July 28, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Thessalonians 1-3

Weekly Memory Verse: Hebrews 4:12

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Genesis 22:1-24 (NASB95)
¹ Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. ⁵ Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” ⁶ Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸ Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. ⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” ¹³ Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. ¹⁴ Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” ¹⁵ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶ and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. ¹⁸ “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba. ²⁰ Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram ²² and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.^[1]

One thing that I thought about on first reading is that at that time sacrifice of children was common among the pagans.  Later in Leviticus, the law is made and sacrifice of children is strictly forbidden.  What I am getting at is that the request that God made of Abraham made sense to him in the light of the times and the society in which he lived.

Abraham was a believer, he was a true follower of God, and he was willing to do whatever the Lord had promised.  God wanted Isaac back, and Abraham was willing to obey.  I would remind you here that Abraham had already lost one son, when he had banished Ishmael.  It had to be hard releasing the only son that he had, which would return him to his position before God had given him a son.  God had proven faithful by providing a son to him in his old age.  Abraham had learned what it meant to live a life of obedience to God, and continued in that life.  Faith does not just consist of thinking that you believe in God, faith is a life of obedience to God.  Abraham established his faith in this story because he was willing to carry through with God's instructions regardless the consequences.  I wonder, how strong is our faith?  Would we be willing to be obedient even when it seemed to be going against the very promise and the very word of God?

This was not a small journey either, they traveled for three days to reach the place for the sacrifice. This was a journey that was planned for, they split wood, took provisions for a week and traveled. Consider also the answer that Abraham gave Isaac:

“There are at least three ways of taking “we may return to you.” First, it could be a white lie to disguise the true nature of the sacrifice. It is clear from Isaac’s question in v 7 that Abraham has not been very explicit about the nature of the sacrifice he is undertaking. Evidently he must have said he was going to offer a burnt offering at God’s special request but never said who the victim would be. So one could suppose that here he is simply continuing to allow his entourage to continue under the illusion that he intended to make a normal animal sacrifice, albeit at a special site. Second, it could be read as implying that he does not intend to sacrifice Isaac after all, that he cannot see himself going through with it, and that he will disobey God’s command. Third, it may be read as an affirmation of faith, that although he has been told to sacrifice Isaac, yet somehow the promises made to him that “your descendants will be named through Isaac” would be fulfilled.”^[2]

This is also a picture of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.  Isaac was as good as dead when God had given Abraham the instruction.  He spent three days with death hanging over his head, and on the third day, God spared His life.  God also provided a lamb to be slain for a sacrifice.  Jesus spent three days in the grave, then on the third day He rose to a new life.  Jesus was God's lamb that was slain as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.   The wood that Isaac carried was similar to the wood of the cross that Jesus carried.  The difference is that Jesus was slain as a sacrifice for the world.  Jesus is God's only son, and He was killed as a sin offering for the world.  One other parallel is that they traveled to Mount Moriah, which was later to be called Jerusalem, specifically on the temple mount. 

Hebrews 11:11-19 (NASB95)
¹¹ By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. ¹³ All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. ¹⁵ And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; ¹⁸ it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” ¹⁹ He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

John 1:29 (NASB95)
²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ^[3]

Consider also that Isaac carried the same faith that his father did.  Abraham answered his question regarding the lamb in a prophetic way, speaking of God providing the lamb.  At the time that they arrived at the place for the burnt offering Isaac found out that he was the burnt offering, and allowed himself to be bound to the altar.  Surely a hundred year old man would not be able to overpower a teenager. 

God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, and did provide a lamb for the offering in his place.  Return to the illustration about Jesus, the penalty for our sin is death, Jesus is the lamb that was provided to take our place in death. 

After Abraham passed the test, God verified His promise to him again.  God does not just give a vision to his people one time, he verifies it over and over.  I believe that God knows that we are short sighted, and He makes it a point of reminding us of His promises to keep us strong.  Abraham received the promise several times earlier, and God kept reminding him of the promise. 

Notice that this promise came after God had tested his faith, God may have wanted to make sure he did not doubt since his vision had almost died with Isaac.  Part of God's plan seems to be the vision that God gives us, then later there is almost always a death to the vision.  That is the point where the vision seems to be totally impossible.  Then God moves again and re-kindles the fire, God's plan comes through His strength, and through His guidance in our lives.  His plan for us is to have us totally rely upon Him for the answers in our lives.  Faith is not wishful thinking, it is acting upon God's word.  Consider this, God did not stop Abraham until he had the knife in his hand and his arm drew back to make the killing blow.  God did not split the river Jordan until the priests stood in the water.  God waits for us to step out according to His revealed word before He will act.  That is the practice of faith, it is not wishful thinking, it is acting upon God's word.  Faith demands action for it to be faith; it is not a noun, it is an action word, we really don't understand it.  It requires action, it's not enough to claim that we have faith and for us to sit lazily by waiting for the answer to hit us in the face, we must exercise it as if it already came to pass.

“Yet the main point of Genesis 22:9-14 is not the doctrine of the Atonement. It is portraying an obedient servant worshiping God in faith at great cost, and in the end receiving God’s provision. Abraham did not withhold his son. Similarly Paul wrote that God “did not spare [epheisato] His own Son, but gave [delivered] Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). A form of the same Greek word is used of Abraham in the Septuagint: “Thou hast not spared [epheisō] thy beloved son” (Gen. 22:12).

This reveals the greatness of Abraham’s faith; he was willing to obey God by sacrificing his son. It also reveals the greatness of Isaac’s faith in submission; he had everything in the world to live for but willingly followed his father’s words, believing that God would provide a lamb.”^[4]

“The lessons about true worship are timeless: (1) Faith obeys completely the Word of God. (2) Faith surrenders the best to God, holding nothing back. (3) Faith waits on the Lord to provide all one’s needs. But God does not provide until personal sacrifice has been made. True worship is costly. This was always so for Israel when they brought sacrifices. Those offerings were supposed to be given in faith so God would provide all the needs of each willing worshiper.”^[5]

I am going to close here, as always, if you wish to add your comments feel free to write in.

Questions for thought:

1. What does this passage teach us about faith?
2. Why does the Lord wait until action is taken upon His instruction before He moves?

Father, as we consider faith, open our eyes and teach us about faith from this passage.  Enable us to understand the concept of faith, I ask that You will strengthen the faith in this group of believers and that each of us will infect others in our churches with it.

In Him,

Joe Turner.