No Plan B - Genesis 22 Series

It was 11:30 in the morning on May 29, 1953 when the BBC announced that two people had reached the top of Mount Everest for the very first time. Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide made it all the way to the top on this expedition they were on. It took a lot of people to be involved in this process. There were 400 people actually helping to make this happen, most of them down at the base camp before they sent these two up who finally made it to the very top. And the BBC announced that the British flag was flying over the whole world because it was the highest point in our earth that anyone had ever reached. A lot of excitement about that for everyone because of the trip up this huge mountain. The story is a fascinating one to read about it. You can google it and read a lot more about all of the intricacies of this trip that they took up the mountain.

But today I want to talk to you about another mountain that I find to be much more difficult to climb. It’s the one in our story in Genesis 22 where Abraham goes up with Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son. Wow. We’re going to look at that trip up the mountain and we’re also going to look up another trip up the mountain, the mountain of Golgotha where Jesus Christ goes up the mountain and another father and that mountain experience. We’re also going to look at the mountains that you and I face regularly and find some inspiration in that. Because I expect that some of you right now in the midst of this moment are looking at a mountain that’s very difficult and you’re trying to imagine how in the world you would climb this mountain. And for others of us the mountain may be a little ways away. But we know that those mountains come in our lives and we need to know how to proceed up the mountain. I’m excited to share this story with you. I’ve just had a lot of fun in this passage this week. God shared some very valuable things that now I want to pass on to you.

So if you’ll open your Bible with me to Genesis 22. If you look there in Genesis 22 we’re going to come to this story and I want to share with you some of the details as you look at the word of God with me together. Notice in verse 1-2 it says this: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

When I look at scripture and the stories of the Bible, I try to put myself into the story. Stories that have to do with New Testament disciples or Old Testament believers. Imagining myself being in that situation. Because when I imagine myself there then I’m able to see what’s going on in that story and take some applications for my own heart and then find some that I can pass on to you. But this is a tough one for me. I look at this story and I say I couldn’t do that. I could not do what God called Abraham to do. Sacrifice your son. There is no way I could do that. So I’m imagining in my own heart, how could Abraham do that?

I realize the answer to the question is in the first three words of the passage. Notice what it says there. It says – After these things. After what things? After all the things that have taken place to this point, now God is taking Abraham to the next place in his commitment to Him. You see, God takes us in a path in our lives and moves us further and further in that path. You remember that Abraham left his home in Ur. God said, “I want you to leave here. I’m going to take you to a land.” Abraham didn’t know that that land was a thousand miles away. But he goes up to Haran and then God calls him out of Haran to Palestine. In each one of these times, Abraham’s faith is being strengthened. He’s learning how to trust God in new ways.

When he got down to Palestine remember there was this famine and so he had to go down to Egypt or he chose to go down to Egypt and he lied about his wife being his sister. You know the whole story. We’ve talked about that. Even in that experience, God is teaching Abraham some valuable things about his faith and what he needs to do to trust the Lord.