Twilight Years
Abraham the Believer: Part 17 (Final)
Genesis 25:1-11
By Dave Redick

If God gives you and me what amounts to a long life by our standards today, will we spend it for His glory? If our health allows, will we stay productive for Him? Even if our health breaks, will we determine to meet the challenge of keeping an attitude of joyous expectancy of eternity with Him?

Dr. Lou Patmore wrote the following piece that he called, CHILD'S VIEW OF A MOBILE HOME PARK:

After the Christmas break, the teacher asked her small pupils how they spent their holiday. Here's one little boy's reply:

"We spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live up north in a big house, but Grandpa retarded and they moved to Florida. They live in a park with lots of other retarded people. They all live in tin huts. They ride tricycles that are too big for me. They all go to a building they call the wrecked hall, but it is fixed now. They all do exercises, but not very well. They play a game with big checkers and push them around on the floor with sticks. There is a swimming pool, but I guess nobody teaches them--they just stand there in the water with their hats on. My Grandma used to bake cookies for me, but nobody cooks there. They all go to restaurants that are fast and have discounts.

When you come into the park, there is a doll house with a man sitting in it. He watches all day so they can't get out without him seeing them. I guess everybody forgets who they are because they all wear badges with their names on them. Grandma says that Grandpa worked hard all his life to earn his retardment. I wish they'd move back home, but I guess the man in the doll house won't let them out." (1)

So much for how the young view the old. What about how the old view the young? Some of us may have no clue whatsoever what it is like to be young today.

Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year’s incoming freshmen.

Here are some highlights from the list for the year 2000:

I’ll bet after hearing these things, some of us are older than we thought!

It’s probably about time for Abraham to go into his "retardment," don’t you think? After all, he is in his twilight years. As we open the book of Genesis once again this morning, he’s nearly 140 years old. He’s showing signs of slowing down. The first verse of Genesis 24, which we covered last time, says, "Now Abraham was old, advanced in age…." (2) In our last lesson we saw him entrust the search for a wife for Isaac to his most dependable servant – presumably because the arduous 500-mile trip back to Mesopotamia was too much for him at his age.

So do we find him ready to move to the mobile home park and take it easy on his 140^th birthday? Has he taken to his rocking chair yet? Not on your life! While the verses we are going to consider in Chapter 25 this morning are the last ones written in Genesis about his life, and could easily be called his "twilight years," we find that even at his great age, he continued to live a productive life.

This will be the final message in the series that I’ve been preaching, called "Abraham the Believer." In a sense I feel this morning that I’m saying goodbye to a close friend. I started planning this series 5 years ago, so concern about it has been with me for a long time. You live with a character like this, reading Scripture and thinking day and night about his life and what it means to believers. You try to see life through his eyes, against the backdrop of his time and culture. You do, indeed, get attached.

As we enter Genesis 25, Abraham is in the twilight of his life. Sarah, his beloved wife, is dead. Ishmael, his oldest son, is living in the distant east. Isaac has married Rebekah and is building a life of his own. You really would think it would be time to slow down.

So what did Abraham do?

Keturah is mentioned in only two chapters in the Bible – this one and 1 Chronicles 1. (3) The 1 Chronicles passage says that she was Abraham’s concubine. This could mean that after Sarah’s death she became a full-fledged wife or it could mean simply that the terms "wife" and "concubine" were sometimes used interchangeably. I don’t know. We know little more of Keturah than what is said in these two passages.

I’ll mention here for some of you who might have wondered, that while God allowed the practice of concubinage and/or polygamy among the Patriarchs, it was not His intention in the beginning. Neither is it His will for us today. Let me explain why.

God’s revelation to man unfolds gradually in the history recorded by the Bible. In the beginning, before the fall, when things were perfect, the standard for marriage was one husband and one wife. (4) When Adam fell, the human race went into gross sin and indulgence - so much so that God wiped them out in the flood. Survivor Noah was a righteous man, but as the population increased, wickedness again prevailed. God did not reveal His laws and standards to those ancient people all at once. His revelation was progressive. He gave them more and more as time passed and presumably, as they were able to deal with it. The Bible indicates in at least one place that the reason for this was their "hardness of heart." (5) In other words, He tolerated some things in times past that He does not allow today. Paul made this clear in his sermon to the Athenians on Mars Hill. He said, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent…" (6) The Patriarchs lived during these "times of ignorance." We live in times when God’s will is as completely revealed as it is going to be in earthly life. The standard is, and has been since Jesus came in the flesh, one man married to one woman.

