Overcome By Obedience
Genesis 21:1-3; Genesis 22:1-14
Introduction
A truly amazing story in the OT is the promise that God made to Abram and Sarai that involved them having a son. Sarai unable to have children. The Promise was unexpected! As time went by, both of them passed the age of childbearing and there was a lot of mystery around God’s promise.
Read Genesis 21:1-7
Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
If that is an amazing story, the developments of chapter 22 are stunning.
Genesis 22:1-2 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
This is, to me, one of the most difficult stories of the Bible to read … and surely it was difficult on Abraham and Sarah. They had waited on God’s promise for so many years. Isaac was clearly the answer to God’s promise for an heir. God does not accept human sacrifice. They loved Isaac and this was an impossible request. Almost.
What happened after God’s request in verse 2? Intense doubt? Argument with Sara? Find another way? Acceptance and decision of faith. Abraham expresses his faith that he and Isaac will go to worship and sacrifice and both will come home. (5) On the way Isaac asks … “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering” - this must have cut Abraham to the heart. Abraham’s answer: God will provide.
Genesis 22:9-14
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. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 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.”
Faith allowed Abraham to Overcome by obedience.
1. Obedience Tests Our Faith
It is one thing to say we are disciples of Jesus and another thing for our life to demonstrate such. Wiersbe: “At the age of 75, Abraham enrolled in the ‘School of Faith.’ Now he was over 100, and he was still having soul-stretching experiences. We are never too old to face new challenges, fight new battles, and learn new truths.”
We all face tests of faith - though not as challenging as Abraham’s! Looking back we can see the difficult paths we have had to walk. Perhaps some of those were tests to make us stronger.
James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
2. Obedience Springs From Faith in His Promises
From the time Abram answered the call from God, he lived by faith in the promises God made to him. Both at the calling in Genesis 12 and in this episode in Genesis 22, God called Abraham to go to a place he would show him.
Abraham left family and friends “not knowing where” he was going. Abraham and Isaac took off - ‘I’ll show you where to go’.
Faith falls us to follow, not to always know why. Wiersbe: “Whether you look at Joseph in prison, Does and Israel at the Red Sea, David in the cave, or Jesus at Calvary, the lesson is the same: We live by promises, not by explanations.” There is always room to ask ‘why’, but there are not always answers to the question. Shelly: “Abraham could not tell Isaac everything about what lay ahead, for he did not know himself.”
Hebrews 11:17-19 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.”
We obey because we believe His promises, not because we understand his ways. Chambers: “Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us ‘go.’”
3. Obedience Comes from Faith in His Provision
Abraham was convinced that he and Isaac would go up that mountain, and that they would both come down. He believed God would provide a way. The Ram in the Bushes was God’s provision to save Isaac. The answer came after a period of wondering and uncertainty - this is what faith is about.
Mount Moriah is only mentioned twice in Scripture. Here, and as the location where Solomon’s temple was built. It is near this location that Jesus would be raised up on the cross.
There was no ram in the bushes for Jesus, because he was the Lamb that God allowed to be sacrificed for all of humanity - the greatest provision. John 1:29 “… John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Conclusion
Last week we learned that God will be present to help us overcome the chaos in our lives.
This week our message is that we can overcome through obedience to our Father. Obedience…. Tests our Faith, Springs from Faith in His Promises, Comes from Faith in His Provision.
To be an overcomer begin with obedience! Obedience is submission to God, following His will instead of our own. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) We have a daily decision to follow Jesus. That’s how we become overcomers!
Thank God for Abraham’s faith!
Galatians 3:26-29 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1 John 5:4 For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
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Video of this message can be found by searching for Forsythe Church of Christ channel on YouTune.
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Discussion Questions
1. Genesis 22 begins by telling us that God was testing Abraham. Abraham does not seem to be aware of that. What is the difference between ‘tempting’ and ‘testing’? How would you know if God was testing you?
2. God told Abraham in 22:2 to “take your son, your only son”. Abraham also had a son named Ishmael. Why do you think God referred to Isaac as the ‘only son’?
3. The text does not mention Sarah, Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother. Does this mean that Sarah was not a participant in the story, or not? Why do we think this? If we think Sarah was a participant in the story, how do we imagine she participated? Why do we imagine that?
4. In this story we have no resistance from Isaac. How do you read that? Are his objections just omitted? Was he silent out of respect / love for his father? What are your thoughts on that?
