Genesis 22 (ESV)
The text today emphasizes this point MANY times: God will provide. We might be tempted to read this and laser in on Abraham. But the text does not focus on Abraham and his great faith.
The point of our story today is about how our unchanging God provides for his people. He provided for Abraham, He has provided for the entire world, and He provides still today for you and me, because Our God does not change.
Hebrews 11:39-40
39 And all these [people], though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Their faith is great, and commendable, but it does not begin to compare to what God has provided for us. pray
22 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
• This phrase “Here I am” is interesting. Hineni (hee-neh-nee). It serves as a response to a calling and we see it several times throughout the scripture.
o It is how Moses responds to the burning bush. Isaiah responds to his call from the LORD with the same words. Samuel responds this way when he hears the voice of the LORD.
2 He said, “Take 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.”
• The test God has asks Abrahams for everything. It might as well have been all he owned, every servant he had and all the land God had promised him.
• God does not minimize the ask; He uses the phrase, “your son… whom you love”. Keen observers might remember that these are the words that God the father uses to describe Jesus at His baptism.
• God is asking for a meaningful sacrifice. He’s not asking for a surplus of something. He isn’t asking for something Abraham can imagine living without. He is asking for Abraham’s own flesh and blood, his only heir who would carry his legacy and fulfil God’s promise.
• What was going through Abraham’s mind here? Hebrews 11:
o 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
• He believes God will raise Isaac from the dead. There are no examples of this in the bible so far. Abraham is a man of faith and what else could faith look like? That to expect and to KNOW that God will do something you’ve never seen Him do.
• When Abraham has seen God give him a child from his wife’s barren womb, he understands the rhetorical question God asked earlier: Is anything too hard for the LORD?
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
• Once again, we see men of God getting to work at the LORD’s hour! He does not delay. Abraham packs up and heads out.
• We can see Abraham’s faith in what he tells his servants. We will go and “come to you again” makes clear he knows Isaac would be returning with him. But what they are about to do is to worship God. It will give him glory and honor.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
• It struck me that when questioned by his son, Abraham does not say, “trust me”. He tells Isaac to trust God. God will provide for himself.
• Abraham cannot know the words that he’s saying. There is no way he could understand exactly how true these words would be. He proclaims that God will provide for himself!
• We do not have enough time to list off the instances of this in scripture. God tells us:
• Abraham’s belief that God himself would provide a sacrifice is incredible. It is an inspiring and encouraging posture to see in a human being like ourselves and it should shape in us a desire to be the same.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
• This old man deserves some credit. He’s well over a hundred and he’s out walking a three days journey. Once he gets there, he climbs a mountain, and at the top he gets to work building an altar which certainly consisted of moving heavy stones.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
• Verse 10 is the culmination of all Abraham’s actions. He reaches back to do it. He actually does what God commands him to do. He does the hard thing. He does so, knowing that God will do the harder thing of keeping his promises.
• For the third time, Abraham responds with “here I am”. He anticipates the call and responds with eagerness. Yes LORD! I am here!
• He knew to disobey God was the option with the heaviest consequences; natural fear.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
• Abraham was right. The LORD provides a sacrifice in place of Isaac. God keeps his promises and provides the sacrifice.
• The original readers would have all had some important context here. Mount Moriah would later be known as the temple mount in Jerusalem.
• The Hebrews had a belief that God would provide the sacrifice necessary to atone for sins. As it is said to this day, they anticipated the provision of God’s mercy for sin.
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
• We have seen the LORD make a covenant promise to Abraham several times in Genesis. This the last time we see God restate it. This is a final ratification where God swears on himself that He will do this thing.
• Verse 18 directly ties Abraham’s obedience with the blessing God has for him. Because he obeyed, God will carry through and be true to His promise and cause Abraham to prosper.
• That is what it is to prosper, to live right before our God.
• Obedience does not mean we will physically prosper. To obey God is to live by his provision and I cannot think of anything more prosperous.
20 Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
• Our last section of text today serves as a segue from the sacrifice of Isaac to the next story, the death of Sarah.
• We end with a genealogy of Abraham’s extended family. This will be relevant in a few weeks when we find a wife Isaac.
God asks Abraham to do something big. But we are years in! He didn’t ask Abraham to trust Him when still in Ur. Abraham went through a litany of life experiences leading to this moment. God has been working in Abraham’s life for decades, and what a joy it is to see the work God has undertaken and the results of faith we read about today. Abraham rises to the big moment. He doesn’t get it right 100% of the time, but he comes through in this critical time.
This story that we just read is made so much richer and so much better because we Christians have the benefit of all of the revealed word of God. We know exactly how important it was that Abraham obeyed. We can see the foreshadowing of this story and how it all points to Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice that would be killed for our sake on the same mountain, a thousand years later.
God is an incredible story teller. All of this highlights the legitimacy of the bible, to weave this story together over thousands of years and multiple authors. Compare that to modern writing. Have you seen Star Wars? Those authors were in the same room. But had different visions for where the story would go and it ended up being awful with a lot of questions and not a whole lot of them answered. The bible answers our questions. God keeps his story straight.
Summary Points:
God provides
• God is the eternal provider. He provides us everything we need. He provides not just some times but all the time and to the fullest.
• His provision does not run out! We cannot exhaust his resources of grace and mercy.
• Our God provides, but not always in the way we want or expect him to. We do not always get the miracles we ask for.
• But do not let that discourage us today. We have a God who has provided something even more important than food or shelter or health.
• He has provided his Son, a sacrifice for our sins! Something we could never do alone…
Our sacrifice is not enough
• The bible tells us we cannot be better people in the absence of our God, our provider. He provides for us the ONLY avenue for improvement and even life itself!
• Our efforts are not substantive to save, but we do get the opportunity to participate in God’s provision. There are needs all around us that we can help address.
Find a faith role-model
• Do you want faith like Abraham? Where does that faith come from? How can you and I get it?
• Faith is another way that God provides for us. Faith comes from God and from knowing God. A great way to know God is to be discipled.
• Who are you learning from? Who are you watching as a living example?
Scripture is consistent
• Our story today is an incredible example of the faithful provision of God. He gives us everything we need, including that we do not deserve.
• This is one of hundreds of examples of God’s grace.
• But don’t stop here. Keep looking. Pour over your bibles and find examples that attest to the character of God! Be encouraged church how consistent scripture is as it describes that the God that provides in Genesis is the same providing God in Matthew and Acts.
A life of faith looks different
• We aren’t supposed to delay until we have it figured out to go to God. When we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• What are you having trouble giving over?
• Live differently because we trust God will provide and has already, in the most meaningful way!
Hebrews 12:1-2
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.