Lessons In Moriah

Genesis 22:1-19 1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

INTRODUCTION

In the previous chapter Abraham has just “lost a son”.

Genesis 21:9-14 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Abraham has been promised something by God. When it didn’t come as quick as he wanted it to, Sarah came up with a “solution” that made a mess of everything. Ishmael wasn’t God’s plan, however, he was still Abraham’s son, and Abraham loved him. Now at the command of God in verse 12 of chapter 21 Abraham has hearkened unto the voice of Sarah, and has driven Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness.

Abraham has now been tested by his father, the well-watered plains of Jordan, the gifts of Sodom’s king, and finally by Ishmael. Now he is tested once again, this time with so much more. This time the test was different, this time the test was from God Himself. The One Who had given him the strength and grace to overcome the other tests was now doing the testing. This time the test was to give up what he had longed for, what he had been promised, and what brought him the ultimate joy of his life!

Abraham was to leave home, go to an unknown place, there build an altar, take his promised seed Isaac, lay him upon that altar, cut his throat, and burn him as a sacrifice unto the Lord!

WHAT A TEST!!!!!!! God has promised him something, he tried to hurry God along and has a lost son because of it, Isaac comes along, and God says, “This is Me making good on My promise,” and NOW God says, “Hey Abraham, you remember that promise I made good on? Well, now I want you give him back to Me in a way that will DESTROY EVERYTHING!!!!!! I WANT YOU TO MAKE HIM INTO A BURNT OFFERING!

Now we know the rest of the story. How God provided the ram caught by his horns just as the knife was about to fall, and that Isaac was thus spared. Abraham however does not know these things, he is living the story! He was being tested!

God does things a little different than we are used to sometimes. Job 9:10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Usually when we have a test, whether in school or for something job related we will go through a series of classes BEFORE we take the test. Classes that relate specifically to what the test will be about. However, there are times that God will give us test that we will take the classes on DURING AND AFTER the test! This is what happened to Abraham in our text.

LESSONS IN MORIAH

I. God Already Knows

Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

In the very phase that God introduces Abraham to his test He is telling him it will be okay. Moriah means “foreseen of Jehovah.” “Abraham, go to a place that I already know about, and I’m going to teach you about. When you get there, do what you don’t want to do, and I’ll take care of you! Because, I HAVE ALREADY SEEN IT!”

A. You will never look forward to Moriah

B. You will never enjoy Moriah

C. You will always leave Moriah knowing more about God than you did before

II. Go Into Moriah Prepared

Genesis 22:3-6 3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

In these verses we see that Abraham did not just light out for Moriah with no preparation. He knew he had a task to accomplish when he got there, and that the task was unpleasant and hard. He knew that when he came to “the place” that God would tell him of, he had to “get on with it” or it would never be done. So, he made preparations for the journey and for the conclusion of the journey. Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Now, Abraham is obviously not building a tower, but he is building an altar. He knows that he can find stone or earth to build the altar from when he gets to the final destination, but he must wood that will burn. So, he makes his preparation for the sacrifice by cleaving or splitting the wood. Would there be enough dry wood in Moriah to just pick it up? No way to know, so he does a hard thing. He takes an ax, and starts splitting the wood to burn his son on. No indication that he assigned Isaac or one of the young men to the job, he just does it himself.

III. Sometimes There Is No Right Answer

Genesis 22:7-8 7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Imagine the heartache that Abraham must have had when he heard this question come from the lips of Isaac. He knew what he must do, but how could he tell Isaac, “Well son, today, you are the lamb. I’m going to tie you up, lay you on the altar, slit your throat, watch you bleed to death, then burn you body on the altar.” His response was not exactly what Isaac was looking for. It did not really answer his question. In fact, it may have left him with even more questions.

The lesson here is that just because there is no obvious answer does not mean God doesn’t know what He’s doing.

IV. God Is Always The Answer

Genesis 22:9-19 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Imagine if Abraham had said, “Now listen God, You promised me a son, You agreed with Sarah that I should send Ismael away, and reminded me that Isaac was the promised seed in spite of being the 2nd born, and know You want him back…. Nah! I’ll pass I’ll just keep Isaac!”

We would tell a different story. How would God have accomplished His plan? I don’t know, that would have been God’s business, but we would have missed out on one of if not the greatest picture of Christ in the Old Testament. The picture here of redemption, the picture of the Savior on the road to Calvary, the picture of the broken-hearted Father taking the vengeance of sin out upon His only begotten Son!

Abraham had a choice that day. He could choose to keep Isaac and walk away from God, or He could choose God and keep Isaac. Yes! I believe that Abraham believed that, if necessary, God would raise Isaac from the dead, but do you think that made what he was about to do any easier. As far as we can see from a natural perspective, the choice is either God or Isaac, Isaac or God.

BUT GOD!!!!! From God’s perspective the choice is this,

Isaac or God

God AND Isaac

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Psalm 37:4 4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

This isn’t health, wealth, and prosperity. This is simply God, plus nothing, minus nothing. When you choose Him, He doesn’t promise you riches and fame, but He does promise Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

If we choose God, He will give us everything we need.

CLOSING

Moriah is a place that no one is going to volunteer to go to, but a place that everyone will leave with a thankful heart. You will leave knowing more about God and better equipped to trust and serve Him. It’s a hard place to get to, and a harder place to forget. Not all memories will be good memories, but they will be dear memories.

I. God Already Knows

II. Go Into Moriah Prepared

III. Sometime There Is No Right Answer

IV. God Is Always The Answer