By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-19, NKJV).
After a lifetime of walking with God against all odds and worldly pressures, Abraham was instructed by God to do the unthinkable: sacrifice his believed son Isaac.
We know from the Old Testament account in Genesis 22, that he immediately obeyed and began the three day journey from the plains to Mount Moriah, the very site where the Temple would be built some thousand years in the future.
This was markedly different from Abraham's response to God's first command years before, that he go out from his father and his father's people into the wilderness. He delayed acting on that one for quite some time.
But to this horrific command, he responded immediately.
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (Genesis 22:3, NKJV).
Isaac was likely in his early thirties at this point in time (a remarkable picture of Christ at His death). He was the human fulfillment of that promise God had made declaring that Sarah shall have a son, despite being barren well into her 70's.
We are given only a hint of Abraham's thinking at the time.
And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” (Genesis 22:5, NKJV).
But here in Hebrews, we are given a succinct summary of his reasoning, for he [concluded] that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
The richness in this historical event is amazing to contemplate.
Mount Moriah was in the vicinity of the very place where God would indeed offer up His only begotten Son 2000 years later, without any last-second reprieve. This, too, is hinted at in Genesis 22.
And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:14, NKJV).
What would be provided? The sacrifice of God's Son to take away the sin of the world.
And as a partial reward for Abraham's monumental act of faith, God declared that Messiah would be his descendant in the flesh.
Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- “blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18, NKJV).
Note as well here, and in Genesis, the Lord's emphasis on Isaac being the only son, although his older half-brother, Ishmael, was alive and well. For Isaac, we learn throughout the New Testament, was the son of the promise, in contrast to Ishmael, the son of the flesh - the willful result of Abraham taking things into his own hands in accord with Sarah's worldly advice.
It is difficult to contemplate ever obeying such a command to sacrifice one's own child, but in reality, it was never God's intention to have Abraham complete the task.
We know that whatever else Abraham surmised, he believed God's promise, and therefore concluded that if Isaac died, he would have to be resurrected, else God would be proved a liar. So well did Abraham know His Lord that he knew that outcome would never occur.
What is still difficult to fully comprehend is this father's willingness to kill his son by his own hand, as an act of worship to his God.
It is true that ancient civilizations routinely practiced human sacrifice, and it was prevalent even in Israel during the times when wicked kings ruled - even after God repeatedly made known His abhorrence of such practices.
It is also true that we in the West today routinely practice child sacrifice - more than 56,000,000 elective abortions have coldly taken place in the past 40 years.
Yet there is still something both uniquely terrifying - and awe-inspiring - about this episode, for we know it was instigated by God Himself, as a determined prefigurement of His own unthinkable sacrifice.
For Abraham, it was a monumental test of faith.
Abraham passed.
God knew he would, before the foundation of the world, but that takes nothing away from Abraham's unexpected heroism.
And it casts a very different light on the entirety of Abraham's life up to that moment, when his knife was poised over his son's chest, only to be commanded to do him no harm at the last possible instant.
So, are you going through a monumental test of faith in your life right now? Some trial that leaves you flattened and weak, unable to contemplate continuing to walk through it for even another moment, let alone another hour or day?
There are so many things that serve as opportunities for monumental faith in this fallen world, fraught as it is with loss and pain, and the most important part of persevering through these tests is your trust in God's love for you. And in His character, grace, mercy and strength.
Abraham succeeded because he believed God.
He did not just believe in God (even demons admit to that), but he believed fully what God had said, and in His revealed intentions for himself and his family.
In some sense, whatever he faced, Abraham knew deep down in his heart that it was only a test. That, in essence, is what all life in this world is - a test of faith.
If we approach life with that perspective, it means we are trusting in God's ultimate promises for all of us who are Abraham's descendants by faith.
It means that we know this world is not our home.
It means that, like Job, our hearts declare, though He slay me, I will trust in Him.
This kind of faith is the diametric opposite of fear - it is courage of the highest order.
This kind of faith is what enables us to endure to the end.
