GOD TESTS ABRAHAM S FAITH

Transcription

1 THE L.I.F.E. PLAN GOD TESTS ABRAHAM S FAITH BLOCK 2 THEME 1 - ABRAHAM LESSON 3 (39 of 216)

2 BLOCK 2 THEME 1: ABRAHAM LESSON 3 (39 OF 216): GOD TESTS ABRAHAM S FAITH LESSON AIM: Show Abraham s trust in God in a difficult time in his life. SCRIPTURE: (Genesis 22:1-19) Abraham had a very close relationship with God. The Bible calls Abraham the friend of God. He had walked with God, following him and obeying him for many years. God had a great purpose for Abraham and he was in the process of working out that purpose during the days of Abraham s life on earth. Part of this process was to find out how much Abraham really trusted and believed that God would fulfill the promise he had made to him to bless his family and that his family would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. One day, God spoke to Abraham and told him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. He also told him to go to a specific place to do this to which he would lead him. God did this as a test for Abraham. Abraham must have known that God was up to something by telling him to offer his son. This was so unlike God. He had already taken Abraham out of a land where things like this had been going on. Why would he now, after all these years, go against what Abraham knew him to be? I am sure there must have been many questions going on in Abraham s mind. Whatever those questions might have been, they were not enough to cause Abraham to disobey God, even in this most unusual command. He must have concluded that God must have a good reason for this, therefore he would obey God. The faithfulness of Abraham to obey the command shows that he did in fact believe the promise God had made to him that the world would be blessed through his son, Isaac. He must have thought that God would not allow this scenario to play out to the point of his killing his son. Surely, God would step in and do something to prevent things from going that far. But even if God did not do this, and if he did allow Abraham to sacrifice Isaac s life, he believed that God could and would raise Isaac from the dead and go on to fulfill his promise in him. After all, he had already all but done this very thing by bringing Isaac into the world to start with. Both Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children, so in a sense, God had already brought Isaac out of the dead one time. Surely he could do it again if things came to the point where Isaac would die on the altar. As we read through the verses in the passage of this trying ordeal for Abraham, and for Isaac, we can see much evidence of Abraham s faith in God. Just by way of information, there are three words that are good for us to know when it comes to faith. These words have very similar meanings and can often be used in place of each other. These words are faith, trust, and belief. So, when we talk about Abraham s faith in God, we are speaking about the fact that he believed God and the things God said to

3 him, and he trusted that God would work things out in such a way as to bring about those things which he had promised. Notice some of the evidence of Abraham s faith. To begin with, Abraham immediately set out to obey God s command. God must have spoken to Abraham somewhere in the middle of the night because he got up early in the morning to begin the journey and the process of carrying out God s command. Next, he went to the place where God had told him to go. God had done this before in Abraham s life; told him to go somewhere but did not tell him his final destination before he left home. He had experience with the fact that God would give the directions and eventually lead him to the place where he wanted him to be. He did not need all the details up front. He just walked with God as God led him and he finally arrived in the predetermined location. Other evidence of Abraham s faith is given when he told the two young men who accompanied him and Isaac to stay and wait for them while they went a little farther to worship God. Abraham told them to wait and he and Isaac would return to them after a little while. Although he knew very well what God had told him to do, he fully expected that God would bring Isaac through this somehow. This was an act of faith. As we see things getting much more intense in this episode, we see that Abraham followed God to the very last possible second, waiting on him to do something miraculous. He built an altar. He laid the wood in order on the altar. He bound his son and laid him on the altar. He raised his knife into the air, intending to plunge it into the body of his son and take his life. As he was just about to strike the death blow, God stepped in. God told him not to harm his son. He said that he knew that Abraham had a reverence for God and that he was willing to obey him, even if it meant losing something that he loved very much, and something that he had been counting on. God had brought up a ram behind Abraham and had allowed it to get caught in a thicket. Abraham took the ram and offered it to God on the altar in the place of his son. This offering of the ram was the final act of obedience in this test that God had brought into Abraham s life. Why would God do such a thing? Why would he put his friend, Abraham, through such a terrible ordeal? The suspected hunch that Abraham had was right; God was up to something by orchestrating this event and by allowing it to play out. In the first place, God was proving the reality of Abraham s faith. Because of this act of faith, God declared Abraham a righteous man. May it be pointed out that Abraham s act of faith was not so much in his willingness to offer his son as it was in his belief in the promise that God had made to him to bless the families of mankind through him, even if the son through whom the promise was to be fulfilled was taken out of the picture. This belief in God being true to his promise was Abraham s justification. We also know now, that through this story of a father offering his son, God could tell us a greater story of how he who is our heavenly Father has offered his Son, Jesus for our justification. Isaac is a type of Christ in the Old Testament. Through his story, we can learn something about the Son of God and of his willingness to lay his

