God tried Abraham’s faith. And you can’t believe what kind of testing he had to go through! The blessing that Abraham had received (the son of the promise the miracle-child) was to be sacrificed. How is that possible? Pagans in that country had the horrible practice of offering their firstborn to their god Moloch to protect their family from the consequences of their sins. This is an abomination!
Read Genesis Chapter 22
Testing his hearing
Is this the voice of God or the devil? But Abraham knew, after all these years when God was speaking to him. And God was very clear:
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, Take, therefore :
· your son
· Isaac your unique son
· whom you love
He could not escape the command or think he had heard wrong. God was too precise. He had to sacrifice the « son of the promise ». (Genesis 22.2-3)
We don’t really understand the use of this testing.
After all, God has promised this child. It was a fantastic miracle that he was born since his wife was sterile and too old (90 years old) And now God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac voluntarily? Who could ask for such a thing?
But God never asks for something he has not gone through himself.
Keep in mind that the Heavenly Father, many years later, led his only begotten Son to the place of sacrifice to obtain the blessing of salvation for all the families of the earth.
Do you have plans, projects, and promises that God, himself gave you? How can you be certain that your calling (or blessing you have received) has not become an idol?
“ so that the proof (trial) of your faith, being more precious than gold (1 Peter 1.7)
The attitude of Abraham in this time of testing
We know about his attitude thanks to Paul, the apostle in Romans 4 where he talks about Abraham as being the father of the faith. “ yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4.20-22)
And there is also Hebrews 11.19
“Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death”
The ways of God are often mysterious. Why did God make Sarah sterile and give her the promise that she would give birth to a son through which all the nations on the earth would be blessed? Why, when it was too late, that God finally gave the order for the blessing to arrive in their lives? And why, now does God want to take back the blessing?
Our interests or God’s interests in this trial?
We all pray and wait for miracles from God. We are thinking of our own interests. The real miracle for God is to find a man or woman who has God’s best interests at heart. We do not see things from an eternal perspective. It is not even possible! But He has given us the capacity to hear His voice. And we can make the choice to obey even when we don’t understand.
But Abraham did not blast God’s ears with his ” Why” questions. Faith moves ahead on the Word of God with confidence. Because his experience is that God keeps his promises and is full of goodness and mercy. And he would not swallow the idea that God is so mean as to take back blessings he had given. God is not a liar concerning his promises. And there were two other details that indicate his calm assurance.
- Though he didn’t know how, he knew he would come back with Isaac.
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… (Genesis 22.5)
The testing of God’s provision
- 2. And he knew God would provide a (symbolic) sacrifice in place of his son. 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.
God stopped his hand at the last minute:
“Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” Did God have to go to this point with Abraham to know he truly feared (respected) God?
In the meantime, on the other side of the mountain, a ram was led to the place of sacrifice. He got there a bit early. So God made sure the ram caught his horns in a thicket until Abraham noticed him. (Genesis 22.13).
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.
No man can do what only God can do (save people from their sins) But we can accompany Him in his intercession. When Jesus agonized in the garden of Gethsemane, his disciples, instead of walking with Him to the end, fell asleep. (Luke 22.45)
No man is innocent and can never replace another to pay for their heavy debt of sin. That is why God taught that an innocent (lamb) to be sacrificed in place of the guilty.
The key idea of effective intercession
We can never do what only God can do. But effective intercession is to identify with the subject we are praying for. How would you react if God asked you to sacrifice the blessing he gave you?
Bombarding Him with your “Why questions” or simply trust that His nature is good and merciful and that God has already put the solution in place. And that we are highly honored to be allowed to walk with Him in this situation?
Thinking through
- Is your trust-relation with Him your most precious treasure. Or do you hold tighter the blessing He gives you than cling to Him who gives the blessing?
- No man is innocent and can pay another man’s heavy debt of sin. That is why God teaches the notion of the blood sacrifice of an innocent one awaiting the final blood sacrifice of His Promised Son that will take away the sin of the whole guilty world.
- How do these principles from Abraham’s life apply in your life? It is worth gold (to God) to see you walking by faith in His goodness according to his Word even if it seems counterintuitive.
You can download the text of this message here
(Day 20) The Impossible Miracle
