“THE MINISTRY OF MULTIPLICATION” (C)
Isaiah 54:2; Isaiah 59:21 By Daniel W Baugh, Jr., Ph.D.

III. A POWERFUL PICTURE

The Bible presents to us an incredibly powerful picture of multiplication in the personal history of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham, the man who is identified as “the father of the faithful.” When Abraham was seventy years of age, he left the city of Ur of the Chaldees at God’s call and went out “to go into the land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:5). He stalled in a place named Haran, but then departed from there when he was seventy-five, “and into the land of Canaan they came” (Genesis 12:5). When Abraham departed from Ur, God had made this promise to him: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” It is doubtful at this time that Abraham had much awareness of the extent of this promise, but he obeyed God and went to the land of Canaan.

In Genesis 15:1, “God came unto Abram in a vision,” and in the ensuing conversation Abram said, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? to me thou hast given no seed” (verses 2, 3). “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, He that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (verses 4, 5).

Note that at this point in the story his name is “Abram.” The name means, “father of many.” The Biblical record tells us that Abram lived on the route of the camel caravans that carried the commerce of the ancient world between Egypt and the lands to the north and east. Abram was rich in cattle and financial wealth (Genesis 13:2), and he controlled the wells and water rights of the area. This meant that all the merchants and trade caravans had to depend on him for water and provisions as they passed through the area. The rules of Eastern hospitality meant that he entertained them. Thus, they spent much time in visitation and conversation. When they asked him his name, he was forced to make an embarrassing acknowledgment to them. “Really?” they would muse, “Abram .... father of many .... and just how many sons do you have?” Each time he answered, the bitter embarrassment must have increased. “None,” he would mutter, avoiding their eyes as he spoke, and always wanting to hurry to another, more comfortable, topic. This enabled him to not face the peculiar looks that passed back and forth among his guests, and to not see the furrowed eyebrows and sly smiles as they puzzled over the contradiction of his name and his history. Even his household servants must have gossiped over such topics as, “Who is sterile, Abram or Sarah?” The “father of many” was actually father of none. Was he really a full man?

I heard about a couple who were childless after several years of marriage. One day, someone asked the man why they had no children. The husband fumbled for words as he tried to explain the reason. First, he said, “I guess you could say my wife is impregnable.” Realizing this was unsatisfactory, he tried again. “No, no. I mean that she is inconceivable” Again, he knew that wouldn’t do, so in frustration, he said, “Let’s just say that she is unbearable.” I can imagine that Abram was at just such a loss time and again.

But Abram was not alone in his frustration. Sarai, his wife, must have especially felt the bitter inconsistency of the situation. She must have often wondered if it was she herself who was barren. So she did an unconscionable thing. Abram had brought a “handmaid” named Hagar back with him when he sojourned in Egypt some time before, and Sarah boldly said to Abram, “Go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai” (Genesis 16:1, 2). Verse 4 tells us that Abram “went in unto Hagar, and she conceived.”

Can you imagine the community gossip that was aroused when Hagar became pregnant, and everyone knew that Abram was the child’s father? Two women were talking. One said, “Tell me more.” The other retorted, “Listen, I’ve already told you more than I know!” People around Abram and Sarai were probably freely telling what they knew—and more! According to the text, this occurred when Abram was eighty-five years of age, and Ishmael, his son by this union, was born when he was about eighty-six years old. Now the “father of many” at least had one son, and some of the double stigma of childlessness and contradiction was gone. Surely Abram was extremely proud of that son, and he was equally proud of himself. The boy was his, and he was proud of his virility.

