The Faith of Abraham
Thousands of years ago a man sat in his tent deeply burdened
in his heart. It would not have been obvious why to others,
since he seemed to have all that anyone could desire. Yet
he lacked the one thing he wanted most. This lack made everything
else he had seem without value. This desire in him was a
godly one; he wanted a son. There was something good and
true in his heart, at times it was as if he was walking
not on this cursed land, but back in the garden.
This evening was like that, and our Father spoke to his
heart. It could truly be said of him that he lived to hear
that voice. "Do not fear, Abram," he heard his beloved God
speak, "I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very
great."
Abram almost seemed to contend with the One speaking to
him when he pleaded, "O Lord God, what will you give me,
since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer
of Damascus?" As if to explain himself, Abram continued,
"Behold, You have given no offspring to me, one born in
my house is my heir."
God told him that, no, that would not be the case — he
would have a son. Then He took him outside, under the brilliant
cloudless sky, and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and
count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall
your descendants be."
Abram looked at the stars as he was commanded to. He knew
this was what his whole life had been leading to, and he
believed.
Years before, in obedience to his God, he had left the land
of his birth. Now he was being called to trust God with
his entire being. He knew this to be a commitment he could
never back out of. God, who knew his heart, acknowledged
Abram's faith, and He accounted it to him as righteousness.
He commanded Abram to slay and split animals in half because
He wanted to enter into a covenant with him. Our God saw
that He had a man that He could commit Himself to, and He
did. As His presence walked through the animals, He covenanted
Himself to Abram and his descendants. He promised to give
them all the land from the Euphrates River to the River
of Egypt. If He could not, He would have to be split in
two like those animals.
That is the significance of the blood shed when a covenant
is made — "May what was done to the sacrifice be done to
me if I do not keep it." Keeping it is more important than
the covenant partner's own life. This is the nature of love,
the nature of God. Had God found a man who would respond
to such steadfast, covenant love with a corresponding devotion
of his own? God staked everything that He had. He had faith
His love would reach that man's heart, and through him,
his descendants.
Abram lived in a wicked world, much like today, and many
men lived in the deepest moral darkness. They would even
take their own sons, and in delirious, ecstatic worship,
take their lives. The fathers experience the profoundest
of religious feelings at the agony and bitterness of their
sacrifice, and they would be forever changed by what they
had done. This behavior persisted throughout the ancient
world. The reality of Abram's faith would be demonstrated
to such a world, and our God prepared him many years for
that test. He had to know He had a man after His own heart.
This was the only way for the world to know what He was
like.
Before God gave the son He had promised him, He gave Abram
a new name. It was Abraham, meaning father of a multitude.
At the command of his God, Abraham circumcised his whole
household and even himself, at 99 years of age. He did it
the same day God had commanded him to because he truly had
believed God that starry night. The faith he had caused
him to be obedient. He knew his God as El Shaddai, the mighty
God, the One who is able to do what He promises. On his
part, Abraham walked before God blameless in all his ways.
He raised his son Isaac with diligence, disciplining and
training him in love, because his heart was turned toward
him. His innermost being, his will, his secret thoughts
and intents, all that Abraham was, was focused on raising
up this son to be the kind of man God could use. Everyone
could see that it wasn't just Abraham's flesh that had been
circumcised — it was his heart. Isaac made the natural response
to such love: he turned his heart towards his father so
completely that pleasing him was more important than anything.
Abraham honored the words of his God every day, "For I have
chosen him, in order that he may command his children and
his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing
righteousness and justice in order that the Lord may bring
upon Abraham what He has spoken about him."
There was a final bonding to take place between father,
son, and their God. Testing him one day, God called out,
"Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." God said to Abraham,
"Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac,
and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt
offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
What a test this was; his beloved son, and the seed through
which the promise was to come about. This act took the utmost
faith, and because Abraham had faith, he immediately
obeyed. It was no principle or fear of punishment that
compelled Abraham, it was his faith.
Abraham knew the reality of sacrifice. He knew exactly
what to expect. He was keenly aware of the great mercy of
God in the provision of sacrifice. He knew a life had to
be offered as a substitute for the sinner's life. Many times
he had leaned his entire weight on the sacrifice he was
offering, the best, most precious lamb in his flock. He
had often nearly fallen with it when its life was spent;
its blood spurting out with each heartbeat, splattering
him, and slowly soaking into the ground. It was a blood
sacrifice.
