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Gen. 22:1 "And
it came to pass after these things, that God
did tempt Abraham, and said unto him,
Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am."
It is sometimes argued that this scripture
contradicts the scripture in James 1:13:
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempteth he any man:"
However, it should be noted in James 1:13
that the subject is temptation with evil.
God does not tempt any man with evil. God,
however, does "test" his people from time to
time. This passage involves God testing
(tempting) Abraham's faith. Will Abraham
believe God and respond with obedience to
the command of God, or will Abraham
disbelieve God and respond by disobeying the
command of God?
Faith involves
some things that we know and some things
that we do not know. We walk by faith by
taking heed to the things we know and
trusting that God will lead us to do what is
best in our lives. What Abraham knew in
this passage is that God had promised that
"in Isaac shalt thy seed be called." God
had promised to multiply the seed of Abraham
to become a great multitude and that his
seed would be a blessing to all nations, and
to all families of the earth. This promise
of the blessings of the seed involved the
seed coming through Isaac.
v.
2: "And he said, Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get
thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of." Some
have argued that this is an error in the
scriptures, when it says that God told
Abraham to take his only son and offer him
for a burnt offering. They say that Abraham
had two sons at this time. It is true that
Abraham had two sons and that he loved both
sons. However, Abraham had only one "son of
promise." Isaac was Abraham's only son of
promise. Isaac was the promised son through
which the seed of Abraham would come.
Abraham knew that Isaac was his only son of
promise. This is the important thing that
Abraham knew about this testing. No doubt,
Abraham reasoned that if he offered Isaac as
a burnt offering, then God would raise him
from the dead as God had promised to bring
through Isaac the promised seed. Thus,
Abraham had something he knew: Isaac was the
son of promise and he knew what God had
promised concerning Isaac. What Abraham did
not know at this time was how God would
bring the events to pass and just where the
offering was to take place.
v.
3: "And Abraham rose up early in the
morning, and saddled his ass, and took two
of his young men with him, and Isaac his
son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the
place of which God had told him." If
Abraham had not known the covenant promise
of God, then he most likely would have been
very reluctant to take Isaac and offering
him as a burnt offering. Most likely, he
would have rebelled against the commandment
of God. However, Abraham rose early in the
morning to obey God. He was anxious to obey
God, because he knew the covenant promise of
God and that God could not lie. Therefore,
he fully expected to see Isaac rise from the
dead. Similarly, we like Isaac, are
children of promise: Gal. 4:28 "Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of
promise." God has promised eternal life to
us by a covenant he made before the world
began: Rom. 8:29, 30 "For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he
also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified." Just as Abraham was
convinced of Isaac's resurrection and did
not fear death for Isaac, so we should be
convinced of our resurrection based on the
covenant promise of God and not fear the
death of our bodies.
v.
4: "Then on the third day Abraham lifted up
his eyes, and saw the place afar off." God
revealed to Abraham the place for the burnt
offering. Remember God had told Abraham to
offer Isaac upon one of the mountains that
"I will tell thee of." Abraham had set out
without knowing all the details beforehand.
This is a part of walking by faith: Trusting
that the Lord will make things known in His
good time. Because Abraham did not know the
place beforehand, he also did not know how
long it would take to get there.
Some have thought that Isaac was a type of
Christ until he got to the top of the
mountain and then the ram became a type of
Christ. However, I differ from that view as
I believe Isaac was a type of the elect
child of God throughout the whole episode.
Isaac was a child of promise, just like we
(the elect family of God) are children of
promise. Isaac was plagued with the same
problem that we are plagued with. He was a
sinner just as we are sinners. For Isaac to
be a fit subject of heaven, something must
be done about his sins. Likewise, something
had to be done about our sins before we
could become fit subjects of heaven. Isaac
was deserving of punishment, just like we
are deserving of punishment.
v.
5: "And Abraham said unto his young men,
Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the
lad will go yonder and worship, and come
again to you." This verse tells us that
Abraham fully expected that both Abraham and
Isaac would come down from the mountain. I
also point out that Abraham was to offer
Isaac as a burnt offering. This involved
the burning of the body. Isaac's body would
have been fully burned. Yet Abraham fully
expected that God could and would resurrect
his body from this condition.
v.
6: "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son;
and he took the fire in his hand, and a
knife; and they went both of them
together." When it comes to the punishment
of sin we are deserving of each of us
bearing our own burden. Isaac was bearing
his burden up the mountain. However,
according to the mercy of God, Christ bore
our burden on the cross of Calvary that we
would not have to bear it.
v.
7: "And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father,
and said, My father: and he said, Here am I,
my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the
wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?" The custom of the day for making
an offering was to take a lamb and slay it
and offer it as a burnt offering. Isaac
asked his father as there was no visible
sign of a lamb for a burnt offering.
v.8: "And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
so they went both of them together."
