We are in Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced 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 even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
Genesis 22 tells us that “God tested Abraham.” We noted that this does not mean that God tempted Abraham to sin (James 1:13). God’s purpose in our trials is the building and perfecting of our faith (James 1:2-4).
Never forget that the one who prescribes the test works from the vantage point of omniscience and ultimate wisdom, from pure goodness and tender-heartedness. That means that each test we undergo is customized to our own individual levels of maturity.
Paul tells us…
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
We wonder how the sufferer can do it! At times our pain seems unbearable and we cannot endure it. But Abraham did obey. And He obeyed by faith, a faith that believed in God’s promises despite his circumstances shouting against that. Augustine once said: “Give me the grace to do what you command, and then command what you will.”
God knew that Abraham’s faith had grown and deepened over the decades and knew that He could trust Abraham to pass this test.
Notice also that God did not test Abraham with this ultimate sacrifice early in his life, but rather “some time later.” By this time Abraham’s faith had been tested many times and God had proven Himself faithful. Now Abraham is ready to believe the impossible.
Abraham had exercised faith in leaving Ur and marching off the map, going wherever the Lord directed. Abraham had exercised faith in believing that God would give him a son through Sarah, which God ultimately fulfilled.
Faith that remains unexercised atrophies from lack of use. Lesser trials are used in Abraham’s life and in ours to build a stronger faith until we are able to face the ultimate test. Trials are like the gymnastic apparatus that makes the muscles of our faith grow stronger.
Thus, the severity of the trial is in proportion to his faith.
But what was the nature of Abraham’s test?
On one level it was the test of allegiance. Would Abraham value God more than his one beloved, long-awaited son? You could understand if Abraham had attempted to negotiate. He would have gladly sacrificed anything else! He would have gladly sacrificed everything else!
When you have set your heart on something and it is about to be taken away from you, how do you respond? Do you fight with God? Do you bargain with God?
Some of our tests are tests of allegiance. Allegiance to God or allegiance to our families is one. Allegiance to Jesus Christ versus allegiance to our boss is another. How about allegiance to Jesus and allegiance to our girl friend? John Bunyan, in prison for preaching the gospel, grieved for his family, especially his blind daughter. He was given the option of returning home if he promised never to preach the gospel again. But instead he endured that loss out of allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Willim Cowper wrote a hymn with these words:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Your throne,
And worship only Thee.
“Abraham, I want your one and only son.” It was a test of allegiance.
But it was also a test faith. There seemed to be an irreconcilable contraction between the command to kill Isaac and the promise that through Isaac would be all of Abraham’s future descendants.
It was one thing to call Abram to leave Ur. There Abram was sacrificing his present comforts for future rewards. But here God seems to be asking Abraham to sacrifice his future. Through Isaac his seed was supposed to be. To kill Isaac meant the death of that vision.
Remember how important the “seed” is even to us! Remember God’s promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 that it is through Eve’s seed that Satan would be crushed. Abraham’s seed was intended to be a blessing to the nations, not merely to Abraham. God had made it clear that this “seed” would come through Isaac.
This was affirmed in Genesis 17, when God appeared to Abraham and said:
4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
Because Abraham had sired a child through Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid, God clarified when Abraham inquired:
18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Ishmael was a child of the flesh, Isaac a child of promise, according to Romans 9:8 and Galatians 4:21-31.
So now I hope you see the tremendously high stakes that were in play here. Now you see Abraham’s dilemma, which we should share with him. God, what are you doing?!? This is more than just a heart wrenching story of a father’s love.
The Messiah would come through Isaac. The entire future of God’s purposes was at stake. The sacrifice of Isaac puts all this in jeopardy. Notice Hebrews 11:18. Abraham sacrificed Isaac “even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’”
So what does Abraham do? The only thing he can do—he puts it all in God’s hands. He obeyed and headed to Mount Moriah. How? By concluding that it was God’s problem to solve, not his.
It was Abraham’s part to obey by faith, not to be able to figure it out. We don’t have to figure it out before we obey. We just have to obey. It was now God’s problem to reconcile.
“The proof of Abraham’s faith was his willingness to give back to God everything he had, including the son of promise, whom he had miraculously received because of his faith. After all the waiting and wondering, the son had been given by God. Then, before the son was grown, God asked for him back, and Abraham obeyed. Abraham knew that the covenant, which could only be fulfilled through Isaac, was unconditional. He knew, therefore, that God would do whatever was necessary, including raising Isaac from the dead” (John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 335).
How can you and I exercise faithfulness to God when confronted with a test that calls for the most extreme kind of personal sacrifice?
First, we must recognize that God is the author of the test. It is no accident, no coincidence. The devil didn’t do it. It was God’s sovereign purpose in our lives. How did Job put it? “The Lord gives, the devil takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”? NO! “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Spurgeon said, “though we can’t trace his hand we can always trust his heart.” This test has come from God for our good and for His glory. We only need to trust and obey.
How can you and I exercise faithfulness to God when confronted with a test that calls for the most extreme kind of personal sacrifice?
