Genesis 12: 1-3
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
This is the first time in the Bible that God tells Abraham that he will be made into a great nation. How does one become a "great nation"? Well obviously, one has children, and their children have children, and so on until the population multiplies into this "great nation". But this is not done without first having a child. At this point in the Bible, Abraham did not have a child, much less children to create this "great nation". But God said to Abraham, " I will make you into a great nation.."
Genesis 13: 14-16
14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.
Here we see how the Lord told Abraham that his offspring would be like the dust of the earth. Can anyone count the dust of the earth? I would sure like to meet the person that tried to do this! It is an insurmountable task! This is the second time in the Bible where the Lord tells Abraham that he will have offspring ( A LOT OF OFFSPRING!). But he still has no children.
Genesis 15: 1-6
1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”
2 But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Okay, a third time the Lord tells Abraham that he will have offspring and that they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God even clarifies that his heir will be his own "flesh and blood". Well that is pretty clear that his offspring will come directly from him and not through a servant of his household. This time, the author of the book of Genesis states that Abraham believed the Lord. Let's think about this. How hard would it be for you to believe God, if He told you that you would be a great nation - that your offspring would be like the dust of the earth or as numerous as the stars in the sky - and you knew you were on up there in age and had yet to have a child? I don't know about you, but I think I might have had a hard time believing God if I had been in Abraham's shoes. But the Bible tells us that Abraham BELIEVED GOD and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Genesis 16: 1-4
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
Okay, we just read in the previous chapter of Genesis that Abraham believed God. So why did Abraham agree to what his wife, Sarah wanted. Why did he agree to take Hagar as his wife? Well I think at this point, God had not made it exactly clear how Abraham was to obtain offspring, only that it was to be his own flesh and blood. So far, Sarah's involvement had not been mentioned. So as far as Abraham knew, it was okay for him to take Hagar as his wife and have a child with her. All Abraham knew so far was this: his offspring would be of his own flesh and blood. Abraham having a child with Hagar does not nullify this promise of God in his eyes. But let's keep going.
Genesis 17: 1-8
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
A fourth time now, God has told Abraham that he would indeed have offspring and would be the father of many nations, that he would be fruitful. God has established a covenant with Abraham that from him would come kings. One king in particular comes to my mind - the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace - JESUS. But God still hasn't cleared up for Abraham where exactly this offspring would come from (other than from his own flesh and blood). We have to assume that Abraham thinks that this promise from God will come down from the children he has with Hagar. But God is about to clear this up for Abraham.
Genesis 17: 15-22
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Abraham was utterly shocked about this. You can hear it in his voice. He thinks it is impossible for him and Sarah (both on up there in years - way on up there I might add) to have a child. Much less, a child that God will establish His covenant with as an everlasting covenant. Abraham even says, "If only Ishmael (son he had with Hagar) might live under your blessing!" But God clears it up for him. God states that Sarah will bear him a son and they will call him Isaac, and this is the son with whom the covenant would be established. Doesn't get any clearer than that. Where at first, the waters seemed muddy to Abraham about the "hows", God has made it crystal clear. God has not only said that Sarah would be involved, He has specifically called the child by name (Isaac) from whom He would establish the covenant.
Genesis 21: 1-7
1 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
This is it! This is where God fulfills his promise to Abraham. The promise He had been telling him about for quite some time now. Isaac is finally born! So now this covenant that God has promised to establish through Abraham's descendants (directly from Isaac) is brought to life. But God has some things in store for Abraham, regarding Isaac, that will test his faith.
Genesis 22: 1-18
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
WOW! Can you imagine what Abraham must have been thinking when the Lord told him to sacrifice Isaac. Well I'm a parent myself, and it just hurts my heart and my head too much to think about. But think about this. God had promised Abraham that He would make him a great nation through Isaac. At this point in time, Isaac had not had any children, thus he couldn't be making a great nation until that happened. A great nation surely couldn't come from a dead boy that had no children. But we saw earlier that Abraham believed God. This is pure speculation but if Abraham believed God that he would make him a great nation through his son, specifically his son Isaac, then Abraham might have thought that surely God would bring Isaac back to life. I believe that Abraham BELIEVED GOD. God had not revoked his promise or even said to Abraham, "Ha ha just kidding about that whole great nation thing." So as far as Abraham was concerned, God was great and if God asked him to do this, even if it seemed to go against His promise, then God must have a plan to bring Isaac back to Abraham so that His promise could be fulfilled. I think Abraham truly believed that God had asked him to do something, and he was going to do it. He even went as far as to bind Isaac, place him on the altar, and raise the knife to slay him. But then something happened. God Almighty stopped Abraham from killing his son and He Himself provided a ram caught in the thicket to be sacrificed instead. So God did not in any way go back on His promise to Abraham. The covenant would still be fulfilled.
But this isn't really about Abraham's faith, although I think it was important to outline the background and point out the fact that he believed God. I think we can all learn a lesson from Abraham about believing God - believing God that He is who He says He is and He will do what He said He will do. I think all of these things are extremely important and I don't think I could have gone any further without first laying all of that out for you. Instead, I think that this is more about God's faithfulness. Not only faithfulness to deliver good on a promise he made to Abraham, but faithfulness to all of his children. First of all I want to point out that God didn't ask Abraham to do anything, that He Himself wouldn't do. I think that at this point in history, God already knew that He would have to provide His one and only Son as a sacrifice - a sacrifice for you and for me. God Himself provided for us a ram in the thicket. A perfect, holy, sacrifice, whose blood was poured out for all mankind. Jesus's blood had to be shed in order for us to be able to approach the Almighty God. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, the ram in the thicket.
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