01-65 The Testing of Your Faith
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Genesis 22:1-8
Genesis 22:1-8
We’ve been spending a lot of time considering Abraham as Scripture introduces us to the father of the Jewish people. Abraham is not a key individual for Jewish people only, but for Christians and even Muslims. He stands at the center of 3 world religions each one looking to him as an exalted figure. For Jews, he is the progenitor of the Hebrews. For Xns he is the example of justifying faith, for Muslims, they see him as the father of the Arab people and many believe that God told him to sacrifice his other son—Ishmael (as he did with Isaac).
As we come to Scripture: Abraham is a key figure in the God’s revelation. But what is truly remarkable is that his faith resembles our own. The Bible notes his stunning victories but it also reveals his shortcomings and failures. And it does so to encourage us to walk by faith.
4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.
Abraham trusted God, His character, His promises. He didn’t begin his life this way. Abraham grew up in Ur of the Chaldeans. In that culture you were polytheistic and Abraham’s father raised his 3 sons in idolatrous paganism. One of the key components of that life was the worship of the moon god Sin (or Nanna). He was raised as a pagan astrologer under the ungodly influence of the tower of Babel—So Ur became a leading center of lunar religion. Ur was dominated by a massive 3-staged ziggurat built by Ur-Nammu. The top level consisted of a 1-room shrine to Sin. Merrill Tenney writes that the cemetery reveals ritual burials of humans who were sacrificed in this religion. This was Abraham’s life, culture, upbringing, his religion. Then God spoke to him—called him to leave everything and God would make him a great nation, bless him and all that nations of the earth would be blessed thru him. Abraham believed Him so he left. He was 75 years old.
That promise would be reiterated many times over the next 25 years. When he was 85—God again spoke the promises and in one of the most important vv of the Bible—Moses tells us:
6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Abraham was justified. He was “saved.” And though the fulfillment had not yet taken place, Paul tells us:
18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. 23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, 24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
God would continue to repeat the promise to Abraham. Isaac was the son of promise. You can probably relate to all the joy and happiness that Abraham and Sarah shared as this little baby was brought into the world. It is no wonder that a little later Abraham would “call upon the name of the Lord—the everlasting God at Beersheba.”
Abraham had come to experience firsthand—the very character of God which became for him—stability, security, and permanence. It is not coincidental that at the end of the previous chapter—that God is revealed as the Everlasting God. He would need the stability, security and permanence in what is coming ahead. Abraham had no idea where God would lead him next but he could always trust God—the everlasting God.
Ch 22 divides into 7 parts (not going to complete this morning). This entire account is instructive for every believer here because Abraham’s example is how every believer should respond to tests/trials of this life.
1. The Divine Test
1. The Divine Test
vv 1-2
“It came about...” Moses is careful to tie this account to that of chs 20-21 (sending Hagar & Ishmael away; covenant with Abimelech; especially the birth of Isaac.
It was the birth of Isaac that was the long fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham & Sarah. It is what the readers of Genesis were looking forward to as God promised this couple (who had no children) that they would have descendants as numerable as the stars/sand. When we come to Gen 21 we find ourselves rejoicing along with Abraham & Sarah:
1 Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. 2 So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him.
So, finally—there’s a son and the future outlook is bright, hopeful. So when we read the first 2 vv of ch 22—we are in shock at what God had spoken to Abraham. Now, you’ll have to note that human sacrifice, child sacrifice was not unknown in this part of the world. In fact, the ziggurats of Abraham’s earlier years were likely temples and altars where humans were offered to appease the gods. Later, God would specifically forbid Israel from this shows us that it did exist.
21 ‘You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
31 “You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
Through progressive revelation—we see this account as a type in the OT of God’s requirement of a human sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. There must be a human victim, since it was man that sinned, it must be the sacrifice of man, not of bulls and goats by which divine justice is satisfied.
We read “God tested Abraham.” This is the Heb—nasah found more than 30x in OT. A test is designed to prove the quality of someone or something. It often involves adversity or hardship. The KJV says “God did tempt Abraham.” The Gk word for trial/temptation is the same (trials can become a means of temptation) but nowhere does God entice someone to do wrong.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.
Sometimes man is the subject (where he is doing the testing).
Daniel 1:12–14 (NASB95) Commander of the officials over Daniel (and friends S,M,A)
12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 “Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king’s choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.” 14 So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days.
Sometimes God is the subject (as in our vv—God is doing the testing).
As God tests man, man is forbidden to put God to the test—even though this happens.
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
So the Israelites tested God in the wilderness.
2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.
The consequence for those who did:
22 “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, 23 shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.
11 ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully,
But God does test man—It is His prerogative as Creator. And He has a purpose for testing Abraham: To refine his character as a believer that he might walk more closely in God’s way. Now Abraham did not know this was a test—we do. And in this present test, his faith was going to be stretched to the utter limit. This is really the only way to grow in faith—to have that faith exercised. Abraham’s faith has grown immensely up to this point. And God has poured out blessings upon him. This test came only after there had been substantial growth in Abraham’s faith.
Spiritual success and growth will always be the ground for greater testing and growth. God will never give more than you can handle—but as your faith increases so too will the nature of tests.
God is testing Abraham by telling him to “take your only son Isaac, whom you love…burnt offering.” I cannot imagine anything more abrupt and shocking than those words. Your life seems to be going along just fine—the future is bright and hopeful—then there is an earth-shattering event/circumstance.
You have to understand that’s what tests/trials are: they are difficult circumstances—not happy occasions. And God is not whimsical about what He is doing—He had his purpose in what He was asking of Abraham.
