Please turn with me to Genesis 22.  As you’re turning there I’d like to have you take a short quiz on what we’ve been looking at these last few Sundays.  So, if you’ll take out your mental pencils and look at the screen we’ll see how you all do with some multiple guess questions.

#1  God promised Abram:

A. Land,

B. Blessing

C. Descendants

D. All of the above

Answer is D - all of the above.

#2  Abram told the Egyptians that Sarah was his

A. Wife

B. Sister-in-law

C. Sister

D. Lot’s wife

Answer is C - She’s my sister.

#3  Confronted with a seeming lack of grazing land Abram decided to

A. Move back to Egypt

B. Let Lot to choose where to graze

C. Make a treaty with Abimelech

D. Move his flocks to the Jordan River Valley

Answer is B - Let Lot choose.  How you doing?

#4  The name Abraham means

A. “Exalted Father.” 

B. “Father Of Many”

C. “Father Of Ham”

D. “Blessed Of God”

Answer is B - Father Of Many

#5  When Isaac was born Abraham was _____ years old

A. 89

B. 90

C. 99

D. 100

Answer is D - 100

Anyone get those all correct?

Okay.  Bonus question.  One chance to redeem yourselves.

When Abimelech and Phicol confronted Abraham, Abraham followed

A. Plan A

B. Plan B

C. Plans A and B

D. Plan A - but he held out an option for Plan B

Answer - Plan A.  Always go with Plan A.  Which is?  Trust God.

How did you do?  Don’t you just love taking tests?

We’ve been looking at Abraham and the lessons of faith he learned as he lived life with God.  What God taught Abraham about trusting Him through the times Abraham messed up in his faith and the times Abraham remained faithful - trusting - God.  Coming to chapter 22 - we’re going to look at a huge test of Abraham’s faith.  If this isn’t the final exam it certainly is close to it - a major portion of Abraham’s grade depends on what he does here in chapter 22.

Chapter 22 - verse 1.   Verses 1 to 8 focus on The Test.  Try that together.  “The test.”  God’s testing of Abraham’s faith.

Verse 1:  Now it came about after these things - after the birth of Isaac - the promised child - born when Abraham was 100 years old - Sarah was 90 - a huge miracle of God - and after the treaty with Abimelech - Abraham going with Plan A - Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.”

This is roll call.  “Abraham.”  “Present.”  Imagine being in a class - where God is the instructor - an you’re the only student.  One on one instruction with God.  Intense.

Which is the way God treats us.  There are billions of students.  But, we get individualized instruction.  That’s how much God loves us.  How much God wants us to get this.

Abraham is present.  He’s shown up for class.  He’s seated at his desk.  He’s ready to learn.

The first thing on the lesson plan is a test.  The word “test” in Hebrew has the idea of proving something.  Students can show up for class everyday but that doesn’t mean they’re learning.  The lights are on but… nobody’s home.  The test here is to prove what Abraham has learned these last 40 plus years about faith in God.  Living - trusting God.

Let’s be careful.  God knows everything.  So the point of this test is not to prove to God that Abraham has faith.  But to show Abraham - and us - and everybody else - where Abraham has come to in his faith.

Verse 2:  He - God - said, “Take now your son, your only son - which son?  Your only son - Ishmael is not in the picture.  We’re talking the son through whom God said He would fulfill His promises - take your only son, whom you love - which son?  The one - whom you love, - your only beloved son - the one you’ve bobbled on your knee - doted over - taken pride in - watched grow up into a young man - take your only beloved son - 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.”

Verse 2 is the test question.  It is brutal.  Take your son to Moriah and sacrifice him there - as a burnt offering. 

How do we work this out in our mind?  Abraham isn’t some person who “heard voices” and went off an killed someone.  Abraham is man centered on God.  Well in possession of his faculties.  Wouldn’t you struggle with this just a tad?

Why?  Why would God ask me to do something like this?  This is the son of promise.  God are you nuts?

What am I suppose to tell Sarah when I come back without Isaac?  There’s no way I’m going to be able to come up with a story to cover this one.

How am I suppose to find the strength to go through with this? 

