So for the benefit of those who missed it, the message is as follows:
TESTING 101
I believe one of the most devastating tragedies in life may be having to bury your children. What mother or father would not rather suffer themselves than watch their children suffer? Which of us would not quickly give our own life if it meant we could save the life of our child? And this is why Genesis 22 is such a riveting passage of scripture. What Abraham is asked to do is something most of us would find nearly impossible to do.
Our text tells us that "Some time later" God tested Abraham. We don't know how much later. If you remember, at the end of chapter 21 Isaac was two or three years old. In my reading this week I read suggestions that Isaac was in his mid to late teens to the suggestion that he was 33 years old (the age Jesus was when he died). From the text it seems to me that all we know is this: Isaac was strong enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice and that he was old enough to understand that having a sacrifice without a lamb didn't work.
The test is devastating.
• It involves his beloved son. Isaac was the long-awaited child. He was the joy of his parents heart. They had waited all their life for him and all the blessings were to be through him. And now God asks for this son.
• It is three days away. On the one hand this is devastating because there is little preparation time. On the other hand there is too much. During the walk to the mountain Abraham must have thought long and hard about what he was going to do. I would have thought that with each step I would have become less willing to obey.
• It was a sacrifice from his own hand. It is awful to think of losing a child. But it is almost unbearable to consider that the child died as a result of your own hand. What would he tell Sarah? How could he sleep at night?
The text baffles us with its simplicity: "Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about." God asks Abraham to do this great thing and Abraham does it!
It seems to me that there are two questions we need to ask, first, "Why Does God Test Abraham ( And Us)?" and second, "How can we develop a faith like Abraham's?"
WHY THE TEST?
Why would God "test" Abraham? It seems that if anyone had a good "track record" it was Abraham. He believed God regarding the promise of a son. He obeyed God's command for everyone to be circumcised. He even sent Hagar and Ishmael away when God commanded him to do it. Hadn't Abraham proved his faithfulness? It is "yes!" to everyone of these questions. But are some reasons God tested Abraham. . . and why He sometimes tests us.
1. To Combat Half-Heartedness
I don't know if Abraham was ever half-hearted in his faith, but we certainly are at times. Like the student who is concerned to get an assignment done in the quickest way possible (rather than to do the best job possible), so we tend to look for the minimum requirements necessary for discipleship. We hear talk about grace and conclude that we just need to say a prayer or something and our eternal destiny is determined.
To think this way is to misunderstand what God asks of us. God is calling us to a REAL decision. Half-heartedness is worse than turning away entirely. Both lead to hell but the one is worse because it leads us to hell while thinking we are headed to Heaven! God sends tests our way to force us to "get off the fence". They are sent to make our faith real.
James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
2. To Keep us From Getting Distracted
The second reason for God's times of testing is to keep us focused. Even the best of us forget where we are going. I think that was the danger with Abraham. He was so satisfied with Isaac and the sweetness of knowing God's promise fulfilled, that he forgot that the real goal was not Isaac, but the Lord.
How common this is in our lives. We experience the blessing of the Lord and become satisfied in the blessing instead of in the one who is doing the blessing. When times are good we often find that our spiritual life grows stale. Our prayer loses intensity, our Bible study becomes sporadic, our worship become optional, our giving becomes superficial. The times of testing wake us up from our spiritual coma. God wants us to continue to strive for holiness. He wants us to hunger for a relationship with Him and not just for the blessings He gives. He wants us to seek His "Well Done" rather than the applause of men. He wants us to seek holiness, not just comfort. He wants us to pursue joy and not just a good time. God is not satisfied to have our gratitude . . . He wants our love. So times of testing often come to get us back on track.
3. To Make us Deeper and More Productive
A nail would certainly question the value of a hammer. To the nail, the hammer is a cruel instrument. But what it doesn't see is that each blow forces the nail to bite deeper and hold more effectively. Without the hammer the nail would not be effective. If metal had feelings it probably would question the file and the furnace. The rough scraping of the file would seem tortuous but it is necessary to fit the metal for its part. The furnace would be met with screams and dread, but the furnace is necessary to purify and strengthen the metal.
Prov. 17:3 - The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
Abraham certainly wondered "why". Perhaps he felt like a nail being attacked by a hammer. But Abraham also understood that the nail and the hammer were both held by the hand of the Lord. He knew that God knew what He was doing and so he trusted him.
Keys to Abraham's Faith
The second question want to ask is this: How was Abraham able to show such remarkable faith? Or, "how can I develop a faith like that of Abraham?"
