God tests Abraham
Genesis 22
Key verse 22:12
Good morning. Happy Sunday. Yesterday, we had beautiful snow. As the snow covered the ground, God may cover us with his grace and mercy through our worship service. Last week, we learned God commanded Abraham to get rid of his first son Ishmael because only through Isaac, Abraham’s offspring will be reckoned. In today’s passage, God tested Abraham. In general, why does a test or exam at school? Do you like a test? It is mainly for grading. A teacher evaluates his students to see if they understand the class materials enough to pass the class and move on to the next level. But the test is only concerned about the student’s knowledge. It has nothing to do with the personal relationship between the teacher and the students. But God’s test is different. He does not evaluate our knowledge. In today’s passage, in his test, he commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering to him. Why did he test Abraham in this way? Through this message, let us continue to learn about the God of Abraham and Abraham’s response to God’s test. Also let us listen to carefully what God’s message to us through this story.
Part 1. God tested Abraham.
Look at verse 1. “Sometime later”. There was some interval between chapter 21 and chapter 22. In chapter 21, Ishmael was mocking Isaac. Abraham kicked Ishmael out. He also made a peace treaty with king Abimelech. Now, in his house, he had peace. He had a peaceful relationship with his neighbors. He was old, but healthy and rich. His wife Sarah was doing well. Most of all, his son Isaac when he got at age 100 years old, was growing as a happy, smart, and obedient boy. He could not be happier.
In those times, God came to test him. Wha was God’s test? Let’s read verse 2. “To take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” This was first time God tested Abraham. Until this time, God never tested him. Instead, God always helped him whenever he was in troubles. God did not demand anything from him. But now, God asked him to sacrifice Isaac to God. God knew very well what Isaac meant to him: your son, your only son, whom you love. Yet, God told him to go to the region of Moriah and sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering.
In Genesis, Abraham often sacrificed animals as a burnt offerings to God. He did mostly near his house. But now God said to him to go to the place where God directed and at the place, offered a burnt offering to God. Burnt offering is literally you kill one offering and burn it at the altar before God. When Abraham heard God’s command, he might feel a bomb falling from heaven. Many years ago, God had commanded him to get rid of Ishmael. Now, God told him to offer his only son Isaac to God.
How did he respond to God? Verse 3 says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up”. He did not hesitate. He made a firm decision; to obey God. He didn’t tell anyone either, he knew everyone would stop him from offering Isaac to God. It was lonely struggle between God and him. But he overcame his personal feelings and emotions. Even though he could not understand, because God said so, he got up early to prepare for his journey.
Verse 4 says, “On the third day”. It took three days for Abraham to arrive at the place of Moriah. In average, a man can walk 15 miles per day. So, the distance between his house and the mountain of Mariah was about 45 miles away. It was a long distance. During the three days, as a man, his mind might be mixed with many thoughts. One time, he said to himself, ‘I do not understand now, but it must be God’s big picture, I should obey him’. Then in the other time, he said to himself, ‘what am I doing? I cannot give up Isaac. God will understand my lack of faith’. But despite all challenges and pains, he kept walking forward, making progress.
Look at verse 5. When Abraham was close to the mountain of Moriah, 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.” It is interesting what Abraham said: We will worship and then we will come back to you. A word, worship, appears first time in the Bible. In Abraham’s time, there was no the law, nor the Temple. There was no church, nor pastors and priests. Yet, he said “we will worship God”. In other words, he considered sacrificing his son to God as worship. What is worship? It is to obey God’s command. It is to go to the place God appointed (could take 3 minutes or 30 minutes or even 3 days) with not empty hands but with offerings. This morning, we gather to worship God here. Why this place? There are many other churches around your home. Yet, Dre took about 15 minutes. Franco took one and half hours to get here. Because God called us to come this place and worship him together. In this place, we worship him, give our offering to him, listen to his message, and practice in the world.
Back to verse 5. Abraham said, We will worship and then we will come back to you. Currently, he was heading to the mountain of Moriah to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Then, he should have said, “I will come back”. But he said, “we will come back to you”. Did he lie to his servants? No. He had faith in God. Hebrews 11:7-9 explains his faith. It says, “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, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.”
When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he did not explain the reason. He was silent. Abraham did not understand his command fully. But he reasoned that God would raise the dead, meaning, if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead. Wow! It is resurrection faith. In the past, he knew his body was as good as dead. He knew his wife was past the age of childbirth. Yet, God granted a son through their dead bodies. He believed If God did a miracle through their dead bodies, why not God could raise Isaac from the dead? So, he said we will come back to you.
Look at verse 7. Isaac asked Abraham, “Father, the fire and wood are here. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Isaac must have seen how his father offered burnt offerings to God at his house. For the burnt offerings, the fire, wood, and the animal are needed. But he could not see any lamb. So, he asked his father. At that moment, if Abraham had any second thought, he might have collapsed, crying, “oh, God. I am sorry. I can’t!”
However, his faith was not shaken. He said in verse 8, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Abraham believed “God himself…” He trusted in God’s provision for the burnt offering.
Now let’s look at how Abraham literally almost killed Isaac. Shall we read verse 9 and 10? 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. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Abraham did not hesitate. He literally almost slayed Isaac. Then, from heaven, God called out to him, twice, ‘Abraham, Abraham’. God was worried if he really killed Isaac.
