A couple months ago my daughter Sarah was preparing to take her SAT TEST. It was the newly-improved version and like her peers she was very concerned about doing well on it. So one Saturday morning this Spring-after making sure she had enough #2 pencils and that her science calculator had fresh batteries-I drove her up to Damascus High School where Sarah took that crucial test. By the way, we got her scores in the mail a couple weeks ago and I’m glad to report that she did very well! That’s a good thing because as I’m sure you know, the SAT is indeed a crucial test. The score determines to a great extent which college students like Sarah are able to get into.
At the moment, my daughter Becca is preparing for a TEST as well. You see, in order to make the varsity soccer team at Magruder this fall she has to be able to run two miles in under 15:00. So every morning we get up early and run together. It’s hard-but she’s improving a little every day and I have no doubt that she will pass this test with flying colors and make the team. In fact it won’t be long until she easily passes her aging father on our morning jogs.
My son, Daniel is also involved in TIME OF TESTING at the moment. Right now he’s in Montgomery, Alabama at Maxwell Air Force Base going through the U.S. Air Force officer training course-a four-week class that is filled with a wide variety of tests. For example, to pass he’ll have to learn how to wear his uniforms and who to salute and when. He told us the other day that he’s also being tested on how he phrases everything he says. It has to go something like, “Sir, 2LT Daniel Adams would like to know…Sir.” The wording is different each day and if he gets it wrong, he’s “disciplined” until he gets it right. He says he practices in front of the mirror every night. Even his hair style is tested. In order to pass, it has to be what is referred to as “high and tight”-which is basically the opposite of my current hair style-nothing on the sides and only a little on the top. As part of this training course he has to pass a physical fitness test and exams in other military courses in order to be allowed to begin his med school studies at USUHS this fall.
So each of my children are already familiar with times of testing-I’m sure each of you are as well because life is full of tests of various kinds. And, as any student worth his GPA will tell you, one of the best ways to PREPARE for a test is to study old ones. In fact, many college professors even make their old exams available to their current classes as a way of helping students review the material that will be on their version of the same exam.
Well, in essence, that’s what I’d like us to do this morning-because in this second sermon on the great questions of the Bible, I want us to study the way a man named Abraham responded to a test he had to endure. It’s recorded in Genesis 22 and I believe that if we study the way he handled this time of testing it will help us be prepared when we face similar tests in our own lives. So, take your Bibles and turn to Genesis 22:1-19 and follow along as I read this familiar text.
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.”
15 – The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time
16 – and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 – 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,
18 – and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed Me.”
19 – Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Okay-what can we learn by studying the way Abraham responded to this time of testing?
1. Well, the first thing Abraham’s response can help us understand is the true nature of FAITH.
Back up a bit with me and you’ll see why I say this. 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 even enlarged on this promise several times in Abraham’s pilgrimage-and 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.” Remember? 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, his 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 Abraham’s family had gotten less “multitude-like” every day. But in spite of this-Abraham still believed God. He trusted Him to keep His word.
Then, finally-when he was 99 years old nearly a quarter-of a century since God first gave Abraham this promise-He 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 old Sarah laugh. She knew her child-bearing years had long since passed-but the angel’s message turned out to be absolutely accurate because that’s exactly what happened. A son was born to these two these septuagenarians when Abraham was 100 years old-and in accord with God’s specific instructions, they named this child of promise Isaac.
Perhaps on the evening of the day of his miraculous birth as Sarah and Isaac slept, Abraham walked out of his tent and looked up in the sky at countless stars and remembered God’s promise in Genesis 15:5-that his offspring would be as numerous as the infinite number of lights in the night sky.
Well, little Isaac grew-as did the love and pride Abraham felt for him. I’m sure those first years were full of celebrations as Isaac grew. 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 confirmed to Abraham once again that it would be through Isaac that this promise would be fulfilled, that Isaac would marry, have a family and from that family-from Abraham’s lineage-the promised Deliverer would come-the Redeemer that every one 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 father and told him to take his precious child of promise. He tells him to take Isaac (now about 9 years old) on a 3-day journey to some yet unknown location on a mountain called Moriah and to sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.
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.”
Well, in the end Abraham did as God asked. He apparently instructed his two servants to spend the night gathering everything they would need for the journey. Then the next morning, as soon as there was enough light to travel, he took his son, two servants, plus enough wood for the sacrifice and headed out in the direction of Mt. Moriah-waiting for God’s promised specific guidance when they got there. I mean, Abraham responded this time in the same way he had when God first called him to leave his homeland of Ur. Abraham also left his home this time not even knowing exactly where he was to go.
And in his obedient response to this test-Abraham shows us authentic faith. You see, authentic faith is seen in an obedience that is fueled by 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 of his understanding of God’s heart-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 to expect the resurrection of his little 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 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 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, in order for us to endure the inevitable trials and tribulations of life, we need to develop this kind of faith as well. And we can-if we learn and then embrace an accurate understanding of God’s nature and character. We get this accurate understanding by reading His Word like we’re doing this morning-reviewing the way God has always interacted with people like Abraham…but also by following Abraham’s example and looking back at our own lives-reviewing all the things God has done for us-things that show us what He is really like.
