Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Abraham's Great test and trial of faith
• Some tests begin when you become a Christian
• There may be rejection by friends, ridicule at school, family may no longer understand you
• Tests can appear late in Christian life
• Finances, health, family, relationships, church
• The longer we live the more we discover that the harder tests are before us
• Abraham is 100 years old, he has walked with God for 35 years
• Maybe he thought it was time to retire
• Out of the blue God tests him the most
• He is to go to the mountains and sacrifice his son
• Abraham has had tests
• Leaving Ur of the Chaldeans
• Division with family (Lot)
• Hagar and Ishmael had to leave the family
• Why does God test us?
• Untried faith is uncertain faith
• Gold is purified by fire
• The solider is tested in battle

The Test

• It happened after "these things"
• After he had called upon the name of the Lord in Beersheba
• Had made peace with Abimelech
• He was enjoying the worship of God
• Abraham probably thought that when all was going well, he would not be tested
• We must be careful when all seems to be going well
• Remember the Lord Joseph after His baptism and full of the Holy Spirit led into the wilderness to be tested
• Tests can come unexpectedly
• The test - to take his only son to the mountain and to sacrifice him!
• Abraham knows God to be kind and merciful
• Dilemma 1: How could a just God ever ask someone to do such a wicked thing?
• Dilemma 2: How could this upright man ever live with the thought that he had slain his only son?
• It was the practice of pagans to offer child sacrifice - a crime that God would mandate the death penalty for
• Dilemma 3: God's command vs God's promise
• Through Isaac there would be a great nation and Messiah
• How does faith respond in such a time?
• God had clearly spoken to Abraham
• Faith always knows that God will do right and is able in each situation
• Abraham believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead
• Had there ever been a resurrection before this time?
• Abraham believed that God will provide (the lamb for sacrifice)
• This is a very unique incident
• Through it Abraham would see Christ
• People looking at the this passage today [out of context] would consider this a frightening and awful passage
• There was a test but God stayed the hand of Abraham
• God never intended that Abraham would die
• The test was of Abraham's obedience

Abraham's Obedience

• Abraham got up early the next day
• Immediate and swift obedience
• He is very diligent
• He saddles his donkey
• Gets a knife and rope
• Gets the provisions
• Gets the wood
• Takes two servants to help him
• When God calls us to obey - we are to obey diligently and completely
• What must Abraham have been thinking on the three day journey
• There must have been a thousand second thoughts
• This teaches us that we are to thoroughly obey the bible, no matter the cost to us
• We will worship and we will return
• This is divine, this is worship
• We are going to return - not I [singular]
• There was wonderful faith, not cold hearted obedience
• Abraham dearly loved Isaac - "the two of the went together" (v6,8)
• Abraham trusts that the Lord will provide the burnt offering
• Abraham builds the altar and binds Isaac to the altar (v9-10)
• Isaac the stronger let himself be tied to the altar
• God does not delight in burnt offering but in obedience
• Not the performance of religious duty but loving God
• We must love God above all others
• God loves obedient children
• God intervenes
• The Angel of Lord speaks directly yo Abraham
• He calls him "father of nations"
• How much do we worry about what others think of us?
• We should be more worried about what God thinks about us
• Abraham saw the day of Christ
• Jesus states this in the New Testament
• Maybe he understood something of the Father heart of God and the giving of His only Son
• God reiterates promises to Abraham
• v17
• God honours those who honour Him
• God rewards faith
• What really matters if God commending us

The Type

• We have a glorious picture of substitution
• A Father and Son united
• A wonderful picture of Calvary
• A 3 day journey
• The mountains of Moriah are in the same place as the mountains of Jerusalem
• "Your only Son" (v2)
• The son of promise "whom you love"
• A picture of God and His only Son the Lord Jesus Christ in whom He was well pleased
• Three days
• Abraham had three days
• The death of Christ was planned from all eternity
• Jesus knew He would die (e.g. Hebrews)
• Isaac is a type of Christ
• There was no struggle in Isaac
• He was the innocent victim led like a lamb to the slaughter -
  just as Jesus is the pure Holy Son of God
• No struggle with Issac - Jesus freely and willingly gave Himself up
• Was it just wicked hands that nailed Jesus to a cross
• God had prepared a sword of justice, just as Abraham had a knife
• This passage tells us that sin has to be atoned for
• The first born has to die
• God provides the substitute for Abraham (a ram)
• God provides the substitute for our sin
• This passage speaks of God providing - our sacrifice for sin
• We should have been punished for our sin, but Christ took our place

Concluding Remarks

• Abraham is a tremendous example of faith - he was prepared to do God's will
• Are we prepared to do God's will, no matter how hard it seems