Two Brothers

In the Bible there are many stories about brothers, from the beginning we have stories that follow brothers in conflict - Cain & Able, Joseph, Jacob & Esau, Moses & Aaron, Absalom & brothers. In the NT we have James & John as a good example of a postive relationship between brothers and back in the book of Genesis we have two brothers who have had a profound effect on subsequent history. Yes Ishmael & Isaac, introduced to us in Genesis 21.

As Christians we love to talk about Isaac, we know all about him and he is usually viewed in a positive light. Ishmael on the other hand - he gets bad press, actually he hardly gets any press from Christains. I came across a very good article on this the other day and have published it in full below:

"Muhammad is a direct descendant of Ishmael through his second son Kedar.

(There are some who would disagree with this claim as the following shows - "Long before Ibn Ishak, Muslims who lived in Mohammed’s own time also fabricated genealogies in an attempt to connect Mohammed to the descendants of Ishmael. Mohammed, himself, rejected all of these false genealogies, and he put limits regarding the genealogy of his ancestors. Regarding Mohammed’s own rejection of the false genealogies, Amru bin al-As wrote:
Mohammed genealogized himself regarding his ancestors until he reached al-Nather bin Kinaneh, then he said, “anyone who claimed otherwise or added further ancestors, has lied.”[2][ii]
By this, Mohammed confessed that neither he, nor anyone else, knew about his ancestors beyond al-Nather bin Kinaneh. Nather bin Kinaneh is the 17th ancestor in the genealogy which Mohammed recognized as true. Other narrations of the customs, or sayings, of Mohammed, called Hadiths, show Mohammed refused to be genealogized prior to Maad, معدwho some suggested, was the 4th ancestor prior to al-Nather bin Kinaneh.[3][iii]")

Ishmael is the 1st and only one of four people to be named by God before his birth.
God heard the lad because Ishmael means “God hears” God knew the end from the beginning. He named Ishmael before he was born because of the plan and destiny of his life. God heard his cry in the wilderness and opened the eyes of Hagar so she could see a well of water and gave Ishmael water to drink that he might live. Amazingly the well was already there, but they could not see it.

4000 years later the Muslim people are in a spiritual wilderness with a cry that has deepened; they are dying of thirst, unable to see the well of their salvation. But God is going to hear the cry of Ishmael and open his eyes and show him the well of living water-Jesus- that he may drink and live. It took water to save his natural life, and it will take living water from the well of Jesus to save his spiritual life.

We (The church) must intercede for the Muslims like a mother would her dying child.
Intercession and prayer is the first step. Intercession is prayer that embraces the heart of God. God used a woman to give water to Ishmael to drink in the wilderness, and He will use another woman, the church, to give living water to him today, out of the well of everlasting life. Ishmael is thirsty for living water and hungry for fresh baked in the oven of God’s Spirit.

Some of us have walked away from Ishmael, just like his own mother did, because the condition of Ishmael seems so hopeless in many ways.

God will hear the cry of the Muslim people in this hour. God named Ishmael before he was born, in His wisdom, because one day he knew there would be 1.6 million Muslims in a spiritual wilderness. Church get ready-an entire generation of Muslims is going to come into the Kingdom.

We must understand to nature of Ishmaels cry.

It began when he was cast out of his father’s house and left with no inheritance. For 15 years he grew up with the love of his father, Abraham, but was cast out because the son of the bondwoman could not be the heir with the son of the free woman. The next time Ishmael saw his father was to bury him, he also buried his chance to ever be a son.

At the core of Ishmael’s cry is a desire to be loved by a father and a need for identity.

Centuries later, the children of Ishmael built a memorial around the cry of Ishmael and called it Islam, which means to submit to God much like a servant, rather than to have a relationship with him as a son. Islam filled the void of his heart, saying God is not a father and has no son. Islam became the face of God to Ishmael. Muslims still see themselves as servants or slaves submitting to God, hoping that, through their works, they can obtain acceptance and approval from God and avoid the inevitable judgement. They seek to earn acceptance by God through works rather than grace.

This is not just a moral code but a state of being of every Muslim. Regardless, the cry of Ishmael has never ceased but deepened with time.

The Bible says we should be living epistles read by all people. It’s one thing to be a written epistle; it’s another thing to be a living epistle.

Before they go to the Book, they should read the Book in you. You have been made a new creature; then you have new ministry; you have a new message, a word of reconciliation.

Muslim people respond to revelation. They do not respond to mental gymnastics and debates, they do not respond to arguments. Muslim’s love to debate, but when you debate, an argument may convince someone’s mind, but their mind is subject to change. Learn to talk to the heart of a person rather than argue with the mind of a person.

God will respond to cry of Ishmael with dreams and visions of Jesus. The answer to these dreams and visions will be the Gospel of Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation. The open door in their understanding is dreams and visions.
So we, the church, need to get serious – our hearts have to be hearts of love.
There is an element of terrorism and war within the Muslim world today.
Jacob became Israel. Even today Esau hates Israel. Esau does live by the sword, and Esau’s descendents are a people stronger than Israel. The struggle that began in their mother’s womb continues.

Esau went to Ishmael, his uncle, and married his daughter, Mahalath. Ever since the, Esau and Ishmael have been mingled together in covenant.
Today, mingled with Ishmael, is Esau, who has always been at war with Jacob. Ishmael was spoken of as being a man of war, and Esau was destined to live by the sword. They both were archers but with different intentions. Ishmael was an archer for survival in the wilderness war. Esau was a hunter of the wild, more interested in hunting his prey and celebrating his strength over Jacob, the worker of the fields. Esau lived by the sword, and Ishmael was always at war.

Islam is in a modern-day crisis. The cry of Ishmael and the pain of Esau that once united them are now forces that divide them."

Let us remeber that both Isaac and Ishmael were given a blessing from God, both were destined to be a 'great nation'. Try reading Romans 10:1-4 as if Paul was writting to Muslims.