In fact, I challenge you to do that right now. Think-has God always been truthful to you? Has he kept His promises to guide you through life, empower you to do His will? Have you felt His presence in fearful lonely times when you prayed and asked for it? Has God been faithful to provide you with your needs? Let me add my own testimony to that of your raised hands. God has always acted toward me just as He promises to act toward me in His Word. He’s forgiven me. He’s helped me over and over and over again in so many ways. I’ve felt His presence. 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.
For this reason, I can’t sing one of my favorite hymns, “Great is Thy faithfulness…” without crying. God’s faithfulness is indeed great. In fact, that’s an understatement. And we all need 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 faith-fueled by our accurate understanding of God-until our faith is such that we can rest in God, we’ll never risk for Him-we’ll never attempt great things for Him.
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.
Another thing…Abraham’s experience on Mt. Moriah helped strengthen his faith in God’s promise to send a Deliverer. We see this in the name Abraham gave that mountain. In verse 14 he called that place, “The Lord Himself WILL provide” – expressing his faith that someday another child would be born this child would come from his lineage…and He would be the long-awaited Deliverer.
So, the way Abraham “answered” this test teaches us the true nature of faith. It reminds us that authentic faith is seen in obedience…but Abraham’s experience can help us to learn one more thing.
2. It teaches us the true nature of LOVE.
You see Abraham’s obedience not only showed his faith. It also showed the depth of his love for God, for, as 1st John 5:3 says, “This is love for God-to obey His commands.” But we also see the love of GOD here-because this event in Genesis 22 foretold Jesus’ obedience when He laid down His life for us on the cross of Calvary. And as 1st John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.”
This entire time of testing was really an object lesson designed to point to Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf and we see that in the numerous ways that Isaac’s life and experience paralleled that of Jesus. Let me review the similarities and you’ll see what I mean.
- First, both Issac and Jesus were promised sons.
- Both were born miraculously-Jesus of a virgin-and Isaac of a woman well passed 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. Remember, Isaac was certainly old enough and big enough to have resisted his 100-year-old father-but he didn’t. He too was obedient.
- 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.
- Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah and this was the mountain on which Jerusalem was eventually built.
- Scholars also tell us it was in close proximity to where Jesus was crucified 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)
Hebrews 11:19 also mentions this parallel saying that like Jesus, “…figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.”
So there are many parallels between what happened here in Genesis 22 and what happened during the first Holy Week. but there is also one very important DIFFERENCE. You see, Abraham was only ASKED to sacrifice his son. God actually DID it. F. B. Meyer once said,”So long as men live in the world, they will turn to this story [in Genesis 22] with un-waning interest. There is only one scene in history by which it is surpassed: that scene in which the Great Father gave His ‘Isaac’ to a death from which there was no deliverance.”
So you see, in sending Abraham to sacrifice his son on Mt. Moriah…God foretold the day when He would send His own Son to die as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. In essence, Isaac’s question, “Where is the lamb?” continued to be asked for hundreds of years by various prophets and hopeful people until the day dawned when a Man from Galilee came to the lower end of the Jordan River to be baptized by a prophet who had been turning the countryside upside down The prophet’s name was John. Do you remember John the Baptist’s words? Do you remember what he said when he saw Jesus? John 1:29 tells us. He said,”Look! [THERE is] the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!”
So as Abraham told Isaac in verse 8, “God HIMSELF…” did provide the Lamb. He loved us enough to send “His only Son Whom He loved” to die in our place. For, you see, as Hebrews 10:3-5 says, the sacrifices like Abraham made that day of the ram caught in the bushes-animal sacrifices like the Jews made all those years-were just a “…reminder of sins….Christ came into the world because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Jesus loved us enough to come-to be obedient-even to death on the cross. We remind ourselves of this truth today…as we take communion! With these symbolic elements we celebrate the fact that Abraham proclaimed on that mountain so long ago…the fact that God Himself DID provide the Lamb!
As we begin let me encourage all Christians present today to join us. Even if you are not a member of this church, join us in this time of communion. If you are His, this is Yours.
THE OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
As I told you last week, Hebrews 12:24 says that, “Jesus’ sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” And that word is “FORGIVE! Father, FORGIVE!” When we claim this forgiveness, our sins are washed away. The words to our invitation hymn proclaim the glorious news that, “….there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins….and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains!” And this morning we invite you to hear this truth and respond. If you are here today and are not God’s child….if you have never asked God to forgive you of your sins then we invite you to do so. Put your faith in the Lamb Who was slain before the foundation of the world. And make that decision public by coming forward and sharing it with me as we sing. If you have other decisions to make public we encourage you to do so….perhaps God is leading you to join this church or rededicate your life to God in some way… Won’t you respond as Abraham did and say, “Here am I, God. I love You and will obey whatever You ask.” Whatever your decision, I encourage you to walk this aisle and share it with me.