Second, we recognize that God has omnipotence at his disposal. Look at verse 19, “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead…”
What? Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead? Had this ever happened before? Was this something Abraham had seen before and hoped that it would happen to his son?
Notice that Abraham “reasoned” this. He hadn’t seen it in his experience; he didn’t conjure it up in his imagination. He counted up and weighed out the reasons why this could happen. It was based upon what he knew about God.
But where does Abraham get the idea that God can bring life out of death? Well, what were Abraham’s procreative possibilities at age 99? Not very good, right? Verse 12 reminds us that “he was as good as dead.” He was totally sterile and Sarah was completely barren. There was no natural ability to give birth to any child.
And yet God resurrected Abraham’s procreative powers, making it possible to have a child. God showed His power by waiting 24 years before fulfilling his promise to Abraham just to show that man’s impotence is merely the stage upon which he can reveal His omnipotence.
So Abraham knew from experience that God could produce life out of death. That is why he told the servants, “I and the boy [will] go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” After all, they were going to worship El Shaddai, God Almighty. That God has the power of resurrection and life.
He reasoned that God even was able to raise someone from the dead.
“The thought of sacrificing Isaac must have grieved Abraham terribly, but he knew that he would have his son back. He knew that God would not, in fact could not, take his son away permanently, or else He would have to go back on His own word, which is impossible” (John MacArthur, Hebrews, p. 335).
Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead even before God had revealed this as a doctrine. And Abraham “in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” Isaac serves as an illustration of what God can do in His omnipotence. Knowing Abraham’s allegiance and faith, when Isaac was rescued from Abraham’s hand it was as though Abraham received him back from the dead.
For those of us who are well acquainted with the gospel, we can see the parallels with Jesus Christ. He is “the one and only Son.” He is “the beloved.” He is the fulfillment of the promised seed. Both sons were named by God; both were deeply loved by their fathers.
Both Jesus and Isaac were accompanied by two men—Jesus the two thieves and Isaac the two servants.
Mount Moriah is the place where Isaac was offered and Jesus was crucified.
Isaac climbs Mount Moriah with wood strapped to his back just as Jesus went up the hill with his cross.
Both asked a QUESTION of their father:
Isaac asked Abraham “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7).
Jesus cried “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” from the cross (Matthew 27:46).
Both Isaac and Jesus were “offered up” as burnt sacrifices. Both were sacrificial lambs.
Jesus and Isaac were both completely submissive to their fathers, trusted them and were willing to die.
Both were sacrificed by their fathers. The Father, in heaven, is the executioner, willing to crush his Son. The only difference is that the angel of the Lord did not stay the hand of the Father at the cross, since he was there on the cross.
Both were also raised from the dead on the third day.
The similarities between Isaac and Jesus’ sacrifice are numerous and incredible as you can see. Isaac is a type for Jesus, because God the Father wants to reveal His Son to us through the Old Testament.
Historian Roland Bainton tells this story about Martin Luther: “Luther once read this story [Genesis 22] for family devotions. When he had finished, Katie said, ‘I do not believe it. God would not have treated his son like that.'”
“‘But, Katie,’ answered Luther, ‘he did.'” God the Father did treat His Son Jesus like this.
Jesus also shares similarities with the ram. Just as the ram was offered in place of Isaac as the sacrifice, so Jesus Christ takes our place. We should be the ones who pay for our sins. We should be the ones being judged. Instead, Jesus took our place.
Abraham was handed the cup of sacrifice, but it was Jesus Christ who drank it to the very dregs. Key passages in the Bible connect God’s wrath with the imagery of a cup. Jeremiah 25:15 tells us, “Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.’” Then Isaiah 51:17 says, “O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” In Revelation 14, an angel speaks, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger” (verses 9–10).
The cup was filled with God’s wrath upon those who had consistently sinned against him (see Ps. 75:8; Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15-16).
Jesus confirms this connection in Gethsemane when he prayed, the cross looming just ahead, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). He drank that cup for us.
As the sinless Son of God, Jesus naturally dreaded the horror of the cross. Thus he asked for “this cup” to be taken from him. But, in the end, he accepted the will of his Father, and chose to suffer and die for the sin of the world. He would drink the cup that was rightly yours and mine, so that we might drink the cup of salvation.
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
For 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. (John 3:16)
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John 8:58). That is because the joy of substitution and the joy of resurrection are the greatest of all joys. That is why our worship should be characterized by so much more than somberness, because we live in light of the resurrection and the reality of substitution.
Do you know these joys? The joy and gladness of substitution—that your sins were satisfactorily punished in another, in Jesus Christ? He said from the cross, “It is finished,” it is fully paid for, there’s nothing else left to do. Do you know that joy?
What about the joy of resurrection? There is no greater joy than the joy of knowing that one day we who believe in Jesus will rise again to new life, eternal life. We will have new bodies, the mortal will put on immorality and the corruptible will put on the incorruptible.
These realities are why we can laugh again! The laughter of salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
Grace Still Amazes 