4 life down on the altar of sacrifice. Isaac trusted his father who was trusting in God. He was younger and stronger than his father who was an old man by this time. He could have overpowered him and refused to be bound. But, he was submissive to his father s will. Jesus was also submissive to his Father s will. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Isaac illustrates this truth about Jesus for us. The ram also tells us something about Jesus. The ram was offered instead of, or in the place of, Isaac. Jesus was offered in our stead. He died in our place. He was sacrificed for us. God was also using the place in this account also to show us of a greater Son who would one day lay down his life on this same mountain ridge. On this ridge where Abraham offered Isaac, King Solomon later built the Temple where many sacrifices would be offered as a symbol of the offering of Christ for his people. And, even beyond this, Jesus died on this same ridge in a place called Calvary. Yes, God was up to something much bigger than the offering of Isaac. He was telling us, many years before it would come to pass, that his Son would be offered as a sacrifice in the place of sinners. For believers today who have the rest of the Bible s revelation, we know that God does not call for human sacrifice as a part of our worship of him, or as a way to prove our faithfulness to him. This action was strictly forbidden by God among his people. We must remember that at the time that this story took place, God was in the process of revealing to man, his purpose of deliverance through Jesus, who was typified by Isaac. While the story was an actual event in the lives of Abraham and Isaac, God wanted to use it to tell us the greater story of his Son, Jesus. Jesus gave himself in our place to take God s punishment for our sin. If we will believe on Jesus in our heart, we can be forgiven of our sins and have a wonderful relationship with God. Through Jesus, we can be made clean in the eyes of God. If you have never believed on Jesus, tell God today that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the substitute who died in your place. Give your life to him because he gave his life for you.

5 LESSON OUTLINE BLOCK 2 THEME 1: ABRAHAM LESSON 3 (39 OF 216): GOD TESTS ABRAHAM S FAITH LESSON AIM: Show Abraham s trust in God in a difficult time in his life. I GOD S COMMAND TO ABRAHAM A. Offer your son as a sacrifice B. Go to a specific place to make the offering C. A test of faith II EVIDENCE OF ABRAHAM S FAITH A. Immediate obedience B. He went to the specific place C. He planned to return with Isaac III GOD DELIVERS ISAAC A. God stopped Abraham from taking Isaac s life B. God provided a substitute to take Isaac s place IV A GREATER SUBSTITUTE/SACRIFICE PICTURED A. Abraham represents the heavenly Father offering his Son - Jesus B. Isaac represents Jesus as the offering C. The ram speaks of a substitutionary death SCRIPTURES TO BROADEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING 1. Abraham is God s friend James 2:23 2. Abraham s faith was tested Genesis God s promise to Abraham Genesis 12: Abraham s trust in God Romans 4 Galatians 3 Hebrews 11:17-19

6 5. Abraham s and Sarah s old age Genesis Jesus submission to God s will Matthew 26:39 Philippians 2: Jesus was offered for us 2 Corinthians 5:21 1 Peter 3:18 8. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins 1 John 2:2 LINES OF THEOLOGICAL CONNECTION 1. BIBLICAL TYPOLOGY Abraham represents the heavenly Father Isaac represents Jesus 2. SOTERIOLOGY Substitutionary atonement Faith Justification Obedience LESSON GLOSSARY 1. Propitiation A provision for mercy 2. Type A type is one thing which represents another thing.

7 QUESTIONS ANSWER KEY 1. What specific relationship did Abraham have with God? He was the friend of God 2. What did God tell Abraham to do with his son? To offer him to God as a sacrifice 3. What other words could be used for faith? Trust and belief 4. What was sacrificed in place of Isaac? A ram 5. What greater event in the Bible does this episode in the lives of Abraham and Isaac remind us of? The offering of Jesus in our places for our sins 6. What other significant things happened on the same mountain ridge where Isaac was to be offered? The temple was built; Jesus died on the cross 7. Has God ever tested your faith in him? How? Student response

8 BLOCK 2 THEME 1: ABRAHAM LESSON 3 (39 OF 216): GOD TESTS ABRAHAM S FAITH QUESTIONS TO INSPIRE THOUGHT 1. What specific relationship did Abraham have with God? 2. What did God tell Abraham to do with his son? 3. What other words could be used for faith? 4. What was sacrificed in place of Isaac? 5. What greater event in the Bible does this episode in the lives of Abraham and Isaac remind us of? 6. What other significant things happened on the same mountain ridge where Isaac was to be offered? 7. Has God ever tested your faith in him? How?