Gods Sabbath

H OW A BRAMAND S ARAI BECAME A BRAHAMAND S ARAH

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“No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abra ham, for I have made you a father of many nations.... God al so said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’” Genesis 17:5, 15, 16.

Two Symbols of Two Procedures

It is not enough to see a physical fulfillment of God’s predic tion that Ishmael would become a great nation. Both of Abra ham’s sons are types—Isaac portraying those who build God’s kingdom in God’s way, and Ishmael symbolizing those who at tempt to build God’s kingdom in their own way. Although both manifest much the same dedication, zeal, industry, self-sacrifice, and consuming desire to advance God’s cause, only with those who are symbolized by Isaac is God’s covenant to be found. The mighty apostle Paul was deeply concerned with the dif ferences between religion where God’s work is done His way, and religion where people attempt to do God’s work their own way. He could see in the birth of these two young men a powerful il lustration of these contrasting procedures and the inevitable but

Apostatized church system

True church of God

Isaac

Ishmael

“Ishmael” and “Isaac” are sym bols for the two opposing proce dures by which an apostatized church system and the true church operates

Attempt to build God’s kingdom man’s way

God’s kindom is build God’s Way