Pod prep : 1-25-19
Why Did God Require Abraham To Sacrifice His Son ?
ABRAHAM'S TEST CONVEYED GOD THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR US
We all know that Abraham is the Father of the faithful. He is the Father of Israel, the people of God ( focus of God's revelations) to mankind.
Romans 4:16 MKJV 16 Therefore it is of faith so that it might be according to grace; for the promise to be made sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the Father of us all.
Abraham is put in the figurative position of God the Father since he was the Father of Israel and eventually all believers will be grafted into Israel or spiritual Israel.
Romans 9:25 MKJV 25 As He also says in Hosea, "I will call those not My people, My people; and those not beloved, Beloved."
Romans 11:17-18 MKJV 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and became a sharer of the root and the fatness of the olive tree with them, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, it is not you that bears the root, but the root bears you.
Paul the Apostle is telling the gentile believers in Rome, that they have been grafted into Israel and the theology and history of Israel. The root that they are now part of is based on Father Abraham. When God required Father Abraham to sacrifice his son we then realized the torment that God the Father felt upon the sacrifice of Christ. It was probably harder emotionally for Abraham than for his son Isaac. Therefore it was harder for God the Father to sacrifice Jesus than it was for Jesus to suffer so much for us sinners. Why?
Because God the Father loved his only Son who became Jesus the Messiah so much. God the Father and God the Son are One. What hurts one hurts the other one.
THE REAL SACRIFICE WAS A LOVING ACT OF BOTH FATHER AND SON FOR US!
The emotional torment of Abraham for the three days journey, to the exact location of the later sacrifice of Christ, had to be agonizingly horribly for the Father of the faithful. When Jesus entered Jerusalem the last time, to be set aside for His terrible ordeal, ( just as the Passover Lamb) had to be very hard for the Father in heaven. Father and Son both did it to communicate their love for us future believers as well as to legally pay the price for our sins. Christ really suffered. It was not easy for Him or the Father.
Matthew 26:38-39 MKJV 38 Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Wait here and watch with Me. 39 And He went a little further and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.
Christ pleaded for an easier death or plan B that was not so violent. Yet He and the Father agreed to take the difficult sacrifice for us. Isaac also cooperated with Abraham. Abraham believed that God would resurrect Isaac to fulfill His promises to him. Abraham proved his complete trust in God. Isaac was a adult and younger and stronger than his elderly Father therefore he did cooperate and also trusted God. God was not instituting human sacrifices. He stopped Abraham from doing the sacrifice but, the experience of the Father Abraham almost sacrificing his most precious Son had real significance. Abraham's entire effort demonstrated that to us. Abraham being elderly, probably prayed to the Father to take his life instead.
Abraham really really loved Isaac. He was his only true son and very precious to him. He and his wife Sarah had waited many years for Isaac. Because of their age, he was both a miracle baby and irreplaceable. Somewhat like Jesus to God the Father.
Genesis 17:19 MKJV 19 And God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed. And you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Genesis 21:2 MKJV 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Isaac was the long awaited miracle child of Abraham and Sarah. We cannot imagine just how special Isaac was to his Father. Isaac was perceived to be a wonderful child. He was so loved.
Genesis 22:2 MKJV 2 And He said, Take now your son, your only one, Isaac, whom you love. And go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to you” .
THE ACT OF GIVING SO MUCH TO GOD MADE ABRAHAM A BETTER PERSON
His obedience proved that he totally trusted God. His faith is a foundation example to all believers. Note what the commentary says about God's instructions to Abraham.
Genesis 22:1 NKJV 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
First, what was God not doing with Abraham? He was not enticing Abraham to do wrong or instituting child sacrifice like the pagans. God stopped him from sacrificing Isaac. If Abraham had decided to sacrifice Isaac on his own, he would have been wrong. This was an opportunity to prove that he trusted God completely. Abraham put God above all things. God only has the moral authority to take life or preserve life.
The Hebrew word translated 'tested' means “to prove the quality of” not to entice to do wrong. The word 'nissah' means to improve the quality of something. The Hebrew verb nissah describes testing that one gives oneself or other people for improvement. God used this event to affirm the sterling character of Abraham's faith by giving him such an incredibly difficult task of sacrificing his only son. God has the right to take life for he can resurrect people later in a better after life circumstance. God can control things, and people cannot control the afterlife. Abraham also knew God would resurrect his son Isaac. He trusted God completely to make it work. This level of faith is used in the New Testament to encourage and guide us.
James 2:21-23 NKJV 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
Abraham proved himself faithful and obedient to both God and himself. This kind of testing made the Father of the faithful a better believer. James the Apostle further explains that actions speak louder than words. Actions strengthen us if guided by trust and obedience to God.
James 2:20 NKJV 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
Abraham is used for us New Testament believers as the classic example that faith with works is good. Today mainstream Christianity will inundate one with the opposite viewpoint. Faith is a substitute for works they tell us. James further elaborates.
James 2:24-26 NKJV 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Paul also explains this same principle about how faith is shown and strengthen by our actions. For example, if one believes in the Sabbath that person should keep the Sabbath.
Romans 3:31 NKJV 31 Do we then make void the Law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
Many in this world teach that God's Law is done away. Those teachers avoid verses such as these. They are deceived. Paul poses the question of faith and grace and law keeping and answers it, but few notice.
Romans 6:1-2 NKJV 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Romans 6:15 NKJV 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Abraham is a historical example and guide to putting God first. Most of all, his experience proves as a model, how difficult the sacrifice of Jesus was for both God the Father and Son. They loved us so much that God himself became our sacrifice. Further Paul explains that we are to obey in a mature, free manner. Paul describes how Judaism of Paul's day was in bondage to excessive hyper management of the peoples' behavior with too many rules regarding the Law of God as misunderstood by the leadership. The scribes and Pharisees placed heavy burdens on the people. Note Matt 23:4.
Galatians 4:25-31 NKJV 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Paul explains that Abraham was saved before he was circumcised. The worldly religious leaders of Israel of Paul's day wanted to drag all the new converts back into restrictive Judaism. Paul is saying we children of promise can now obey God in a free, mature, manner. Believers can use law and grace together correctly, maturely. Worldly asceticism appeals to human nature so Paul had to fight against it constantly. Patriarch Abraham obeyed and trusted God in such a mature manner that he became symbolic in this context of God the Father's love and sacrifice for us.
