Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20060723.htm

THE PREINCARNATE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST
Part I: Christ's Ministry With Hagar: Solving Problems Formed By Functioning Independent Of God
(Genesis 16:1-16)
  1. Introduction
    1. Good intentions are always better than bad ones, but good intentions applied to decisions in life apart from God's leading will produce eventual chaotic results, for, without God, man walks in darkness, Isaiah 8:20.
    2. This truth is evident in the predicament Hagar faced due to her relationship problems with Sarai.
    3. However, in His preincarnate ministry, Jesus Christ revealed that He provides directions and eventual solutions to the tangled webs that man weaves when he functions independent of God (as follows):
  2. Christ's Ministry With Hagar: Solving Problems Formed By Functioning Independent Of God.
    1. Jesus Christ appeared in His preincarnate form to Hagar when she fled from her mistress, Sarai:
      1. The Angel of the Lord who appeared to Hagar in Genesis 16:7 revealed Himself to be God by His words in verse 10 that He would greatly multiply her seed, cf. also Genesis 13:14-16.
      2. This Angel of the Lord is distinct from other Persons of the Godhead as Zechariah 1:12-13 reveals.
      3. Now, the Angel of the Lord ceases to appear as deity in Scripture after Christ's incarnation.
      4. Hence, by deduction, we view the Old Testament Angel of the Lord as the preincarnate Jesus Christ.
    2. As such, Jesus Christ worked and will YET work to solve completely the complex problems formed by Abraham and Sarai when they functioned independent of God and so walked in darkness (as follows):
      1. Hagar was met by the Angel of the Lord in the wilderness as she fled from her mistress, Gen. 16:7-8.
      2. This flight had been caused by a relationship problem that had developed between Sarai and her maid Hagar when the latter had become pregnant through Sarai's husband, Abraham, Genesis 16:4-6.
      3. Now, Abraham had cohabited with Hagar at Sarai's request to produce an adoptive son for him through Hagar in keeping with secular customs, Genesis 16:1-3; Ryr. St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Gen. 16:2-3.
      4. However, this attempt at a solution to Sarai's barrenness was done independent of God (as follows):
        1. God had told Abram He would make of him a nation (Gen. 12:2) from the seed of his body, 15:4.
        2. Now, God had not yet said He would use Sarai to bear Abram's seed, but God indicated this to be a strong possibility when He had kept Sarai from having sexual union with pharaoh in Genesis 12:11-20: (1) While sojourning in Egypt for relief from a severe famine in Canaan, Abram told Sarai that her beauty might motivate the Egyptians to kill him to take her to be an Egyptian's wife, Gen. 12:11-12; Ibid., ftn. to Gen. 12:12. (2) Thus, since she was his half-sister (Gen. 20:12), Abram urged Sarai to tell the half-truth that she was his sister to avoid being killed when the Egyptians decided to take Sarai as and Egyptian man's wife, Gen. 12:13. (3) When the Egyptians saw Sarai and mentioned her beauty to Pharaoh, and Sarai identified herself as Abram's sister, Pharaoh took her into his harem, Gen. 12:14-16. (4) However, God plagued Pharaoh so that he did not sexually defile Sarai, and pharaoh sent her back to Abram, 12:17-19a. (5) God led Pharaoh to release and to send Sarai and Abram away even with all they had obtained with the dowry for her, Gen. 12:19b-20!
        3. Thus, for Sarai to seek to use Hagar to bear a son unto her husband in Sarai's name was for Sarai and Abram together to resort to a human solution independent of God!
      5. Yet, the preincarnate Christ told Hagar to return and to submit to Sarai, Genesis 16:9. He promised to bless Hagar's son, Ishmael, noting that Ishamael would be a foe to all others and they to him, Gen. 16:10-12. This has come true as Ishmael fathered Arab people groups, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 57.
      6. Yet, this rift between Ishmael and Abram's seed, the Jewish people, will be solved in the Messianic Kingdom when Jews, Arabs and the Gentile nations will believe in Christ as their Savior and will be mutually controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, cf. Joel 2:28-29 with Isaiah 19:23-25.
Lesson: For trying to solve Sarai's barrenness independent of God, the great conflict between Arab and Jew arose. However, Christ indicated directions to be taken when the problem first arose, and He will solve it when all men, Jews, Arabs and Gentiles alike, will trust in Him and be controlled by the Spirit!

Application: (1) May we NOT function independent of God and His Word, but WAIT upon Him and FOLLOW His precedents and directives. (2) May we then trust in Christ and depend upon His indwelling Holy Spirit for the solution to all problems formed by man's operating independent of God!