Studies In Genesis: Chapter 22 Series

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"