Presentation 37

Presentation 37

Introduction

When we read a book we are often able to work out how the story will end. Only occasionally do we say, ‘I never thought that would happen!’ The historical record of Abraham’s sacrifice of his Son fits this category. Now in order to step into these events we need to picture Abraham’s life as it is progressively stripped bare. God had called him to leave his friends and his father’s house. He is separated from his nephew Lot. He was told to send Ishmael away and now the only blood relative left to him was his son Isaac. Then God says, ‘take your son your only son whom you love go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’ v2.

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A Test of Faith

Abraham’s faith was on trial. Indeed, this was its greatest test thus far. Isaac was very dear to Abraham. Had Isaac become too dear? Perhaps! God’s tests are sometimes designed to challenge the priorities of our lives. What has become more important to us - God’s gifts or the Giver? In Abraham’s case the problem was intensified. There was a tug of war between God’s promises to Abraham, which would be fulfilled through Isaac and God’s command to sacrifice him. How could this conflict be resolved? Presentation 37

A Test of Faith

Abraham might have concluded that God did not know his own mind, that he was an erratic planner, unsure of himself – but this was not his experience of God. The alternative was for Abraham to say, ‘my mind is too small to grasp all that God is doing, I must endeavour to trust God who has always proved himself faithful’. And that is precisely what Abraham did! We have before us a remarkable display of faith! Presentation 37

A Test of Faith

Abraham rose the next day, saddled his donkey, took two servants, his son and wood for the burnt offering and set off for Mt. Moriah. There was no debate, no whinging just unquestioning obedience. He had a three day journey to think through what God asked of him. During that time Abraham must have tried to work out how God could keep his promise to him and at the same time ask him to sacrifice the child through whom that promise was to be fulfilled. Abraham saw a solution to the dilemma cf v5 . As he leaves his servants at the foot of Mt. Moriah, he says, “We will worship and then we will come back to you”.

This was not an empty promise. Presentation 37

A Test of Faith

“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, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” Heb.11. 17ff Abraham expected a resurrection! He was sure he would see a miracle. God had made him promises and God does not lie. The promises could only be fulfilled through Isaac’s posterity. Therefore, if God required him to take Isaac’s life then God would raise him up again. Doubt laughs at such reasoning and argues that there is no historical precedent for it but Abraham put his faith in God.

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Faith Rewarded

God did provide a resurrection, figuratively speaking, but not until Abraham had said his goodbyes, not until Isaac’s willing submission, not until after the knife was raised. It was then at the last minute, when it was quite clear that Abraham intended to obey God, that he was told to stop. “Do not lay a hand on the boy, 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.”v12 Only then is Abraham’s attention drawn to the ram caught in the thicket. And grasping the significance of what had happened Abraham names the place. ‘Jehovah Jirah’ – ‘the Lord will provide’. God had provided a solution and by doing so provided invaluable insight into his character. Presentation 37

Faith Rewarded

God is not only the God of the impossible - Abraham already knew that but God in his mercy acted to find a solution to the enigma that Abraham was wrestling with. God himself had provided the solution as the sacrifice of the substitute ram caught in the thicket made clear. But at the same time, God intended to use this incident to show Abraham how he would solve man’s greatest problem - the problem of human SIN and of God’s hatred of sin and love for the sinner. God would sacrifice a substitute! And it is this that explains Abraham’s enigmatic statement in v14… ‘on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided’.

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Faith Rewarded

What was significant about this mountain? 2Chronicles 3v1 identifies Mt. Moriah with Jerusalem. On this mount the temple of sacrifice would later be built by Solomon. In was on this same mountain that God’s own beloved Son would be sacrificed. Abraham was standing on the place of sacrifice, the place, where Jesus would be crucified! What circumstances could have better equipped Abraham to see how God’s promises to him were to be fulfilled? He had almost sacrificed his son for God but God would certainly sacrifice his son for him and for all men and women of faith. The ram that God had provided as a substitute for Isaac was but a shadow of a greater substitutionary lamb. Presentation 37

Faith Rewarded

Isaiah would write of this substitutionary sacrifice in Is. 53 4-8: Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth...for the transgression of my people he was stricken”.

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Faith Rewarded

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, ‘Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ Jn 1.29. The insight, which Abraham gained on the mount contributed to his understanding of the gospel. And it was this very insight and understanding Jesus drew to the attention of his hearers when he said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Jn 8.56.

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Faith Rewarded

Can you imagine the conversation Abraham had with Isaac on the way home? “I thought I was going to have to take your life but God has given you back to me. But more than that, I saw where all of the promises that God has given us are leading. They will find their fulfilment one day on that same mountain. For there God’s own Son will be offered up for the salvation of men and women of every nation. God’s Son will be raised up and returned to his Father, just as you have been restored to me today. As a father who almost sacrificed a son whom I love, I can just begin to grasp something of the intensity of God’s love for us in sacrificing his Son for us.” Isaac was spared, Jesus was not spared! Presentation 37

Faith Rewarded

Note in v15ff that the particular characteristic of Abraham’s faith that is commended is it’s obedience: ‘through your offspring all nations of earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.’ This is the first time the word ‘obey’ appears in scripture. Obedience and faith are indissolubly united in scripture. Faith is more than mental assent that says, ‘I believe God exists’. Faith is more than trust. It is a trust that obeys, even in the dark, even when we do not have all the answers. Charles Spurgeon, the famous London preacher said, “Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God”. The N.T. encourages men and women not just to believe the gospel but to obey it.

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Conclusion

Abraham’s faith was an obedient faith. It cost him to serve God. At times he was travelling in the dark. He trusted God not just in days of great blessing, but in days of hardship, when he was going through an emotional and psychological wringer. For Abraham the Giver was more important than the gifts that were given him. Can we say that? Are there things in our lives that we are reluctant to put on God’s altar, things we are reluctant to sacrifice, to let go of, plans and dreams that we do not want God to interfere with?

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Conclusion

The response of many people, who read this passage for the first time is, ‘How could God ask Abraham to make such a sacrifice even if he knew he would prevent him from carrying it out?’ But the question we should really be asking is, ‘How could God make the sacrifice he made in giving up his Son to die on the cross for our sin? How could God go through with that?’ The Bible answers, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ Jn. 3.16. Presentation 37

Conclusion

Those of you who have watched the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ will know that Eric Liddell, after winning his gold medal in the Olympics and in response to the call of God, turned his back on fame and fortune and made his way to China to spread the gospel. C.T. Studd the famous 19th century English cricketer and wealthy landowner, in response to the call of God left high society, gave up his fortune and sailed as a missionary to Africa. He wrote in his diary, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, can any sacrifice be too great for me to make for him”. Is our faith an obedient faith?

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