The Supernatural Church

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE SUPERNATURAL CHURCH

Gen 23

23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. 3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead." 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead." 7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. 8 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you." 10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 11 "No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead." 12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there." 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 "Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead." 16 Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants. 17 So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field — was deeded 18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

NIV

Although this is the whole account of the death of Sarah and Abraham dealing with Ephron the Hittite for a burial site for Sarah, there is something we should take note of regarding Sarah that before we have not considered. She was ninety-one when Isaac was born and she nursed him, which is well beyond anything natural. We would then conclude that the birth of Isaac resulted from a promise from God and was supernatural. Sarah is one woman who was even mentioned in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11, and most interestingly, Paul makes her the mother of the promise of Isaac the son of the supernatural, as well as uses the term, free woman, while Ishmael, the son born naturally, the son of a slave woman, in his letter to the Galatians. This would make Sarah a type of the church, in that Mary was the other woman in the bible who gave birth to a son as a result of a promise of God, in a supernatural way, because she was still a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, the head of the church. This also means that if we are going to live under the promise of God, then according to the words of Jesus, we will never see the kingdom of God being born naturally, but must be born again, or born from above supernaturally, as Jesus told Nicodemus. This Sarah was one of the two most important women in the scriptures unless we include Eve, the mother of all life. However, Sarah and Mary were mothers by the promise of God, born sons supernaturally. It would be fitting for Abraham to make such a huge deal about finding and paying for the perfect place of rest for the body of Sarah, his beloved wife, who gave him Isaac, his heir who through him would make Abraham the father of many nations. This would also happen through the supernatural when Jesus, was born, as Mary was a descendent of Abraham, and, in fact, although Joseph was not the father of Jesus, he too was a descendent of Abraham. Through Jesus, all those who are born again, or born from above come from many nations, who now are the church, in the spiritually, supernatural way, because we are born from above, we are spiritual descendants of Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, and Sarah. It is therefore fitting that we honor Sarah, the mother of the supernatural church, as both the author of Hebrews and Paul did before us.