Abraham's Test
Notes
Transcript
Genesis 22
Genesis 22
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
As we travel through the course of history we come to a man named Abraham. This man is an important person in the story of the Bible because it is through him that God makes for himself a nation. This nation is Gods chosen nation and through them he does many great things, eventually Jesus comes from this nation. Abraham and his wife could not have children but in their old age God granted them a son named Isaac. God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Now in this climactic event God has asked Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. How would God fulfill his promise if Isaac is sacrificed? What would Abraham do in this test?
Abraham as we have read did exactly what God had said and God did not let him go through with it. Abraham passed the test and Isaac left unharmed. There are many things that we can gather from this story; we can see how even in the worst circumstances Abraham remained faithful to God, we also see the provision that God provides in each step. Abraham throughout the NT is known for his great faith, he is even seen in the passage that is often referred to as the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. In this story the provision God provides is seen throughout; in verse 5 he says that he and the boy will go and they will both come back knowing God will provide, in verse 8 it is said that God will provide the sacrifice needed, in verse 13 God provided the ram, in verse 14 the mountain is named the Lord will provide, and in the end we see a short genealogy where in verse 23 we see what will be the future provision of a wife for Isaac so that Gods ultimate promise to Abraham will be fulfilled.
God is our great provider and all we must do is have faith in him.
The thing that really stuck out to me when reading this story recently is the response to passing the test. In verse 12 it says for now I know that you fear the Lord. The fear of God is something that is not mentioned as much in our churches today and it holds great importance. Martin Luther described this fear as a twofold fear. In the first part of it there is the fear of God giving you the wrath that you deserve, this fear often occurs when you come to the realization of your sin and you know that you need a savior. The second type is what we see Abraham have here, it is the fear of displeasing the master where all he wants is to show reverent awe to God almighty. This fear is like a son wanting the approval of his father. Abraham was known as a man that fears the Lord, even when God asked him to do the most difficult thing he didn’t want to displease him. Abraham wanted to do exactly what God had asked because of this fear, because of his reverent awe for God.
As we go through life we must remember to have faith in God through all situations and to trust in his provision. We must also remember to fear him, in that we do not want to disappoint him but we want to show him the reverent awe that he deserves. Fearing God is something that when you fully understand it is a beautiful thing that is most necessary in the Christian life.
From this story we will see Isaac have his son Jacob and then the formation of the nation will begin. God will often be referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob will have many sons, one of the sons will be named Joseph. Next week we will look at Josephs dreams and how he gets sold into slavery but God meant it for good. Through this story we will see a major shift in the location of the people of God and how God works through everything, providing provision not only for one man in the story of Abraham but for many nations.