By Jamin Roller
J. R. R. Tolkien invented a word to describe what happens in his fairy tales. The word is eucatastrophe. It describes a sudden turn of events toward good. When all hope seems lost and defeat seems imminent, there is a sudden eucatastrophe that happens. The hero shows up, help comes, and there is a joyous turn from sure defeat to improbable victory.
Throughout the story of Genesis, we get to these eucatastrophe kind of moments. Beginning in chapter 3 when Adam and Eve rebelled against God and sin entered the world, God’s consequence turned into a promised rescue for humanity from their self-inflicted defeat. In chapter 12, God promised Abraham that he and his family would be part of that rescue plan. Abraham and Sarah’s child would be the first in a long line of descendants through whom God’s blessing would go to all nations. When we arrive at chapter 20, the birth of that promised child had been under constant threat—the impatience of Abraham and Sarah to to try and produce the child apart from the will of God, the fear of foreign kings and placing their lives in another ruler’s hands, their open doubt of whether God would do what He has promised. All of this posed a serious threat to the redemptive future of not just Abraham’s family but all of humanity. Then in chapter 21 we get this short, beautiful verse.
The LORD came to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
—Genesis 21:1
Eucatastrophe. In the face of all the sin that could have brought disaster and defeat, God brought a sudden, joyous turn. The promised child was born to Sarah in her old age, and the covenant promise continued through God’s people.
Two lines in particular stood out to me: “as he had said” and “did…what he had promised.” The reason the story of God took this sudden, joyous turn from defeat to victory is because our God is a promise-keeping God. He does what He says He will do. He keeps every promise He has ever made.
These moments early in the story of the Bible prepare us for the climactic eucatastrophe of the resurrection of Jesus. This is the ultimate, history-altering joyous turn where our God delivers us from death to life through our Savior.
Today, even in our sin and suffering, we put our trust in our promise-keeping God. He does everything He says. He keeps all His promises. And on the day that Jesus returns, those blessings promised to and through Abraham will be fully and finally ours in Christ Jesus.
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