One of the most difficult and demanding stories in the Bible is the account of Abraham being told to offer Isaac on an altar. (Genesis 22:1-19, Hebrews 11:17-20.) It is difficult because of the unspeakable command of God to his friend Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. It is a tender story because it involves a father and his son. It is a wonderful story because of its ending---Abraham walks back down the mountain with his son. This account has New Testament implications and meaning.

Just for a simple way of remembering and telling the story, note these T’s and phrases:

1) The test of Abraham’s faith

2) The terse question of Isaac

3) The timing of the angel

4) The entangled ram

5) Two times the angel of God spoke

First, who is this Abraham? Like Paul of the New Testament, Abraham stands out as the single most important character of the Old Testament. With the exception of Jesus, Paul and Abraham provide most of the spiritual leadership for other believers. They are giants among men. Paul wrote that Abraham is the "father of all them that believe." (Rom. 4:11.) No one else is accorded such a place among the family of God’s people. It is this very matter that arises in importance in the story of Genesis 22.

The religion of Abraham centered in his faith in one God. He believed God to be "the Possessor of heaven and earth" (Gen. 14:22); "the Judge of all the earth who will do right" (18:25); the most high God and exalted (14:22); "the eternal God" (21:33). His faith was focused in this one God and uniquely expressed among many who did not share his views of the One, Almighty God and Judge.

Abraham is a significant figure throughout the Bible and plays an important role in the Koran (mentioned in 188 verses or ayets) and in extra-biblical Jewish history. Jews, Muslims and Christians all honor and acknowledge the greatness of Abraham in his faith in God. Jewish writings outside of Scripture reveal their high esteem for him.

"Abraham was a great father of a multitude of nations; and there was none found like him in glory, who kept the law of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with him. In his flesh, he established the covenant and when he was proved he was found faithful. Therefore, he assured him by an oath that the nations should be blessed in his seed." (Ecclesiasticus 44:19-21.)

All of this praise for Abraham should not lead us to think that he was more than a man, without any faults or human failings. Abraham sinned and the Bible reveals it. His greatness lies specifically in his singular faith in God; and thus is it so with Paul and other spiritual leaders among God’s people. It is faith that God requires, that justifies, and sanctifies us. Faith kills self-exaltation and boasting by pointing to the One outside and beyond man who saves us. Faith destroys all such Pharisaism that Jesus rebuked. It is faith that saves us. It is faith that moves us to do good to others.

It is at this very point of faith that the story of Genesis 22 centers. Abraham at long last has the son he wanted and needed for the promises of God to be fulfilled.

Go offer your beloved son on the mount! What a trial of faith in the heart of this great man, Abraham. It is a test because of the greatness of his faith. Many do not have their faith tested simply because they do not have much faith. The more you believe in God the more you will feel the challenge to believing in God.

If the faith is genuine and true, it will not be destroyed by the test but keep on growing. Abraham surely was confused by the command. Why would God want him to do something that was contrary to everything that he had ever learned about God? The promises of God and the command of God to offer Isaac were at odds with one another. The heathen worshippers offered their children, but never with the approval of the One God Almighty. How would his promises be fulfilled and why do such a horrible thing? Instead of turning away from God in confusion and dismay, Abraham turned nearer to God. He believed that God would raise his son from the dead. "Accounting that God was able to raise him up." (Heb. 11:19.) This is a real faith in God and in his power to raise the dead---that he would raise up his son. Abraham said to the servants:

"I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again unto you." (Gen. 22:5.)

Great men and women of faith are not destroyed by the testing of their faith, but rather they grow in faith through the test. There is no test quiet like those involving your own children and your own life. Here are some other examples:

a) Martyrs---like Stephen, Polycarp, Isaiah and Paul

* "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:59-60.)

* Polycarp, a disciple of John the apostle, was martyred at Smyrna near the middle of the second century at the age of 95. In refusing to swear that Caesar was Lord instead of Christ, Polycarp said, "Eighty and six years have I served my Lord. Why should I deny Him now?" He was burned at the stake.

* The Hebrew writer referred to someone being "sawn asunder." (11:37.) There is a non-biblical document, The Martyrdom of Isaiah, which relates the story of how Isaiah the prophet was put to death. It happened during the wicked reign of Manasseh. They urged Isaiah to say that he had lied in all that he had spoken, and that the ways of Manasseh were good and right. Manasseh was among the worst of the worst kings of Judah. The end of the document says, "And when Isaiah was being sawn in sunder, he neither cried aloud and nor wept, but his lips spake with the Holy Spirit until he was sawn in twain." (5:14.)

* Saul of Tarsus knew about opposition to one’s faith. Perhaps, he had seen some disciples deny the Lord under persecution. Some treasured their lives over their faith. His faith would be severely tested. This testing of Paul’s faith is valuable for us. Did he really see the Lord on the road to Damascus?? If he had any doubt, he would not be willing to die for what he saw!

b) Death of Jesus

Jesus is the New Testament fulfillment of the offering of Isaac, except He was offered as a sacrifice. His father did forsake Him. Jesus cried out, My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34.) Jesus’ faith in his father was tested. He once said to his disciples, "Have faith in God." (Mark 11:22.) He once said to his disciples that if they had faith as the grain of a mustard seed, they could remove mountains into the sea. Jesus has such a complete trust in His Father. He was about his father’s business from childhood.

Our faith is tried as well. Everyday we exhibit a great confidence in God or a weak faith concerning the Word of God. Think about these:

1) Believing that God will provide for you when you seek first his Kingdom. (Matt. 6:31-34.)

2) Believing that God is with you, even when it seems that He is absent. (Psalm 10:1, Psalm 74:11, Matt. 18:20.)

3) Believing that God has forgiven you of your sins. This cannot be seen or proven. (Matt. 26:28, Acts 22:16.)