2. The Devoted Response
2. The Devoted Response
vv 3-4
“rose early in the morning” is an indication of swift obedience—a quick response on Abraham’s part. Abraham’s devotion is even seen in vs 1 “Here I am” (see also vs 11). Abraham was devoted to YHWH. Devotion equates to obedience (if you love me you will keep my commandments). He responded to God’s call and at the soonest possible moment he took 2 of his young men, Isaac, wood for the offering and went to a Mtn in Moriah. He left the donkey and the 2 men and took Isaac and the wood for the offering and ascended the Mtn the Lord showed him.
This was a 3-day journey and Abraham seems to be familiar with the region since he brings wood with him for the sacrifice. Moriah (probably means to see) is found only 1 other place in the OT:
1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 He began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.
Here is the temple mount. The place where sacrifice was to be made to the Lord—and here is where we see the beginnings of the importance this location as it pertains to salvation.
We begin to wrestle in our hearts with this account. What father in his right mind would offer up his only child as a burnt offering? (fairly common practice among the pagan nations). Not only that, but to offer up your child whom God promised that you would be blessed thru and all the families of the earth would be blessed—it nearly makes you weep to experience what emotions Abraham must have had at this point.
But his faith and trust in God did not waver. Let me point out something about this account that the writer of Heb offers:
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.
Abraham did not see the death of his son as an obstacle for God to fulfill his promises. How could Abraham do this? vs 19—He considered…
We get an English word “logarithm” from it. It means to calculate, to compute, to think carefully about, to reason. Gk philosophers considered this the supreme human function. The ability of humans to calculate, to weigh all factors and make a willful decision.
This is what Abraham was doing the night God told him to offer up his son. There is no doubt in my mind that Abraham had no sleep that night—Heb shows us that Abraham was thinking carefully about what God was commanding him to do. How could he disobey God? But how could he offer up his unique, one of kind son—thru whom the promise was to be extended?
The only way Abraham could rationalize his decision was that God is sovereign. He understood that God was able to raise a person from the dead (even though it had never happened before). He knew God would bring Isaac back to life—He had to. There was no other way to fulfill this promise—for God to keep His word. God was in complete control over all the circumstances that Abraham and Isaac were going thru.
3. The Dependent Faith
3. The Dependent Faith
vv 5-8
Abraham ordered the 2 men to stay and that he and the boy would go and worship and return. On their way up the mtn, Isaac turned to Abraham and said “my father” (very tender language of a young child) I see the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
Just a note: Genesis Rabbah, a pre-Christian Jewish midrash (ancient commentary on Hebrew OT), commented that Isaac with the wood on his back was like a condemned man, carrying his own cross (seen later in the condemned Savior).
Abraham simply said “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” Hebrews affirms that this was a test for Abraham (vs 17). God acknowledged that Abraham had not withheld his only son from the Lord. This was the son through whom his many descendants would come. Abraham obeyed God.
By its very nature, faith is dependency, reliance, trust in the Lord. There is a dependency seen in Isaac (no indication of his age at this point) He trusts his father but there is the issue of the lamb (Isaac doesn’t have the full picture but he trusts his father). There is dependency in Abraham who believed “God will provide.” Abraham doesn’t have the full picture but He trusts the Lord. This is the dependency of faith. He trusts: “God Himself will provide”
This word “provide” lit means “to see.” We say a similar thing in our language—to see to it means to make sure it happens. God will see to it—Abraham believed this, trusting in the character of God. And a dependent faith manifests itself in complete, unreserved obedience. Abraham was going to obey no matter the cost.
I want to come back to the test of God—God testing Abraham (this account is for our instruction—b/c He also tests us). I want to very briefly set before you a theology of testing/trials.
James 1:1-12;
Remember tests are designed to prove the quality of your faith and to refine your character that you walk more closely in the way of the Lord.
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”
2 “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.”
2 Chronicles 32:31 (NASB95) Hezekiah
31 Even in the matter of the envoys of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Truths to hold on to:
God is sovereign in your testing
Nothing is out of place. The same thing Abraham believed is true of you. The sovereign God who is testing you (to prove the quality of your faith/walk with Him) is governing the total universe (including your trials)—directing them to the ultimate end of bringing glory to Himself and eternal good to you. This is probably the thing we most quickly forget when life’s circumstances begin to overwhelm us—where is God? Does He see me? Does He love me and care what I’m going thru? The answer is always a resounding yes (Heb 13:5-6). He is still on His throne—and His sovereignty rules over all (Ps 103:19).
God is good
68 You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes.
God does not test us to make us fail but to strengthen what is already there—namely faith and obedience. James explains this process as:
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
This is a good God who designs your tests to bring out the greatest good in your life.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Paul explains that God does this having put His HS in you who helps your weakness and intercedes for you while also purposing not only to call you, to justify, to sanctify but also to glorify you. There is not greater good than for you to share the glory of LJC—trials brings this about.
Infinite in Wisdom
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
Sometimes God permits Satan’s involvement in your trials. This may not be always but we can understand from the life of Job that Satan was behind much of his suffering—and so in our case, when he is—the Lord permits this to strengthen our faith/trust in Him. But what God permits, He also carefully oversees so that the evil one does not go beyond the scope of what God has permitted.
Perfect in Love
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
More could be said about your trials at this point—but time is running short so we’ll pick it up here next time.
James writes: “consider it all joy...”
Tests are uncomfortable, they hurt, they are unpleasant but they Lord admonishes us to embrace the trials of your life—knowing that God’s purpose for them is to strengthen you—conforming you into the image of His dear Son.
When we come back together we will see the end of the story—and the fulfillment of what Abraham believed.