Isaac was surely that lamb, and now it was time for the
supreme sacrifice. Would he serve his God with the same
zeal as other men served their fallen gods? He thought of
the many times he had taken the finely honed knife in hand
and slit the animal's throat. This time it would be his
own son's throat he would lay hold of, to steady it for
the deadly blow. His precious faith, which had endured many
trials, did not waver when he went up the mountain with
his son. He believed in his heart that God would raise him
from the dead.
That was his hope for his son and for the promise, for there
was no doubt that he would do exactly as he had been commanded.
We can but wonder what went on in Abraham's heart when
his son asked him, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where
is the lamb for the burnt offering?" The Spirit of God was
on him, in his moment of purest suffering and purest faith,
when he said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for
the burnt offering, my son." In this he prophesied, but
in his heart he knew God had given him this life and this
promise, and God could take it away.
His son willingly submitted to being bound and placed on
the altar like the helpless lamb he was. His love towards
his father did not falter, even when he stretched out his
hand and took the knife to slay him. The highest, purest
sacrifice was already accomplished in their hearts, and
it was a sweet aroma in heaven. As Abraham raised his knife
for the slashing blow that would rip his son's throat apart,
the angel of the Lord cried out in an urgent voice, "Abraham,
Abraham!"
And as he had all his life, Abraham answered with faith,
saying simply, "Here I am." And he stayed his hand, to see
what his God would say to him. "Do not stretch out your
hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know
that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son,
your only son, from Me."
Abraham looked up, gratitude nearly bursting his heart,
tears coursing down his face, and taking the ram caught
in the thicket, the substitute for the life of his son,
he received Isaac back as though from the dead. His joy
was that great because God, the great God, had united the
hearts of father and son in an unbreakable bond, greater
than death itself. The love of God had changed a man's heart,
and through him, his son's. On that day the true nature
of faith was established. And for all time it was established
what the seed of Abraham would be like. So God renewed and
expanded His covenant with Abraham, and He swore by Himself
to bring it about. God had been touched by the heart of
a man.
Two thousand years later, at that very spot, another sacrifice
took place. Like Abraham and Isaac, the father and son involved
were totally willing. This Father had to look on while cruel,
mocking hands, prepared His son for slaughter, as Abraham
had once lovingly prepared Isaac. But this time there was
no substitute because this sacrifice was the substitute
for all men. This Father had to look away and He had to
endure a keener pain than Abraham could know. His son took
the sins of the whole world upon Him, and actually became
detestable to His Father. The righteousness of God demanded
that He turn away, and His son died of a broken heart.
Their suffering could not end at death either, for the
Son had to endure the agony of death three days and three
nights. But at last the ransom for all men was paid, and
God, His Father, had to righteously raise Him from the dead,
for it was impossible for death to hold Him any longer.
The power of death had been broken. What joy there was in
heaven!
What Abraham and Isaac had given as a type, God the Father
and the Son had to fulfill. For without this sacrifice,
the promise to Abraham could not be fulfilled. God needed
a people whose hearts He could inscribe with His laws, especially
that they would command their children after them, just
as Abraham did. The New Covenant, initiated in the blood
of Christ, made this possible. But the goal is unchanging,
that the hearts of the fathers would be so turned towards
their children that they would be just like Abraham and
Isaac, as they were just like the Father and the Son. This
is what it means to be in the covenants of promise Paul
spoke of.
What has to be understood is that this bond will only happen
in the same way it did for Abraham and Isaac — by sacrifice.
Not the literal sacrifice they were called to, but the spiritual
sacrifice that is as real as what they did, and what the
Father and the Son did. The Son made this abundantly clear,
but only the sheep see it. Sheep go willingly to the sacrifice;
it is their nature,
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wished
to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life
for My sake, he is the one who will save it."
The seed of Abraham, wherever they are, will hear the voice
of their Master in these words, and willingly lose their
lives for His sake, and for the sake of His gospel. Something
deep in them understands sacrifice. And in this wicked day
where discipline is called evil, and permissiveness is called
good, they are the only ones who will be able to raise up
children like Isaac. They will not fear the disapproval
of a wicked society, for the God of Abraham will be their
shield and their very great reward.
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