By Reverend Dr. Willie L. Hinton, Sr.
Genesis 22:1-2
(1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. (2) And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
(I will be preaching the entire narrative recorded in Genesis 22:1-19.) Introduction
There comes a time in life where each of us must undergo a crucial test. Life is full of tests from the womb to the tomb, but one may be the toughest we will ever have to encounter. Such was the case of Abraham in our text. Abraham had many tests, but our text records the most crucial and impactful test. Most of the tests he passed, but there were two that he flunked. Please don’t criticize him too much, because we all have made some very bad decisions.
Let me paraphrase some of Spurgeon’s classifications of his tests. He had a “family test”, when God told him to leave his family and go to a land which God would later show him. He had a “famine test”, when he went to Egypt which was virtually famine proof because they had advanced agricultural techniques, which utilized the flooding of the Nile River to produce two grain harvests each year. He had a “fellowship test”, when he allowed Lot to choose the land he preferred, and Abraham took the land that was left. He had a “fight test”, when he defeated King Chedorlaomer and his allies and rescued his nephew, Lot. He had a “fortune test”, when he paid his tithe to Melchizedek and refused to take anything from the king of Sodom. Unfortunately, he flunked the “foresight test”, when he fathered Ishmael, and he flunked the famine test, because he lied and said his wife, Sarah, was his sister.
To his favor, he passed the “final test,” which was the most important one. While Spurgeon called it the final test, I like to call it the “Isaac test.” We will all have an Isaac test. The Isaac test is a very tough test. I pray that when encountered, we will all pass our Isaac test. It is a test to determine what is most important in our lives, and how we respond has far reaching consequences in the future. Because he passed the Isaac test, Abraham is called the father of the faithful and a friend of God. Many in Scripture are called a child of God, but only Abraham and Moses are called friends of God.
Closing Thoughts
The story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac, has many parallels between the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Isaac carried the wood; Jesus bore the cross. Jesus was willing to be the sacrificial victim; Isaac was willing to be the sacrificial victim. Isaac ascended to Mount Moriah; Jesus went to Mount Calvary. The journey took three days; Jesus rose on the third day. However, the parallels do not continue. While there was a substitute for Isaac, there was no substitute for Jesus. In fact, as you know, Jesus was our substitute. Each of us should have been nailed to the cross, but Jesus took our places. That’s why we praise Him and the celebration of communion is so sacred. Give God Glory! Give God All The Glory!
Related Scriptures
2nd Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:21-23.