YHWH Yireh
Abraham was told to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering
1. It was a surprise
a. God told Abraham the end result
i. Mighty nation
ii. More descendants than the stars in the sky
iii. Lots and lots of grand kids and great grand kids
b. Since God only told Abraham the end result
i. Abraham filled in all the steps on how to get there
ii. Using the habits, patterns, cultural norms and personal strength that he had known for years
1. Remember that Abraham had a large movable village
2. He had an army able to beat five kings at once
3. He had herds and servants and slaves
4. And he was rich beyond our wildest imagination
iii. Remember, Abraham was getting on in years. He was seventy-five when God first spoke to him
1. Ten years later, there were still no kids
2. God promised millions of descendants, and Abraham could not even father one son
3. So, at the age of eighty-six, Ishmael is born
4. Ishmael was Abraham’s fulfillment of God’s promise
a. I don’t know about you, but for me, when God promises something, I’ll let Him fulfill His own promises
b. But we try to speed up God’s providence
c. We try to fulfill God’s promises our way, in our timing in ways that please us
d. And it never works
e. We end up with all these little Ishmaels in our lives
i. And they just get in the way of God’s promises
5. Consider this
a. Abraham saw God as all powerful
b. Abraham had an irrevocable covenant with God
c. Abraham probably thought that little Ishmael was good enough for an all powerful, eternal, creator God to build a nation
d. But Good Enough is the enemy of BEST
e. You and I can only work in the realm of good enough
i. No matter how good we are at something, it will only be good enough
ii. We are Good Enough factories
iii. We excel at Good Enough
f. God works in the realm of The BEST
i. We think that our Good Enough somehow helps God or speeds God up or makes God better
ii. Our good enough always causes problems with God’s BEST
2. Kill Isaac
a. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born
i. Isaac was God’s best
ii. Isaac was God’s promise
iii. Isaac, the best, had conflicts with Ishmael, good enough
iv. Abraham sent Ishmael away into the Arabian desert
b. Fast forward thirty years
i. Ishmael is in Mecca recruiting for Al-Qaida
ii. God comes to Abraham and tells him to kill Isaac
1. Not only kill him, but sacrifice him as burnt offering
2. Two questions need to be answered here
a. Human sacrifice
i. Very common through the known world at that time
ii. Parents would sacrifice their sons as burnt offerings
iii. To atone for family sins
iv. Human sacrifice is still practiced today
v. Muslims who blow themselves up do that to atone for their own sins
vi. It is considered an act of utmost holiness and great piety in the Muslim countries to blow yourself up
b. How old was Isaac?
i. He was born when Sarah was 90
ii. He was taken up the mountain around the time Sarah died at 127
iii. The earliest estimates put him at 25 years old. The Talmud, the Jewish holy books, says he was 33. The oldest he could be is probably 37.
iii. According to Scripture, Abraham basically said, ok, got up early in the morning and went to kill Isaac, the promised best of God
1. Scripture does not contain every word ever spoken or every action ever taken
2. It tends to be matter of fact in its summary of some events
3. It is possible this one such summarized events.
a. We don’t know what Abraham said or thought, but I propose that he did not sleep at all that night, which is why he was ready to go early in the morning.
4. Did Abraham understand what God was doing? NO
5. Did he understand God’s plan? Only the end result, not how to get there
6. Did he understand why? Absolutely not.
7. But in Hebrews 11:17, we get a New Testament perspective
a. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back
8. It is faith when someone sees every possible method of fulfilling God’s promise destroyed and they still continue
9. Abraham was going to literally kill God’s promise and he had faith that God could fulfill His promise anyway.
10. When he got up to the mountain, tied Isaac to the wood, poured the lighter fluid, lit the match
11. And God said STOP
a. Not only do followers of the most high God not do human sacrifices, but
b. God was testing Abraham and Abraham had passed the test
iv. But wait, what to do with the wood and fire
1. Abraham hears a noise and finds a ram in the
2. He then utters, for the first time, the name of God
3. The Lord Provides
3. Who do you feel like today?
a. Abraham?
i. You know where God wants you but you can’t seem to get there
ii. Everything you have tried has only resulted in little bothersome Ishmaels in your life?
iii. Does it seem like your dreams have been placed on the altar and slaughtered
iv. Perhaps it is time to stop, and let God move you forward
v. If God made the promise, God will fulfill the promise
vi. If God has called you to do something, God will provide the way
vii. God always provides when He promises
b. Isaac?
i. Do you feel like God has put you on the altar?
ii. Do you feel sacrificed for someone else’s gain?
4. The story of Abraham and Isaac is the story of you and me.
a. Because of our sin, we were under the threat of death.
b. According to God’s law, the only way we could pay for our own sin was to die for it.
c. Christ became the substitute lamb