What did God say to him? Shall we read verse 10? “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” God has been waiting if he would really obey him or not. Now, God acknowledged that he feared God even not sparing his only son for God. He passed God’s test with a big “A+”.
Here, what does ‘fear’ mean? In Hebrew, fear means ‘revere or honor’. It is not like a slave fears his master’s punishment that he does what his master commands. Instead, out of reverence, out of honor, Abraham treated God as God. He listened to God and did what God commanded him to do. He loved his son Isaac, but he loved God more. Through offering Isaac, he proved he feared God.
Keep in mind when did God say to him, ‘now I know that you fear God’? It is after he walked three days, went to at the place where God appointed, and sacrificed Isaac. God commenced his actions of faith. James 2:17, 18 says In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
So, what was a reason of God’s test to Abraham? To see if Abraham fears God through actions. Also, to see if he loves God or his son Isaac more. He loved God more. He put God first. God was his number 1. So, he obeyed God’s command. In the NT, Jesus says “if you love me, you will obey my command”. It is very simple to check if I love God or not? To see if I obey his command or not even through sacrificing my time, my money, and my things for God.
Anyway, Abraham’s faith and his obedience were amazing! Who could sacrifice his own son? But we should think of one thing: who made him grow spiritually up to such a level? He was not a man of faith from the beginning at all. He used to be an idol worshipper. His life had nothing to do with God. But God saved him and called him. God was on his side. Two times, he was afraid of people that he lied, saying that Sarah is my wife. Yet, God protected him. When God promised him to give a son, he laughed at himself. But God has been patient with him. God has endured him for long years. God has revealed his presence and his power to him again and again. Then, he was getting to know who God is more and more. His faith was growing. in the end, he did not spare his own son to God.
When we look at the God of Abraham, we can have hope in God. Because God who worked in Abraham’s life will be at work in our life too. Philippians 1:6 says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The God who called us from the darkness will continue to reveal himself to us. We will experience his presence and his power more and more. We will get to know who he is. Our faith and obedience will increase. And someday, we will grow up to the point of not sparing our Isaac for God.
Part 2. The LORD will provide.
Look at verse 13. Abraham went to the place of Moriah to worship God. Since God said, ‘do not lay his hand on Isaac’, where he could find the lamb? But God already provided a lamb for him. In verse 13, he saw in a thicket a ram caught by its horns. You know, how hard it is to catch a wild ram. But the ram was caught by its horns in a thicket. Abraham easily took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering. Then, what did he call the place?
Let us read verse 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.”
“The Lord Will Provide.” (Yehovah-yireh). Abraham learned that God is the provider. God had already prepared the lamb even before Abraham offered his son to God on the mountain of the LORD.
Why is “Yehovah-yireh” important to us? Because the lamb provided by God on the mountain of Moriah symbolizes the lamb of God, Jesus. Jesus is the son, the only son whom God loved. Yet, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to us as the lamb. John 1:29 says Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! In Genesis 3, when men singed against God, God promised he would send the lamb for sinners. Since then, he already provided Jesus for us. In his right time, God did not spare his son. He sacrificed his only son as a sin offering. Jesus suffered and died on the cross to pay for our sins. Unlike Abraham, we did not do anything good for him. We did not obey him. We did not fear him. We did not offer our Isaac. Nevertheless, the LORD WILL PROVIDE. He provided Jesus for our salvation. It was not by lip service but through his sacrificial actions. God showed his love to us. Romans 5:8 says But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Praise God!
Look at verse 15-19. God swore by himself. There is no one greater than him. What did he swear? To bless Abraham and his offspring. He assured that he would make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, they would take possession of their enemies, and lastly through Abraham’s offspring, the Messiah Jesus, all nations would be blessed. Based on these verses, the reason why God tested Abraham was to bless him. When Abraham offered his son Isaac to God, was he bankrupt? Did he really lose his son? No. Rather, God saved Isaac and his abundant blessings to him and his offsprings. We want God’s blessings. We want our family to be blessed by God. How? Like Abraham, obey God.
Lastly, look at verse 23. Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Who is Rebekah? She is the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham and Isaac had no idea at this point, but God already provided Isaac his wife Rebekah. God knows what we need even before we ask him. He did not spare his own son for us. Then, how much more he will provide us what we need. So, do not worry about your future or your marriage. Instead, invest your time and your energy to get to know God is and who Jesus is. As Matthew 6:33 says, “do not worry, but seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then, all these things will be given to you as well”. Fear God, love him, seek him first. He will bless us to experience Jehovah-jireh, the LORD WILL PROVIDE.
In conclusion, God tested Abraham after he received all kinds of blessings from God. Isaac was the symbol of God’s blessing. When God tested him to sacrifice Isaac for God, he did not hesitate but immediately offered. He passed God’s test. It is clear that the reason why God tested Abraham was not to take Isaac from him but to give him more blessings: like now I know that you fear God, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE, and reassured God’s covenant with him. What is your Isaac? Through offering our Isaac to God, God may bless us more richly and abundantly. May God bless us to continue to get to know who God is through the book of Genesis as well.