. 25:8). This suggests more than a quantity of time; it suggests a quality of life. James Strahan translates it “satisfied with life’’ (Hebrew Ideals, 197). Abraham, who was flourishing and fruitful to the very end, fulfilled the picture of old age given in Psalm 92:12–15. How few people really experience joy and satisfaction when they reach old age! When they look back, it is with regret; when they look ahead, it is with fear; and when they look around, it is with complaint.
An anonymous wit claimed that he would rather be “over the hill’’ than under it. But death is not a threat to the person who trusts Jesus Christ and lives by His Word. Old age can be a time of rich experience in the Lord and wonderful opportunities to share Him with the next generation (Ps. 48:13–14; 78:5–7). Then, when death comes, you go to meet the Lord with joyful confidence.
God promised that Abraham would die “in peace’’ (Gen. 15:15), and he did. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas wrote that “old age should burn and rave at close of day,’’ but that is not the Christian approach to old age or death. Abraham was saved by faith (v. 6), so he had “peace with God’’ (Rom. 5:1). He had walked in the way of righteousness, so he experienced the peace of God (Isa. 32:17). The God who had guided him for a century would not forsake him at the very end (46:4).
Like everything else in life, to be successful in old age, you must start working at it very young. That is the counsel Solomon gives in Ecclesiastes 12. The chapter describes some of the inevitable physical problems of old age, but it also emphasizes that a godly life beginning in one’s youth is an investment that pays rich dividends when life draws to a close.
The phrase “gathered to his people’’ (Gen. 25:8) does not mean “buried with the family,’’ for Sarah’s body was the only one in the family tomb. This is the first occurrence of this phrase in the Bible, and it means to go to the realm of the dead, referring to the destiny of the spirit, not the body (James 2:26). The Old Testament word for the realm of the dead is sheol; the New Testament equivalent is hades. It is the temporary “home’’ of the spirits of the dead awaiting the resurrection (Rev. 20:11–15).
The permanent home for the saved is heaven, and for the lost, it is hell. Luke 16:19–31 indicates that sheol-hades has two sections to it, separated by a great gulf, and that the saved are in a place of blessing while the lost are in a place of pain. It is likely that Jesus emptied the paradise portion of sheol-hades when He returned to heaven in glory (Eph. 4:8–10). The punishment portion of hades will be emptied at the resurrection that precedes the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11–15). For the lost, hades is the jail, while hell is the penitentiary.
One day, you will be “gathered to your people.’’ If God’s people were your people in life, then you will be with them after death in the home that Jesus is now preparing (John 14:1–6). If the Christian family is not your “people,’’ then you will be with the crowd that is going to hell, and it is described in Revelation 21:8, 27. You had better make the right choice, because eternity is forever.
Abraham’s will (vv. 1–6). Abraham left his material wealth to his family and his spiritual wealth to the whole world, all who would believe on Jesus Christ.
When God renewed Abraham’s natural strength for the begetting of Isaac, He did not take that strength away, and Abraham was able to marry again and have another family. However, he made a distinction between these six new sons and his son Isaac, for Isaac was God’s choice to carry on the covenant line. Keturah’s sons received gifts, but Isaac received the inheritance and the blessings of the covenant.
All who have trusted Jesus Christ are “as Isaac was, the children of promise’’ (Gal. 4:28). This means that we have a share in Abraham’s will! What did he leave us?
To begin with, Abraham left us a clear witness of salvation through faith. Paul cited his example in Romans 4:1–5, relating it to Abraham’s experience in Genesis 15. Abraham could not have been saved by keeping the law because the law had not yet been given. He could not have been saved by the ritual of circumcision because God declared him to be righteous long before Abraham was circumcised. Like everybody else who has ever been saved, Abraham was saved by faith and by faith alone. (See Heb. 11 and Gal. 3.)
But Abraham also leaves us the example of a faithful life. James used Abraham to illustrate the importance of proving our faith by our works (James 2:14–26). Wherever Abraham went, he pitched his tent and built his altar, and he let the people of the land know that he was a worshipper of the true and living God. When he offered Isaac on the altar, Abraham proved his faith in God and his love for God. He was not saved by works, but he proved his faith by his works.
From Abraham, we learn how to walk by faith. True, he had his occasional lapses of faith, but the general manner of his life evidenced faith in God’s Word. “By faith Abraham … obeyed’’ (Heb. 11:8). “The pith, the essence of faith,’’ said Charles Spurgeon, “lies in this: a casting oneself on the promises.’’
The late composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein said to an interviewer, “I believe in everything, in anything that anybody believes in, because I believe in people. In other words, I believe in belief. I believe in faith’’ (Maestro: Encounters With Conductors of Today, by Helena Matheopoulos, Harper & Row, 1982, 7).
But “faith in faith’’ is not the same as faith in God, because it has no foundation. It is building on the sand (Matt. 7:24–27). True faith is our obedient response to the Word of God. God speaks, we hear Him and believe, and we do what He tells us to do. Abraham and Sarah held on to God’s promises and God rewarded their faith.
Abraham gave the world the gift of the Jewish nation; and it is through the Jews that we have the knowledge of the true God plus the Word of God and the salvation of God (John 4:22). It is beyond my understanding how anybody could be anti-Semitic when the Jews have given so much to the world and have suffered so much in this world. It is unfortunate that the Jewish people thought their relationship to Abraham saved them (Matt. 3:7–12; John 8:33–59), but they are no different from unsaved Gentiles who think they are going to heaven because their parents or grandparents were Christians (1:11–13).
Finally, because of Abraham, we have a Savior. In the first verse of the New Testament (Matt. 1:1), Abraham’s name is joined with the names of David and Jesus Christ! God promised Abraham that through him all the world would be blessed (Gen. 12:1–3), and He has kept that promise. The problem is that the church is not telling the whole world that Jesus is indeed “the Savior of the world’’ (John 4:42). We are keeping the good news to ourselves when we ought to be doing everything we can to let the whole world know.
There can be only one Abraham and Sarah in God’s great plan of redemption, but you and I have our tasks to perform in the will of God (Eph. 2:10). Today, you are writing your obituary and preparing your “last will and testament’’ as far as your spiritual heritage is concerned. Today you are getting ready for the last stage of life’s journey.
Are you making good preparations?
Are you living by faith?
If you live by faith, then you will, like Abraham, BE OBEDIENT.