“No, But Sarah”: Covenant Promise, Divine Election, and the Naming of Isaac (Genesis 17:15–22)

Reformed Thinking · Jan 18, 2026 · 28m · transcript

Deep Dive into “No, But Sarah”: Covenant Promise, Divine Election, and the Naming of Isaac (Genesis 17:15–22)Genesis 17:15–22 marks a critical transition in redemptive history where God breaks thirteen years of silence to dismantle Abraham’s reliance on human pragmatism. During this silence, Abraham had assumed Ishmael was the fulfillment of God's promise, effectively settling for a "Plan B" religion rooted in his own efforts. However, the Almighty God intervened to demonstrate that the covenant would not flow through human vitality but through the miraculous restoration of Sarah’s dead…