Chapter 3 God Tests Abraham
Abraham again? He is one of the most significant characters in the Bible and there seems to be this continual conversation between him and God. The remarkable thing about Abraham is that he is by no means perfect and flaws in his character emerge from time to time in the story of his life from Genesis chapter 12 through to chapter 25! Paul uses Abraham as the supreme example of faith – his argument goes something like this:
God made a promise to Abraham. The promise was, that despite the fact he and Sarah were childless, a child would be born to them in their extreme old age. Through him, and through his son Isaac, would come the great nation of Israel, from which would come Jesus the Messiah. Paul argues that Abraham’s relationship with God was based on faith – indeed he stood in a right relationship to God because of faith! The Law of God, given through Moses, came 430 years after the promise made to Abraham. Jews who argued that you could only be right with God through obeying the Law of God, argued Paul, were mistaken. The faith of Abraham, and subsequently Isaac and Jacob was the basis of a relationship with God. Paul then argues that only through faith in the seed of Abraham – Jesus – can a person be made right with God.
James, the brother of Jesus, uses the illustration of Abraham to confirm his thesis that faith without works is dead. He points his readers to Abraham and shows that Abraham did indeed have faith, but it was an obedient faith – doing what God asked him to do. What did God ask him to do?
- To leave his land and family and go to Canaan.
- To accept by faith that from him would come a great nation and that all the families of the earth would be blessed through his line.
- To accept that he would die and the only part of Canaan he would own would be the plot of land he purchased to bury Sarah.
- To continue to believe, with one or two lapses, the promise God made that he would have a son.
- To refuse to identify with the godless Canaanite tribes while maintaining a unique distinctiveness.
- To obey God when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son with Sarah – the child of promise.
His faith was an obedient faith, and so the argument that is lifted from the life of Abraham by Paul and James is that he trusted the word of God and acted upon it and this is what made him right with God. In a similar way in the New Testament, the Christian is made right with God through faith in Jesus – a faith that leads to discipleship!
“Iain get up and take Alistair, your firstborn son, who is now 20 and whom you love – a son, [along with all your other children], who I know you would lay down your life for! Take Alistair to a place of my choosing and sacrifice him there!”
If I heard that voice clearly speaking to me I would wonder if I was severely deluded or suffering from the beginning of a breakdown. It would be an utterly unbelievable thing for me to believe that God could ask of any man!
Yet God asked that of Himself. Do you remember the conversation Jesus had with his Father in Gethsemane when he pleaded to be released from the awful death that he faced – not just crucifixion, but spiritual separation from His Father; something he had never known? The Father’s heart must have been torn, but he could not accept His son’s request. Something greater was at stake – the salvation of His people – a people both He and the Son loved. And so the Father walked with His Son to Calvary and allowed him to be offered as a sacrifice for our sins.
Let’s go back to Abraham and hear what God says to him at the beginning of chapter 22:
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
To Sarah and Abraham’s delight, they had a son in their extreme old age. They would have raised and nurtured Isaac with great care because they knew at their age there would be no second chance. They lived at a time of high infant mortality and, despite the fact that he was the child of the promise, they were human and they would have worried about him. As he grew beyond his infant years their hearts would have burst with joy watching their son grow and mature into teenage years! Then these awful words come to Abraham – Abraham has heard the voice of God before and so for him there is no mistaking or arguing with what he hears.
Let me take a break here to see the parallel between this story and the birth and early life of Jesus. He is the miracle child, uniquely conceived through Mary. Despite every possible act of human cruelty he survives into his childhood. Imagine our Heavenly Father watch him grow up. He sees in him what he has never seen in another human being – a life being perfectly lived. He watches his gentle kindness and wonders at his grace and understanding. This has obviously continued right through his teenage years and early adulthood until the heart of God burst with pride and we hear these words at the baptism of Jesus:
“This is my beloved son, and I am completely pleased with him”
He wanted Jesus to know how he felt about him and how His heart just bust with love and pride as he looked on him. He wanted the world to know how wonderful His Son was and is! Yet, from this point on the Father was to journey with the Son, knowing full well how it was going to end!
Back to the passage in Genesis and verse 2 sounds as if God was rubbing salt into the wound, but it was a wound He Himself understood:
“Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac…..”
See the growing emphasis in these words – your son – your only son – whom you love! He is commanded to sacrifice him. Now we are not told what was going on in this old man’s mind and emotions – but we can surely guess at the pain and turmoil. What God had given on the one hand He was now taking away. So begins the journey to Moriah with all this time to think about what is going to happen – many people believe that Moriah is the same place as Calvary where the Saviour died! We can only guess how Abraham was feeling, but we do have to remember the growing intimacy between Abraham and God, and the fact that James in the New Testament refers to Abraham as “the friend of God”. Is it therefore possible that despite all of the emotional turmoil he may have experienced, deep down Abraham knew that God would deliver his son? Is it possible that he believed that even if he killed his son, somehow God would restore him to life? This is a bit speculative, but God was not laying this burden on a novice in the faith who would have broken under the pressure or simply refused to go along with what He was asking. God knew Abraham and He knew the capacities of this man he called His friend – God, in other words, not only tested, but trusted Abraham. What an accolade – to be trusted by God to this incredible extent. It says a great deal about Isaac too, that he trusted his father to the extent he did, and in the course of events was trusting his father’s Friend. Well, God eventually prevents Abraham from doing the deed and provides a substitute – this substitute goat is indicative of the great Substitute who would be offered nearly 2000 years later near this same place on a Cross!
