Listen now to God's precious word from Genesis chapter 25, beginning in verse 1. Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshen, Midan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshen fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asherim, Letushim, and Leomim. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanach, Abida, and Eldah. All these were the children of Keturah. Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward to the east country. These are the days and years of Abraham's life, 175 years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar, the Hittite, east of Mamre, the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with Sarah, his wife. After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at Bir Lahairoi. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever, and so let us ask his help now as we come and seek to receive it by faith. O Lord, tonight we do pray, as we so often do, that you would give us now, as we approach your holy word, eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts ready, willing, and able to understand and believe all that is written here in your word. We ask, O Lord, that you would bless us through the reading of this word, teach us about yourself, and show us the way to go. In Jesus' name, amen. In our Genesis series, we arrived at Genesis chapter 12, beginning of Abraham's story. on October 6th, 2024. It's been a little while. And since that day, Abraham's life has been the subject of 24 sermons, if you count this one. Suffice to say, we have, over several months, having breaks here and there, gone down a long and winding road with the old patriarch as he was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans and into Canaan where he would spend the last 100 years of his eventful life. Nevertheless, his story ends tonight. At least insofar as our study of the book of Genesis is concerned. He does cast a long shadow over the next 25 chapters, no doubt. He casts a long shadow over all the Bible even, no doubt. But this is, Genesis chapter 25, the end of the line for Abraham, personally speaking, in terms of new details about his life and times. And this being the case, our passage tonight provides us with something of a summary reflection on his life. It gives us a final rundown on Abraham's children and their various destinies. And it gives us a glimpse into his blessed death and ripe old age, at which point he stepped into his real inheritance in the Canaan above. And both aspects of the Bible's summary leave us with the sort of impression that has been building over the course of 24 chapters, which is that Abraham is indeed a man blessed by God. He carries that blessing with him all the way to the grave. And then that blessing passes on to his son Isaac as Abraham enters the land of heavenly blessing Nevermore to Rome, no longer a sojourner, but a son in the house of his father. So let's examine tonight, as we come to Genesis 25, 1-11, how all that happens, dividing our text into two parts. First of all, we'll take a look at Abraham's sons in verses 1-6, and then we will take a look at Abraham's death in verses 7-11. Abraham's sons and Abraham's death. first of all, Abraham's sons. The text here begins with what you might find somewhat surprising, a notice that Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah. Now our natural inclination is probably to view this as the thing that happened next. After Abraham married off Isaac to Rebekah, as if this marriage was just the next chronological event that took place in Abraham's life. But most commentators agree that this is an unlikely conclusion, given both the somber nature of our passage and the non-chronological scheme of the chapter as a whole. I'll give you an example. We know that Genesis 25 does not follow a strictly chronological scheme because when you take all of the actual time markers you're given in the book of Genesis as they pertain to Abraham, what you find is that the Abrahamic narrative actually shows us that Abraham was alive when Jacob and Esau were born. despite the fact that the story of their birth is told after the story of his death. We have a clear example of a non-chronological ordering of events in the book of Genesis, particularly in chapter 25. And so this passage is not so much designed, it does not seem, to provide us with a clear-cut progression of things that happen next, but it's rather designed to tie up the loose ends in Abraham's story. before beginning a new stage in the history of redemption with the life and times of Isaac. However, if that's true, that verse 1 is not necessarily what happens next, that raises a problem which has proven difficult to solve. Maybe you can begin to foresee what that problem might be. If this passage doesn't chronologically follow chapter 24, then we are not told. when Abraham married Keturah. We're left to conjecture, really, and there are basically two schools of thought on this matter. Some believe that Abraham must have married Keturah while Sarah was still living, given the fact that she is treated, as we see in this passage and elsewhere in the Old Testament, like a concubine rather than a full-fledged wife. And, given the fact that they had six children together, which is something that would have taken a while. On the other hand, some who are particularly skittish about the thought of Abraham taking a second wife after that troublesome episode with Hagar, they place Abraham's marriage to Keturah sometime after the death of Sarah. He would have been quite old when Sarah died, but he did live for close to 40 years. after she passed. And so there would have been