During February and March’s Come, Follow Me study, we meet the lives of three couples: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Rachel. These three generations shared the covenant to carry forward a birthright promise to be a light to the world through an innumerable posterity. Paradoxically, each of them faced fertility challenges—despite the promise of countless descendants.
We can learn something from these generations of infertility. There were three levels of intervention that led to a resolution. God intervened directly in Sarah’s life. Isaac prayed, and Rachel prayed. I don’t doubt that all of them said their prayers and that God intervened in each case, but the scripture gives us a different view of each solution.
Very late in their lives, God and his messengers came and announced that Sarah and Abraham would finally have a child. “And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Genesis 18:13-14).
After twenty years of trying, Isaac prayed, his fervent request was heard, and his wife conceived. “And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived” (Genesis 25:21).
In the case of Rachel, after many years watching her sister have child after child, the scripture says, “And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son;” (Genesis 30:22-23).
What do we learn from these three women’s infertility stories and the resolution of their desires?
I think we learn that having children and being in a birthright covenant marriage is a tripartite responsibility and partnership. God, the wife, and the husband are all involved. It is not just about one person’s will. Each plays an integral role in every part of a birthright covenant.
Any temple sealing of a marriage, to be a true union in time and eternity, requires the consent of all three parties and an ongoing striving for worthiness by the couple. To have an eternal marriage, the husband must be worthy and willing. The wife must be worthy and willing. The marriage must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, which implies the consent of God.
Ordinances are opened doors of eternal possibilities through which we may walk. No one is trapped in such a covenant. They are never chains of compulsion that bind us into relationships with God or another against our will. For a marriage to endure in time and in eternity, it requires bilateral willingness and worthiness from the couple, and God’s consent. All elements must be present.
Unity in Marriage Will Bring Eternal Rewards
No earthly marriage is perfect. We are never perfect, but we must not be pessimistic about our covenants. They are not as fragile as we imagine. We must remember who is on the other end of the covenant. Things will come right if we continue to try to do our best.
In Genesis we shall see there were elements of the marriage relationships in the lives of these three couples that we should imitate and follow. There were also very dysfunctional negative parts of their lives that we should learn to avoid. They filled their part in the great plan of happiness, even though they were evidently not always happy and not always in harmony. In the midst of all that they had their child, or their children.
Not every couple, for a variety of reasons, is able to have children. The prophet Isaiah wrote to a group of people, common in antiquity, who had been made unable to have children during their mortal lives:
“Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 56:3-5).
Under the law of Moses, which we will meet in May, a eunuch could not perform priesthood functions or be a member of the congregations of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:1). But by Isaiah’s later revelation, these men were welcomed into the house of Israel as full participating members with the same condition as others: that they keep the Sabbaths and live righteously (“choose the things that please me”) and embrace the covenant. By so doing they were promised “a place and a name” better than the sons or daughters whom they were denied on earth. Their heritage was that of the whole house of Israel. They would be given an eternal name and place with God in His glorious kingdom. They would receive these blessings in His house, the temple. They would receive greater blessings than the posterity they could not have on earth and would be able to have an eternal increase of children in the next life, which is what an eternal everlasting name implies (Doctrine and & Covenants 132:19-20).
All Because of the Birth of a Baby
We can watch the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and see the blessings of unity when it was present. We shall also see the bitter fruit of disunity as it affected these families striving to live their lives in the patriarchal order of marriage. Much of their growth usually began and moved forward with the arrival of a baby.
Babies are God’s way of moving families, nations, and all humanity forward.
Did Abraham need to know everything about Abraham’s faithfulness? Send Isaac.
Did Israel need to be freed from bondage? Send Moses.
Did all of us need a Redeemer? Send Jesus.
Babies come and babies move us.
Terrence C. Smith, Retired family physician who helped welcome 2,000 babies