What do we learn from how God speaks to Abraham here? He will certainly not ask us to do what Abraham did because there were special reasons for what happened there, quite apart from God testing his friend. But God wants to stretch us from time to time in order to make us grow as people.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot
Jim Elliot’s, story is told in the biography “Through Gates of Splendor”. He was a missionary sent to Ecuador who, along with four others, was killed while attempting to evangelize the Waodani people through what was known as Operation Auca. He was prepared to lay down his life for a greater cause and the tribe that killed him and his companions was later to be converted to Christ. God asked this 29 year old man after 5 years of ministry to lay down his life for a purpose greater than himself – as we see from the above quote he grasped this fully.
I was impressed by the following quote from Charles Swindoll, in his book, “Church awakening”:
“I usually smile when I hear people say, “We want our church to be a first century church!” I want to answer, “Oh? You want persecution?” We tend to forget that part of the early church, don’t we? The first church on record understood and victoriously endured fierce persecution. Martyrdom was commonplace.”
We forget that the call of God to many people in our world today is a call to danger and sacrifice. The Chinese Church has a vision greater than just reaching China for Christ. The vision is to take the gospel and go through all of the countries between China and Jerusalem and bring the gospel to this whole unevangelised area. The cost? They know that for many this is a call to short term ministry followed by death or imprisonment – they are even teaching missionaries how to witness to their captors while they are on the way to their execution! For many [the majority?] of Christians in the world today, persecution is a reality. More Christians have lost their lives for the sake of their faith in the last 100 years than did in the first 1900 years of the Church’s life! The call to come and follow Christ can be costly!
Back then to Abraham and what we learn from his experience. I believe the first thing we see is the confidence of faith. Christian leadership is not for novices; indeed the apostle Paul warns against people who are new to the faith being thrown into leadership in the Church. Abraham has been travelling this road of faith for 40 years before God asks this remarkable test of his close friend. What had happened to Abraham along this road that had produced such mature faith?
Abraham had been obedient to God’s call – we see this in chapter 12.
He had been content to be part of the purposes of God without ever having a significant status in Canaan – a grave for his wife Sarah is all he was to own. He lived on the basis of a promise.
He painfully learned obedience when on two occasions he was caught out lying – see chapter 12 and 20! He was to learn that God was righteous and yet would be merciful and forgiving and not abandon him even when he was foolish.
He showed great courage when he set out to rescue his nephew Lot from his captors. He also showed great discernment by refusing to enter into treaties with the Canaanite Kings – this could have been damaging to the future of Israel over 400 years later.
In chapter 15 there is a verification of the covenant that God had made with Abraham and Abraham has an incredible experience of the presence and the promises of God. Verse 6 of this chapter in Genesis could be said to be the very bedrock of the Reformation – “And Abraham believed the Lord, and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith.” His trust of God lies at the heart of his relationship with the Lord.
As if to show the fallibility of even the best of God’s people, the following chapter, [chapter 16] tells the sorry story of a series of bad decisions. Sarah loses faith [and we can reasonably see why because she is probably well over 80 by now and would not be able to believe that a son and heir would come from her womb] in the promise of God. She and Abraham take matters into their own hands and Hagar becomes pregnant and gives birth to Ishmael. This was to prove a disaster, not just for the immediate household of Abraham, but for future generations between the descendants of Isaac and those of Ishmael!
Chapter 18 is quite remarkable because God visits Abraham in human form [some would say that this is a pre-incarnate visitation by Christ]. The three “men” come to assure Abraham that the promise given to him 25 years ago was now about to happen with the birth of a son through Sarah, who was now well past child bearing! When you think about it, the prayer of Abraham’s heart was answered 25 years before and as far as heaven was concerned that was it! It was certain to happen. However, God does not always work to our time-scale. Abraham believed the men, but Sarah did not – that was not going to make any difference to the outcome because the Lord simply reminds them both – “Is anything too hard for the Lord!” [verse 14]. These words stand as a timely reminded to us and the fact that He is always able to use the unlikeliest of people to fulfil His purposes – maybe simply to impress upon us His unique power.
Lot is in the city of Sodom and the Lord reveals to Abraham that because of its wickedness He is going to destroy the city. The Lord deliberately stays with Abraham for a while to see how he would react to this news and he is not disappointed. Abraham starts to plead with the Lord, asking him to take account of the innocent in the city. Abraham is not presumptuous but speaks with very obvious humility – there is never any sense of Abraham dictating to God or telling Him His business. Abraham might be described as a friend of God, but he knew his place when speaking to Him. Through this encounter Abraham learns the true extent of the wickedness of the people in the city and trusts that God will do what is right – and indeed He does rescue Lot and his family.