1. He obeyed immediately
He doesn't argue his case . . . He just obeys. In Genesis 12 God tells Abraham to leave Ur so he packs his bags and heads out in the morning. In chapter 17 God tells Abraham to circumcise the males of his household. He gathers the males and they are circumcised. In chapter 21 God tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away and the next morning he sends them off. And we see the same thing here. God tells Abraham that he wants him to sacrifice his one and only son. The son he loves. The son of the promise. And the next morning Abraham heads off.
If we are real honest with ourselves and with each other we will admit that we spend a good deal of time studying God's commands looking for loopholes! We are masters at the sin of rationalization. We are constantly justifying our lack of obedience.
Does that seem overly harsh? Perhaps you're thinking: "I would obey God immediately also if He spoke to me like He spoke to Abraham." But isn't God speaking with equal clarity in His Word?
• He tells us not to marry an unbeliever
• He tells us to forgive an offense
• He tells us to tell the truth
• He tells us to love even our enemies
• He tells us not to spend what we don't have
• He tells us to build up rather than tear down
• He tells us to leave judging others to Him
• He tells us to pray without ceasing
• He tells us to give rather than hoard
• He tells us to invest in heaven instead of putting all our efforts into impressing each other.
As the player has to learn to trust his coach, so we must learn to trust the Lord. When the Lord says jump we should jump. We can talk about whether it was high enough later.
2. He separated from those who would keep him from doing what was right.
Why didn't Abraham bring the servants up the mountain with him? I think Abraham told the servants, "stay here while I offer the sacrifice" because he knew the servants would try to stop him. They would have kept him from placing his son on the altar. They would have concluded that he had lost his mind and surely tried to subdue him "for his own good."
We must show the same wisdom. The friends that keep us from the Lord are no real friends. The things that turn us from the Lord should be eliminated from our lives. If we want to be faithful followers (do we?) then we must be diligent in removing every obstacle. Think about what this means for
• the amusements we engage in
• the television we watch
• the hobbies we pursue
• the organizations we join
• the priorities of our "To Do" list
• the appetites we indulge
• the way we respond to situations
Sometimes effective discipleship begins with subtraction. Sometimes we must eliminate things before we can do the things that lead to holy living. We must constantly be evaluating our lives and our habits for those things which lead us in the wrong direction.
3. He trusted God's Faithfulness
The final truth about Abraham's character is that he trusted God's faithfulness. Abraham told the servants, "WE will worship and then WE will come back to you." Was Abraham just trying to keep the men from asking questions? I don't think so. I think Abraham really expected to come back down that mountain with Isaac.
When Isaac asked about the lamb, Abraham replied, "God will provide". He didn't know how God would provide . . . but he knew he would.
You see, Abraham had complete confidence in God's promise. He knew that God had promised to bring him descendants through Isaac. So . . . somehow, God would fulfill his promise . . . even though it seemed that what God was asking would make that an impossibility.
The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham was so confident of God's power and promise that he believed that even if he sacrificed his son, God would somehow still bring descendants from his son. The most logical way to do so would be to raise him from the dead.
Abraham had learned that in those times when he did not understand the situation, he had to trust the one who had promised to guide and direct Him. Even when he didn't understand the "why?" he trusted the "Who?".
And this was the key to Abraham's faith: He believed God. He trusted the one who called to Him. And friend, that's where faith begins. You may not understand His call. You may not understand the circumstances you find yourself in. But faith is not about understanding . . . it is about trust. Do you trust God?
Conclusion
There are two things I conclude with. First, we cannot leave this passage without stopping to see the picture behind the picture. The details are too striking to be coincidental.
Abraham was directed to Mount Moriah for this great test of faith. In 2 Chronicles 3:1 we are told that Mount Moriah was where the temple stood. Jerusalem sits on Mount Moriah. The cross of Christ was erected on Mount Moriah.
• The place where Abraham was told to sacrifice His son is the very place where God sacrificed His own Son, Jesus, for our sin.
• The same place where God provided a ram as a substitute for Abraham's son, God provided a substitute for us in the person of Christ.
• The same place where Abraham was given his son back was the place where God gave His Son up on our behalf.
As astounding as the faith of Abraham was . . . . the love of God is greater.
Abraham was asked to give up his son. He was asked to put God first above family, possessions, community expectations and his own desires. And Abraham did so. It would have been a terribly difficult thing for a father to do. But the irony is this: until Abraham was willing to give up even his son to the Lord . . . he could not be the Father his son needed him to be.
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