Found Faithful

Good morning and welcome to the Panhandle. Hard to believe that fall is almost here. But then again the high for today is suppose to be only in the 70's. We have a crazy busy month this month. There is the Bowen Family in concert this Friday, the County Fair, Missoula (a team comes and teaches our students a play in just one week) – and that's just the first two weeks. But always there is time for the LORD, yes?

In my last post on Genesis you saw Abraham had sent Ishmael away, and now all hopes for the future were placed on Isaac. In Chapter 22 we see the 7th and final appearance of God to Abraham. God had brought Abraham to a place where he was willing to put everything on the line for Him. God asks Abraham to make the supreme sacrifice and he obeyed.

CHAPTER 22 AT A GLANCE:

We have here the famous story of Abraham's offering up his son Isaac, that is, his offering to offer him, which is justly looked upon as one of the wonders of the church. Here is,

I. The strange command which God gave to Abraham concerning it v. 1-2.

II. Abraham's strange obedience to this command v. 3-10

III. The strange issue of this trial.

1. The sacrificing of Isaac was countermanded v. 11-12.

2. Another sacrifice was provided v. 13-14.

3. The covenant was renewed with Abraham hereupon v. 15-19. Lastly, an account of some of Abraham's relations (v. 20, etc.) - (from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Gen 22:1-2

22:1 Later on, God tested Abraham's [faith and obedience].

"Abraham!" God called.

"Yes, Lord?" he replied.

2 "Take with you your only son-yes, Isaac whom you love so much-and go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I'll point out to you!"

1. God Calls On Abraham Again (vv.1-2)

Isaac had grown into a young man, when the word of God came to Abraham again. Isaac who had been given to Abraham as the heir of the promise, was to be a burnt offering, on one of the mountains that should be shown him.

God brought Abraham to this point as an exercise to discover his faith, love, and obedience. Abraham would respond with absolute obedience and unquestioning trust in Jehovah. God has accorded great honor on Abraham by giving him this opportunity of showing to all successive ages the nature and effectiveness of an unshaken faith in the power, goodness, and truth of God. Hebrews 11:8-10 ~ 8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Gen 22:3-10

3 The next morning Abraham got up early, chopped wood for a fire upon the altar, saddled his donkey, and took with him his son Isaac and two young men who were his servants, and started off to the place where God had told him to go. 4 On the third day of the journey Abraham saw the place in the distance.

5 "Stay here with the donkey," Abraham told the young men, "and the lad and I will travel yonder and worship, and then come right back."

6 Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering upon Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the knife and the flint for striking a fire. So the two of them went on together.

7 "Father," Isaac asked, "we have the wood and the flint to make the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"

8 "God will see to it, my son," Abraham replied. And they went on.

9 When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood in order, ready for the fire, and then tied Isaac and laid him on the altar over the wood. 10 And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to plunge it into his son, to slay him.

2. Abraham’s Response To God (vv. 3-10)

Without talking to Sarah, Abraham started early in the morning (vv. 3, 4), with his son Isaac and two servants, to obey the divine command; and on the third day (for the distance from Beersheba to Jerusalem is about 20 1/2 hours) he saw in the distance the place mentioned by God, the land of Moriah, i.e., the mountainous country round about Jerusalem.

When in sight of the distant mountain, Abraham left the servants behind with the donkey, so that he could perform the last and hardest part of the journey alone with Isaac. They went together, Abraham had the fire and the knife in his hand, and Isaac had the wood for the sacrifice upon his shoulder. Isaac asks Abraham, where is the lamb for the burnt-offering; his reply was not "you will be it, my son," but "God will provide it”; he had not and could not yet communicate the divine command to his son.

Having arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood upon it, bound his son and laid him upon the wood of the altar, and then stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Hebrews 11:17-19 ~ 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.
 

Gen 22:11-18

11 At that moment the Angel of God shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Yes, Lord!" he answered.

12 "Lay down the knife; don't hurt the lad in any way," the Angel said, "for I know that God is first in your life-you have not withheld even your beloved son from me."

13 Then Abraham noticed a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed it, instead of his son, as a burnt offering on the altar. 14 Abraham named the place "Jehovah provides"-and it still goes by that name to this day.

15 Then the Angel of God called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 "I, the Lord, have sworn by myself that because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son from me, 17 I will bless you with incredible blessings and multiply your descendants into countless thousands and millions, like the stars above you in the sky, and like the sands along the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, 18 and your offspring will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth-all because you have obeyed me."

3. God Sends An Angel And Another Sacrifice (vv. 11-18)

Having arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built an altar, arranged the wood upon it, bound his son and laid him upon the wood of the altar, and then stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

According to Josephus, Isaac was then 27 years of age. He was certainly a full-grown man, and his voluntary consent was absolutely necessary. Force, in the circumstances, cannot be thought of, as it was plainly impossible that an aged father of 127 years could alone, without assistance, could have forced a young man of 27, in the full vigour of manhood, if he had resisted. Besides, the use of physical force was inconsistent with that calm, unruffled serenity of mind which is appropriate to a solemn act of religious devotion. Had not the patriarch been sustained by the full consciousness of acting in obedience to the will of God, the effort must have been too great for human endurance; and had not Isaac displayed a similar faith in submitting, this great trial could not have been gone through. - (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

In this eventful moment, when Isaac lay bound like a lamb upon the altar, about to receive the fatal stroke, the angel of the Lord called down from heaven to Abraham to stop, and do Isaac no harm. The Lord now knew that Abraham was God-fearing, and that his obedience of faith did extend even to the sacrifice of his own beloved son. The sacrifice was already accomplished in his heart, and he had fully satisfied the requirements of God. He was not to slay Isaac: therefore God prevented the outward fulfilment of the sacrifice by an immediate intervention, and showed him a ram, which he saw, probably being led to look round through a rustling behind him, with its horns fast in a thicket; and as an offering provided by God Himself, he sacrificed it instead of his son.

Gen 22:19-24

19 So they returned to his young men and traveled home again to Beer-sheba.

20 After this, a message arrived that Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor, had borne him eight sons. Their names were:

Uz, the oldest,

Buz, the next oldest,

Kemuel (father of Aram),

Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph,

Bethuel (father of Rebekah).

24 He also had four other children from his concubine, Reumah: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, Maacah.

4. Descendants of Nahor (vs. 20-247).

With the sacrifice of Isaac the test of Abraham's faith was now complete, and the purpose of his divine calling answered: the history of his life, therefore, now hastens to its termination. But first of all there is introduced quite appropriately an account of the family of his brother Nahor, which is so far in place immediately after the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, that it prepares the way for the history of the marriage of the heir of the promise. - (from Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)