Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
The verse belongs to the account in which angels, as heavenly messengers, came to Abraham with promises of blessing, specifically that Abraham and Sarah would have Isaac. At that time Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. By human power the promised son therefore seemed impossible. The promised birth tested Abraham and Sarah's trust in God's power, and their attempt to bring it about through Hagar showed lack of faith and brought unhappiness.
God fulfilled His promise to them, and the birth of Isaac brought great joy to Abraham and Sarah. Their case proves God's unlimited power to overcome human impossibility, that nothing is impossible with Him and old age does not stop Him from keeping His word to give a child. The promise that they would have Isaac remained central to Abraham when he later faced the command to offer Isaac. Zacharias, himself an old man with a wife well stricken in years, should have remembered this case when the angel promised him a son, instead of forgetting it and doubting that such an honor from the Lord was possible.
The verse belongs to the account in which angels, as heavenly messengers, came to Abraham with promises of blessing, specifically that Abraham and Sarah would have Isaac. At that time Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. By human power the promised son therefore seemed impossible. The promised birth tested Abraham and Sarah's trust in God's power, and their attempt to bring it about through Hagar showed lack of faith and brought unhappiness.
God fulfilled His promise to them, and the birth of Isaac brought great joy to Abraham and Sarah. Their case proves God's unlimited power to overcome human impossibility, that nothing is impossible with Him and old age does not stop Him from keeping His word to give a child. The promise that they would have Isaac remained central to Abraham when he later faced the command to offer Isaac. Zacharias, himself an old man with a wife well stricken in years, should have remembered this case when the angel promised him a son, instead of forgetting it and doubting that such an honor from the Lord was possible.