Genesis 21:1-7
Genesis 22:1-14

The Crucible of Faith

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Today we come to Genesis 22 (p. 19). I'll read the passage. I'd like you to follow along closely because my translation may be slightly different from the one in your Bibles.

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, the one you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
   
3. Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He rode alone into the wilderness. And in the wilderness Abraham cried out to God, "What you have asked is too much. For years I waited for a son. Tell me that it is not true -- tell me that it was not you who spoke. Tell me that you will not require my son from me. Ask anything else of me. Take my life. But do not ask me to do what I cannot do. " For three days he waited and cried out and heard only silence. 4. On the third day Abraham looked up into the sky and shook his fist and cried out, "NO! I will not do it. What you have asked if me is evil. I will not give up my son, my only son, the one I love to you. I will not worship a God who would demand such a thing."
   Abraham returned to his tents and to Sarah and Isaac. And life continued on as before. He still had Sarah, He still had Isaac, He still had all of his possessions. But Sarah saw that something had changed. The fire was gone from him; He looked older. When he looked at Isaac he no longer laughed with fierce joy, but only with a distant look of deep sadness.
   
   

Is that how the story goes? No? Let me try again.

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, the one you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
   
3. Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5. He said to his servants in an anguished voice, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. After I have worshipped I will come back to you. "
   
4. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
   "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
   "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
   
5. And Abraham , in his despair, said nothing. He could not answer. They continued on in silence.
   
6. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and he gave a great cry of anguish and despair as he took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
   
7. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham and Isaac returned to their tents. And life continued on as before. He still had Sarah, He still had Isaac, He still had all of his possessions. And Isaac grew into a healthy young man. But from that time Abraham grew old -- he was a broken man. He could never forget the anguish of that moment and what God had required of him.
   
   

Is that how the story ends? No? Let me read it once again.

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, the one you love -- Isaac -- and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
   
3. Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."
   
4. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
   "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
   "The fire and the wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
   
5. Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
   
6. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
   "Here I am," he replied.
   12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.
   
7. Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called that place The Lord will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."
   
   

My question is simple: What makes the difference? Why does Abraham not shake his fist at God? How did his faith survive this test? What kept him from turning away from God in bitterness?


The secret is in a single phrase repeated three times in this passage.

vs. 7 & 8 Isaac says, "Father, the fire & wood are here -- but where is the lamb."
What does Abraham reply? "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."

vs. 14 After he has found the Ram, Abraham names the place "The Lord will provide"

And again at the end of verse 14: And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

Abraham never loses hope in the goodness of God. From beginning to end he believed that God would provide. He had every reason to turn away from God in bitterness, to doubt God's goodness.
-- God was demanding his son -- not just taking him away, but demanding a human sacrifice.
-- God seemed to be reneging on his own promise
-- God himself seemed to be betraying him

Yet despite all of this evidence, Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. He had no idea how -- but he believed.

We sometimes sing a song -- Jehovah Jireh -- My provider his grace is sufficient for me -- My God shall supply all my needs. I often sing it casually, almost glibly thinking of things like food and shelter. This story gives a whole new twist to that song.


1. Because of he was convinced that God would provide . . . Abraham obeyed willingly and without hesitation.

When Abraham heard God's voice, he did not hesitate, he did not delay. God gave him the most excruciating command of his life and the very next morning he got up saddled his donkey and began chopping wood. There is no sign of hesitation or reluctance in anything he does. Simply deliberate willing obedience.

We sometimes ask our children for willing obedience. We do not want them just to obey, but to obey happily -- as in, You are going to clean this room and you are going to be happy about it. But it is a losing battle. Obedience can be compelled, but not willing obedience. The body might be forced to obey -- but never the heart.

But Abraham gives no signs of feeling compelled. What is the secret of willing, unhesitating obedience? Believing that something good will come of it -- that our obedience will prove worth it.

I have a dog that obeys reluctantly and with great hesitation. Most of the time she sees no reason at all to pay any attention to me. But every once in a while she imagines that I might be holding something nice to eat. What's the difference -- believing that obedience will pay off. Believing that I will provide something good for her.

When Abraham heard God's voice, he obeyed willingly and without hesitation. Why? Because he believed God would provide.

When you hear God's voice, what is your response?

2. Because he was convinced that God would provide . . . Abraham placed that which he loved most on the altar.

Imagine the anguish of a father, deliberately stacking the wood -- laying his son on the altar, binding him with ropes, lifting the knife.

He would not hold anything back from God -- even his son, his only son -- the son that he loved. Why? Because he Trusted God to provide.

The surest sign that we really trust God is our willingness to let go of the things we love most deeply -- to place on his altar anything and and everything that we are attached to. We cling to things and to people because we are afraid that our needs will not be met if we let go of them.

Abraham could have refused to give Isaac up -- he could have clung to him. But Abraham new that God is the ONLY provider. It was no good clinging to Isaac apart from God. When we cling to things of this world we are clinging to things that are not going to last.

We all have a simple illustration of this in our kitchens. What happens when you hoard food -- save every bit of leftovers. Things start to grow in your refrigerator.

What does God ask us to put on the altar? He asked Abraham for his only son -- that which is most precious to him. He asks the same of us.


3. Because he believed that God would provide . . . Abraham received Isaac back with greater joy and greater blessing

Abraham really believed that apart from God he could have no good thing. But paradoxically, by releasing Isaac to God, he received him back.

If he had grasped on to Isaac for himself, he would have lost both his relationship with God and his joy in Isaac. But by putting Isaac on the Altar, saying God he's yours, Abraham was doubly blessed -- he received him back from God a second time.

Take God out of the picture and everything we value crumbles and decays.
Get God and you gain everything else as well.

Abraham was able to obey unhesitatingly, to hold nothing back from God and to receive the blessings of God with greater joy because he was convinced that God would provide.

But I have one final question: Why did God put him through this test?
God knew Abraham's heart. Surely he knew what the outcome would be?

God did not need the test -- the test was meant for Abraham and for us. By putting Abraham through the excruciating trial of bringing his own son to the altar, and raising the knife to kill him, God gives helps us to understand the depth his own love.

You see God did not ask Abraham to do something that himself was not willing to do.
So Abraham and Isaac are part of a larger drama. As they walked toward Mount Moriah together, Isaac bearing the wood, Abraham carrying the fire and the knife they were anticipating Calvary -- Jesus bearing the cross; God bearing the knife to slay his son.

By his willingess to sacrifice his only son -- the son he loved -- Abraham demonstrated that he would hold nothing back from God.

And God, by his willingess to give his only son -- the son he loved -- demonstrated that he would hold nothing back from us. (Romans 8:32)


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I can say with assurance that at sometime in your life each of you will face a test similar to Abraham's. It will not be as severe -- but the basic issues will be the same.

Some of you may be in the middle of such a test right now. You feel that God has turned his back on you. God seems to have withdrawn his blessing from your life.

How will you respond? Will you shake your fist at God? Will you allow yourself to grow bitter? Or will you believe, as Abraham did that God will provide.