Obviously Abraham had not yet told Isaac
that he intended under the commandment of
God to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Yet
Abraham was honest in his answer that God
would provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering. It is just that Abraham thought
at the time that Isaac was the lamb to be
slain. However, Abraham's statement would
soon be fulfilled just as he said it.
v.9, 10: "And they came to the place which
God had told him of; and Abraham built an
altar there, and laid the wood in order, and
bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the
altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, and took the knife to slay
his son." Abraham, acting by faith,
proceeded to do what God had commanded him
to do. He fully expected to take the life
of Isaac, believing that God would raise him
from the dead. We read of this in Heb.
11:17-19 "By faith Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had
received the promises offered up his only
begotten son. Of whom it was said, That in
Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from
the dead; from whence also he received him
in a figure." This passage in Hebrews
chapter 11 summarizes the story of our
passage up to this point.
v.
11, 12: "And the angel of the LORD called
unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad,
neither do thou any thing unto him: for now
I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son
from me." As we consider Abraham's faith
that is illustrated in this passage, we see
another element of that faith. That element
is that Abraham feared God. This was not a
fear of terror, but rather a fear of great
respect. Fearing God is an evidence that
one is born of the Spirit of God. One of
the characteristics of one who is under the
law of sin and death (not born of the
Spirit) is that he does not fear God: Rom.
3:18: "There is no fear of God before their
eyes." The evidence that Abraham feared God
is that he withheld not his own son from
God.
v.
13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went
and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the stead of his son."
God showed to Abraham in this verse, the
principle of substitutionary atonement. The
ram was offered as a substitute for Isaac.
This is a type of Christ being a substitute
for the elect family of God. The ram with
his horns caught in a thicket is akin to
Christ being caught up in a covenant
promise. Of course, in the covenant of
redemption, Christ is the one who justified
those that God foreknew. In the above
picture, instead of Isaac being offered, the
ram was offered in his stead. Likewise,
instead of the elect family of God suffering
eternal punishment, Jesus suffered that
punishment for us on the cross in our room
and stead.
v.
14: "And Abraham called the name of that
place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this
day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be
seen." The word, Jehovahjireh, means
Jehovah will see to it. The word, Jehovah,
refers to God as a covenant making, covenant
keeping God. God, as a covenant making,
covenant keeping, God sees to it that we
(the elect family of God) are justified from
our sins. He did this by taking our sins
upon himself and suffering the wrathful
judgment of God because of our sins.
v.
15-18: "And the angel of the LORD called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the
LORD, for because thou hast done this thing,
and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and
in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
the stars of the heaven, and as the sand
which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies; And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed
my voice." In the above passage of
scripture God makes an oath. We read of
this in Heb. 6:13-18:"13 "For when God made
promise to Abraham, because he could swear
by no greater, he sware by himself, 14
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee,
and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And
so, after he had patiently endured, he
obtained the promise. 16 For men verily
swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation is to them an end of all
strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel, confirmed
it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable
things, in which it was impossible for God
to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us:" God made a
covenant promise to Abraham and then he
confirmed the promise with an oath. These
are the two immutable things referred to
(his covenant promise and his oath). The
word immutable simply means unchangeable.
One of the characteristics of God is that he
cannot lie. Thus, there is perfect
assurance that what God promised, God will
fulfill.
The promise made to Abraham in our passage
is the following:
1. Abraham would be
blessed.
2. Abraham's seed
would be multiplied as the sand upon the sea
shore and as the stars of heaven. One thing
that the sand upon the sea shore and the
stars of heaven have in common is that they
are innumerable. Thus, the seed of Abraham
would be increased to an innumerable host.
We are told in Gal. 3:16 that the seed of
Abraham is Christ: "Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not,
And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And
to thy seed, which is Christ." Therefore,
the promise to Abraham is that the elect
family of God, which is the multiplied seed
of Abraham (Christ) is innumerable.
3. Abraham's seed
would posses the gate of his enemy. In the
scriptures, to possess the gate of ones
enemy is to have the victory over the
enemy. We had as enemies, sin, death, hell,
Satan, and the grave. Christ gave us the
victory over all our enemy. He possessed
the gate of our enemy.
4. In the seed of
Abraham all nations of the earth would be
blessed. This promised is restated to us in
Rev. 7:9, 10: "After this I beheld, and, lo,
a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands; And
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation
to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb." The elect family of God
embraces a great multitude which no man can
number and they are found in all nations of
the earth, and all kindreds of the earth,
and in all people of the earth, and in all
tongues of the earth. May God be glorified
by all his people.
Gen.
22:19-24 Abraham's Extended Family
Gen. 22:19 "So
Abraham returned unto his young men, and
they rose up and went together to Beersheba;
and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. 20 And it
came to pass after these things, that it was
told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she
hath also born children unto thy brother
Nahor; 21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his
brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22
And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and
Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 And Bethuel begat
Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to
Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his
concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare
also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and
Maachah."
Sometimes we
do not understand the genealogies of the
scriptures. Sometimes we get a little
glimpse into their significance.
Regardless, we need to understand that God
had a purpose for each genealogy in the
scriptures, whether we understand why or
not. In the above we see that Bethuel and
Rebekah will have a direct connection with
Abraham in the future. Rebekah will become
the wife of Isaac and will bear twins to him
named Esau and Jacob. May God bless us with
understanding as it pleases him. |
