Genesis 22:15-24

Today we’ll finish off this chapter, in which we’ll see Abraham passed the test of his life, with high marks:

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” (Gen. 22:15-18)

Remember that God tested Abraham, not because He did not know how Abraham would do, but because He wanted to prove Abraham’s faith and His strength to the world. Satan comes to tempt us to steal, kill, and destroy, but God TESTS us (it can and most likely will be the same event) to build us up and show His power within us. God never allows us to go through anything that we haven’t been prepared for beforehand.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Cor. 10:13)

On completion of the biggest test of his life, Abraham receives a “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” And he doesn’t just get a plaque to commemorate the occasion - he gets the reaffirmation that God will surely do what He has promised. Abraham’s descendants will be “as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.” And the best part? “... all the nations of the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” Wow! Now that’s a reward!

When we take God at His Word and OBEY it, we aren’t the only ones blessed. Our obedience in and through a trial affects MANY. Everyone around us who witnesses our submission to the test is drawn to the God who sustains us in the midst of it. Don’t you want to leave that kind of legacy? That is why James was so confident in his proclamation about the joy of a trial:

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. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

Don’t you want to be mature and complete and not lacking anything? Me, too!!! I keep waiting for the maturity! I know that I’m still here, because God still has so much to work out in my life!! :)

Finally, this chapter ends with another genealogy. This time it’s the list of offspring from Abraham’s brother, Nahor. It lists his many sons, with a tiny footnote about the daughter of one of them, Rebekah! So, at the tail end of a portrayal of the sacrifice of Christ, we are introduced to the the future bride of Isaac. So, we are also reminded of another Bride - the Church! We all love a good love story - especially one that ends with a wedding. It’s coming, but tomorrow we’ll first read about another loss.

Have a great morning, remembering that WHATEVER comes your way, He is more than capable of taking you through it!

 

Genesis 22:9-14

Today’s scene is almost shocking to our sensibilities. Abraham and Isaac have finally reached the site on Mt. Moriah:

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. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. (Gen. 22:9-10)

Imagine what must have been going through Abraham’s mind as he is laying the wood on the altar, log by log, arranging it for the best fire. “Okay, LORD, any time now would be a good time to stop this!” He has to get to the point of actually raising the knife over Isaac, before the LORD finally calls out to him to stop:

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.” (vs. 10-12)

Abraham has that same immediate response he had earlier in the first verse of this chapter: “Here I am!” Beth Moore calls this “the quickest moment of obedience in scripture.” What relief and joy must have filled him. I would think he would have gotten weak in the knees. Don’t you find it interesting that there is no mention of Isaac putting up a struggle? We always think of Abraham’s obedience here, but Isaac was amazing! He was a young man at this point, who could have surely overwhelmed his aged father with ease. Yet, he submits in obedience. He must have had tremendous confidence in his father as well as his Father!

See how this story parallels the story of Christ? In this portrayal of the gospel, Abraham plays the part of God the Father, and Isaac is Jesus, the Son who was obedient unto death (Eph. 2:8). The difference, of course, is that Jesus actually went through death and separation from His Father. The Father had to give up His Son for us! He wanted Abraham to understand the cost. This was a lesson Abraham could NOT forget, a test that Abraham passed with an “A+!”

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. 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.” (vs. 13-14)

Abraham got it! God Himself provided the lamb! Here we see Jehovah-jireh, our God who provides. He not only makes the provision, He IS the provision. He is all we need! He knew we needed a savior, so He became the Savior. If He would not even spare His Son, what would He withhold from us that we need? And the things we need money can’t buy: peace, love, joy, forgiveness, hope... all things that only God can give, and that He gives in abundance when we trust only in Him.

So, then, this is the gospel message: God Himself provided our salvation. There was not a thing we could do.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Thank you, LORD, for your marvelous provision!
 

Genesis 22:5-8

He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. (Gen. 22:5-8)

There are many important things to note in this passage which is a portrayal of the story of redemption through Christ. As Beth Moore says, it’s the first account of the gospel in the Old Testament.

As Abraham prepares to climb the mountain, he tells the servants, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Somehow, Abraham believed God would step in and Isaac would either be spared or brought back to life. I cannot imagine the struggle there must have been within him. Abraham places the wood on Isaac - just as Christ carried his own cross. They go on for a while, when Isaac speaks up. “Um, Dad? Haven’t you forgotten something? I see the fire and wood - but where are we going to get the lamb up here on the mountain?”

Abraham’s response is, “God himself will provide the lamb...,” or, as the King James Version reads, “God will provide himself a lamb...” Abraham had all the confidence in the world that God would provide. He did not know how, but he knew God would be faithful to His promise through Isaac. Abraham could not have fully understood, but God would, indeed, provide the way of salvation through His own Son.

This is truly a story of letting go and trusting God completely. Most of us will never be asked to make such a sacrifice of our children, but some do. Moms who watch their sons or daughters go off to war and those who sit by the bedside of a child suffering from cancer must also relinquish all control to God.