From all of the above we see that through the different circumstances of his life Abraham now has a very thorough understanding of God. He is a God of great grace and forgiveness who has been patient with the flaws of Abraham. He is a God who keeps His Word and has the power to deliver what He promises. He is a God who can be trusted. Abraham had to go through all of these different experiences with God over a period of 40 years for him to appreciate the kind of person he was dealing with. When God asks him to sacrifice Isaac, perhaps his mantra concerning the Lord would have come to his mind – “Shall not the Lord of all the earth do what is right?” He surely too would also have been in emotional turmoil and fearful of what God was asking him to do!
What was God doing? Some might say that he was toying with this old man – but surely God is good and does nothing in vain? It is evident from what God says to Abraham that this was the ultimate test of loyalty. We must never forget that Isaac, who would probably be in his teens would have been aware of what was happening and this incident will have impacted powerfully on his life too!
“Lay down the knife,” the angel said. “Do not hurt the young man in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me.”
What fundamental lessons do we learn from the life of Abraham, culminating in this incredible event?
First of all we see, as we have already discussed, God was taking Abraham’s life in a radically and challenging direction in his older age. If God can work in us and through us then the age and relative weakness of our bodies is not an issue that should concern us – the God who can do impossible things, can work in and through us no matter our age or infirmity.
A mature faith is not born overnight. If we want to grow into maturity we have to walk that journey of faith with the Lord. We will learn about his great grace. How will we do that? We will sin and fall and disappoint ourselves, God and others. He will rebuke and correct us but he will always forgive us, lift us up and see this as part of our growth. He will challenge us to see everything from his perspective and ask us to increasingly become holy – holy, in the sense that we separate ourselves from the world’s wisdom and seek, through Scripture, the Spirit and the Church, a wisdom that is life-transforming and radically different. He will call us to trust his judgement on issues and be faithful to him, even if that leads to ridicule. A mature faith always takes the long view – sees that God always answers prayer, but that is not always something that happens immediately.
But what of this incredible request of God when he asked Abraham to give up what was most precious? It was obviously designed as a test – indeed the ultimate test – of loyalty. Cliff Richard was challenged to give up his musical career in the pop industry, as it was known then. He came before God and he said that he was giving it all up. God then gave it back to him and from that day on he has been known for his Christian witness. What was happening? Cliff was learning that everything he had, including his most significant gift or talent belonged to God and that the Lord must come first in everything. Cliff gave the Lord his idol and God gave him back his gift – his musical ability always was to come second to God. Matt Redman, the Christian singer and composer was challenged about his whole attitude to worship. He came to realise that the experience of worship, for him, was coming before seeking the Lord in worship. He eventually wrote the hymn – “I’m coming back to the heart of worship…” as a salutary reminder that worship exists for us to seek after the living God and not as an end in itself.
What then was happening to Abraham? Had Isaac become an idol? Was the presence and the joy of this child diminishing his relationship to God? – something that in the end was not going to be to the benefit of Isaac?
“Give up your idol” says God. Abraham offers to do this, and God gave him back his son. Do you see what happened? Abraham put the idol in the place of sacrifice and was given back his son! His life was now in its proper balance and perspective. Abraham was experiencing freedom.
What of us? How is God speaking into our lives?
- Has our career become our idol? God speaks to us by making our job unsatisfying or even with the threat of losing our job. Hard as it is to see, our career in this world is only ever temporary. Knowing Christ is for keeps and our preparation for eternity. God wants us to enjoy our jobs but within the perspective of our relationship to Christ.
- Have we made an idol of money, our homes, our social status [or indeed the lack of all these things – the great evil of the lottery is that it is often an expression of envy and dissatisfaction], our possessions – they are becoming an end in themselves! Is the Lord speaking to us about perspective and asking us where the relationship with Him is that was once there? Remember these words to the very theologically correct and prosperous church in Ephesus: “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me and each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me…..” {Revelation 2:4,5}.
- Has our family become our idol? How easy and subtle this is. Parents, while wanting the very best for their children can lose perspective. How often in my years as a minister I have had parents tell me that their children would not be coming back to church or youth fellowship because there was a greater priority – their education. “Ellie is studying for her highers and cannot afford the time to come to Youth Fellowship…” That, or words to that effect, and parents agreeing that this was reasonable. A true perspective would be for the parent to be encouraging their child in their most formative years to come to faith in Jesus Christ, submit their whole life to Him and seek His will for their lives and grow in grace and righteousness! But our children often become our idols so that we can use them to boast about ourselves – “Look, our Jack is doing so well and living in such a good home with so many good prospects opening up before him.” Who is benefitting most, us or Jack? How often our children end up a disappointment to us because they have not fulfilled our ambitions!
Perhaps God is speaking to us right now about some issue that has captured our hearts and needs to go on the altar of sacrifice – it may be we need rid of it completely from our lives or it may be God will give it back to us because we now have it in its proper perspective! Whatever, we will have the Lord back at the heart of our lives and we will sense a freedom we have not known for some time. What is God saying to us?