enough time for him to father other children if you assume a couple of things. Perhaps the Lord, we were told when he gave birth to Isaac at 100 years old he was as good as dead, but perhaps the Lord reinvigorated his body in order to father Isaac and those effects were very long lasting such that he continued to bear children as an unusually ancient father. So those are your two options. while Sarah was still alive or after she died when Abraham was quite old. And admittedly, choosing between these options is difficult. Good scholars, commentators, theologians, and preachers come to differing conclusions on this, but I think, I'll propose this to you tonight, this is what we'll go with, I think that the option which best accounts for all of the information we are given is that Abraham took Keturah as a concubine while Sarah was still living, but well after Isaac had been born. I think that best accounts for all that we know about this woman. Why? Well, this would account for the fact that she is not treated as a replacement for Sarah. She's more like, again, a concubine wife whose main role is to bear children. Later in this passage, she's going to be grouped among a group called the concubines of Abraham, and 1 Chronicles very explicitly describes her as not Abraham's wife, but Abraham's concubine. And this would also account for the fact that the birth of these children does not figure into this story as largely as the birth of Ishmael. This is why I think that if he did marry Keturah while Sarah was still living, he must have married her after Isaac was born. Why? Well, because the birth of Ishmael is in the Genesis story a big deal. And it is a big deal because it was an attempt to circumvent the plans of God to give a child to Abraham and Sarah. However, if these children were born after the birth of Isaac, then the relationship to Keturah, even though problematic in its own right, it was not in the same way a threat to the future of the covenant. It was not in the same way a threat to what God was doing in the same way that the birth of Ishmael to Hagar. Interestingly, John Calvin, in his commentary, comes to a similar conclusion, which usually means we're on somewhat safe footing at least. He writes this, Thus the blessing of God pronounced in the words increase and multiply, which was annexed expressly to marriage, is also He's saying here, in this case, extended to unlawful connections, meaning his unlawful relationship with Keturah. Certainly, he says, if Abraham married a wife while Sarah was yet alive, as I think most probable, his adulterous connection was unworthy of the divine benediction. So he did not, by doing something wrong in marrying Keturah, he didn't deserve the blessing of God. He says this, And although we know not why this addition was made, the just measure of favor granted to Abraham, yet the wonderful providence of God appears in this, that while many nations of considerable importance descended from his other sons, The spiritual covenant, of which the rest also bore the sign in their flesh, remained in the exclusive possession of Isaac. In other words, what Calvin is saying is this. This marriage to Keturah was probably an adulterous arrangement contracted after the birth of Isaac, but before the death of Sarah. And he concludes that while God would not have approved of the union itself, He did use it to administer his promise of many offspring to Abraham, even while restricting the spiritual blessing to Isaac. As God had told him back in Genesis 17, 5, No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. And these nations did come about collectively through Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah. Now verses two through four provide us with a brief genealogy of Keturah's sons spanning three generations, and not much is known about most of these boys, and so we're not going to linger long on any of the individual's names. Mimidian's descendants will have a role to play later in the stories of Genesis and Exodus, and some of these names appear at various points in the story of the Old Testament, but details about these men are mostly lost to time. The main point to grasp as you read through this genealogy is that Abraham's offspring multiplied and the sons of Keturah throughout their generations mostly ended up east of Canaan in the region near Arabia. So these boys did not stay in Canaan. They went out east of the land that the Lord had promised to Abraham. And we learn how they ended up in that region in verses 5 and 6. As has already been suggested, these sons play a small role in the book of Genesis because they did not really pose a threat to the covenant line which had already been established with Isaac. He is the heir. And verse 5 says that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. So note well, Isaac is not just the primary inheritor, he is, in a technical sense, the sole inheritor. The others, the sons of Abraham's concubines, namely Hagar and Keturah, they were all sent away with gifts. It's not as if they were sent empty-handed. As was the custom of the day, the inheritance was divided prior to the death of the patriarch. In this world, you didn't just simply hope that someone would execute your will in a manner which was pleasing to you. No, if you didn't die suddenly, you got this taken care of before you died. And so Abraham sends most of these sons away with gifts, We know that Ishmael had made a new home in a distant land long ago, and Abraham had sent him out with gifts then, but now Abraham sends Keturah's sons east with gifts in hand. And in so doing, he shows them fatherly kindness, but he does it in a manner which makes plain that they would not inherit as equals with Isaac. He provides for them, but they are not his heirs, in a legal sense. Abraham would not, with these sons, attempt to circumvent God's plan as he had in the past when he fathered a child with Isaac. He got it now. Isaac's the main man. He is the one that all of this is going to pass down to, and the others, cruel though it may sound to us, need to get out of the way. And so in these verses we see that God keeps his promises and grants blessings even when the recipient of those promises and blessings is imperfect. Abraham made many missteps throughout his life, including probably with Keturah. But God did not leave him. God did not forsake him. Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. And then, having been imputed righteousness, Abraham showed himself increasingly righteous throughout his life, even if he never, even in his old age, attained perfection in this world. And so even these first six verses of our text tonight ought to stand as a signpost for us of the abundant grace of God towards sinners. His faithfulness is stronger than our resolve. His faithfulness is stronger than our commitment to holiness. And He often shows grace, because this is what grace is, to those who are undeserving. And He sometimes, as we see here in Genesis 25, and perhaps by experience in our own lives, He sometimes uses the very fruit of our waywardness to bless us. Because He is the God who can get good out of evil. And God did that in a certain way with Abraham's bearing of sons with this concubine Keturah. Indeed, we see as we come to Abraham's death in verses 7-11 that God did get much good out of Abraham, even his wicked deeds, over many years as we turn to this account of his final days. And as we turn to this account in verse 7, we read that the Lord gave Abraham 175 years on this earth. He's still a part of that generation. and that period of time after the flood where the lifespans are tapering downwards. Still quite long by our standards and perspective, but quite short in comparison to those people who existed prior to the flood. And so, 175 years for Abraham. The first 75 of those years were spent ordinarily and obscurely in Mesopotamia, when Abraham was living in the land of his father. The next 25 years from 75 to 100 were spent waiting on the promises of God, especially the gift of a son. And then the last 75 years were spent in the land of Canaan with his son, though we don't know many of the details from this period. At the end of that long life with which God had so richly blessed him, we find that Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. This is the Bible's way of telling us that Abraham died a happy man, enjoying the favor of the Lord. Back in Genesis 15, verses 12 through 16, the Lord revealed to Abraham, as he spoke to him, that his descendants would one day suffer bondage in a land not theirs, namely when Jacob's sons would go down into Egypt. But as for Abraham himself, God told him that he would go to his fathers in peace and be buried in a good old age. And now we see that God has kept His word. The patriarch left this earth full of years being satisfied in God. He was full. He was satiated insofar as one can be satisfied here below. and then he was joined with his believing kin in heaven. We know this because the Bible says that he was gathered to his people. Remember, we might immediately think that's some oblique way of referring to Abraham's burial. Abraham was not buried in an ancestral tomb. He had to buy his tomb and his burial is not mentioned until verse 9. Verses 8 gathering of Abraham to his people. And verse 9, the account of Abraham's burial, they communicate two distinct events. And so to use the language of Hebrews chapter 11, when Abraham died in a good old age, he set off for a better country. He departed for that city which has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. And this happened not because he had lived a good life, but because he had trusted God. To the very end, he was a man of faith who believed the word of the Lord, and thus, he was justified for Christ's sake. What does it mean that Abraham, who lived so long before the life of Christ, was justified for Christ's sake? Our confession helps us understand this. According to Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 11, paragraph 6, the justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament. So the claim there that's being made is that there are not, within the Bible, multiple routes towards salvation. Abraham was justified by faith through the finished work of Christ just like we are. How could that be? Christ hadn't died yet. Christ hadn't even been born yet. Again, the Confession is helpful. Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 7 now, paragraph 5, says this. This covenant, talking about the covenant of grace, was differently administered in the time of the law and in the time of the gospel. Under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Paschal Lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all for signifying Christ to come, which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious through the operation of the Spirit to instruct and build up the elect in faith and the promised Messiah by whom they had full remission of sins and eternal salvation. And it's called the Old Testament. You see, Abraham believed the promises under a prior administration of that one covenant of grace. He did not know everything about redemption through Christ that we know, for sure. But he did believe what had been made known to him, which ultimately signified the