Abraham

1 – 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, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

3 – 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.                                

4 – On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 – 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.”

6 – 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,

7 – 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?”

8 – Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 – 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.

10 – Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 – But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

12 – “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.”

13 – 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.

14 – 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.”

Hebrews 11:17 – By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son,

18 – Even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”

19 – Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Does anyone recognize the man in this picture? Even though he is a famous American—his FACE may not be familiar but I’m fairly sure you all are familiar with something he SAID. I’m referring to a famous speech this man delivered in 1765—a speech that pushed Virginia toward military preparedness for the revolutionary war. In this speech this man said, “I know not what course others may take, but, as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” NOW do you recognize this face? Right! This is Patrick Henry. And—whereas I admire the courage behind this most famous “Patrick Henry statement,” my favorite quote of his is something he said many years later and it concerned the disposition of his estate. At that time Patrick Henry said, “I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.”

I don’t know about you, but if I had been present when Mr. Henry said these words, I would have “Amen-ed” loudly because I definitely agree. The most important thing any dad can give his children is an understanding of the Christian faith—especially when that understanding is based on the way that dad lives his life. You see, leaving your kids money, land, lots of possessions—all that pales in comparison to the value of a Godly heritage.

This morning as we continue our study of Fathers of the Bible, we come to a dad named ABRAHAM, a dad who I believe modeled this particular principle of fatherhood. But before we go any further let me re-state something I said last week—namely: Fathers do indeed have a VITAL role in parenting. These days our children—and our culture—are suffering because many fathers have not taken seriously their unique role in the home. This is sad because studies show that fathers add something to parenting that women cannot. They respond differently to children than women do. The fact is children need BOTH a mother AND a father in their development. That’s how God set things up. I’m saying a father is not, as Margaret Mead once said, “…a biological necessity but a social accident.” Nor is he merely a poor substitute for the mother. Rather, a dad provides a special dimension to parenthood and I think this is especially true when it comes to teaching our children about the things of God.

Brian Harbour tells of a letter he received from a young lady who said, “I have a good solid concept of God as my Heavenly Father and the reason I do is because of my earthly father. It’s because of daddy that I am able to love God and relate to Him as my father.” I have heard several similar testimonies.

But, as I said, tragically these days, many dads aren’t living out this kind of testimony. Many dads are failing in this area. Either they don’t walk closely with our Lord themselves or they don’t take the time to tell their children about it.

Well, Abraham wasn’t perfect—no dad is—but I think he came to understand this principle because it seems to me that he both TAUGHT his son Isaac about God and also grew to the point that he LIVED OUT his great faith in his actions and reactions to life. In fact, Abraham’s faith has become something that people have admired for thousands of years. In Romans Paul goes so far as to refer to Abraham as the “father of ALL who believe.” Listen to Galatians 3:6-9 where he says, “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham saying: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

In our text for this morning I want to point out part of the heritage of faith that Abraham passed down to his son, Isaac—two things that we can see Abraham taught him about God.

(1) First, Abraham modeled the fact that our faith is based on an accurate understanding of God’s CHARACTER.

To help you see why I say this, “rewind” with me a bit by reviewing Abraham’s life. From the very beginning of his walk with God, our Heavenly Father had told Abraham that he would be the father of a great and mighty nation. God had repeated and enlarged on this promise several times in Abraham’s pilgrimage. In fact—as a way of confirming this pledge—God had even changed his name from “Abram,” which means “father of many” to “Abraham,” which means, “father of a great multitude.” But in all those years—from Abraham’s early seventies when he first received this promise—to when he was 99 years old…in all those years the small company of his immediate family had seemed to shrink instead of grow toward “nation-sized status.”

• For example, Abraham’s father, Terah had died.
• Then Lot abandoned him and took his brood to live near Sodom.
• And, as Genesis 21 tells us, Ishmael and his mother Hagar had been sent away.

So, mathematically speaking, Abraham’s family had gotten less “multitude-like” every day. But, in spite of this Abraham still believed God. He still trusted Him to keep His Word.

