In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we read about a healing of infertility that Abraham and Sarah experienced. Though Abraham and Sarah were well past the age when it is commonly believed to be physically possible to have children, God assured them they would have a son, and they did. In its spiritual signification, the healing illustrates how spiritualization of thought through receptivity to Christ, the truth of God and man that Jesus came to prove and teach, brings healing to the body and human experience. As such, the healing holds a promise of fruition and productivity for men and women in all ages.
To fully understand the import of this healing of infertility, and how it relates to spiritualization of thought and experience, it is useful to look at the context in which it is found. In Genesis, the spiritual origin and nature of man and the universe are set forth in the first chapter. Here creation is shown as complete, the unfolding of Life in its infinite detail and clarity. God, Spirit, who is all good, is revealing in spiritual light the completeness of His ideas, including man (male and female) as His own spiritual image and likeness.
A material theory of creation, often referred to as the story of Adam and Eve, is presented in Genesis 2:6—3:24. It commences with a mist arising, signifying an obscured view or lack of clarity. It presents a concept of creation or generation in matter, where man is depicted as mortal, incomplete, material, and subject to sin, sickness, and death.
The account of Abraham and Sarah’s healing of infertility in Genesis takes on different significance depending on which theory of creation one subscribes to. Looked at from a material standpoint, the healing is a miracle, or the temporary setting aside of material laws of generation to achieve a conception in matter at an advanced age. On the other hand, considered in the context of the spiritual record of man’s origin, the healing was not a miracle, but rather the natural outcome of a clearer perception of God as Spirit, and of man as entirely spiritual and immortal, breaking through in human consciousness. From that spiritual vantage, the healing account of infertility is preeminently relevant in all times, because it demonstrates that God’s law is a provable Science in which spiritualization of thought brings about a change in consciousness, resulting in healing.
In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, clearly states how we are to read and understand the Bible: “The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by this understanding can truth be gained. The true theory of the universe, including man, is not in material history but in spiritual development. Inspired thought relinquishes a material, sensual, and mortal theory of the universe, and adopts the spiritual and immortal” (p. 547).
The account of Abraham’s spiritual hospitality to the Christ-idea is an example for all of us.
The perception of life as entirely spiritual, when received and understood in human consciousness, heals a sense of barrenness in whatever form it takes. And certainly, a recognition that the concept of barrenness includes any belief of lack, including sickness (a lack of health or healing), sin (a lack of moral strength), or death (a lack of life itself), broadens the implications of this early healing in the Bible. It reveals that a change of consciousness, bringing to light the truth that man is conceived of spiritually rather than materially, can result in the healing of sin, sickness, and death.
As I thought about it, I realized that the scriptural account of Abraham and Sarah’s healing of infertility can be viewed as illustrating what Mary Baker Eddy calls the “new birth.” The new birth involves the purification of consciousness, which reveals the true concept of God, Spirit, and results in a spiritual apprehension of man and the universe. It is an ongoing entertaining of the true idea of God in consciousness that leads to transformation and spiritual regeneration, or new birth. Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health: “Every agony of mortal error helps error to destroy error, and so aids the apprehension of immortal Truth. This is the new birth going on hourly, by which men may entertain angels, the true ideas of God, the spiritual sense of being” (p. 548).
In Genesis, we can read about how Abraham entertained “the true ideas of God.” Soon after God told him that he and Sarah would have a son, Abraham received a visit from “three men.” While we might think of these visitors as human guests, a closer look at the story reveals the visit to be a spiritual communion between God and Abraham through Christ, the divine Truth that brought forth the birth of Jesus. Christ communicates the divine idea of God to human consciousness, the Truth that Christ Jesus lived as the Son of God and demonstrated in healing the sick, reforming the sinner, and raising the dead. We read that, “The Lord appeared unto [Abraham] …; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them … and bowed himself toward the ground” (Genesis 18:1, 2). Abraham showed great reverence for this Christ, or Truth, and he displayed a willingness and eagerness to receive, nourish, and entertain the Christ in his habitation—his consciousness—with a genuine sense of humility, joy, and expectancy of good.
Christ Jesus is recorded in the Gospels as acknowledging Abraham’s receptivity, as well as his prophetic vision, saying to the Jews: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus was then asked incredulously, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” He responded: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:56–58). Jesus was referring to the fact that his spiritual identity as the Christ was not limited to his brief span in human form, but existed before, during, and after his sojourn on earth.
Science and Health explains: “The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea,—the reflection of God,—has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love” (p. 333).
The account of Abraham’s spiritual hospitality to the Christ-idea is an example for all of us. Its prominence in the very beginning of the Bible points to the importance of welcoming the Christ into our consciousness. It shows us, in essence, that we should start everything we do by first listening to and receiving Christ, Truth. In this way we enter into the new birth, whereby we entertain a spiritual sense of being and gradually grow out of materiality. Christ illumines and enlightens human consciousness. And just as the light of Truth was present with Abraham and Sarah so many years ago, the Christ is ever present now to reveal spiritual reality, which heals and harmonizes.
Certainly, a mortal, material sense of existence can be very convincing. Abraham and Sarah first laughed when informed that they would have a child. But no mortal thought can prevent the Christ from being received into our consciousness. There is no mortal thought, no barren thought, no infertile thought capable of preventing regeneration through spiritual Truth.
Let’s follow Abraham’s lead to look up and run with joy to welcome the Christ into our consciousness. This is forwarding the new birth—and its healing power—by which we see and enter the kingdom of heaven here and now.
