FAITH’S HALL OF FAME
Part 3
”Abraham’s Greatest Test”
Hebrews 11:17-19 “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.’ 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”
The patriarch Abraham was tested 12 key times in his life.
And two of those tests were among the hardest—the TIMING test, and the SACRIFICE test.
Waiting for God’s TIMING is hard to do, as Abraham well knew.
God had promised a son to him when he was 75 years old—but he would wait 25 years to his hundredth birthday before it came to pass.
In the 25 years of waiting, Abram and Sarah attempted twice to bring God’s will to pass in their own way.
One way was that Abraham asked God to allow his household servant, Eliezer, to become the heir of his household (Genesis 15:2–3). God said no.
The second attempt was by Abraham begetting a son through Sarah’s servant, Hagar, which produced Ishmael and ultimately the Arab race.
In both cases, God rejected Abraham’s attempts to bring about God’s will in his own strength.
He had consistently promised Abraham a literal, miraculous future fulfillment—which was fulfilled with the birth of Isaac when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90!
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Romans points out how Abraham’s faith grew during the long wait to the place of totally trusting a God who could do anything!
“Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead (reproductively)—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”—4:19-21
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But it was the SACRIFICE test that jumped way beyond the WAITING test.
It began this way:
Gen 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.’”
When God spoke this to Abraham, Isaac was a young man around 18-25 years old.
The enormity of this command from God cannot be understated.
—Isaac was the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.
—Without him there would be no Abrahamic descendants and God’s purpose would die.
—And there was the incredible emotional bond of fatherly love and affection between the two.
—This was Abraham’s one and only son, the darling of his heart, the apple of his eye, the hope of his posterity.
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And yet, we see that Abraham immediately obeyed!
22:3 “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.”
Abraham’s journey was fifty miles over three days from Beersheba to Jerusalem—plenty of time to think!
—What unfolds next is the clearest picture of the sacrifice of Christ in the entire OT.
Everything about it points to the day God gave His only begotten Son to die for your sins and mine.
First,
I. The sacrifice of Isaac required wood
Abraham, “Split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”—Gen. 22:3
And then later on the top of the mountain in verse 9:
“And Abraham…placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.”
The Bible says that in the same way Jesus was bound, laid on a cross of wood prepared by the Roman army, and crucified.
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Second,
II. Both Isaac and Jesus carried their means of execution up the same hill.
When Abraham and Isaac had reached the mountain (the same mountain Jesus would carry his cross up 18 centuries later), it says:
“So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.”
Isaac then proceeded to carry it up the mountain.
——Likewise, Jesus carried His wooden cross up the same mountain, now called Golgotha’s hill.
John’s gospel records: “Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha).”—19:17
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Thirdly,
III. Both Isaac and Jesus offered themselves voluntarily
We don’t see Isaac fighting back or resisting when he realized what Abraham was doing.
We only see Isaac asking, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb…”—Gen 22:7-8
—In the same way, Christ also allowed Himself to be crucified rather than offering any resistance.
He told his followers, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily.”—John 10:18
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And finally,
IV. Both Jesus and Isaac were resurrected—Jesus literally, and Isaac figuratively
Back to Hebrews 11, the writer says: “Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”—Heb 11:19
Remember when I said Abraham had plenty of time to think during that three day journey to the mountain?
Well, he CONCLUDED that God was going to raise his son from the dead!
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Notice what he says to his two servants as he and Isaac begin their ascent up the mountain:
Genesis 22:5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then WE will come right back.”
Not “I will come back,” but “WE will come back!”
Abraham’s faith had grown to the incredible place of believing God could and would raise Isaac from the dead to keep His promises!
The Bible describes the dramatic climax to the story of Abraham and Isaac this way:
Genesis 22:10-14 “And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”).
And of course, 18 centuries later God DID provide on the same mountain the ultimate sacrifice lamb, Jesus Christ, and 3 days later literally and physically raised Him from the dead!
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The takeaway message from this story is about substitutionary sacrifice.
God provided the ram as a substitute in Isaac’s place so that Isaac would not have to die.
Likewise, God provided Jesus as our substitute Lamb sacrifice so that WE would not have to die!