Then finally—when he was 99 years old—nearly a quarter century since God first gave Abraham this promise—when he was 99 God sent three angelic visitors to Abraham’s tent saying that within the year Sarah would give birth to his son…a statement that you may remember made Sarah, who was listening, LAUGH. She knew better than anyone that her child-bearing years had long since passed—but the angel’s message turned out to be absolutely accurate. A son was born to these two septuagenarians when Abraham was 100 and in accord with God’s specific instructions, they named this child of promise ISAAC….a name that meant “laughter.” God would have the last laugh, so to speak.

NOW…when you think about it, I’m sure that Sarah’s pregnancy was, at the time, the most celebrated of all pregnancies. I mean—pregnant at 90—and with baby number one to boot! I wonder how long she kept the news from Abraham? I mean, did Abraham hear it from the “tent city rumor mill” before Sarah had a chance to tell him? Did some giggling servant girl give it away? I mean, surely there were no secrets in that little clan. After all the walls were only fabric!

And when those nine months finally passed and that child’s cry rose above the camp I am sure there were tears of joy and festive shouts that everyone would long remember. After all, God had been faithful to His Word. He had done as Abraham told them He would do. This fact is stressed three times in the first two verses of chapter 21 so readers like you and me won’t miss it. Turn back a chapter and follow along so you can see what I mean: “The Lord visited Sarah, AS HE HAD SAID, and the Lord did to Sarah, AS HE HAD PROMISED. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age AT THE TIME OF WHICH GOD HAD SPOKEN TO HIM.”

So, both Abraham and Sarah and their entire clan now knew that God had been faithful in every detail of His Word. The birth of little Isaac was a precise, empirical validation of God’s promise. Sarah was—and I think still is—the only ninety year old nursing mother in history! I’m saying that here in Genesis we get a sampling of what has been the experience of God’s people in ALL ages, namely: GOD IS ALWAYS TRUE TO HIS WORD. He does EVERYTHING He says He will do! As Jesus would declare in Matthew 5:18 “Truly, I say to you, until Heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until ALL is accomplished.”

Listen! This solemn declaration by the One Who is Himself the “YES” to all the promises of God means that you and I can and must trust every syllable of God’s Word. In fact, this is the way every Christ follower is meant to live. We should learn to base every decision of every day of our life on the belief that God will be faithful to do everything He says He will do! His promises are the foundation we can and must build our lives upon! Now, of course I wasn’t there but perhaps on the evening of the day of this miraculous birth as Sarah and Isaac slept, Abraham walked out of his tent and looked up at the sky ablaze with countless stars and remembered once again God’s promise back in Genesis 15:5…His promise that Abraham’s offspring would be as numerous as the infinite number of lights in the night sky.

Well, little Isaac grew—and so did the love and pride Abraham felt for him. I’m sure those first years were full of celebrations of every stage of Isaac’s development. Abraham adored his son and the entire camp did as well. I bet they had a party when Isaac said his first word—and another one when he stepped his first step! I mean, everything about this little guy would have been reason for a celebration! “Hey! The promised one slept through the night! Let’s have a party!” Or “Isaac is finally latrine-trained! Let’s have a party!” This is not far-fetched because Genesis 21 tells us that his entire clan had a feast to celebrate Isaac’s being WEANED from his mother…and at that feast God blessed their celebration by CONFIRMING to Abraham once again that it would be through Isaac that His promise would be fulfilled. God said that Isaac would marry, have a family and from that family—from Abraham’s lineage—the promised Deliverer would come…the Redeemer that everyone since Adam and Eve had been longing for.

So understand, God had promised—and repeatedly CONFIRMED this promise—that all future blessings, including the blessings of salvation were to come through Isaac. But then, here in Genesis 22, God came to this proud, happy, joy-filled father and told him to take his precious child of promise that he loved and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. God told Abraham to take Isaac on a 3-day journey to some yet unknown location on a mountain called Moriah and to sacrifice him there. Can you imagine the mental struggle this caused Abraham to endure!? As Chrysostom puts it, “The things of God seemed to fight against the things of God, and faith fought with faith, and the commandment fought with the promise.”

