Doubtless everybody who has read the history of Abraham and Isaac has thought that the test that Abraham was called upon to undergo was the severest that could possibly come to any man. Yet, few readers grasp all the details, and comprehend all that was involved in it. Let us briefly rehearse the facts.
Abraham was an old man, as men reckon, when he received the promise from God that he should have a son. He was seventy-five years old, and his wife was sixty-five. They had no child, and, humanly speaking, it was impossible for them to have one. Nevertheless God assured them that it should be as He said--that they should have a son of their own.
But not at once did God fulfill the promise. The promised son was to be His gift, received by faith, and it must be very apparent that it was wholly His gift; and also the faith of Abraham and Sarah must be so strengthened and purified that the deadness of their bodies would not in the least degree diminish their assurance that it would be even as God said.
Accordingly, they had to wait twenty-five years before the birth of Isaac. It was thus that their faith became strong, purged from everything earthly and fleshly, and centered only in Christ.
How different from men's ideas! People talk about faith getting weak through long waiting; and most of the joyous professions of "faith"--statements to the effect that "now I fully believe the Lord"--that one hears come as the result of a gift already received. In their joy over finding their desires fulfilled, people fancy that they have perfect faith in God. But that is not true faith. It is not the faith that comes by hearing the Word of God, but a manufactured faith. It is of the same nature as that expressed in the remark,
"I'll believe you when I see you do the thing."
It is not that kind of faith that justifies and gives peace with God. Abraham believed God when the promise was first made known to him; and, with the exception of one misstep, which resulted from uninstructed faith rather than absence of it, his faith grew stronger as the years of waiting passed. And "by faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised," (Hebrews 11:11) although she had once laughed at the mention of such a thing. There is a great lesson for us in this; for only those who walk in the steps of our father Abraham can share the promise with him.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
At last Isaac, the child of promise and of long expectation was born. The joy of Abraham and Sarah was more than ordinary joy when "a man is born into the world;" (John 16:21) for the promise ran "in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," (Genesis 28:14) and "in Isaac shall your seed be called." (Genesis 21:12)
They well know that this meant the Messiah, Jesus, and that on the Seed that was to be born in Isaac's line depended their eternal salvation, and that of the whole world. No other person, save Mary of Nazareth, ever had such wondrous reason to rejoice over the birth of a son.
In this joy Abraham and Sarah lived for twenty-five years, until Abraham was one hundred and twenty-five years old, and Sarah one hundred and fifteen. Isaac was twenty-five, in the full vigor of young manhood. Then came the supreme test: "Take now your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and get into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of." (Genesis 22:2)
Cutting Off the Messiah
From what we have already learned, we know that this meant literally the cutting off of the Messiah. The call tested not merely Abraham's fatherly love, but his faith in God's love, who "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
He had believed that God would give him a son, through whom the Messiah should be born, and now he was called on to sacrifice that son, and, seemingly his hope of salvation, since another son was not in the question.
Faith in the Resurrection
But "by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall your seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure." (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Abraham could offer up his only begotten son, because of his confidence that God had--not would, but had--already offered up His only begotten Son, and that by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ, Isaac would be raised from the dead. That is, the Messiah yet to be born of Isaac's line would raise Isaac from the dead in order that He might be born! (Yet in the face of this, men talk about the pre-existence of Christ as though it were a debatable question.)
This was but a test of the faith by which Abraham first received Isaac; for the birth of Isaac was life from the dead. Abraham did not lose sight of the promise that in Isaac his seed should be called, and he knew that the same power that brought Isaac into the world would raise him from the dead.
A Fiery Trial
However, if anybody thinks that Abraham set about the execution of this order with a light heart, let him read the story of Gethsemane. Although Christ knew that He came into the world for the express purpose of giving His life for it, and had repeatedly told His disciples that He should be crucified and should rise again the third day, the night of His betrayal was the trial of His life.
Be sure that Satan whispered all sorts of doubts into Abraham's mind before he set out on his journey to the land of Moriah. It is no sin to be tempted; the sin comes only in yielding to the temptation; and Abraham let all the doubts that Satan could suggest be swallowed up in the promise of God.
A Type of Christ
Isaac was a type of Christ. In him we see all the particulars of Christ's birth, life, and death pictured out.
• He was born of the Spirit, contrary to nature, as men understand it.
• On him rested the salvation of the world, because of the promise of God; and
• In his cutting off it looked to human understanding as though all hope was lost, even as to the disciples it seemed that everything perished when Christ was laid in the tomb. Yet that very cutting off was what was to beget a living hope in thousands; and so the offering of Isaac assured salvation, since it was the crowning act of faith, by which we are saved.
• Christ carried the cross on which He was to be offered, and Isaac carried the wood for the altar on which he was to be offered.
• Christ offered himself voluntarily, although sent by the Father; and Isaac likewise meekly yielded himself to death; for he was young and strong, and his aged father could not have bound him to the altar without his consent.
The Climax of Faith
"And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." (Genesis 22:4-5)
Here we have the climax of faith. In those two verses we read (Hebrews 11:17-19), which have already been quoted. Abraham knew that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, and he expected that it would be done at once, so that they would came back together. For notice that his words to the young men were that they would both go to worship, and that both would return to them. There was no trace of doubt in this faith.
We do not need to follow the history farther, for we well know the result. Now that Abraham had showed that his faith was perfect, (See James 2:22) and that he believed the simple word of God, that word was confirmed by an oath. Thus we see that the strongest assurances come as the result of faith, instead of faith depending on the fulfillment of something. Faith itself is "the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:2)
It was for our sakes that God confirmed the promise by an oath. Abraham did not need it; but in order that we who flee to Christ for refuge might have strong consolation. (See Hebrews 6:18) God gives us even stronger assurances than He did Abraham.
The Friend of God
"And he was called the friend of God." (James 2:28)
That test brought Abraham and God very near together. They were bound together by mutual suffering and mutual sacrifice. In offering up his only begotten son, Abraham entered fully into the experience of God in offering up His only begotten Son. Abraham became the special friend of God, not because of any partiality on the part of God, but because no one who had not passed through that experience could possibly be so closely bound to Him. True friendship is not a matter of fancy, but the communion of souls that are bound together by a peculiar experience common to both, and by mutual understanding.
The honor of being friends of God may be ours as well as Abraham's, and we may each be received into as close fellowship, if we are willing to share His sacrifice and suffering.
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:12-13)
Present Truth, August 15, 1901--Genesis 22:1-14.
E.J. Waggoner