Ge 22:1 After these things

God  tested (Hebrew = nacah translated in Septuagint - LXX with Greek verb peirazo [see word study]) Abraham

[Note: Not "tempted Abraham". Why not? Read Js 1:13]

Why does God test?
What do you learn from the following?

Ex 20:20 'Moses said to the people "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test (nacah) you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

Dt 8:2 "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years, that He might humble (means to be bowed down) you, testing (nacah)  you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not."

Dt 8:16 " “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might  test (nacah) you, to do good for you in the end."

What is the purpose of the test in these passages from Deut?

To humble us
That we know our heart
For our good
 

1 Peter 1:6;  1:7
  In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested (dokimazo) by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (Commentary on verse 1:6, verse 7)
 

Js 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing  of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
 

Ge 22:2 Take Your son

GO OFFER

Only son parallels the NT phrase "only begotten" the Greek word monogenes which describes Jesus in John1:14 and Isaac in Hebrews 11:17

Whom you love ('ahab) (definition) - first use of "love" in Scripture

Burnt offering = Hebrew 'olah = burnt sacrifice (Related to our English "holocaust"!)...key feature of an 'olah appears to be that among the Israelite sacrifices only 'olah is wholly burned, rather than partially burned and eaten by the worshipers and/or the priest. Thus, the whole animal is brought up to the altar and the whole is offered as a gift in homage to Yahweh. Whole offering would be a better rendering in English to convey the theology. It is indeed burned, but the burning is essentially secondary to the giving of the whole creature to Yahweh. Thus this offering symbolized total surrender of the heart and life of the worshiper to God!
 

Ge 22:4 3^rd day saw "the place"

Think of what Abe must have been thinking as he walks along! Remember that in Ge 21:12

God had promised him that "Through Isaac his descendants would be named". This would have been about 15 years earlier (estimate based on fact that Isaac now a young lad capable of carrying wood on back). So now the son of promise is to be sacrificed...the dilemma? How will God fulfill His covenant promise that through Isaac the line of Abraham would come?

Ge 22:11 <BUT> contrast

Angel of the LORD

Will the Refiner test us beyond what we are able to endure?  See 1Cor 10:13 Do you really believe this?

The founder of the China Inland Mission (now Overseas Missionary Fellowship), J. Hudson Taylor, used to hang in his home a plaque with two Hebrew words on it:

“Ebenezer”
and
“Jehovah-jireh”

Ebenezer means...
“Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1Sa 7:12 ) (Related topic: The LORD My Help =Jehovah Ezer)

Jehovah Jireh means...

“The Lord will see to it.”

And so whether he looked back or ahead, Hudson Taylor knew the Lord was at work, and he had nothing to fear.

Ge 22:1 Here I am (Behold me)

How immediate and complete was his surrender?

Ge 22:3 Rose early> Saddle> Took> Split Wood > Arose > Went to the place told

Ge 22:5 What will they do at Moriah? What does this express about his faith?
 

We will Worship
We will Return

Delayed obedience
equates with disobedience

The fact that they will return is clearly an indication Abraham believed God's promise that through Isaac his descendants would be named and that God's promise would not be thwarted. Remember that Abraham is about 115-130 years old (one cannot be dogmatic) so he has walked with Jehovah for at least 40 years and has grown to know and trust God's character and His Faithfulness

Abraham understands that covenant calls for withholding nothing from God

How does Abraham's response compare with Job's when he was severely tried? Job 1:20-21

Ge 22:6 Wood on Isaac (not child) (cf Jesus bearing His own cross in Jn19:17 and bearing our sins in His body on the cross in 1 Peter 2:24 (note) 

Note that "wood" is translated in the Septuagint - LXX with the Greek word "Xulon" which is the same word Luke chooses for the cross in Acts 5:30!

Fire & knife

Walked together

Genesis Rabbah, the Jewish midrash, comments that Isaac with the wood on his back is like a condemned man, carrying his own cross!

Ge 22:8 God will see for Himself

KJV God will provide Himself

RSV "God will provide Himself the Lamb" (Future tense)

Where is Abraham's trust and confidence? In Whom?

Ge 22:9 To place God had told (v2 = Mt Moriah)

Altar/arranged wood/bound Isaac Laid him on altar on top of wood
 

Ge 22:10 Stretched out hand/knife to slay his son

What is God teaching us about real worship?

How does the burnt offering relate to the act of worship?

If we are to "worship" we must come to Him with total, unconditional surrender & obedience. This is the foundation for genuine worship.  

Ge 22:11 Behold me (Here I am)

What parallel do you see in the following passage between father Abraham's actions and God the Father's actions some 2000 years later?

Romans 8:32
 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (see note)

In light of God's gift of His Son as our substitute "ram caught in the bush" what should our response be as those who by faith are "Abraham's offspring" (Gal 3:29), "like Isaac... children of promise" (Gal 4:28)?

What do we learn about real worship from the following passage?

Ge 22:2 Moriah

What do the following passages teach us about Mt Moriah?

2Sam 24:24-25
2Chr 3:1

Site of Solomon's Temple = Temple Mount = same ridge as Golgotha  ("skull") (See explanatory note in previous column)

What did Abraham believe?

What had God promised? 

Hebrews 11:17; 11:18; 11:19  By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. It was he to whom it was said, IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED  He considered that God is able  (dúnamai  = possesses inherent ability) to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type. (see notes Heb 11:17;18; 19)

Philippians 4:19  all of your needs…not all your "greeds" (see note)

Jehovah  ("I Am"... everything you will ever need) sees our needs & provides for those needs. The greatest gift ensures all the rest.

