God asked Abraham to offer Isaac’s life as an offering called “a sacrifice”. Isaac was Abraham’s only son whom he waited for and loved so much. (c.ref Gen22:2) He was God’s promise to Abraham and that coming from him would be a great nation. When God asked for Isaac’s life, Abraham’s faith was tested. It was a test of whether or not he would be willing to give up something very important to him for God. It was a test of his trust in God’s character. It was a test of how much he can hold on to God’s promise. It was a test of faith. How hard it must have been?
Reading through the story, we can tell that Abraham had a great faith in God. How do we know that he truly kept his faith in the middle of this difficult test?
First, though he was commanded to kill his son, Abraham had the assurance that he will still come back from the mountain with his son.
“stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” – Gen22:5:
Second, when his son Isaac asked him about the lamb for the burnt offering, Abraham assured his son that God will provide for them.
“God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son”- Gen22:8
What could Abraham be thinking on the way to Moriah where God asked him to offer his son? He’d kill his son and then God will raise him up probably? He’d provide, but how? One thing seems to be clear: that Abraham had faith in God, assured that he’d come down from the mountain with Isaac.
Abraham obeyed God (Gen22:3) and of course He did not let him kill Isaac (Gen22:12).
If God knows all things, why does He have to test our faith?
He sometimes tests our faith in order to expose what we do not know. God knew Abraham would obey Him. But Abraham did not know he would obey God until such an opportunity came to test his preference and expose the real condition of his heart. On this story, John Piper in one of his books says, “God wills that he [Abraham] [would] have an experiential-knowing, an actual-knowing, an actual seeing-knowing, a watching-knowing”. God does not want us to be just theoretical Christians. He wants us to be experiential ones. And so at the back of my mind, it made me asked, “How then would this glorify God?” Then John Piper answers: “A real lived-out human act of preference for God over His gifts is the actual lived-out glorification of God’s excellence for which He created the world”.
To test our faith does not only serve us in checking our hearts, but it is also for the world to see the faithfulness and obedience that God gives to His people in order to glorify His name. In Deutronomy12:31c, it says “for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.” God, testing Abraham’s faith, also wanted to teach him and his people that He was not pleased with killing children, and killing them for gods. He used Abraham to show this to people referred to in Deutronomy12:31c.
Abraham’s faith didn’t come after God’s provision of a lamb to sacrifice. He believed and trusted God’s character in sparing his son’s life even before seeing the substitute. This faith caused Abraham to be confident in obeying God with no hesitation and doubt. This same faith resulted to obedience. And its fruit brought glory to God.
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Are we stepping out in faith when Jesus calls us to obedience?
Or is fear paralyzing us?
Jesus Avenue 