After This

Genesis 22:1–3 CSB

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” 3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.

Introduction

AFTER THIS…..

Sarah’s womb resurrected (barren but can now give birth)

The promise was born, Issac (Abraham would become the father of many nations)

Treaty with Abimelech (favor after favor)

Creating momentum in your life means doing a little more of the things that move you forward (faith can move you forward) and a little less of the things that hold you back (fear can hold you back).

Genesis 22:2 CSB

2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

AFTER THIS: STRETCHING  (vv. 1-4)

Major promotions require Major tests

Many times we want the elevation, the expansion, the enlargement without the testing.

Many of us we want the favor minus the fight that’s required to get to the “Finish line”

We need a “Strength Test” how will you handle the “after this” moments of your life. How do you handle being stretched? For many of us we don’t like being stretched, but I hate to inform you this is a way that God matures you.

Most things God places on you will not make any since (Gen 17: God prophesied that He would grant Abraham a son at an old age; now in Gen 22 the son of promise must be sacrificed)

This doesn’t make since. THERE’S AN ISSUE WITH THE PROPHECY:  God makes a promise that through Issac he would build a nation but now you want me to kill him (His “Only”)

THERE’S AN ISSUE WITH PAGANISM: “Moriah” is the place of sacrifice. A location very important to God. Wait one minute,  is God proposing human sacrifice. While biblical law required that all firstborn sons be dedicated to Yahweh, the sons themselves were not to be sacrificed. It’s a Pagan practice.

Remember Issac represents the favor. Now I have to sacrifice what I waited, labored, cried over, and fasted for.

Some of us can understand Abraham‘s dilemma. You’ve been in a  position like Abraham. A season of stretching. If it’s not one thing it’s another. You’ve had to lose somethings and some people. You  feel unsettled. If you were to share some of your testimony, people would think that you have lost your mind.

I’m a witness, that sometimes  God will stretch you to strengthen you. I know it doesn’t make sense right now. But keep going!

Although it doesn’t make ANY SENSE. He is willing to carry this out on his  teenage son.

Text doesn’t show him arguing with God. Text doesn’t show him fleeing from God. Text doesn’t show noncompliance. What do we see: Vv.3-4 “So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.”

He gets up early (perhaps so he won’t have to explain it to his wife)

He tells servants and son to go.

He had to obey without all the details.

He had a couple days to change his mind. But he didn’t wavier.  Immediate obedience.

(Transitional Sentence)

In this season of momentum God will require not delayed but immediate obedience.

Genesis 22:5–6 CSB

5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.

AFTER THIS: SACRIFICE (vv. 5-10)

Are you willing to give what He gave

How do you sacrifice something you love (come here Jesus) The Bible says “no greater love than this that a man who would lay down his life for a friend.”

In vs. 5 it says “We’ll  come back to you” Sometimes you have to believe it before you see. He had seen what God did with his wife. He resurrected her womb and she was able to give birth to the promise.

22:1–2. child sacrifice. In the ancient Near East, the god that provides fertility (El) is also entitled to demand a portion of what has been produced. This is expressed in the sacrifice of animals, grain and children. Texts from Phoenician and Punic colonies, like Carthage in North Africa, describe the ritual of child sacrifice as a means of insuring continued fertility. The biblical prophets and the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus expressly forbid this practice, but that also implies that it continued to occur. In fact, the story of Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac suggests that Abraham was familiar with human sacrifice and was not surprised by Yahweh’s demand. However, the story also provides a model for the substitute of an animal for a human sacrifice that clearly draws a distinction between Israelite practice and that of other cultures.

This would indicate that Abraham is familiar with this common custom.

Abraham doesn't wait but he move's quickly

Sacrifice says I'll be Obedient even when I don't have all the information

In vs. 7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

When it seems you don't have what you need will you give what you have

I MAY NOT HAVE ________ but I'll give my _________

(Transitional Sentence)

Will you sacrifice last season's PROMISE to receive this season's PROMOTION

Genesis 22:11–14 CSB

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

AFTER THIS: GOD SHOWS UP (vv. 11-19)

You will see what He said

Because God cannot lie on His promise - something will happen,  but what messes many of us up is we don’t know the timeframe.

See Abraham didn’t know that God was going to provide a substitute. Many commentators believe that he thought “if I give my son as a burnt offering then God would resurrect him, just like he did for my wife’s womb.”

Some of us are in a season of expecting  that something will happen! The problem that many of us are having is being in the waiting room. (Remember Abraham was 100 years old when he had the son of promise, Issac.) Some of us are having faith issues because we’ve been in the waiting room too long.  Some of us are angry with God because the promise still hasn’t manifested.

I’ve been in the waiting room for my healing, for my marriage, for my ministry, for my moving, for my career. Somebody needs to prophesied to your neighbor, encourage your neighbor and say:  AFTER THIS…..YOU WILL SEE WHAT HE SAID. AFTER THIS!! INCREASE YOUR LEVEL OF FAITH AND FIGHT

See God demanded on Abraham the willingness to forfeit everything to trust and to obey Him. For Abraham this was a “Take up your cross”moment. To take up your cross equates a place of death. Bible says in  ( Luke 14:26-27) Jesus says the cost of discipleship is:  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, and even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

(Transitional Sentence)

‭‭In other words, you will have to make a decision for Christ to be first in your life.

____________________________________________________________________

See Abraham was in a Jehovah Jireh season. Jehovah Jireh means the Lord will provide. You can only be in this type of season when there is a deficit/lack. Meaning that I need God to do SOMETHING!!!

Anybody need God to move: God I need you to move in my mental capacity, I need to move in my money, I need you to move with my mate.