“God.  This can’t be right?”  “God.  Why should this happen to me?”  “God.  This can’t be your will?  You really want me to go through this?”  Ever been there? 

We face really tough stuff in life.  Hard choices.  Brutal circumstances.  Where we don’t see what’s going on.  We can’t see a way out or through.  There is no logic to what’s happening to us.  God’s saying, “Obey Me.  Trust Me.”

Verse 3:  So Abraham rose early in the morning - when?  Early in the morning - immediate complete obedience - and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Verse 4:  On the third day - which day?  On the third day.

Looking at the map.  Abraham is probably here - in Beersheba.  The mountains of Moriah are here.  Could have taken them 3 days to make the trip.  Could have taken them two or 4.  But it took 3.

Verse 4:  On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.   Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we - who? - we - plural - Abraham and Isaac.

This isn’t a Schwarzenegger moment.  “I’ll be back.” - “You guys wait here.  We’ll go worship and we’ll be back.”  That’s faith.

Verse 6:  Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son - who’s carrying the wood?  Isaac - and he - Abraham - he took in his hand the fire and the knife - the instruments of death - So the two of them walked on together.  Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”  And he said, “Here I am, my son.”  And he - Isaac - said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Wouldn’t a question like that just rip you apart - as a father?

Verse 8:  Abraham said, “God - who?  God will provide for Himself the lamb - the what?  God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  So the two of them walked on together.  No more questions from the son.  Amazing the trust that the son has in the father.

Verse 8 is the bottom line of Abraham’s heart attitude.  What was going through Abraham’s heart and mind as he’s obediently following through - taking God’s test.

Hebrews 11 - starting at verse 17.  Hebrews 11:17:  “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.”  He - Abraham - considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”  (Hebrews 11:17-19)

This is Plan A thinking.  Plan A is what?  Trust God.

No matter what happens - trust God.  Win or lose.  Joy or sorrow.  Comfort or pain.  In sickness or in health.  Humiliation or exaltation.  Riches or poverty.  Whether it makes sense to us or not.  With the flow or against the tide.  Live or die.  Even in death - trust God.  God will fulfill His promises. 

Can you hear Abe on this one?  “God has given me promises.  God has always come through on His promises.  God has made promises that can only be fulfilled if Isaac lives.  Even if Isaac dies - God will fulfill His promises.  God is still God.  If God has asked me to offer Isaac as a sacrifice then the only answer is that God can raise Isaac from the dead.”

For three days - traveling from Beersheba to Moriah - in Abraham’s eyes Isaac is already dead.  Abraham has not clue about Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus and the many others who’ve been brought back from death.  All He knows is that God will provide.  God will take care of it.  Go with Plan A.

“You guys stay with the donkey.  We will be back.”

Bottom line:  Abraham’s answer to the test question is faith.  Obedience.  Trust God and go to Moriah with Isaac.

Verses 9 to 14 are The Answer.  Try that together.  “The answer.”  God’s answer to the test question.

Verse 9:  Then they - father and son - came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.  Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

It takes time to build the altar.  To find and arrange the stones.  A raised pit large enough to place Isaac on.  Perhaps it was all done in silence.  A solemnity.

Each piece of wood has been carried to the place of sacrifice by his son.  Abraham had build many altars.  The wood was arranged with expertise - to make the fire burn the sacrifice - Isaac - completely.

Then to bind Isaac - immovable - laid upon the altar.  Its not hard to imagine that while Abraham is doing all this he’s thinking of how long he and Sarah waited to have a child.  Images of Isaac’s childhood playing through Abraham’s mind.  The future they envisioned for him.  With love Abraham binds his son.

“Slay” in Hebrew is the word “shachat” (shaw-khat).  It means “to execute” - “to slaughter.”  We can almost hear the sound of the blade slicing through the flesh.  “shaw-khat.”  Clean.  Decisive.  Abraham takes the knife.  Raises his hand - ready to “shaw-khat” his only beloved son. 

Grab this:  There is no doubt that Abraham fully intends to go through with this.