Now—Abraham knew what was being asked of him because human sacrifice was something he would have been very familiar with. After all, it took place in his homeland of Ur and was also a part of the Canaanite culture. And remember, Abraham did not have the yet-to-be-written Torah to inform his world view or his doctrine of God. He only had his past experience. But, in the end that was enough! Abraham did as God asked. Early the next morning he saddled his donkey, and as soon as there was sufficient light to travel, he took his son, two servants, plus enough wood for the sacrifice and headed out in the direction of Moriah—waiting for God’s promised specific guidance when they got there. Abraham responded this time in the same way he had when God first called him to leave his homeland of Ur in that he obeyed and left, not even knowing exactly where he was to go. And in his obedient response to this test—Abraham modeled this FIRST principle of faith. He shows us that authentic faith draws its power from an accurate understanding of the NATURE and CHARACTER of God. This is why as A. W. Tozer has said, “…what we think about God is the most important thing about us…”—because our knowledge of God influences how we respond to His commands. And, based on HIS accurate knowledge of God, Abraham obeyed. Even though he didn’t understand the command—because he DID understand God’s attributes and character—he obeyed.

Hebrews 11:19 gives us an insight into his faith-fueled response when it says, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead…” In other words Abraham had enough faith in God’s POWER to expect the resurrection of his son. Abraham’s walk with God—a lifetime of experiencing God—getting to know God—had given him this understanding. In fact, I imagine that as he thought about God’s terrifying command and decided how to respond to it, he REVIEWED the things that he had learned about God over the past 25 years. He thought process was probably something like this.

“God is NOT a LIAR. I know that! He is truth itself and has always acted in truth with me.

The God of truth has promised that Isaac will be the man through whom His promise to me and to all humanity will be fulfilled. As a God of truth that cannot change. And—not only is God not a liar, He CANNOT be MISTAKEN. After all, He told me I would have a son and I did—in my old age. I mean, when I should have been walking into a retirement home, I walked into the maternity ward! So Isaac MUST survive this or God could be found to be mistaken. Experience has also taught me that God is LOVE. Why, He’s always worked for my good! He’s always acted out of love toward me—even when I have messed up and failed Him!

Okay let me review here—God is truth. He keeps His Word and He has given it. He cannot be mistaken. He always acts toward me out of that love. Yet God commands me to put Isaac to death—now, this seems to be a contradiction but I also know there is NO CONTRADICTION in God. There is majesty and wisdom in God—but there is no contradiction. Oh yes, one more thing. God is also ALL-POWERFUL. I know that because of what I’ve seen Him do. I mean look what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah—and look what He did in me! Why, God resurrected in me, an old man—the ability to father a child—and in Sarah, an old woman, the ability to carry the child. God made the impossible possible! As He said to me back in Genesis 18:14, ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord?’ NO! He can do anything! So I believe that because God is truth—because God cannot be mistaken—because God is love—because there is no contradiction in God—because God is all-powerful—then Isaac will live. God will resurrect him. I will obey.”

So in short, all of Abraham’s first-hand knowledge of God—gleaned from decades of experience with God—led him to conclude that he was about to see yet another miracle. And we can see his faith-filled conclusion in verse 5. As he and Isaac headed up the mountain he said to the servants, “STAY PUT. We will worship and then WE will come back to you!” Well, fathers who do their job right—help their children to understand this principle of faith. They teach them about God’s character and attributes whenever they get a chance…as they “…sit at home and when they walk along the road, and when they lie down and when they get up.” (Deut. 6:7) Children need to learn this faith principle if they are to endure the inevitable trials and tribulations of life. They need the kind of faith that springs from an accurate understanding of God’s nature and character. In short, they need their dads to help them come to KNOW God. This happens as they read God’s Word together and discuss it. It happens as dads tell their kids the ways God has been faithful to them. In fact, dads, I challenge you to set aside times to tell your children how God has been faithful to you.

• Share with them your experience of how God has been true to His written Word.
• Tell them of how He has guided you through life’s decisions.
• Tell them of times when you were lonely or afraid and prayed and felt God’s presence and peace.
• Tell them of how God has answered your prayers and provided for your needs.