So if, as we’ve gone through these chapters of Genesis, you’ve been considering taking an additional wife or husband, the answer is no! J

Next, we see of Abraham, that sometime after age 140:

2. He Started a Second Family

Apparently, when God restored the Patriarch’s ability to father children at age 99, He also restored his general vitality. Abraham didn’t just father Isaac. During the 38 years between Sarah’s death and the death of Abraham, he fathered 6 more sons! Can you imagine? 140-plus years old with descendants in diapers! How would some of you grandparents like to start over again at your age? I think God would surely have to do a miracle, don’t you?

You might remember that a part of God’s original promise to Abraham was that he would be "the father of a multitude of nations." (7) We tend to think of him only as the father of a nation of people, namely the Hebrews. Yet he was also the father of other nations, including the various Arabic nations - some who would be the descendants of these sons of Keturah along with those of the son of Hagar, Ishmael. (8)

But among all of these sons and grandsons there was only one son of promise. It would be through Isaac that God would ultimately bless the world. Abraham loved and blessed all of his sons, but he made special provision for Isaac.

Surely Abraham loved all of his sons. These gifts he gave while he was alive probably helped set them up in their livelihoods. But just as he had done earlier with Ishmael, (9) perhaps due to the same threat that oldest son had presented to Isaac so many years ago when he was caught mocking him, he sent them away as they reached manhood. Thus, Isaac’s position as heir was assured. Abraham was still very much in tune with God’s promise!

As vigorous as Abraham was in these twilight years, rejuvenated by God so that he was able to father children so late in life, it did not last forever. Ultimately, as all of us must, he reached the time when:

And then, as has been the case without exception since Eve ate fruit from the forbidden tree and shared it with her husband, the flickering candle of Abraham’s earthly life finally went out.

Apparently Abraham died peacefully. Literally, he ‘breathed out his spirit." He died at a "ripe" (or good) old age. He was "satisfied with life." From his extended vantage of 175 years, Abraham could look back with great contentment and see that God had honored him at every stage of life - in his youth, in his middle age, in his early old age, then again in this period of extended vitality. He was satisfied with the choices he had made. He was glad he had served God. When he looked back over the home he had left, the people he had met, the wars he had fought, the tests God had given him, and the way God had come through even when it seemed impossible, he could say that it was a wise choice to serve the Lord. There was no terror in his passing. There was no abruptly concentrated regret for a misspent life. There was no desperate clinging to the things of this earth. Abraham was at peace with his life and his God. His was a serene passing - the gathering of his spirit to be with those who had served God before him.

Wouldn’t it be good if those things could be said about you and me when we pass from this life? My friends, it pays to serve God for your whole life! As difficult as it seems sometimes to fight against the strong current of ungodliness in this world, and to see some that we love fall away from God, if we hang on, it will be worth it in the end. If you are serving God, you have set your feet on the right path. You are walking where you should be walking. You are living the kind of life that will yield rich dividends, just as was the case for Abraham.

Surprisingly, Abraham’s death reunited two estranged relatives – his two oldest sons – Isaac and Ishmael.

If it was awkward for these estranged brothers to meet under these circumstances, it isn’t mentioned here. While to my knowledge, the text doesn’t say, it may be that these two brothers had not seen each other since they were children.

Just like Abraham’s death united these estranged brothers, so it is often that funerals bring together estranged relatives today. I regularly see people who haven’t spoken to one another for years, show up for the memorial service of a common loved one such as their father or mother. It is often said that it’s too bad it takes a death to make such reunions happen.