Verse 11:  But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”  There’s urgency in that:  “ABRAHAM STOP!” 

And he said, “Here I am.”  Present.  Taking the test.

Notice the title:  “the angel - or messenger - of the Lord.”  We saw that title back in chapter 16.  Comparing how its used elsewhere in Scripture - and even here in chapter 22 - down in verse 16 - when “the angel of the Lord” speaks as God Himself - the title refers specifically to the preincarnate Jesus - who comes to speak God’s message to Abraham. 

Verse 12:  He - Jesus - said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God - fear meaning reverential trust - since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  From Who?  “From Me”  God.

“What goes on in Las Vegas, Stays in - where?  Las Vegas.”  What a lie.  Our actions demonstrate what’s in our heart.  Which is the same in Las Vegas and in Merced and wherever.  We can pretend here.  But, when we live out there - where faith meets the asphalt of life - our faith is demonstrated.

The sacrifice of Isaac is an outward demonstration - a proving of Abraham’s faith.  Abraham demonstrated - to himself and all mankind - his inner commitment and surrender to God by his willingness to lay his entire prosterity and the promise of God - Isaac - on the altar.

God says, “You pass.  You’ve demonstrated your faith.” 

Verse 13:  Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in place of his son.  Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

Verse 13 is God’s answer to the test.  The ram - the male lamb offered by God in place of Isaac - the first mention of substutionary sacrifice in Scripture.

Where the exact spot is that God led Abraham to build his altar we don’t exactly know.  But the hills of Moriah we do know are here - Jerusalem - specifically what we know today as the Temple Mount.  Which looks like this.  You can see in the middle the Dome of the Rock.  Traditionally the exact location of the sacrifice is inside the Dome of the  Rock - what looks like this today.

Here - Abraham was led to sacrifice Isaac.   The place David set aside to build the first Temple - the focal point of the entire Hebrew sacrificial system.  The one place where it was acceptable to offer sacrifices to God - in faith believing that He - God - would forgive the sins of His people.

Abraham calls this place “The Lord will provide.”  In Hebrew its the name of God - Jehovah Jireh.  “The God who see’s to it.”  Or, “The God who’s got it covered.”  God’s people looked at the Mount of the Lord and said, “God’s got it covered.”  Who’s got it covered?  God.

Isaac is Abraham’s only beloved son.  That image is used both in the old and new testaments to identify the Messiah - Jesus the Christ.  (Psalm 2:7; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)

John writes - John 1:14 - The Word - God the Son - Jesus - became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In Matthew 3 - as Jesus is being baptized - as He rises from the Jordan River - the sky opens - the Holy Spirit descends - the voice of God the Father declares of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”  (Matthew 3:17)

The ram foreshadows the whole Levitical sacrificial system which finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist - points to Jesus and declares, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  (John 1:29)

We can go on with this.  Isaac caries the wood.  Jesus carries a cross.  Isaac is offered up on the third day - and yet is set free.  God - through the resurrection of His Son on the third day - proves the validity of our faith - assures us of what we hope for - demonstrates the reality of our forgiveness - our freedom from judgment and eternal death.

Behind the scenes of this account are intentional images that we need to grab onto in order to understand God’s answer to the test - images that point directly to Jesus Christ on the cross.

That Jesus Himself is present at the sacrifice is not an accident.  Behind all of what we see going on here is God’s ultimate answer to every test of our faith - whatever the struggle - whatever the question - the living in the flesh reason why Plan A always - always -  works.

The bottom line of God’s answer to the test is Jesus.  Try this together.  “God’s answer is Jesus.”

Verses 15 to 19 focus on God’s Blessing.  Try that together.  “God’s blessing.”   

Verse 15:  Then the angel of the Lord - Jesus - called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn - God - Jesus - swearing by Himself - promising to fulfill His - God’s promise - By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”  So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.”

God isn’t some maniacal God Who gets His jollies watching us jump through hoops - putting us through one test of faith after another - just because He gets His kicks out of watching us suffer down here.  There’s purpose in these tests.

