We are continuing with our Genesis “From Dust to Life” series. Throughout this book so far, we have seen God bring life to people who were in impossible situations, some brought on by their own bad decisions or because of the bad decisions of others. Time and time again because of God’s unfathomable love and mercy, He brings something from nothing, life from death, beauty from ashes. That is who our God is.
Last time, we saw how God visited Sarah and Abraham and after 25 years, finally gave them the promised child. Today we will see how God comes to Abraham again and asks the unimaginable.
Genesis 22:1-14
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
We can perhaps see three things in this passage:
1. The Test
2. The Moment of Truth
3. The Truth about God
1. The Test
The author lets us know that this was a test from God, specifically for Abraham though Abraham had no idea at the time. When God called Abraham, he responded, “Here I am” which is translated from the Hebrew: “behold me.” Abraham was saying, “I am all yours.” He was so ready to hear from and receive from God. And what does God tell him? Take your only son - the word “Take” is na and it’s only used 5 times in the OT when God was asking the individual to do something staggering, something that defies rational explanation or understanding (Isa 7:3; Gen 13:14, 15:5, 22:2; Ex 11:2). God is fully aware of the magnitude of this test for Abraham and is asking him to trust Him even when he has no idea of the outcome. God knows what His test will accomplish or reveal about Abraham’s character and, more importantly, what this test will reveal about the character and nature of God.
God knows the tests that will cause our faith to mature, and often they are quite personal. Warren Wiersbe said: “Trials are meant to develop us not destroy us.” So God tells Abraham in v. 2, “Take your only son” - the one who has given you years of joy and laughter. His son Isaac was the hope of the family because he would receive the inheritance and carry on the family name and faith to the next generations.
“The one you love” - God recognized how much Abraham loved and adored his son Isaac who according to early Jewish *tradition (Midrash Gen. Rabbah 56:8) was 37 at the time.” We know from various scholars, based on the chronology of the recorded events that Isaac was anywhere between 20 to 37 years old because a substantial time had elapsed between Isaac’s birth and the trip to Moriah (modern day Jerusalem). In this same city of Moriah, there is a hill which is called Golgotha, where another Son would be offered.
God told Abraham in v. 2, “Offer him up” (literally “sacrifice him”) as a burnt offering. Whether it was to atone for sin (Lev 1:3-4) or to gain a blessing (1 Kings 3:4-15), the worshiper incinerated something valuable, communicating to the Lord, This valuable thing I possess belongs to You. Why? This sacrifice was telling God that He was more valuable than anything else in life.
From the beginning of God’s calling, Abraham offered up every source of security to Him and now the dearest thing to himself was his son. Think about it, Abraham didn’t ask for a son and he didn’t seek to make his name great. God said to Abraham I will make your name great and promised him and Sarah a son. And now after this 25-year journey, after the birth of Isaac, after sending away Hagar and Ishmael, some 20-30 years later God is asking Abraham to sacrifice his son? This was the son of promise, the son that he loved, the one who brought such joy to him and Sarah. From Abraham's perspective, God was calling him to do something that he would have never imagined, something that defied rational explanation and understanding. Not only was he asking him to make a child sacrifice, but he was asking for the child who was the heir to the promises. This unpredictability made it all such a staggering test.
Isaac was God’s gift to Abraham and God knew how much he loved and adored Isaac (2) but this test revealed that he loved the One who gave the gift even more. How often when God gives us a good thing, we think this thing is now mine, it belongs to me. This is my house, my car, my job, my gifts and talents, my resources…when in reality every good thing we have received is from God. These gifts are from the Lord and we are only caretakers of what He has given us. Isn’t this, at times, a staggering test for us?
All of us, no matter who you are or what you believe, hold onto things - people, ideologies, dreams, that can be so profoundly foundational to our self-image, our hope, and our joy. These things have the potential to become the object of your soul's faith. Without these good things, you can lose your sense of security and your joy and life would seem meaningless.
The reality is that life and time will eventually strip away these temporal things. Why not give them up to God? It’s so humbling to meet people from all walks of life who love their families, find incredible fulfillment in their work, enjoy their friends and love life, but they love God even more. They’ve learned to hold life and their possessions with open hands.
When God calls Abraham and asks him to do the unfathomable, we don’t see Abraham asking questions. He doesn’t ask for clarification; he makes no excuses, causes no delays. He somehow understands the significance of the command. So he gets up early the next day, saddles the donkeys, prepares the wood for the sacrifice, takes Isaac, his son, and two servants and travels for three days to Moriah. It may have taken them three days to get there but many times in the OT the expression “three days” is used not primarily for exact chronological purposes, but as an idiom to underscore that something dramatic was about to happen. It is the Hebrew equivalent of “at the eleventh hour.”
