Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I have two questions for us this weekend:
1. What is the greatest answer to prayer you have ever experienced?
2. What is the greatest challenge to your faith in God that you have ever faced?
Old Abraham and Sarah walked through both questions and today let’s journey with them, specifically in Genesis 21 & 22. Yes, the impossible happened! At age 100 Abraham fathered a son with his 90 year old wife Sarah! (Gen. 21:1-5) Obediently they named the child ISAAC, the name God had given them for their miracle son! (Gen. 17:19) 8 days later Abraham obediently circumcised his miracle son Isaac, in obedience to the Covenant relationship God had established with Abraham, as we saw in Genesis 17:9-12.
The impossible had become reality for Abraham and Sarah, just as those three travelers we met yesterday had promised! (Gen. 18:10,14) But it had been 25 years since God had first told Abram that he would have a son!! (Gen. 12:1-4) So, I ask again… what is the greatest answer to prayer you’ve ever experienced? Have you told your children and grandchildren about God’s miracle answer for you, even if it took a very long time?
Sadly, as the child Isaac grew, so did the jealousy and rivalry in Abraham’s family for he had two wives and they each had a son, remember Hagar and Ishamel? (Gen. 21:8-13) Tension reached a boiling point and Sarah, Abraham’s faithful wife of many, many decades, insisted Hagar and Ishmael be sent away in order to protect the integrity of the Covenant relationship between Abraham, God and Isaac.
That decision and subsequent action was gut wrenching for Abraham. While Ishamel had been conceived and born out of a surrogate mother arrangement with Sarah & Hagar, Abraham loved his firstborn son Ishmael who was by this time 14 years old! (Gen. 16:16) Abraham sought God’s guidance and God confirmed Abraham must separate his two families. (Gen. 21:12,13) And Abraham, in great pain, sent Hagar and Ishmael away, entrusting them to God.
You see, God had promised Abraham that He would watch over them and Ishmael would marry and be father to 12 rulers of a large nation of people! (Gen. 17:20)
Moral compromise always comes with a great, painful price, doesn’t it my friends? Ishmael had been conceived in the ‘moral compromise’ of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. (Gen. 16:1-4) God’s promise of Ishamel being father to a multitude of people has been fulfilled for most of the Arab population of the Middle East point back, in their family trees, to Ishmael.
Time passed, Isaac grew and the love bond between father and son, Abraham and Isaac was almost indescribable. Genesis 22 begins with these unexpected, unwelcomed words: “Some time later God TESTED Abraham. God said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am’ Abraham replied. ‘Take your son, your only son whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Gen. 22:1,2)
I don’t believe there are any words which could have pierced, ruptured, Abraham’s heart more than those. The God who had accomplished the impossible by giving Isaac to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, was now ASKING the impossible of them!
The words Abraham heard are repulsive, aren’t they? Did you notice God acknowledged Abraham’s great love for his God given, miracle son Isaac. Also, notice God declared Isaac was Abraham’s only son… but of course Abraham had two sons, Isaac & Ishmael.
God is here once again confirming the Covenant relationship flows through Isaac because Isaac is the fulfilment of God’s Covenant promise that Abraham would have a son through Sarah, his wife, even in their old age. But God was also demanding something of Abraham that is an abomination to all morality… sacrifice of Isaac as a burnt offering!
Pagan, barbaric people did that in ancient times. To Abraham it must have seemed unthinkable, totally incompatible with everything he knew about Holy God. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where either you think God is leading you to do something that is contrary to God’s Holiness; or you are asking God to approve and bless your choices and actions which YOU KNOW are contrary to God’s clear standards for His holy desire for your life? Pause and ponder that for a moment!
Amazingly the Genesis 22 account gives us NO indication Abraham argued with God! Rather, in the next verses tell us he got up early the next morning and started making necessary preparations for the long trip to the mountains of Moriah and the horrible sacrifice task God told Abraham to accomplish there! (Gen. 22:1-3) Abraham, Isaac and some servants of Abraham walked for 3 days to get to Moriah, and I doubt we can imagine the inner turmoil Abraham was struggling with and probably the quiet, yet desperate cries flowing out of Abraham’s heart to God as they walked along.
Tears must have flowed frequently from Abraham’s eyes. Finally they stopped and Abraham made a simple yet powerful statement 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.” (Gen. 22:5) Do you see Abraham’s great faith in God that while Abraham will do the best he could to obey God’s unimaginable instructions, somehow God will bring them back? What does that tell you about Abraham’s full trust relationship with God as well as God’s unwavering holiness and moral goodness?
Friends, I urge you to carefully, slowly read the next verses of Genesis 22 which recount for us exactly what happened with Abraham and Isaac. As they walked along with Isaac carrying the wood and Abraham carrying the fire and knife for slaughter, Isaac asked a very appropriate question: “Father, the fire and wood are here but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7) Obviously Isaac had watched his father Abraham worship in this way before. Abraham’s response is priceless faith: ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Do you hear in Abraham’s response an almost unreasonable TRUST in God?
Please read carefully the words which describe the next scene: Gen. 22:9-13 the near sacrifice of Isaac! God intervened at the very last second, as Abraham had his knife raised, and God provided a ram for the sacrifice. Do you see there is no evidence either Isaac or Abraham fought against God? “So Abraham called that place ‘The LORD Will Provide’..” That is the famous name of God “Jehovah Jireh” that you’ve probably heard or claimed when you have faced desperate times! And God then pronounced once again His Covenant blessing over Abraham and Isaac.
“Because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky… and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed Me.” (Gen. 22:15-18)
As we close today my friends, what do you sense God saying to you about great trust in God, and about obedience to His clear guidance even when it may not seem logical to you? By the way, do you know the significance of the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac?
It was on this hilltop upon which King Solomon built the great Temple of worship for Almighty God more than 1000 years later in Jerusalem. It is also the place where today stands the Muslim “Golden Dome” on what is called the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. And from that place you can easily see the hilltop called ‘Golgotha’ which is where Jesus was crucified as God the Father sacrificed His one and only Son as the atonement payment for the sins of all humanity! (Is. 53:4-7, 10)
Oh my, so much to think about and talk with Jesus about today! Will you take a few moments and do that right now as we worship with this powerful song which declares the truth of what Jesus accomplished for us on that mountain, and I’ll meet you here again on Monday….
Today’s Scripture: Genesis 21 & 22.
Choose below to read or listen.
 |  |
Genesis 22
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.