However, there was a major problem in the whole episode on God’s side. God intended to make a multiplier out of Abram according to His rules, not through a moral misadventure involving a pagan handmaid. The union between Abram and Hagar represents the maneuvering of human flesh to be productive before God. However, God clearly had other ideas. Genesis 17:1-2 says, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; .... And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” Just as the name of Abram was an important part of the story, the name God used for Himself is also very important. The name is “El Shaddai,” which contains the ideas of great power and great productivity. Someone translated it, “The God Who Is Enough.” “I am the God Who is enough,” he said to Abram, “and I will multiply you exceedingly.” The problem on God’s side was that He intended to fulfill these massive promises of multiplication through Sarai, Abram’s wife, who was eighty-nine years old at the time. However, Abram was beyond child-producing age and Sarai was beyond child-bearing age. But God was relentless in stating His promise and His purpose. In Genesis 17:5, God added insult to injury when He said to Abram, “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” Then in Genesis 17:15-16, “God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife .... I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations.”

At this point, Abraham showed all the vanity and false hope that a man can harbor in his flesh, and he exclaimed to God, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” It was a cry of unbelief, of ignorance, and of vanity, but it was typical of the proud flesh in every man. Even though we may be totally sterile as far as God’s command of multiplication is concerned, we may take false refuge in the artificial productivity of the flesh just as Abraham did. “Oh, but look at my record. I am a regular and faithful church member. I read my Bible often. I am not a bad person. Others have far greater failures on their record than I do.” Etc., etc. And all of these claims are echoes of Abraham’s cry, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Friends, the flesh will always hide in a substitute productivity, but God has no place for the flesh in His standard.

“Beloved self must be denied, And the mind and will renewed;
Passion suppressed, and patience tried, And vain desires subdued.”

There was no miracle connected with the birth of Ishmael, and if there is no miracle in the product of your Christian life, then you have missed the ministry of multiplication! Ishmael was born of the natural bodily powers of Abram. And God finally told him to send Ishmael away, just as He dismisses our best effort when we offer it as a substitute for the miracle of genuine spiritual multiplication He desires. God adamantly said to Abraham, “‘But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.’ And He left off talking with him.” No argument, no discussion, no questions. Conversation ended!

Note the ingredients of this story. Number one: it was God’s stated purpose to bless all the world through Abraham’s offspring. Even so, it is God’s stated purpose to bless all the world through your spiritual offspring!!! Number two: Abram was sterile and childless, a walking contradiction of God’s purpose. Even so, most Christians are sterile and non-productive (no multiplication whatsoever), a walking contradiction of God’s purpose. Number three: God rigged the history of Abraham so that he could only fulfill God’s intention by a miracle. Even so, God has rigged your personal history as a Christian so that His personal intention for you can only be fulfilled by a miracle. Number four: Abraham was forced to trust “the God who raises the dead, and calls those things that are not as though they were” (read Romans 4:17-21 very carefully). Even so, only miracles of resurrection and fiat declaration given by God will enable you to receive the miracle of multiplication that will bless the world to the ends of the earth and until the end of time. Dear Christian, if you are not multiplying yourself in others in such a way that future generation impact is guaranteed, you are a walking contradiction of the clear intention (indeed, the command) of God. However, God’s grace can cover the sin with His forgiveness, and God’s miracle will solve the problem!

Think long and hard about your responsibility to multiply spiritually, then focus your attention on the God Who quickens the dead, and counts those things which are not as though they were — and ask Him for a miracle! Then, begin to equip yourself to be a multiplier, and look for a disciple. It was to Abraham’s son, Isaac, that God later said, “I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven” (Genesis 26:4), and He added, “I will multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.” Hebrews 11:12 summarizes the entire miracle of multiplication in Abraham’s life in these words: “Therefore there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seas shore innumerable.” And the same miracle is available, in a spiritual way, to any Christian who hears the Master’s Mandate to multiply, believes God for the miracle, and begins to equip himself to “raise the children” when God gives them. When God gives you the miracle of a multiplying disciple, and future generations are on the horizon, you will see that you never had a problem that a Divine miracle could not resolve. And soon, people will use your story as an example of the miracle of multiplication just as we are rehearsing the story of Abraham today!