In verse 5, they arrive and Abraham tells his servants to stay behind as he and his son go over to the mount to worship. Abraham gives Isaac the wood to carry and the two of them (vv. 6 - 8) walk together to Mount Moriah. Significantly, the Jewish midrash, the rabbinic commentary described this scene: Isaac with the wood on his back was like a condemned man, carrying his own cross.
Think about this intimate conversation between Isaac and Abraham when Isaac says, “My father!” and Abraham replies, “Here I am, my son.” And then Isaac says, “I see the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Could you imagine all the emotions Abraham must have been experiencing? Abraham didn’t know what the Lord would do but either believed that He would provide the lamb at the right time or that if he sacrificed Isaac, He would raise him from the dead. As father and son talked, they continued to walk together right up to the place God had shown Abraham. And now they come to:
2. The Moment of Truth
In v. 9, Abraham begins to prepare the altar as his son watches. He then ties Isaac up and lays him on the altar, on top of the wood. This scene is unbelievable, as we witness the submissiveness of the son. He must have really loved and trusted his father and his God. (11) Abraham did not look around for an animal or wait hesitatingly for God to intervene; he raised his hand to slaughter his son.
Then God calls out Abraham’s name two times which expresses urgency. “Don’t lay a hand on the boy, don’t do anything to him.” Here it finally became clear to Abraham that this was a test and that God took no pleasure in child sacrifice which was one of the known practices of the day.
And what did God say? “Now I know that you fear God.” Did an all-knowing God not know what Abraham would do, how he would respond in this situation? Of course He did. God in His omniscience had always known the heart of Abraham and this test simply revealed what He already knew.
“You have not withheld your only son.” The test of Abraham’s faith was not the surrender of his son as much as it was the surrender of his will to God. He revealed his reverence for God through His obedience. In that moment, God Himself provided a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. Why wasn’t it a lamb? It’s because rams were sacrificed when making covenants. Scholars speculate that God was reminding Abraham of the covenant He had made with him back in Genesis 15.
The outcome of Abraham’s obedience was that he saw God visibly provide the solution at the right time. Think about the cross (perfectly loving and perfectly just). This is when Abraham learned the:
3. The Truth about God
Abraham was reassured that after all these years He is still the God of Covenant.
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
When Moses wrote this account of Abraham’s life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote, “The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day.” “As it is said to this day” lifts the event out of Abraham’s time and projects it into the future as a timeless truth for us all. “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” This story is really not pointing to Abraham but to God. When Abraham looked back on his life, he found that the God who had called him to leave everything behind and to follow Him would always provide for everything he would ever need. This statement is such a witness to the gracious provision of God. The NT confirms this truth about God,
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Rom 8:32).
This significant act of obedience allowed Abraham to see the faithfulness of God come through (in the 11th hour). His acts of obedience would have positive ramifications for future generations. Through Abraham the world would be blessed. Which begs the question: What if Abraham hadn’t taken steps of faith, what if he had withheld his son, how would that have impacted the future generations, what would that have meant for our future? On a far greater scale, what would have happened if God the Father would have withheld His Son? What if the Son did not freely give Himself for the sin of the world? What would the ramifications have been for eternity?
What if Paul didn’t respond to Jesus’ calling, what if he chose not to preach the gospel and thought it wasn’t worth going to prison where he wrote a good part of the NT? What about the faith heroes in Hebrews chapter 11 who endured such hardship for the sake of Truth? None of these people saw the immediate outcome of their faith but they trusted God for something better.
Today is Reformation Sunday and this caused me to reflect on those throughout the ages who said, “Here I am Lord, send me.” What if people hadn’t taken up the call of God? What if John Wycliffe, professor at Oxford University, didn’t take up the call to bring the Word of God to the common people in the 14th century? His work inspired Jan Huss who then inspired Martin Luther. What if Martin Luther, Augustinian monk, and pioneer of the Protestant Reformation, was too fearful to buck the religious system of the day, too afraid of the consequences of responding to the call of God? Because of his love for music he took the biblical-Augustinian philosophy of music out of the cloister to Europe’s masses. Because of his love for God and the Truth, he changed Europe because he found something worth singing about, something worth living for, and something worth dying for. He found a covenant relationship with the Almighty God. A relationship he could count upon. In turn Luther’s life inspired John Calvin.
What does this say to us about God’s calling on our lives? Will we stay in our natural habitat, within the safe walls of our family, culture, workplace, our comfortable lives, or is God calling us to something greater? Is He calling you to something staggering, something that defies rational explanation or understanding?
A couple of weeks ago we talked about passing the baton to the next generation. That was God’s calling on Abraham and that is God’s calling on our lives today. When you answer God’s call He promises to provide everything you will ever need.