If I were to sit down with MY kids today I would tell them that God has always acted toward me just as He promises to act toward me in the BIBLE.

• He’s forgiven me every single time I’ve asked and then restored the joy of my salvation.
• He’s helped me over and over and over again in so many ways—healing me, protecting me, helping me pay for college…helping me find a Godly wife.
• I’ve felt His peace-giving PRESENCE time and time again. Just as He promises, I’ve found Him to be, “…an EVER PRESENT help in time of trouble.”

In short, God has been completely faithful and loving to me in the PAST—so I believe He will be completely faithful and loving to me in the FUTURE. The only problem with this is I can’t sing one of my favorite hymns, Great is Thy faithfulness without crying. Every time I do, I REMEMBER that God’s faithfulness to me is indeed great. In fact, “great” is an understatement!

In any case, I pray that when I’m gone from this world my kids will have gotten that message—that God can be trusted to ALWAYS be faithful.

Listen men! Children NEED their dads to help them grow that caliber of faith in God’s great faithfulness, for as Mark Buchanan puts it in his book, The Holy Wild, “Until we rest in God we will never risk for Him.” Until our kid’s faith—fueled by an accurate understanding of God—until their faith is such that they can rest in God, they’ll never risk for Him—they’ll never attempt great things for Him…and therefore will never DO any great things for Him. I’m saying that if our kids don’t learn to embrace a faith in God that is based on an accurate understanding of His character, they will live boring, purposeless lives…because let’s face it, a life without risk is not much of a life. The life of a Christian who doesn’t grow in his knowledge of God enough to trust God enough to do great things with God…is a bland, boring life.

I’m reminded of something Eileen Guder wrote in her book God, But I’m Bored. “You can live without food so as to avoid an ulcer; drink no tea or coffee or other stimulants in the name of health; go to bed early and stay away from night life; avoid all controversial subjects so as never to give offense; mind your own business and avoid involvement in other people’s problems; spend money only on necessities an save all you can. Yes and you can break your neck in the bathtub and it will serve you right.”

Our kids must learn to risk for God—or they waste the life He’s blessed them with and when they get to Heaven they will look back and regret their riskless…faithless…BORING…life.

Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission used to hang a plaque in his home with two Hebrew words on it, “EBENEZER” and “JEHOVAH JIREH.” Ebenezer means, “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” and “Jehovah Jireh” means “the Lord will see to it or provide in the future.” One word looks BACK while the other looks FORWARD. One reminded Taylor of God’s faithfulness and the other of God’s assurances to be faithful to him in the future. This conviction enabled Taylor to risk for God…to join our Heavenly Father in His work of seeking and saving the lost in China and in so doing found the modern missionary movement. Taylor had an EXCITING life—an incredibly meaningful life—because He had learned this principle of faith.

You see, when you boil it all down faith is basically a confidence in the character of God. It is seen when we firmly and deliberately say, “I do not understand what God is doing or even where God is, but I know that He is out to do me good.” Abraham had this quality of faith so he trusted and obeyed God even when he did not understand His directions and commands.

Well, Isaac’s response to all this shows that Abraham had done well at this fatherly responsibility. He had taught his son about God…well. I say this because Isaac was certainly old enough and big enough that day to resist. After all, he was big enough to be able to carry enough wood for the sacrifice…and that would not have been a small load. So at this point Isaac was no little boy…no child..but a half-grown adult. He was old enough to converse with his father, understand the significance of the ritual and carry all that firewood. But he didn’t run or fight or plead or complain or wrestle with his dad to try and stay off the altar. Look at Genesis 22:9 “Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood…and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the alter, on top of the wood.” Now, think of the quiet faith of this young man. He’s the sacrifice yet he allowed himself to be bound up and placed on the altar. Obviously, this son learned his theology well from his father—a father who completely trusted his God. And Isaac didn’t learn such a mature faith on the way up the mountain that morning. No—he’d been cultivating it over the years, thanks to his father who modeled it often.

(2) This leads me to mention a second thing Abraham taught His son about our faith—namely: our love for God is shown through our OBEDIENCE.

