Genesis 22:1-14 God has Provided WC McCarter
Introduction
By way of
introduction, look with me at John 8:48-59 and particularly v56. “Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” The ‘day’ refers
to Christ’s passion and work of redemption on the cross.
“But when
could Abraham have seen anything on that order of sophistication? Probably when
he took his son Isaac up on Mount Moriah to be offered. . . . Abraham saw that
God himself would provide a substitute, someone in that coming ‘seed’ who would
somehow be connected with the sacrifice and deliverance of Isaac, the son of
promise” (Kaiser, 50).
READ Scripture- This is the Word of God
The Testing of Faith (1-2)
Without the
first verse in the chapter, we would be completely lost on the events of the
chapter. There is nothing in any of the narratives before that would help us to
understand where this test comes from. It seemingly comes out of nowhere. We
are almost as surprised as Abraham is to hear this command. It is a difficult
passage anyway, but Moses, the writer, helps us with the first verse. There he
tells us right up front that this is a test. The reader is led to believe that
the sacrifice of Isaac will not take place, but that only softens the tension
of the narrative because in the story, Abraham does not know that this is only
a test. We are forced to focus on the inward, spiritual struggle of Abraham as
we read through the passage. Verse two, like 12:1-3 narrows in on the personal
nature of the command: son, only son, Isaac whom you love.
Let me say
that Abraham would not have considered this request to be normative. Many claim
that it would have been because the pagan nations roundabout were constantly
offering child sacrifices, but those sacrifices of the pagans would have been mainly
of newborns soon after birth. Abraham is asked to offer his teenaged son to the
Lord. Yet, here is the thing, God is the giver and taker of life. He is allowed
to take life whenever He sees fit. The dilemma for Abraham, the difficult
nature of the event is that God requires Abraham to carry out the sacrifice.
There are three commands: take, go, and sacrifice his son. We do not get much
more elaboration than that, and it doesn’t seem that Abraham does either. The
way that Moses constructs the recounting of the event forces us to rely on
Abraham’s assessment of the situation. His response becomes our supreme
example.
This
“testing” is not a tempting of Abraham to sin. God does not tempt in that
way. He never coerces believers or unbelievers to sin. What He does is
test His people to know their hearts. He wants to “prove” Abraham’s faith,
obedience, and fear of the Lord. There is no tricking, deceiving, or
entrapment. Abraham is tested straight-up whether he will trust and obey or
not.
This kind of
testing is done in order to manifest what is in the heart of the person. It is
for God to experience, for the person to know, and for the whole world to
witness. Many things in the Scriptures are isolated events. For example, the
testing of Job does not seem to be normative, neither does this one event of
testing Abraham. I would not say that God does the sort of thing all the time
that He did with Job and Abraham. Yet, we are put to the test on several
occasions in different ways. We are told that this is for our good and that we
should count it all joy when we face tribulation. God is glorified in it as we
continue to trust and obey Him, and we are made stronger through it.
The Obedience of Faith (3-10)
Verse three
is clear right up front that Abraham is willing to obey. He is not perfect in
his obedience, and he has had some mishaps in his faith but not on this
occasion. He rose early in the morning and got to it. Notice how the narrative
is so slow in progressing. The best way for us to go about this narrative is to read through it while making various observations.
Just as Abraham had done what the Lord had commanded in C12, so he does here without hesitation. There are many details here that don't actually contribute much to the story, but may we suppose that they were added to accentuate the inner struggle of Abraham? After three days they arrive at their destination. For three days Isaac is reckoned as dead to Abraham. After what seems to be prolonged, numbing silence on Abraham's behalf, we finally here from the father of faith. A bold statement of confidence is given at the end of v5. He says, "We will come back to you." Abraham may not know exactly how God is going to work in this situation, but he is confident that his God will see to everything that He has promised.
In v6 we get a hint at the age of Isaac. He must be a teenager by now because he is able to carry large enough load of wood for a burnt offering on his back up a mountain. We also learn from this detail that Isaac could have surely fought off his father, but he willing obeys the command of the Lord along with Abraham.
By the time we make it to v8, we receive another confident assertion from Abraham. He says, "God will provide for Himself the lamb." Abraham is already beginning to understand that God will provide a substitute. God will see to it that everything is taken care of. So, Isaac cooperates and allows his father to bind him and lay him on the altar.
How do we reason that Abraham was so confident in God? What is it that Abraham was thinking when he said that God would see to all of the details? Heb 11:17-19 gives us an answer, “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.”
The Approval of Faith (11-14)
Finally, after one heart-wrenching detail after another, the
narrative comes to a head as Abraham stretches out his hand to sacrifice his
son, but he is abruptly stopped by an angel of the Lord. He is commanded to not
lay a hand on the boy. The test how now been completed. Abraham has been
accepted. It has now been shown to God, to Abraham, and to the whole world that
Abraham fears God, that is, he is obedient, trusting, and willing to give up what is most precious to him.
Ultimately a substitute
is offered in Isaac’s place. Abraham had actually anticipated this when he
said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” And there is no doubt that this foreshadows the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Isaac, Christ willing carries the cross on His back, He willingly heads up the mountain to the place of execution, He willing lays down His life. Like Abraham, God the Father puts His own Son to death. There was a ram caught in the thicket that took Isaac's place this time, but it would ultimately be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world that would take Isaac's place, Abraham's place, and our places. He bore our penalty for sin as our substitute on the cross.
Conclusion and Christian Application
(1) Genuine faith is always ready to
move and go to action when the promises and commands of God are heard. Abraham
was always ready to hear and obey. Are you always ready to hear and obey? What
is your faith-posture? Are you standing and ready for action, or have you
sunken into a spiritual sloth?
(2) What was it that Isaac not only
represented but actually embodied? Isaac was Abraham’s only son, the heir of
the promises of God, the progenitor of the land, nation, and blessing to all
peoples. Abraham was willing to sacrifice everything. The question was, did
Abraham desire the promises of God or did he desire God Himself? The same is
true for us today. Are you wanting only to maintain some sort of image for
others to see? Are you wanting only to escape the torments of Hell? Are you
wanting only to go to Heaven when you die? Or are you wanting to know God and
to see His glory?
(3) The translation, “God will provide”
is literally, “God will see to it.” Abraham trusted that God would take care of
the details. You must trust God in the details. He is the God of the long-range
plans, and He is the God of the details of day-to-day life. Do you trust Him
for the future? And do you trust Him for today? He must be trusted in the big
things and the small things. In the easy things and in the hard things.