Testing Abraham

Welcome

Good morning, in our Gospel story series we are jumping ahead just a few chapters. Last week we saw how God established a covenant with Abram and promised that he would have a descendent and that God would uphold his side of the covenant even when Abram didn’t. Now, you would think that after that encounter with God and the reassurance Abram got, he would trust that God would give him and Sarai a child. But, in chapter 16 we find out that Abram and Sarai try to take things into their own hands. Sarai gives her slave Hagar to Abram to have a child with on Sarai’s behalf and Hagar gives birth to a son named Ishmael. God speaks to Abram again, reassures him of the promise as well as changes Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. God also tells Abraham to name the son that he will have Isaac.

There’s more that happens, but for us today the big thing is to know that Abraham and Sarah fall short in trusting God, yet God remains faithful to them and they have Isaac. After years and years and years of waiting for a son that is actually Sarah and Abraham’s, God gives them Isaac. But now, God is going to test Abraham and within Genesis 22 we are going to see what it looks like to have faith tested, but we are also going to see that God is going to provide a way to salvation and redemption for his people.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and flip to Genesis 22. And as you flip there, some of you might already know what this passage is about. This passage can be difficult to read and it is kind of frightening if we really think about it, but there is so much in it that points us to the goodness of God. As we read, remember Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac’s current situation. They had waited for a son, they tried to go their own way by having Ishmael with Hagar, but they aren’t in the picture anymore, Ishmael isn’t the one who is going to get the covenant handed down to him. Abraham and Sarah are loving on their miracle child, he is so so so precious and loved by them.

Bible

Genesis 22:1–12 NIV

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

After some time passes, God once again speaks to Abraham. Even thought his entire story and chapter happens because of God, God doesn’t actually say much to Abraham. But really hear what God says. Take your son, your only son, the son that you love, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering to me. Many of us have likely heard this passage before, but I want us to really hear it. Don’t think about the ending, don’t think about what will happen. Try to place yourself in Abraham’s shoes right now at this moment. If there is a time for Abraham to fall short, to not follow through, you would think it would be in this moment. He has waited years for Isaac and God miraculously gave them this son. But now, God is asking Abraham to sacrifice him, to kill him.

This is where probably everyone in this room would begin bartering with God. God, take something, someone else. Anything else but my child, take everything, take me, take something different! I know that I would be responding in that way! But Abraham doesn’t do that. We aren’t told that Abraham argues with God, we aren’t told that he tries to make a deal with God, we are told that early the next morning, Abraham got up, got his stuff ready, and he takes Isaac and two servants and heads off to do what God commanded.

This is the point that we begin to ask, how on earth was Abraham able to do this? Was he not a loving father? Did he not care about Isaac? Did he not think about what this would do to Sarah? How on earth is he able to get up the next morning and head out to do this?

Think back on this week, was there anything you were supposed to do that you didn’t want to? If there is something that needs done but you don’t want to do it, what do you do? If you’re like me you push it off as long as possible! We would think Abraham would come up with excuses as to why he couldn’t do this right away, but he doesn’t, he just goes. How is this possible? In verse 5 I think we begin to see why Abraham was able to respond with such great faith.

Verse 5 tells us that Abraham has a conversation with his servants. He tells them to hang back, Isaac and him are going to go worship, but then they will be back.

NOTICE WHAT ABRAHAM SAYS

Abraham doesn’t say I will be back, he says WE WILL BE BACK.

Now, you might read that and think that Abraham said that because he had to lie to his servants, he didn’t want them to know what he was about to do. But, we know that isn’t the case by how Abraham responds to Isaac’s questions in verse 8. Isaac is wondering what they are going to sacrifice, where is the lamb? And Abraham tells him “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.”

Think about what Abraham is saying, God will provide the lamb needed. The cost isn’t going to come from us, the cost will come from God. Abraham is throwing himself on the covenant that God made with him, trusting that God will be true to his word. Before Isaac is even born God had told Abraham that he would establish a covenant with Isaac, and so Abraham is trusting God.

Genesis 17:19 “19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

The author of Hebrews also lets us see into the mind of Abraham.

Hebrews 11:17–19 NIV

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

This is the faith that Abraham has. Abraham is able to follow through with this because he trusted God. God had told him that descendents would come through Isaac and so even if Abraham sacrifices Isaac, even if he kills him on the alter, Abraham believes that God will raise Isaac from the dead. That is how sure of God’s word Abraham is.

God’s faithfulness led to Abraham’s faithfulness. Therefore, knowing the faithfulness of God, Abraham knew he was coming back down with Isaac somehow. As Abraham raises the knife to kill his son so he could offer him to the Lord, the angel of the Lord calls to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” The angel continues, “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.”

If we return to the question we asked at the beginning, how was Abraham able to do this, we see the answer here. Abraham was able to be tested in this way because of his faith in God’s faithfulness. This is also the reason that we are able to persevere in tests that we face in life as well as in trials. We know of God’s faithfulness and so we trust in him. Being a disciples of Jesus does not mean we have a comfy life and that everything goes well. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we give ourselves, everything we are, everything we have, to Jesus and follow after him. The question for us isn’t really, “Do I have enough faith?” The better question we can ask ourselves is, “Do I trust in God’s faithfulness?”

Genesis 22:13–19 NIV

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” 19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

Abraham told Isaac that the Lord would provide for himself and after the angel stops him he lifts up his eyes and finds a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham offered the ram instead of offering Isaac. The Lord provided the sacrifice to be made on that mountain that day. So Abraham called the name of the place, “The Lord will provide” and the place continued to be called, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” A beautiful picture is shown here at this moment. The Lord will provide a sacrifice on this place.

In 2 Chronicles 3:1 we learn that the Lord instructed Solomon’s temple to be built on Mount Moriah. Fast forward 960 years from the temple’s completion and on this mountain, outside the city walls, God will offer his only Son on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. The foreshadowing is amazing. Abraham was called to offer his son Isaac on the altar. But God stops Abraham from completing the act. It is not Abraham who will offer the sacrifice. The Lord will provide for himself the lamb. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, there is no one to stop what is happening. There is no one to shout from heaven stop the sacrifice of Jesus on the altar on this mountain. As the apostle Paul declared:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32 ESV)

But what happened to Abraham? Abraham received his son back. The writer of Hebrews makes this point directly. “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (Hebrews 11:19). The text foreshadowed this. “On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from afar” (22:4). Abraham said he would come back with his son together. While no one would stop the killing of the Son of God, on the third day the Father would receive his Son back from the dead. The Lord did provide for himself the sacrifice so that we could be set free from our sins.

Application

Abraham is a poster child for Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Does this verse describe you?

Yes, we trust God with our eternity, but do you trust God with your everyday life? Do you trust him in his provision and love? Do you trust him in all of the small things in life as well as the big things?

May our faith in God grow deeper and richer as we look at how faithful God is to us.

Prayer