Originally posted on April 8th 2020
THE OBEDIENCE OF ABRAHAM
The fourth and last reflection is from Genesis chapter 22, the testing of Abraham.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. Gen. 22,1-8
This is about sacrifice; but not a sacrifice to atone for sin! It is about the testing of the obedience of Abraham
At a much deeper level though, it is about the testing of Abraham´s trust and confidence in God; the God in whom he believes, in whom he is in covenant relationship with! The God he fears – and the God he loves!
This is the son of his love! It is the son of promise, the son who is to inherit him; through whom he is to receive offspring. It is the son for whom he has waited for 25 years.
This is the son, whom God now tells Abraham to sacrifice to him.
If ever there was a situation in which to ask, “Why God?!”
Yet Abraham tells the servants he has with him:
“I and the boy will go over there and worship, and come again to you”. Gen. 22,6
The writer to the Hebrews says:
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Heb. 11,19
Abraham obeys, in the belief that God will provide!
As the narrative continues, the focus is narrowed down. We see Isaac´s trust in his father, and Abraham´s relentless prosecution of what God has told him do. At the last minute, as Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, he is stopped by the angel of the Lord.
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
THE LORD WILL PROVIDE!
Abraham saw God as the ONE WHO WILL PROVIDE!
It is striking for a Christian to think of the parallell between Isaac and Jesus, our Passover Lamb, whom God provided for our salvation.
God will provide for himself the lamb! Gen. 22,8
So Paul:
For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. 1 Cor. 5,7
Within the New Covenant, we are the receivers of the Bread and the Wine; his Body and Blood!
It is most important for us to see and understand that it can never be so much about what we need to do for God, as about what he needs to do for us.
We need to realise that in the most general sense, he needs to be our provider. That was the faith of Abraham and it needs to be our faith!
And the principle of trust and obedience remains: With faithful Abraham, our lives are to be lived in trust and obedience to the Lord.
THE IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF SACRIFICE
God requires no blood sacrifice from us.
But he requires that we present ourselves as living sacrifices to him:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Rom. 12:1-2
Our bodies and our lives need to be given over to the service of God.
This is at the same time our only salvation – because in the giving of ourselves to him, he gives himself to us.
THE BLESSING OF GOD ALMIGHTY
9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV
To those who have entrusted their lives to him, he is fully committed!
He says, I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU!
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
In Christ, the blessing of Abraham has come upon us! Gal. 3,14
YOU AND I ARE BLESSED PEOPLE!
It is wonderful to read at the end of Abraham´s life:
Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Gen. 24,1