So as we say goodbye to this great man of faith, Abraham, and we see the way he dealt with life in his twilight years, let me ask you:

If God gives you and me what amounts to a long life by our standards today, will we spend it for His glory? If our health allows, will we stay productive for Him? Even if our health breaks, will we determine to meet the challenge of keeping an attitude of joyous expectancy of eternity with Him?

In a Bible study guide on the life of Abraham, well-known author and speaker Charles Swindoll gave what he called, "Common Misconceptions of the Twilight Years." (10) I think his ideas in this area are good. He wrote that most people approach retirement with one of three faulty ideas.

I have seen these three "isms" in people I know. Have you? I’m reasonably sure that if God gives me some extended years, it will be difficult to avoid these pitfalls. My purpose here isn’t to chide anyone who is either in this stage of life or approaching it. My purpose is to provoke your thinking. Surely the twilight of life has its limitations of lessened capacity, poor health, and sickness. It is a greater and greater challenge to keep an attitude of optimism. That said though, just as in every other stage of life, we still need to be challenged! We’re not dead yet!

I had an occasion to study the origin of the concept of "retirement" a few years ago, and what I found surprised me. Prior to the industrial revolution in this country and in Europe, the idea of a set "retirement" age was unknown. Generally, when people were on the farm, they stayed productive as long as their health allowed. In a world where every hand was needed and appreciated, that’s just the way it worked. The older years were viewed as simply years of more limited productivity. It was only when it became profitable to move older workers off the production lines and out of the way, in favor of a younger, more agile and compliant workforce, that the expectation that you aren’t productive after age 65 became the norm. Said another way, rocking chairs prior to the industrial revolution were reserved for those whose health had failed, not those who had reached a certain age and wanted to check out of any kind of productive life.

Today many view "retirement" as the end of productivity rather than a time of decreased productivity or even a time when we can do more for God. It is my conviction that Christian people should continue to be productive for God, even in their later years. In my opinion, the idea pushed so hard by the investment industry in this country that we should become self-indulgent, living the "good life," removed from any useful contribution beyond what selfishly benefits us after age 65 is not what the God of the Bible desires for us.

Ted W. Engstrom quoted an article in Newsweek Magazine, entitled, "Advice to a (Bored) Young Man." His purpose was to remind his readers that the twilight of life can still contain years of continued exploration and discovery. The article said:

Died, age 20; buried, age 60. The sad epitaph of too many Americans. Mummification sets in on too many young men at an age when they should be ripping the world wide open. For example: Many people reading this page are doing so with the aid of bifocals. Inventor? B. Franklin, age 79.

The presses that printed this page were powered by electricity. One of the first harnessers? B. Franklin, age 40.

Some are reading this on the campus of one of the Ivy League universities. Founder? B. Franklin, age 45.

Others, in a library. Who founded the first library in America? B. Franklin, age 25…

Now think fire. Who started the first fire department, invented the lightning rod, designed a heating stove still in use today? B. Franklin, ages 31, 43, 36.

Wit. Conversationalist. Economist. Philosopher. Diplomat. Printer. Publisher. Linguist (he spoke and wrote five languages). Advocate of paratroopers (from balloons) a century before the airplane was invented. All this until age 84.

And he had exactly two years of formal schooling. It’s a good bet that you already have more sheer knowledge than Franklin ever hand when he was your age.

Perhaps you think there’s no use trying to think of anything new, that everything’s been done. Wrong. The simple, agrarian America of Franklin’s day didn’t begin to need the answers we need today.

Go do something about it! (11)

No, not all of us are or can be inventors. But we can all continue growing and learning and looking forward to the life God gives us.

As we set this series aside then, let me encourage you to continue living your life for God.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1. Dr. Lou Patmore, Carrabelle United Methodist Church, Carrabelle, Florida.
2. Genesis 24:1
3. 1 Chronicles 1:31-32
4. Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:6
5. Matthew 19:8
6. Acts 17:29-30
7. Genesis 17:4
8. Ishmael was the father of 12 tribes, just as Isaac. See Genesis 25:12-18
9. Genesis 21:18
10. From Abraham, the Friend of God, a Bible Study Guide by Charles Swindoll, published by Insight for Living, P.O. Box 4444, Fullerton, CA 92634.
11. Ibid.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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