Bottom line - after this huge test of Abraham’s faith - God once again renews His promise to Abraham.  God blesses Abraham - rewards Abraham - reminds Abraham that trusting God isn’t about trials - its about God’s blessing.

There are some implications here for us.

In the movie The Karate Kid - Daniel - this kid from New Jersey - moves to Reseda with his mom.  Daniel doesn’t fit in.  He gets beat up every day.  Brutalized by these older kids who know karate.  As the movie goes Daniel runs into Mr. Miyagi - who knows karate and agrees to teach Daniel.

The agreement between them is that Mr. Miyagi promises to teach Daniel karate if Daniel promises to learn.  Whatever Mr. Miyagi says to do, Daniel is to do without question.  Just trust Mr. Miyagi the teacher.

Remember this?  Day one Daniel shows up and spends his day washing and waxing Mr. Miyagi’s cars.  Wax on.  Wax off.  With the appropriate movements and breathing.

Day two Daniel learns “Sand Floor.”  Day three:  “Paint Fence.”  Day four:  “Paint House.”

On day four Daniel finally looses it.  Four days of waxing cars - fixing up Mr. Miyagi’s house.  When does he finally get to learn karate?  This scene is Mr. Miyagi’s answer to Daniel’s question.

(Video) 

Sacrificing Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s first test of faith.  For perhaps 35 plus years Abraham has been learning about trusting God.  One purposeful lesson after another.  Wax on.  Wax off.  Preparing Abraham for what lies ahead - future tests - future blessing.

We don’t always understand all of what God is doing in us and through us.  But He is.  When we go with Plan A - Trust God - God works all that together to teach us to trust Him - even to prepare us for greater tests of our faith that are coming - even to use us to serve Him according to His great purposes and for His honor and glory.  Preparing us for great blessing.

God promises to teach us.  What God requires is that we promise to learn.  What He says, we do, by faith. 

In Romans chapter 12 - verse 1 - the Apostle Paul writes:  “Therefore - because of everything Paul has just written about what God has done for us in Jesus - Paul writes - “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God - by the means of God’s mercy - to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

“Present” - here in the original Greek - “present” is a military term.  It means to stand at attention before a superior officer.  Imagine boot camp.  Some of you can imagine this all too well.  Stand at attention for inspection.  Don’t even think about moving.  Present and accounted for.  Ready to obey - whatever the command.  “Present” is our part in the agreement.

Same idea as Genesis 22:  “Abraham.”  “Here I am.” - “Present.” 

First - Paul writes, “present your bodies.”  Some of us might say, “Well, are you sure God really wants this body?”  Our bodies are the physical means through which everything else that we are - our heart - our mind - our soul - our bodies are the physical means through which everything we are is presented to God.

Second - Paul says that our presentation is “living.”  A sacrificed animal - sliced - diced - and Bar-B-Qued - it’s dead.  But we live.  Paul’s talking about our choice to honor God in the daily things of our lives.

Third - our presentation is “holy.”  That which is holy is dedicated - completely set apart - only for God’s use. 

Point being:  To present ourselves requires a daily choice to commit all that we are to God - laying ourselves without reservation on the altar before Him.

To present ourselves - Paul writes - is our “spiritual service of worship.”  To present ourselves in worshipful service of God is the only logical response to God’s mercy.

Verse two is the blessing part.

“And - by faith - laying ourselves on the altar - do not be conformed to this world - which is totally focused on trusting self - but - instead - be transformed by the renewing of your mind - which is what happens when we live by faith in God.  God teaches us to live totally focused on Him.  so that you may prove - think test.  Same idea as when God tests Abraham to demonstrate where Abraham has come to in his faith.  Here, God’s will is being examined - so that you may prove what the will of God is - that  is that the will of God is - that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Bottom line - the implications of Genesis 22 for us:   When we’re willing to lay it all on the line - to present ourselves on the altar - by faith - doing whatever God requires of us - even if we don’t see the big picture or grab the logic of it - by faith giving ourselves totally over to God - He will bless us - transform us - we will find that what He is doing in us and through us - really is incredible - what is good and acceptable and perfect.  He will fulfill His promises to us.   He will always pass the test.