What Kind Of People Ought We To Be? - Part 4

Who is the “Man of Faith”?
What was the basis for Abraham’s faith?
What is the basis for your faith?

As we considered last time, God made a very solemn, graphic covenant with Abraham, one that Abraham would always remember. Through the years that God and Abraham walked together as friends, Abraham knew beyond any doubt that God was faithful. God’s promise was good and so was His oath that he had sworn in the blood of animals as he appeared as a fiery torch, reciting his promise to Abraham and his descendents. But then came the test!

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 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 22:1-5 NIV)

God called His friend by name: “Abraham!” Using the new name, the covenant name that He had given him, God gives Abraham a command to sacrifice Isaac as an offering to his God. God as we know Him is against human sacrifice, yet He asks it of His covenant partner. Abraham, knowing that a blood covenant demands total commitment to his partner, doesn’t even waver in his faith. Abraham and Isaac are to go to the region of Moriah, where the City of Jerusalem resides even today.

Obedient to God, Abraham and Isaac make the three day journey with enough wood for the burnt offering. Seeing the mountain of the Lord, Abraham turns to his servants and says, “We will worship, and then we will come back to you”. Did you get that? Abraham knows that he will kill Isaac and burn him to ashes, and yet he says that they will both return. His faith not only moved him to offer up his only son Isaac, it also gave him the solid, vivid hope that God would raise Isaac from the dead. They would both return to the servants after the sacrifice. Hebrews 11:19 says: 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. (NIV)

6 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.

The consensus is that Isaac was 13-15 years old at this time. He was obviously big enough to carry enough wood for the sacrificial offering, and he could ask knowledgeably about the lamb fro the sacrifice. By faith Abraham said that God would provide the lamb, and they proceeded.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.
12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "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."
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." (Genesis 22:9-14 NIV)

We all know the story of how God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac moments before he actually did it. God saw in Abraham a man who would go to the wall for Him and the covenant that they had forged years earlier. Abraham was definitely the man God had been looking for, a “man of faith”. And so, we see that God did provide a ram caught in a thicket of thorns and Abraham and Isaac worshipped, really worshipped, and then returned to the servants waiting at the base of the mountain. This was the mountain that Abraham had designated as the place that “the Lord will provide”.
It is more than just speculation that God sent Abraham to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his only begotten son. It is actually highly likely that Isaac was bound to the altar either at the future site of the Holy of Holies of Soloman’s temple, or the future site where Jesus was in fact crucified as the only begotten Son of God. At any rate, we know in retrospect that God did in fact provide the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. (John 1:19b NIV)

15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. (Genesis 22:15-19 NIV)

Through the angel of the Lord, God states the covenant one more time, this time sealed with Abraham’s ultimate obedience and God’s oath upon himself. 13When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself. (Hebrews 6:13 NIV) At this point, Abraham’s faith and obedience were without question; the oath was for the benefit of Abraham’s descendents, so that they too would have an anchor for their soul, a sure hope to base their faith on.

So here we are! It was 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus, and probably another 60 to us. Is it scripturally “legal” for our generation to appropriate God’s promises as the basis for our faith? Is the covenant that God swore to Abraham valid for our use? Of course we are aware that we have a better and more enduring covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. But is this same faith available for us?

14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.(Galatians 3:14 NIV)

Yes, Abraham’s blessing is also for us according to this scripture. But we must obtain it through our faith in Christ, not by faith in Abraham. Notice that it ends with “we might receive the promise of the Spirit”. The culmination to the Abrahamic and the New Covenants is the Holy Spirit taking up residence in Christ’s believers. Abraham and Isaac worshipped God on Mount Moriah, the future home of the temple of Jerusalem. Believers today are the temples of the Living God, where worship takes place in spirit and in truth.

29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29 NIV)

Through the miracle of engrafting we are also Abraham’s descendents and heirs according to the promise made to Abraham 3500 years ago. Rejoice that we are in fact the innumerable stars that Abraham saw when God told him to look to the sky that one evening long ago. And rejoice that we also have the potential for Abraham-like faith, because we know the same God and we have the same and even better promises with which to anchor our souls.

God Bless!!!