Ge 22:7 Where is the Lamb?

Abraham trusting wholly in his Covenant Partner explains that God will provide the lamb. This clearly foreshadows God's provision of the "Lamb of God" some 2000 years after Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

Jn 1:29   Lamb of God (see notes on Jehovah Roi the Shepherd Who became the Lamb)

What did God "know"?

Ge 22:12 Abraham feared God

Not withheld your son, your only son from Me

Fear of God is manifest is obedience to His commands, which also equates with faith. 

To fear God means to believe his word fully and absolutely, and to be loyal to his directives.

Fear God here means to reverence Him as sovereign, trust Him implicitly & obey Him w/o question. (Related topic: How To Handle Fear)

God does not delight in the external acts and the ritual of worship.

God always inspects the giver, before he inspects the gift.

Ge 22:13 Raised eyes, looked, behold

What principle do you see pictured in Abraham taking the ram caught in thicket and offering it instead of Isaac?

Clearly we see the pattern of a substitutionary sacrifice.

The ram was God’s provision in place of Isaac, and Jesus Christ is God’s substitutionary provision for the whole world. In this experience, Abraham saw Christ by faith (or because of his faith and obedience).

John records Jesus' words to the disbelieving Jews in which He declared "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." John 8:56

Ge 22:14 Named place Jehovah Jireh

Jehovah will provide

or
"Jehovah sees"

The-Lord-Will-Provide" is a play on the verb translated "provided." The verb means basically "see". The English word "provide" is from the Latin (pro = before + videre = vision) meaning literally to "see beforehand." God sees our need before it arises and makes provision for it. Have you come to know Him as this kind of God?

Rote religion

can never substitute for

purity of heart

Who revealed Himself to Abraham?
Click study of Angel of the LORD

What did Jesus promise us in the NT in Matthew 5:8 (see note)?

What is Jesus' incredible promise in John 14:21?

What is the warning in Hebrews 12:14 (see note)?

Faith not shown to be real until it is tested

God's ways are so much higher than man's ways -- we tend to look at the temporal when we need to focus on the eternal!

Immediate unconditional obedience (absolute surrender, whole hearted response)

Delayed obedience = immediate disobedience

Partial obedience =
complete disobedience

Real faith is not believing in spite of the evidence but obeying in spite of the consequences

From this study of Jehovah Jireh, how would you define real worship?

Worship is surrender of all we are to God. It is holding nothing back. It is obediently giving Him what He wants and trusting Him to supply whatever we might need. 

'worship involves a willingness to surrender all to Him, holding nothing back. How foreign to the modern concept of ''worship'' where one's senses are pampered to rather than having one's heart laid bare, broken and contrite!

God did not want Isaac's life

He wanted Abraham's heart.

Paul writes that "if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." (Galatians 3:29 )
 

What does God want from you beloved descendant of Abraham, the "friend of God"?

Do you obey without reservation when God tests you or allows you to be tested?

OR

Do you hesitate, negotiate, argue or resist and in so doing avoid obeying immediately?

What is your "Isaac" that you dearly love and you would rather God not ask you to release to Him?

How would you answer God's question...
 

"Do you love Me more than ___________?"

Can you honestly say...
 

"Whatever you want God"?

Are you afraid of what the Almighty might do?

Dearly beloved, remember that Jehovah stands behind His name and is forever the Covenant keeping God!

In light of so great a Substitute Who provided for our salvation and so powerful an example in Abraham's offering, how can we each not be willing to...

"Watch over (guard from dangers = pix of watchman standing guard on the watchtower of the walled fortress) your heart with all diligence (calls for vigilant effort, not just letting go and letting God), for from it flow the springs of life (Life is the ability to exercise all one's vital power to the fullest; death is the opposite)." (Pr 4:23)

"like the Holy One who called us, be holy ourselves also in all our behavior" (1 Peter 1:15 - see note)

"cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2Cor 7:1)
 

John Flavel very wisely observed that, "The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God." Christianity is a religion of the heart. It is not a system of moral conduct. It is the life of Christ in a man's soul. Salvation is the work of God in a man's heart. The conviction of sin, repentance, faith, and worship are all works of the heart. The kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, things of the body; but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These are things of the heart.

What is my "Isaac" that I need to lay on the altar?

Remember that God's infinite provision is always greater than our finite problem.

Although we do not know when God revealed the truth of resurrection to Abraham, we know that Abraham had such knowledge. The important application for each of us is to not doubt "in the dark" what God has told us clearly in the light.

God is Jehovah ("I Am") and He says "I Am... everything you will every truly need to live this Christian life.

As Jehovah Jireh God can and will provide exactly what we need when we need it, for His timing is perfect. Remember that with God, His delay is not necessarily denial, but as with Abraham is so ordained that it might bring about a deep "surgery" within our heart. May it be true of us that when we come through the Refiner's Fire like Abraham, that our Father will say "now my son or daughter, I know that you fear Me in a right, reverential sense."

1Samuel 15:22-23 Records these fearful words to Saul...

Behold (listen up!), to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion (reserving the rights to make the final decisions in my life) is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.

David pleads with God for he understands God's desire for an "internal offering"...

O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Thy praise. For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:15-17)

If your desire is to be holy and set apart for Jehovah, play and pray the beautiful chorus...

Refiner's Fire

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do Your will