Years ago, when Molly was entering high school, a school friend, Lisa, was suffering from, and eventually died of cancer. I ran into her mother a few months before Lisa died and asked her how she was doing it - holding up in the middle of all of it. She held up a book she had in her hand with the title The Sovereignty of God, and she said, “This is how I do it!” She knew without a doubt that God loved her daughter much more than she did, and that He had a plan that was bigger than just them. And this is that ripple effect that Beth Moore talks about. When God puts us through something hard, it’s because He’s going to do something HUGE! Surely, through watching Lisa and her family go through the horrible ordeal with such faith, God was honored and many lives were impacted. God redeemed, and continues to redeem lives through Lisa’s story.

Tomorrow we’ll finish off this chapter and see the results of Abraham’s faith and God’s faithfulness.
I’m off to work, while Don’s staying home to play! Good for him! :)

 

Genesis 22:3-5

As I’ve been meditating on our story this week, foremost on my mind has been my sister, Jodi, and the former parent of my classroom, Beth, and the devastating loss they have just suffered in the deaths of their children. When Jodi received the news of Justin’s death, she was still trying to fathom the news of her cancer. When Beth learned of Briana’s death, it was coupled with the news that her son Ian was in critical condition. This is the kind of news that Job received when his servants ran in to tell him first that his oxen and donkeys were all carried off in an attack and the servants tending them were all killed but the one messenger. While the messenger was still speaking, another ran in with the dreadful news that fire came from the sky and burned up all of the sheep and those tending the sheep, except the one. The third wave came before Job could even catch his breath: a raiding party had taken away all of the camels and killed the servants, except this messenger. Finally, a messenger brought the tragic news that a “mighty wind” had destroyed the home where all of his children were having a party, and all of his children were dead!

We are dumbstruck by such calamity! The tornadoes that swept through the South this week, killing about 300 and devastating the region, particularly Tuscaloosa, and the tsunami that killed thousands and left millions homeless in Japan are disasters that defy comprehension. They are counter-balanced by the sweet news of new babies: Justin’s wife, Stephanie learning she is carrying her baby girl, my Emmy receiving our precious Penelope, and my dear friend, Lisa, just receiving her newly adopted Luke. Rays of sunshine and hope in the midst of horror. Even this morning, we all rejoice in images of the royal wedding of Prince William and his Kate, in between shots of the utter loss in Tuscaloosa!
What is truly amazing about the stories of Job and Abraham is their responses:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
   “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, 
   and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 
   may the name of the LORD be praised.”
 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22)

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded 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. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Gen 22:3-5)

Job worshiped God, and in today’s passage in Genesis 22, Abraham is on his way to worship. This is truly what the Bible calls the “sacrifice” of praise! Praise that costs! The differences between the two stories struck me. Job received all of this news in one fell swoop. It was instant disaster. Abraham, however, had to travel THREE days to Mt. Moriah, knowing what he was about to do. Which is worse? I don’t know. The agony of the wait must be excruciating. The parent who has watched their child suffer and slowly die of cancer suffers the same loss as the parent whose child is taken in an instant, but being stuck in that place between hope and resignation for an extended period has to be torture!

How are people able to get through this with their faith intact? How did Abraham make that journey up the mountain? Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us:

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.


Abraham KNEW his God. He knew God’s character and was fully persuaded that God was able to raise from the dead, even though that had never happened in human history at this point. He remembered God’s promises. God had promised that Isaac would be the one from whom the promised generations would come. He did not know HOW or WHY, but he knew WHO!

We look at all going on around us - the losses, the illnesses, the bankcruptcies , and on and on, and we can become desolate in our spirits. Sin SUCKS big time!!! But we are people of HOPE and we KNOW whom we have believed in and are persuaded that He is able to keep that which we’ve committed unto Him! We know the end of the story.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:16-18)

Keep your head lifted and your eyes on Christ! We, too, can worship in the midst of pain!
A personal note: today is a day of praising in our home! Don is retiring today after more than 37 years at Mission Hospital! Hallelujah!! I’m so thankful to God for His faithfulness and to Don for his faithfulness to provide for his family all of these years. It’s a good day!

 

Genesis 22:1-2

Have you ever noticed that in order to learn some lessons, we need a hands-on experience? Many things we can easily learn from a book or a lecture, but there are some harder lessons that are best learned hands-on or through role play. Yesterday my class was getting a hands-on science lesson in our science lab from Mr. Fogg, the science guy who visits our school. He was teaching them about weathering, erosion, and deposition. After drawing the process in cartoon fashion on the wipeboard and chanting with them, he took them outside and had them act it out. Wouldn’t you know it was the one day all year when I did NOT bring my camera with me to the lab! It was hysterical to watch them all get into a tightly-packed group as they acted out a large rock. When Mr. Fogg called out, “Weathering,” they had to separate and twirl apart, singing in a high-pitched voice, “Erosion.” Then, when he called out “Deposition,” they had to drop wherever they were. They repeated the scene several times, with different outcomes on the deposition. I thought, as I watched them, “They will never forget this!” Which is a good thing, because state testing starts in a week, and science is covered in 5th grade! :)

So, I was reminded as I was reviewing my notes from Beth Moore on this portion of scripture, that this story of Abraham’s test is an “acting out” of the gospel, which Abraham would NEVER forget! In this scene, Abraham plays the role of God the Father, and Isaac the role of Jesus, God’s only Son. Galatians 3:6-9, below, shows how this was the telling of the gospel in the Old Testament. It preceded the giving of the Law, and the concept that righteousness comes by faith in the substitutionary death of Christ, not by our own works of the Law. This has consistently been God’s plan of salvation from the Old to the New Testament. God wanted Abraham to get this and to pass this test!

