Jim McGuiggan (00:05)
God says to Abraham in chapter 22 of Genesis, take your son,
your only son. Now, he had two sons, as you know, Ishmael and Isaac. But God says your only son. He means the one who was always intended to be the heir. He’s the only one that counts as the heir. H-e-i-r He’s the only one that counts as the heir. Take your son. Take him to this place. He goes to Mount Moriah, the region of Mount Moriah,
and offer him up as a sacrifice.
This is the faith of Abraham. God speaks to him when he’s in Ur, the Chaldees, and he says, leave your past behind.
Yeah. And commit your present to me. Now, take the boy, kill him. Say goodbye to your future, for it is in Isaac the future of Abraham’s blessings lie.
But Abraham takes the boy. The story you know well takes him to the place the boy wants to know. Where’s the sacrifice? And the father said, God will provide. Has him all ready to sacrifice him, lifts his hand to kill him. In his mind, he’d already killed the boy.
As far as he was concerned, it was a done deal. This is remarkable faith.
But he knows somehow or another God is going to work this out. And that as he had brought life from the dead in Abraham’s body and Sarah’s womb, he was going to do it again. And the Hebrew writer in chapter 11 read it at home. Won’t you?
Or read it after this in the class. Do whatever. But it’s in Hebrews 11. It speaks of by faith, Abraham offers up Isaac. And he knows that God is somehow going to take care of it. And it says in Hebrews 11, and he received in a figure, in a figure, he received Isaac back
from the dead, What did the Hebrew writer mean? He meant as far as Abraham was concerned, the boy was dead.
So in a figure of speech, God saves the boy from death. And the future of Abraham and his nation and the multitude of the nations are all okay. And God says in 22 of Abraham,
Now I know, as if he didn’t, don’t you see? He’s talking about confirmation. Now I know that you really believe.
And he did. Great man.
And it’s all about what? It’s all about faith. Israel should have known it was through death, promise, death, resurrection, fullness of life and fulfillment of promise.