Tested Faith -- January 08,2009

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Genesis 22:1-2

Until now, every time God had spoken to Abraham, it had been a positive message of blessing. God had called Abram out of Ur with the promise of wealth. Next, He appeared to Abram to promise him the “land” for his descendants. Then when Lot had chose the best-looking land, God appeared to him and promised many descendants to occupy the land. After his battle with the kings, God promised Abram to be his reward and a personal heir from Sarai to inherit the promises as well as his wealth. At ninety-nine God confirmed His promise of an heir to be within the year and changed his name to Abraham. Later that year He told Abraham of His plans for Sodom and Gomorrah. So when God called to Abraham this time, Abraham naturally showed right up expecting more of the same, but this time was different.

Now, after the son of promise is finally here God told him to take the son that he loved to the mountains and offer him as a burnt offering. Abraham’s response is incredible. He gets up early in the morning and goes to it! Abraham had negotiated with God before this. He had asked for his son, Ishmael to be the heir. He had asked for his servant, Eliezer to be the heir. He had even pressed God on His decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, but here he said nothing, he just obeyed. He didn’t know it was a test. He didn’t know God would stop him. He just believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead. He believed God would keep His promise. God had given him Isaac when he was one hundred years old. Isaac was a miracle baby – Abraham believed the miracle would continue as long as he obeyed God. And it did!

Isaac’s continuation was the by-product of the important that happened during this test. That Abraham was saved by faith! He believed and God counted it as righteousness. Paul used this event to show us that our salvation, like Abraham’s, was through faith too. We are the sons of Father Abraham – we are believers like him. We have believed that God would raise the son of promise; He has and we are counted righteous in our faith. If you believe in Jesus then you are righteous, just like Abraham.

Saved By Him – Not By Me,

Pastor Jason