A Journey Through the Bible, Part Eleven

Old Testament

Genesis 22

Genesis 22:1-2—“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."  This is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. When you wait for something 99 years like Abraham did, and then it’s promised to you by God, and you have to wait 25 more years before He fulfills that promise…it wouldn’t be terribly surprising if you loved very much that thing you waited so long for. Abraham loved Isaac deeply, of course, and he was in danger, by slow degrees and in a way of which he was probably not even aware, of coming to love his son more than he loved his God. This problem must be faced and consciously worked through; we can have no higher allegiance than our allegiance to Him. So God “tested” the patriarch—“Abraham, whom do you love more, Isaac or Me?” The way Jehovah rubs it in a little bit in verse 2 must have been excruciating—“Take your son, your ONLY son, Isaac, the one you love…” “Abraham, do you love Isaac more than you love Me?” God had absolutely no intention of letting Abraham kill Isaac; He simply had to confront Abraham with the condition of his heart.

Abraham’s faith is remarkable here. But, unlike we generally assume, his faith is demonstrated not just in his willingness to offer Isaac, but in His belief in God’s guarantee through Isaac. The Lord has promised the patriarch that he would be the father of a huge multitude: “Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them." And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:5).  And Jehovah told him that Isaac would be the son of that promise: “for in Isaac your seed shall be called” (Genesis 21:12). But now, in the very next chapter, God is commanding Abraham to kill that son. And Abraham fully intended to obey. He headed for Mount Moriah, and when he saw it—and here is the key to the patriarch’s faith—“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’" (v. 5). The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament explains: “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” (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham believed that, even if God allowed him to kill Isaac, the Lord would still fulfill the promise He made through Isaac, even raising the child from the dead, if necessary. There’s where Abraham’s faith is truly shown in this passage, though no doubt, upon hearing the command to sacrifice his son, he must have been stricken with severe pain. But he passed the test, and proved his dedication to God: “But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’" (Genesis 22:11-13). There are few examples in the Bible, if any, of a man showing superior respect, reverence, and ultimate allegiance to the Almighty.

Gentle reader, what it is that you are in danger of loving more than you love God?

I’ve been a little rough on Abraham in previous posts, especially chapters 16 and 20. He was human and he had his faults, but there is no doubt he is one of the greatest men who ever walked the face of this earth. Keep in mind two things when considering how noble this man was: he lived about 400 years before one word of the Bible was even written, so he didn’t have any examples to look to, as we do. And also, Abraham was raised in a polytheistic society and family. Joshua 24:2 tells us, “And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.’” All through his early life, Abraham was exposed to idols and false gods, yet he worked his way out of that and came to believe only in the one true God. What he did wasn’t easy, by any means, and he deserves all the praise that can be given him, as a human being.

New Testament

Matthew 13

Matthew 13:44—“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Jesus taught several parables in this chapter and this is a short, but powerful, one. Notice that the kingdom of God is so valuable that it is worth everything we’ve got—“he goeth and selleth all that he has and buyeth that field.” What the man gave up was much—all that he had—but what he got was far more—the kingdom of God. But notice one more thing, his attitude: “for joy thereof…” The man was more than happy to give up his all, he joyfully did it, because he recognized the matchless value of what he obtained. There is nothing more precious than God’s kingdom and it’s worth everything we’ve got.