5. The foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross is vivid in this text. Henry Morris notes that Genesis 22:2 is the first use of the word “love” in the Bible. The first use of the word “love” in the New Testament is found at what event in Matthew 3:17? Does this offer any insights to you about the love of God?
6. Why do we sometimes struggle with obedience? What can give us the strength to obey God even when it is difficult to do so?
7. What else in this text did you want to talk about?
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Resources
Benckhuysen, Amanda. Commentary at
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13/commentary-on-genesis-221-14
Chambers, Oswald. Reading located at
https://utmost.org/classic/the-way-of-abraham-in-faith-classic/
Rutledge, Fleming. And God Spoke to Abraham: Preaching from the Old Testament.
Shelly, Rubel. Genesis: The Beginnings of Faith. College Press, 1997
Stemdan, Ray. Sermon at https://www.raystedman.org/old-testament/genesis/lifes-hardest-trial
Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Commentary: The Pentateuch. David C. Cook, 2001.
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Some Quotes I did not use in the sermon:
Shelly: “So the father rand son traveled together for three days. Did Abraham travel in the solemn silence of his knowledge of what lay ahead? Did he prattle the whole way, wanting to spend every one of those precious, final moments talking with his boy? Did he ask countless leading questions, wanting to hear - in order to remember in exact detail - the sound of Isaac’s voice? And what about Isaac himself? Might he have pressed his father for details of this unscheduled trip they were taking? Only one thing is certain: Abraham could not tell Isaac everything about what lay ahead, for he did not know himself.”
Wiersbe: “As he climbed Mount Moriah with his son, Abraham was confident that God would meet every need. On what could Abraham depend? He certainly could not depend on his feelings … Nor could he depend on other people … he could depend on the promise and provision of the Lord.”
Wiersbe: “It has been pointed out that Abraham believed God and obeyed Him when he did not know where (Heb. 11:8), when he did not know when (vv9-10, 13-16), when he did not know how (vv 11-12), and when he did not know why (vv 17-19).”
Rutledge: “To "believe in" God, to "fear" God, is to trust him totally and to put oneself in his hands totally, even when the road leads out into God-forsakenness, even when the fulfillment of God's promises seems to have receded into impossibility.”
Shelly: “The place the patriarch saw in the distance, Mount Moriah, is mentioned only one other time in the Bible….the place Abraham saw was the same one where Israel’s temple later stood … (2 Chronicles 3:1)… on the very same elevated spot where the altar would someday stand, Abraham would build an altar. Near the place where Jesus would be raised on his cross, Isaac would be prepared for death.”
So God asks Abraham to demonstrate his faith by trusting God with his hopes, his future, his deepest longings, his only son whom he loves. Genesis 22:1 describes it as a test, signaling to the reader that God had no intention of going through with it. The messenger of the Lord stays Abraham’s hand, preventing him from killing his son. God never wanted child sacrifice after all. Rather, he wanted Abraham to face his own conflicted and divided loyalties. Amanda Benckhuysen
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-13/commentary-on-genesis-221-14
It seems to me that no one watching old Abraham binding his dear son to the altar and his heart breaking within him can miss the parallel with God sending his own Son to Calvary's mountain centuries later.
As we read through this account, we see that it says nothing about Abraham's emotional reaction to this request of God's. I think the reason is that it was quite unnecessary to say anything. We instinctively know what this must have meant to Abraham. His first reaction must have been incredulity. How could God be asking this of him? And yet, the voice is unmistakable; he has heard this voice many times.
I think in some lesser degree, you and I have had experiences like this. Perhaps you have stared in unbelief at some situation or circumstance in your life, and said, "Is this what God wants me to go through? Is this what God is asking of me? Is this God's will?" And your heart cries out, "Why? Why should this happen to me?" Well, this is life's hardest trial. It is never so difficult when we can see a reason. However, when something happens to us in which we fail to see any logic, and, in fact, everything seems to be against it, this is when faith is really put to the test.
Again the record is silent about the emotional reaction of Abraham here, but we have only to put ourselves in his place to sense what he felt, how his heart was torn, how he avoids telling Isaac the fearful truth until the very last possible moment, how he perhaps trembles within when Isaac asks the question, "Where is the lamb?" We know there is no real answer to Isaac's question until we run through intervening centuries and listen in the New Testament to John the Baptist standing before the people of Israel saying, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," (John 1:29 RSV).
Ray Stedman, https://www.raystedman.org/old-testament/genesis/lifes-hardest-trial
