Note: When doing a study on a book in the Bible you use a lot of resources. The major influence for me on this study of Genesis is The Genesis Record by Henry Morris.
Genesis 22
1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here]
I [am].
Here we see the opening sentence for the tempting or testing of Abraham. This is the thrid of three great tests in the life of Abraham. Let us see if we can name the other two.
1) The test for Abraham to leave everything and follow God.
Genesis 12:1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto
a land that I will shew thee:
Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he
went out, not knowing whither he went.
2) The test for Abaraham to trust God on the fullfillment of his covenant, without the
seeing of that for 25 years
Genesis 12:1-3, 15:6-8, 18:9-14, Heb 11:8-13
Now we see the third great test of Abrahams faith.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom
thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will
tell thee of.
Why do you think that God chose to test Abraham this way?
Two questions that Abraham had to ask himself.
Q. Was Abraham's love for God greater than his love for others including his own son?
Q. Were Abraham's hope and expectations of the fulfillment of the promise still in God, or
did he now hope in something else, ie.,in Isaac?
The question to ask is why was there going to be a human sacrifice? In Lev 20:1-5 we see God condemning human sacrifice. I don't believe God had any intention of offering human sacrifice. His intention was to test the commitment and willingness of Abraham. God will test things in our lives. Sometimes these things may not seem to be bad or maybe even good. He will test us to see if we are willing to give them up.
Luke 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me,
cannot be my disciple.
What is it that is holding us back from fulfilling God's purpose for our lives?
3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son,
and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went
unto the place of which God had told him.
The burnt offering Hebrews 9,10 talks of the offering and sacrifice that Christ made that would suffice for all the sins of man.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the
place afar off.
What else do we read of happened on the third day in scripture?
Issac is a type of Christ (1) gave himself for a sacrifice to his father -John 10:17-18
(2) saved from death or raised from death Hebrews 11:17-19
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the
ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again
to you.
Do you notice anything about this passage that strikes you? Look at the last part. Abraham did not know how but he knew that he and Issacc would return. Faith.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid
[it] upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a
knife; and they went both of them together.
Who else had to carry the wood on their back to his death? As I said at the birth of Issacc we do see a lot of similarities here between him and Jesus.
Fire-speaks of judgement Knife-speaks of execution of judgement and sacrifice
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father:
and he said, Here [am] I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood: but where [is] the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for
a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? This questions has been asked by the prophets of God for many years praying and fasting for the lamb to come to be slain. As we see it was not answered for another almost 1900 yrs. Finally the lamb of God would come and be a true sacrifice. We will notice in verse 13 that Abraham offers a Ram and not a lamb. As Abraham says,"God will provide" Same word used in 14 jehovah-jireh "the Lord will provide"
Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and
Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and
bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
How old do you think Issac was here? Maybe 20 or 30 yrs of age. Abaraham was probably 120 to 130 Issac probably put up a good fight and won. But he obeyed his father. He put his full trust in the will and purpose of his father. Jesus did the same when he went to the cross.
John 5:30-AV I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I
judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will,
but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to
slay his son.
Here we see the true light of Abrahams faith in God. Not what he said. Not what he made others do but what he did.
James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had
offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
"True faith will manifest itself in obedience to Gods word."
"True faith is only shown through testing"
11. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here [am] I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do
thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son] from me.
How did the angel of the LORD say that they he recognized that Abraham feared God?
"seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son] from me."
God sees the heart of man and "seeing is believing".
James 2:20-AV But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works is dead?
How does God know that you fear him? What are you willing to give up for God?
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold
behind [him] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham
went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son.
Abraham offers a ram instead of his son. God provided the offering just as he did on that old altar called the cross where Christ died. God provided all we have to do is accept and obey.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as
it is said [to] this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be
seen.
It is believed that on the same ridge of Mt. Moriah there is another Mount called Galgotha where the Lord truly provided with the death of his son.
What we learned
1) We will be tested
2) God will provide for us to make it through any circumstances
3) It may take a crisis situtation to get us in the right relationship with God
4) God will reaffirm us after a test
5) Peace comes in our lives when we are willing to sacrifice everything for God
15. And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven
the second time,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for
because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son,
thine only [son]:
Did Abraham actually offer up Issac for a sacrifice? Then what is he talking about "for because thou hast done this thing"? It was just the same as doing it when he was willing and took the extra step.
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the
sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess
the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
What seed is he talking about?
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed,
which is Christ.
This is the greatest thing that happened because of Abraham's seed and that was Jesus Christ coming and dieing. possessing "the gate of his enemies" the strong hold of the enemy. The heart of the person. Jesus said "I am the door". blessing the nations-And Oh has Jesus blessed the nations of this world even our own. Why did all this happen because
"thou hast obeyed my voice".
19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and
went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
20. And it came to pass after these things, that it was told
Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto
thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the
father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to
Nahor, Abraham's brother.
24 And his concubine, whose name [was] Reumah, she bare also
Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
We will see this name Rebekah again when she becomes the wife of Issacc. So she is the second cousin of Issacc.
Moses is giving the Israelites another History lesson of where the nations come from.