Now…the way I read this text, it seems as if when he first heard God’s command Abraham’s sorrow may have numbed his mind a bit…and I say that because of the ORDER in which he did things. The Biblical record says that first he saddled the donkey, then he cut the firewood. Seems like you’d cut the wood first, then saddle the donkey…but that kind of illogical actions is understandable in this situation. Thinking about sacrificing your son would befuddle anyone! Nevertheless Abraham obeyed God. His understanding of God’s attributes and character gave him the FAITH necessary—but his LOVE for God is what prompted him to obey.

And that’s the way we show our love for God. As 1st John 5:3 says, “This is love for God—to obey His commands.” That’s our MOTIVATION for doing what God tells us to do—our LOVE for Him.

Well, let me ask you dads—do your children know that you love God? Let me put it this way: How much does your day-to-day obedience show them that you love God?

• Do they see you reading God’s Word regularly and then building your life on obedience to its principles and precepts?
• Do they see you doing your job with integrity?
• Do they see you loving your wife as Christ loved the church?
• Do they see you being faithful in church attendance?
• Do they see you writing those tithe checks?
• Do they see you loving mercy and living justly and walking humbly with your God?
• Do they see you sharing your faith?

If the answers to these questions are “NO” then not only will they doubt your love for God. They will also be very likely follow in your disobedient, love-less footsteps.

And, statistics verify this sad fact. For example, a study was done that showed if both Mom and Dad attended church regularly, 72% of their children remained faithful to do the same. If only Dad attended 55% did. If only Mom attended there was a significant decrease. Only 15% did. The statistics speak for themselves—the example of parents—especially dads is vitally important. As Psalm 78:5-7 says, “God decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel which He commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deeds but would keep His commands.” Dads, if we want our kids to love God, then they must see our love-prompted obedience to His commands. They must see our love for God in ACTION.

This week I read about a father who told of a time when his son was playing with his buddies in the backyard and he overheard them talking. The conversation was one of those “I can whip your dad” routines. One boy proudly said, “My dad knows the mayor of our town!” Another said, “That’s nothing—my dad knows the governor of our state!” Wondering what was coming next, this father proudly heard his son say, “That’s nothing, my dad knows God!” Could your son make that boast?

Okay—let’s review. Abraham’s Godly heritage included two things: He taught his son Isaac that our faith is based on God’s attributes…and that our obedience to God gets its motivation from how much we love Him.

Dads, I know we are not perfect. We fail—but this morning I challenge you man-to-man…father-to-father to recommit yourself to giving your kids the most precious thing you can give them…a truly Godly heritage. This of course includes sharing your testimony of how you became a Christ follower—making sure they understand the basic Gospel message.

And we see that message illustrated in this text from Genesis. In fact, Abraham’s time of testing on Mt. Moriah was actually an object lesson designed to point to Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. You see Isaac’s life closely paralleled the life of Jesus. Let me review the similarities and you’ll see what I mean.

• Both Isaac and Jesus were promised sons.
• Both were born miraculously—Jesus of a virgin—and Isaac of a woman well-past her child-bearing years.
• The Bible says both brought joy to their fathers and that both were born at a set time.
• Both were persecuted by their siblings.
• Both were obedient to death.
• In verse 2 God told Abraham to take, “his ONLY son…whom he loved…” to be sacrificed. And as John 3:16 says, God sent.. “…sent His ONLY son…” Whom He loved to be sacrificed for our sins.
• As we have learned, Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah and this was the same mountain on which Jerusalem was eventually built——where Jesus died on the cross as the final sacrifice.
• Verse 6 says that Isaac carried the wood to burn the sacrifice up the mountain on his back. The Gospels tell us that Jesus carried His cross up the hill to Golgotha.
• Even Jesus’ resurrection is foretold in Abraham’s statement to the servants when he said, “We will come to you…” , …because prior to His crucifixion Jesus told His disciples, “I will come to you.” (John 14:8)

So there are many parallels between what happened here in Genesis 22 and what happened to Jesus but there is also one very important DIFFERENCE. You see, Abraham was only ASKED to sacrifice his son. God actually DID it. Dad’s have you told your kids that story—the story of God’s love in sending Jesus?

LET US PRAY