4) Believing that God hears you when you pray. He does not speak to us audibly or directly. (1 Peter 3:12.)

5) Believing that we will live beyond death and that we will be raised. (John 11:26.)

6) Believing that God still cares, even when you must suffer life’s loses. What does a parent do when they must walk back down the mountain without their son or daughter?

Abraham was a fortunate man because he came down with his son. One minister, (John Claypool, Track Of A Fellow Struggler, 71-80), who lost his daughter to cancer, suggested the following options:

a) The road of unquestioning resignation

This advise comes highly recommended by many. Some say, We must not question God. The way out is to submit. It is God’s will. We must silently and totally surrender. But Job, David, and Jesus cried out wanting to know why they were suffering. They were allowed to lament. This advise is like one of those medicines that cures at the expense of killing the organism it is supposed to heal. It denies the human element of emotion and pain. Claypool wrote, "There is more honest faith in an act of questioning than in the act of silent submission, for implicit in the very asking is the faith that some light can be given." (Fellow Struggler, 74.)

b) The road of total intellectual understanding

This is a second dead-end route to come down the mountain alone. In the future, we believe that we will understand life better, but often while living we do not have all the answers. God does not give personal, direct answers to our "why questions." We should not try to explain something that we do not know. We can know generally why there is death and disease in our world, but we do not why a specific tragedy happened to this person. Job suffered more because he did not know what the reader understood. Abraham was told to offer Isaac, but he was not given a reason for God’s actions.

We cannot come down the mountain with total intellectual understanding because we simply do not have that kind of specific information. Yet many well-meaning people will try to explain everything to the sufferer as if they know all the answers.

c) The road of gratitude

The minister concluded that the "road of gratitude" is the only way to come down the mountain alone. Life must be understood as a gift and thus received with gratitude. Abraham was promised the land, a nation through his seed, and a spiritual Seed to bless all nations. These were gifts to him; he did not earn them or deserve them. Children are a gift from God. Paul asked the Corinthian what they had that they did not receive. (1 Cor. 4:7.)

We suffer so much in life because we fail to see everything in life as a gift from God. We lay claim to our possessions as if they are ours. Israel made the mistake of thinking that the land was theirs. Individuals owners said, This land is mine! Yet, this man died and another took over his possessions. This man then stood and said the same thing!

Is this an effort at explaining and seeking total intellectual understanding? No, faith and gratitude are closely connected. Faith says, Trust in God. Gratitude says, Be thankful for all the gifts of God in life. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. It is difficult for most to accept that their children belong to the Lord just as all other gifts in life. They are not ours just because we are the parents.

How God tested Abraham’s faith. "Test" does not mean to tempt to sin. It means that his faith was tried. In summary of what we have said about this trial of faith, here are the reasons it was such a strong trial of faith:

1) The strength of Abraham’s faith in God provided the ground-work for such a setting as Genesis 22. The Psalms show that the more one trusts the providence of God, the more one will question the events that seem to contradict that faith. The psalmist lived under the assumption (faith) that God provides for those who serve him, that God answers prayer, that He cares about those in distress and pain, and that he is opposed to oppressors.

2) The test also came about due to a conflict in what God had specifically promised Abraham and what He commanded him to do. This sets the stage for the test. How will Abraham respond when he cannot figure out what God will do? Job faced a similar conflict in that he knew that he loved God and was not living the life of a rebel against God. Yet trouble came. Why was he being so afflicted when he served God?

3) The test also came into strong focus because Abraham loved Isaac greatly. This was the son of his old age. Remember the fondness of Jacob for Joseph? "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age." (Gen. 37:3; 21:2.)

The "testing" of Abraham’s faith came because he so strongly trusted God. One’s faith cannot be so easily tested if it is so weak that it does not really believe that He exists. There is really no conflict. The non-believer or weak-believer simply resigns himself saying, This is what I thought all along. This confirms my unbelief. God would not contradict himself this way.

But another aspect of the testing of Abraham’s faith surely came from the human emotional viewpoint. Abraham, now one hundred when Isaac was born, surely loved his son much like a grandfather’s love. Isaac was at least in his teens when this incident occurred. He could have been in his twenties, but still a young man. It had been several years since Abraham had heard from God after Isaac’s birth. Evidently the intervening years had been happy ones. Isaac was growing and in every way a joy to Abraham and Sarah. He had been worth waiting for, an heir deserving both of Abraham’s patriarchal responsibilities and God’s covenant promise. They no doubt rejoiced and praised God daily for the abundance of His blessings.

Then, suddenly, the blow fell! God broke the silence of the years by demanding that Abraham offer his son on an altar. The words seemed like words of judgment and cruelty. It seemed as if every word was calculated to hurt Abraham as deeply as possible. He said, "I want you to take your son, your only son, Isaac, your beloved son." Each word was like a knife sinking deeper and deeper. For three days, they traveled together into Moriah. Abraham knew the command from God, but young Isaac did not. There was no indication from God that he did not intend for Abraham to slay his son. Abraham believed that God would raise him from the dead. Had he any evidence that such could happen? Had Abraham ever witnessed a resurrection for the dead? There is no record of any such thing in that day. He knew that this was the only way for God to keep his promise to him.

The painful question of Isaac to his father was, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (22:7.) With what dignity and faith did Abraham answer. "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering." (22:8.) What a terse and heart-rendering question!

We do not know how Isaac responded when the moment came and he knew that he was the intended sacrifice. What pain both father and son must have felt. Isaac would forever remember that incident long after the death of his father. He knew that his father had every intention of slaying him with that knife. What he recalled was not the cruelty of his father, but rather his faith.

The only other question that is like the pointed question of Isaac is that by Jesus on the cross, asking his Father why he had forsaken him.