God Tested Abraham
Genesis 22:1
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested
Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
In life, we have all sorts of tests and examinations. In primary
schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities, and even at
work and life, such as driving, ability, fitness, health, talent and
aptitude tests.
The tests are not there to discredit or harm us. They are there to
prove whether we have learned, or are able and ready to perform the tasks that
are ahead of us or are okay.
Similarly, in our journey of faith, there will be tests. Unless we
passed in the primary and secondary levels, we cannot proceed to the
tertiary levels.
In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham. It occurred more than 25 years
after the Lord called him in Genesis 12. And the journey of faith still
continued after many incredible and remarkable events between
Genesis 12 and 22.
Now Abraham had only one son. In Genesis 21, his other son, Ishmael was sent away
along with his mother, Hagar. It would seem that
everything would then be perfect, and the family of Abraham would
live happily thereafter.
But it was
the time to test the faith of Abraham now that he was more than 100
years old. Did Abraham really
believe and trust the Lord? Did Abraham really know the Lord? Would
Abraham obey the Lord even if it did not make any logical sense?
And God tested Abraham. God said to him, “Abraham!”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
Then God said, “Take your only son, Isaac, the son you love. Go to
the land of Moriah. There kill him and offer him as a whole burnt
offering. Do this on one of the mountains there. And I will tell you
which one.”
Early in the morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took
Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice.
Then they went to the place God had told them to go.
On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the
distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. My
son and I will go over there and worship. Then we will come back to
you.”
Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice, and gave it to his son to
carry. Abraham took the knife and the fire. So Abraham and his son
went on together.
Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”
Abraham answered, “Yes, my son.”
Isaac said, “We have the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb we
will burn as a sacrifice?”
Abraham answered, “God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice, my
son.”
So Abraham and his son went on together. They came to the place God
had told him about. There, Abraham built an altar. He laid the wood
on it. Then he tied up his son Isaac. And he laid Isaac on the wood
on the altar. Then Abraham took his knife, and was about to kill his
son.
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. The Angel said,
“Abraham! Abraham!”
Abraham answered, “Yes.”
The Angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I
can see that you respect God. I see that you have not kept your son,
your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram. Its horns were caught in a
bush. So Abraham went and took the ram and killed it. He offered it
as a whole burnt offering to God. Abraham’s son was saved. So
Abraham named that place “The LORD Will Provide.” Even today people
say, “On the mountain of the LORD, it shall be provided.”
The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time.
The Angel said, “The Lord says, ‘You did not keep back your son,
your only son, from Me. Because you did this, I make you this
promise by My own name: I will surely bless you and give you many
descendants. They will be as many as the stars in the sky and the
sand on the seashore. And they will capture the cities of their
enemies. Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will
be blessed. This is because you obeyed Me.’”
Then Abraham returned to his servants. They all travelled back to
Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.
In this test of faith, what is God testing Abraham? More than
whether Abraham loved the Lord first, and whether Abraham truly
trusted and obeyed Him, God was actually revealing more about Himself to
Abraham. It is a divine test from God, not man!
Abraham already knew in his heart that he and Isaac would come back
together when he told his servants to wait for their return. Not his
return but their return!
Genesis 22:5
And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the
lad and I will go yonder and worship, and
we will come back to you.”
Abraham also knew that the Lord would provide the lamb for a burnt
offering.
Genesis 22:8
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for
a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
But there was one more very important truth that was not written in Genesis 22 but in Hebrews
11.
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he
who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead,
from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
This is the decisive test of faith. A matter of life and death.
Did Abraham believe that God would resurrect Isaac even if the boy
actually died? And by faith, trusting and believing in God, Abraham
offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Yes, the son that God had said,
“The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac.” God had made
the divine promises to Abraham. But God tested Abraham whether he
was ready to offer his own son as a sacrifice. And Abraham passed
the test! Abraham
believed that God could raise the dead. And it happened as if Abraham got Isaac back from
death.
This test was not just about Abraham. It was about God. Unless we
passed our driving tests, how could we know what the car was able to
do and perform? Are we being tested? Or is the car being tested?
1 Corinthians 13:3
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but
have not love, it
profits me nothing.
This test was not about offering human sacrifices or making
sacrificial giving or gifts. It is not about giving money or making
pledges or transferring dollars from our wallets into someone else's
or some organizations or churches to build big projects or gigantic
buildings. It is therefore not about getting blessings from the Lord. It is about faith in God! It is a test of faith!
It is also a test of our love for God. Do we truly love God? Whether we truly know who God is.
Whether we truly trust and obey Him. Whether we truly believe in
Him. Even in the darkest valley of the shadow of death! It is not a
matter of how much money we give to receive how much blessings we
get from God! It is a matter of true faith and agape love in God!
Abraham paved the journey of faith for his descendants. They would
be tested along the way. In the land of slavery, in the wilderness,
in exile and
even in the promised land. Yes, in trials, troubles, tribulations,
temptations and tests!
He also paved the way for our Lord Jesus, the Son of Abraham.
Abraham made the most painful journey, taking three days to travel,
and every step was heartbreaking and tear-jerking. Every step
required a decision to trust God, and a need to die to self!
Matthew 1:1
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David,
the Son
of Abraham:
This is the most important truth of faith we need to know that Christ died
for our sins, that He was buried and was raised to life on the third
day just as the Scriptures say.
1 Corinthians 15:3-6
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of
whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen
asleep.
As spiritual children of Abraham, we will also be tested in our
knowledge of God and our faith in Him! Do we truly know Him? Will we trust and obey Him?
Will we take Him at His Word?
Romans 4:16-18
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so
that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those
who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith
of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in
the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead
and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the
father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your
descendants be.”
In this race of faith, let us be faithful just like those who had
faithfully run and crossed the finishing line! They are cheering us
and encouraging us to press on and finish well in Christ!
Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God.
Hopefully, we will pass the test of faith like Abraham.
Thankfully, He still provides. Lovingly and faithfully, we
will cross the finishing line at the end of this journey of faith.
Only believing in God, and
continually looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!
Written on 18 September 2022