When the grace of God comes into our lives, many things in our lives change. When the grace of God comes into your family today your whole house will be transformed. We saw the difference in the house of Abraham. When the Lord found Abraham in Genesis 12 when He told him to leave Haran, Abraham’s did not life altogether. When the grace of God came upon him; when he believed on the Lord everything changed including his name changed and his wife’s name also.
I want to discuss their names and show you the significance of their names and the letters which the Lord added. The name of Abraham was Abram. This name is without the letter ‘H’, which ‘H’ in Hebrew is ‘He’ the prefix for the word ‘Hesed’. The word Hesed in English is translated as Grace. The word ‘He’ is also number five in the Hebrew writing. In Hebrew language, their numbers are also alphabets like, Aleph (A or 1), Beth (B or 2), Gimel (C or 3), Daleth (D or 4) and He (H or 5).
For this reason, I would like to unequivocally tell you that the addition of the letter H in the Hebrew names has a significant meaning. From Genesis 15 where God made a promise to Abraham and where Abraham was justified, God ceased from appearing to Abraham for about fourteen years. After fourteen years, the Lord appeared to Abraham and officially made a covenant with him. Below I want to show you the demand of the covenant and the benefit of the covenant for Abraham.
Let us read, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly’. Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations” (Genesis 17:1-5).
If you check properly, it is on verse five where God pronounces the new name of Abram. More reasons to acknowledge that five is the number of grace. The name Abram means high father, but when the Lord breathed ‘h’, it was then Abraham; meaning the father of many nations. What about his wife’s name? His wife’s name was Sarai. The first three letters of her name says a lot already. In Hebrew the word ‘Sar’ means a prince. Now the name Sarai means dominative. Abraham’s wife was a dominative prince to just a lowly and homely father of just a lowly family.
Before the Lord breathed the letter ‘h’, which is grace, the family of Abraham was upside down, the wife had the upper hand over the husband. When Abraham could not obtain a child by his wife, his wife commanded him to go to Hagar who was their servant from Egypt. Let us read, “So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her’. And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai” (Genesis 16:2).
Dominative wife! Abraham said no word but just heeded to Sarah’s voice. Remember, I promised to show you the demand of the covenant of God and Abraham in Genesis 17, I want you to keep that in mind as we continue. For now let us discuss Genesis 16. Sarai has an upper hand in her family and that makes her family not to be in peace. This is because the princess is the prince and the prince is the princess. The one who is supposed to give birth to a child cannot give birth to a child and until Abraham went out to get the child. Of course he did that on her behest as she is the prince of the house.
Perhaps God is teaching us a lesson here. What is the lesson? The lesson is that we first become carnal and later spiritual and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise forever. Sarai also her name changed to be Sarah. This is what the bible says, “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her’” (Genesis 17:15).
Just imagine Sarah back calling Abraham her husband and Abraham’s response would be, ‘Yes my prince’, or if Abraham needed anything from Sarah, he would call her, ‘Prince’. Now this is huge predicament any man can go through. As a man, once a wife stops recognising your headship, you feel disrespected and the love you have for wife diminishes. This is a serious issue, because this could lead to divorce. Women, the Holy Spirit knew when He said you ought to submit what He meant. The word used in Greek is hupotassō meaning to reflexively obey.
The Lord in verse 15 changed Abraham’s wife’s name, this is after the stipulation of the covenant the Lord made with Abraham. In that covenant, the Lord said to Abraham, ‘walk before Me and be blameless.’ The Lord’s demand was that Abraham should walk before Him, meaning with Him; and as Abraham walks with Him he will be blameless. It is like what the Lord Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery. Let us read, “...And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’” (John 8:11).
The Lord of grace does not demand works first from us before He can act, rather He expects faith. From Abraham, it is like He was saying, ‘Come, to Me and I will make you blameless’, while on this woman it is like He was saying, 'I do not condemn you, now be empowered to live a blameless life'. With us it is different; we want and demand people to be blameless first before we can say we do not condemn them. God’s way is the other way around.
Now when Sarah Abraham’s wife’s name changed, she was rejuvenated and was able to give birth in her old age. It is the grace of God (Hesed Elohim) people! Here in Genesis 17, God intervened in the matter which seemed as hard nut to crack. I say God is still intervening in marriages. God said to Abraham you shall not call her name Sarai – in other words your wife who is dominating over you; you shall not call her my prince but Sarah (Princess or Queen).
When Sarah’s name changed, she was able to call Abraham my lord, meaning that the dominative spirit was completely abolished. Perhaps you are reading this message and you are wondering how can this be applicable to you? Maybe you are about to divorce or you are still contemplating it or you are just facing problems in your marriage. Pay attention to this, somehow, someone has abandoned his position or someone has been stripped of their position in the marriage. What you need to do is to do introspection, and be honest about it and pray to the Lord Jesus, ask for wisdom. Sometimes men strip women of their positions and expect that their wives will be able perform their duties and sometimes it is women who strip men, just as the example of Sarah and Abraham.
Man’s duty in the family is to become the head and woman’s duty is to become the body. The head has its duty in the body and body has its duty to even taking care of the head. When the Lord created Eve, He created her to be the helper of the man, Adam. Some men want to be just dominative in their marriage not wanting to take their wives’ inputs. Then if you are like that as a man, ask for the wisdom of the Lord and read the bible daily, the Lord will inspire you.
Stay in health through grace and favour...
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