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.


Now, let’s go back and look at how God called Abraham to this test. Yesterday I said we don’t want to over-spiritualize this passage, as if this was an easy thing for this spiritual giant. This was NOT a slam-dunk for Abraham. Nothing in his entire life would compare with this test. But, as Beth Moore says in her study of this, “When God is up to something hard, He’s up to something HUGE.” The ripple effects from this will be HUGE - and it was NOT about Abraham - it was ALL about God. God is going to teach Abraham something here about Himself that Abraham needed to know experientially, and He drives the point home right away:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
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.” (Gen. 22:1-2)

When God calls, Abraham shows no hesitation. “Whatever you want, God, I’m here to do it!” He’s ready to submit! Then God shows him how great the cost will be. Beth Moore points out that God starts with a wide-angle approach, then zeros in with intensity on the cost. “Take your son, your ONLY son, whom you LOVE - ISAAC!” Remember that Isaac is the son of promise, and therefore the chosen one. Abraham and Sarah, having waited so long for this promised son, treasured him as their most precious gift. God had given them this gift, and now he was asking Abraham to give it back! Like all of us, we are happy to give our children to God - in theory. We KNOW in our heads that they belong to HIM, but our hearts want to keep them and control all that happens to them. If God called them to move away or sent them on a mission, it would be painful to release them, and we would surely agonize over it. But here, God is calling Abraham to literally lay Isaac on the altar and sacrifice him.

God tells Abraham to “go to” Mt. Moriah. In Genesis 12:1 God had also told him to “go to” a land away from all he knew. In fact, Beth Moore points out that this verse in Genesis 12 follows that same zooming in effect: Abraham is told to leave his country, his people, and, even more difficult, his father’s household. Just as Abraham obeyed then (Gen 12:4 says “So Abram left as the LORD had told him”), he obeys immediately in this chapter: “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.” (Gen 22:3) I imagine he had not slept a wink the night before! Do you think he told Sarah??? I doubt it!

Tomorrow we’ll look at this journey to Mt. Moriah!

Have a great morning!
 

Genesis 22:1

Good morning, all! We are going to be parking in Genesis 22 for a while, because it is such an important chapter, with so much to teach! Many of us have heard this story for years - it brings back images of a Sunday School flannel board story. I can only imagine that for most children it’s a perplexing, even frightening story, because it’s perplexing for adults. Why does God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac? Why does he take him all the way to the point of raising the knife over his beloved son? What was going through Isaac’s mind as it all unfolded?

Let’s get started by just looking at the first verse:

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
   
“Here I am,” he replied.

Now, I’m already wondering about why God would test Abraham? Was it to prove something to God?? Of course not! God knew beforehand exactly what Abraham would do, so why did He bother to “test” him? The tests that come our way are not to prove anything to God, but to US! God was proving Abraham’s faith to Abraham, himself, and to all who would learn of this story. Just like the testing of Job, this was a test with a purpose. God had a plan for Abraham, and an end result in mind. When Job, a man lauded as righteous by God, lost EVERYTHING and EVERYONE dear to him, he finally came to the place where he could say, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5)

Our tests will prove to us not only what God can do, but what we will hold to. As Beth Moore says, “Some things need to be learned on a field trip, not in the classroom.” The hardest test a parent can face is the loss of a child. Watching my dear sister, Jodi, go through this has been so painful. None of us can imagine what it must be like. Years ago I was told something profound by a woman I knew, who had lost a toddler. Our Bible study group was trying to imagine such an ordeal, and she said to us, “God doesn’t give you grace to go through something in your imagination. He gives you the grace when you need it.” WOW! I’m seeing His grace poured out on my sister. Even though she is in tremendous pain, God is giving her just what she needs to get through each day, one minute at a time.

Beth Moore points out that when it comes to our submission to God, we generally will give Him most of what we love, but not what we love most. “God, you can have everything I own, but please don’t touch my children!” Right? “Bless them. God, don’t let them go through any suffering.” I get that prayer - and I think it is RIGHT that we should pray for blessing on them. But the greatest blessing will ALWAYS be God’s plan - which may, and probably will include trials and tribulations. There’s that great promise of Jesus in John 16:33: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

What we don’t want to do here, with this passage is spiritualize away the reality of the trial. It was a REAL event, which would have created REAL anguish for Abraham. I’m anxious to see all that God has for us in this passage!