coming of Christ, his very seed, and that was sufficient to grant Abraham a claim on Christ's work, which would be accomplished many centuries later. You see, we serve worship an eternal God who is not bound in his actions by the restrictions of time and so this gap in time was no obstacle to an eternal God in remitting Abraham's sins and granting eternal life in Christ even before Christ himself had come and therefore because the Lord justified him in this way my faith in the promises he was gathered to his people and in his death. Congregation, your path to being gathered to the people of God above is the same as it was for Abraham. Your path to a blessed death is the same as it was for Abraham. Your path to paradise is the same as it was for Abraham. The only difference is that the revelation we have received is fuller than the revelation he received and we stand chronologically on the far side of the cross and the empty grave that saved both us and him. That which was promised has now been accomplished. The call is still to believe, and so this text, as we see how Abraham's life went and how it ended, this text calls us to believe God just like Abraham, and it will be counted to you as righteousness. Accept, receive, and rest upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. He has died. He has risen. He is coming again. And those who turn to Him will join Abraham at Jesus' side at the hour of their death. That's good news. Returning now to the text. having considered the way in which Abraham was gathered to his kin. We read of Abraham's burial, and once again we're greeted with something of an interesting surprise in this text. Verses 9 and 10 say, Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar, the Hittite, east of Mamre. The field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites, there Abraham was buried with Sarah his wife. The long separated from Abraham, as the son that Abraham was forced to reject in favor of Isaac. Ishmael now joins his brother at the tomb of his father to lay him to rest. There had always been, despite the difficult circumstances, the text suggests to us, all through these chapters, that there had always been love between Ishmael and his father. Abraham did not delight in sending his son away. And we are led to believe here, I think, that he possessed much more significance in his father's world than the sons of Keturah, though he too was the son of a concubine-like wife. They're not mentioned here at Abraham's death. Ishmael is. Abraham's death brings Ishmael back together with his brother. And so he comes with Isaac to lay Abraham's body down in the cave of Machpelah, that one and only patch of ground, than Abraham legally owned in the land of Canaan, his very tomb, standing as a testament to the kindness of God to his servant, because it was a token of greater fulfillment to come, more land to come, to put it succinctly, in future generations. There in the tomb, Abraham joined the body of his wife, awaiting bodily resurrection, at which point, in the future, He will come forth into the new heavens and the new earth, just like us, with all God's people, at the consummation. And then at last we read, After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son, and Isaac settled at Bir Lahairo. This final verse is a preview, in a sense, of what is to come in the ensuing chapters of this book. Abraham has fathered eight sons in total. One from Hagar, one from Sarah, six from Keturah. But the covenant blessing belonged to Isaac alone, as the Lord had long declared, as he had long made clear. Abraham's death did not alter that one bit. Ishmael and the sons of Keturah, they did prosper on the earth as far as we're told at least. We know that they all had many sons and especially Ishmael had 12 sons. He was quite a prosperous man with a long lineage and blessing. But it was to Isaac that the real treasure was being passed down in this passage. The inheritance of covenantal divine blessing. Though he had lost his father, Isaac had what he really needed which was Word, God Himself. He had God Himself. And folks, the good news tonight is that if you believe the Gospel, and in Christ the seed of Abraham, then you too can have all that you really need. Though you may not even equal the riches of the sons of Keturah or Ishmael, you can have all that you really need. And we know that because we've already read tonight Galatians chapter 3 verses 1 through 7. Or rather 1 through 9. Those verses told us as much. And those verses told us that it is those who have faith who are the real sons of Abraham. Sons, to be clear, like Isaac. rather than Ishmael or the sons of Ator, sons who inherit, sons who are blessed. Here at the ends of the earth, Paul tells us in Galatians chapter 3 that we can be blessed through Christ, the offspring of Abraham, because those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. In other words, Abraham's dying. Isaac is being blessed, but the blessing did not end with Isaac's succession of Abraham. It was just getting started. And by entrusting ourselves to Christ by faith, we can know blessing on earth and blessing in heaven when we too are laid in our tombs, put down in our graves and gathered to our people. even has imperfect people with a spotted record because that's exactly what Abraham was. So thanks be to God. We have God, as we see in the text, who cares for us, his people, from cradle to grave. He will not leave you if you are his. So let us praise him and continue in this life to walk in faith knowing that our God keeps covenant without fail. Those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Let's pray.