There he was minding his own business. He had lived a long life and really didn’t have much to show for it. I mean he had possessions and a lovely wife, but in his day if you’re name didn’t pass to a son none of that really meant much. 

We’re looking at Isaac today, one of the most prominent examples of an unexpected person. But to get to Isaac, we need to first find Abraham, his dad. Abraham was an old man by the time God came to him and interrupted his day with the promise that he’d be a father soon. You could only imagine the shock that came to his heart (not to mention his face)! 

That child would’t just be any old child though. God promises in Genesis 17:16 I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her. That’s God talking about Sarah, his wife. Nations? They were almost 100 years old. She wasn’t able to have kids, so how in the world was this nations thing going to happen! And if you know anything about the Bible you probably know that she didn’t have literal nations of kids. She had Isaac. That’s one child, so what about this whole nation deal? 

That one child was all that was needed for nations to be part of her lineage. You see the one child that was born to Sarah was the most unexpected child she could have imagined. Not because he was a wonderful gift from God that would bring her much joy. No it was because that one child would bring us another child a few thousand years into the future. His name wouldn’t be Isaac or Abraham.  Instead, Jesus was his name. 

Jesus would establish another nation but his nation would be different than any other nation on earth. It wouldn’t have boundaries of land or kings living in palaces. His nation is eternal. It’s a universal kingdom that outlasts time and even space. And all of this because God allowed an unexpected child to be born to a couple near 100 years old. Talk about an unexpected birth!