The Exile and Redemption Pattern

With Adam the pattern was:

A command + blessing = multiplication
Failure
God made them coats of skins
 → exile.

With Abraham the pattern was:
A promise (because Sarah was barren) + blessing = multiplication
Abraham & Sarah went into Egypt and out again (prefiguring what his descendants would do)
He was willing to offer Isaac
Increased promise

With Israel the pattern was:

Exile
Passover
The Law + blessing = multiplication (but the problem was internal)
(They were still custodians of the promise.)
Exile again
Hope of truer redemption

With Christ the pattern was:

Brought out of Egypt
Suffered for us (our passover)
Rose again
Procured the promise
Blesses all nations

With believers (Paul and others and Christ as our examples) the pattern is:

Redeemed out of the the world, sin, the law and death
Blessed
But it's by faith, by promise, not by works (law)
And that means there's waiting, hoping - even suffering
And then culmination and resurrection at the Second Coming

It was of the promise, not of the flesh, because Sarah had been barren - so it was not through natural ability but dependent on what God would do. So instead of working, we simply believe, rest, receive and give thanks and glory to God!