Written by Contrary to popular belief, I was not always a good student. There is one word that still strikes fear into my soul, it’s the word…test. I remember a specific moment, in first or second grade, the time came for standardized testing, where we’d do a multiple-choice test on a scantron sheet. Remember those? I got so nervous I forgot the directions, had no idea what to do, didn’t really read any of the questions, and just started filling in designs on my scantron sheet. I finished the test, turned it in, and forgot all about it until a few months later when the school called my parents into the principal’s office because my test scores were so low they were recommending I begin all remedial classes. They were a bit shocked, that their son had scored so low on this test…but once all parties involved actually saw my scantron and realized what happened I was allowed to stay in my class, and was just told to listen better. All this to say I don’t like tests.
Yet, here in the very beginning of our text today, Genesis 22, in v1, we find God testing Abraham. Here’s what’s before us today. v1-19 is the main portion of the chapter, we’ll focus there, though we will read the ending verses in v20-24 but those function as a kind of setting of the stage for what’s to come in Isaac and Rebekah’s life. But even before we get to all of that, because it’s been a minute since we’ve been in Genesis let me briefly catch us all up.
A man named Abram first comes into view at the end of Genesis 11. God calls him out of his own land, to land he’s never known, and he trusts and goes out. Then God speaks to him in chapter 12 and makes him a grand promise, that He will bless him and make him into a great nation, and through him God will bless the whole world. After this it’s a mixed bag with Abram. He has moments of glorious obedience and moments of ghastly sin, but he does believe God’s promise, which is confirmed again in chapter 15 where God says this promise will come about through his very own son. There’s waiting and trusting and more sin from Abram, his name is changed to Abraham, and God confirms his promise once again this time telling them to name their son Isaac in chapter 17. Then there’s more waiting, more trusting, more sin, until finally Isaac is born! The child of promise arrives, and all is well! The years of waiting have paid off, and God has been faithful to His word, He has given them a son, and through this son God’s promise will come to pass.
This generally brings us to our text today, and our first heading…
The Command (v1-2)
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take 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.”
The “after these things” is important in v1 because it lets us know time has gone by between the events of chapter 21 and the events of chapter 22. The command comes in v2 but notice what we as readers learn in v1. We learn that what God is testing Abraham. Abraham doesn’t know this, we know this as readers. This one small fact impacts our entire interpretation of this chapter.[1] Because without this little fact we might arrive at the conclusion that God is being wicked in commanding child sacrifice, but right away we learn here in v1 that God is up to something very particular in the heart of Abraham and that this is why He commands what He does in v2 because He desires to test him.[2] But what is that about? What does it mean for God to test Abraham? Well we can certainly rule out the possibility that God is testing Abraham to discover what Abraham is really like, as if God doesn’t know. God does know who Abraham is, He’s God after all. So why then the test? Well, I think God tests Abraham here, and tests His people generally, so that we will not only discover who we are in our true character, but also so that we will discover who He is and who He can be for us. In this manner, God tests our faith to grow our faith.[3]
So see the scene being laid out before us. Isaac, the child of promise has grown, has become a young man in his own right, and surely his parents Abraham and Sarah have grown to enjoy and love their son, the child of promise that they had waited for so long. Yet, here we see what had to be a devastating command from God in v2, “Take 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.” The intimacy of the language is thick. God mentions Isaac is Abraham’s son, then mentions he’s his only son referring to the only son of Abraham through Sarah, or the only covenant son, and then adds that this is the son “whom you love.” This is the son you must take and go to the land of Moriah to sacrifice. Many have made much of the location of Moriah here saying that this is the exact spot that Jesus was crucified, drawing a connection between the almost sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Christ. But the New Testament never confirms this, so this might be true but it might not. Don’t get hung up on that, see the command here for what it is, Isaac himself, the child of promise, is to be a burnt offering on the altar. Can you imagine what this would have been like for Abraham to hear? Would he have thought this command was too much? That it was illogical, absurd, out of bounds completely? We’re not told in this chapter how Abraham felt about this, and we’re not told how Sarah felt about this. The account is simple, yet very clear. Isaac ‘s name means laughter, and when he was born they laughed and rejoiced in God who had been so faithful to them. But you can bet that there was no laughter happening now.
Look now with me at v3-14, at our second heading to see what happened next…
The Sacrifice (v3-14)
“So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
My oh my. Back up and see how this scene begins. In v3 the pace of the narrative slows down to describe every little detail Abraham did. Think about that. Moses could have written this with only a few words saying ‘and Abraham went to Moriah and did as the Lord commanded him’ but he didn’t write it like that. Instead he shows us every single detail of Abraham’s actions to impress upon us Abraham’s radical and immediate obedience to God. There is no debate, there is no response, we only see action, immediate obedient action to a command that doesn’t make any sense to him. Lesson? Abraham knows who God is and he trusts Him.
See in v4 that it took three days to get to Moriah. Three days of journeying from their home to the location where Abraham knows he must kill Isaac. Just as Israel went on a three day journey out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, which would have provided enough time for reflection on the events of the Exodus and how God had saved them…so too Abraham must travel for three days to Moriah, which would have provided enough time for reflection on God’s command and reflection of his life with his boy up until that point.
They arrive, Abraham tells the servants to remain down at the bottom while they go up. But he also says that he and Isaac will go up to the mountain, worship, and that both of them will return. It seems from this comment that Abraham, while not understanding how God will do it, does believe that somehow God’s great promise to him represented in his son Isaac will not fail and that both he and Isaac will return from this. Later on in the New Testament the book of Hebrews confirms this when it says this in 11:17-19, “by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking he did receive him back.” So even though the concept of resurrection was not present in Abraham’s worldview he believed in a kind of resurrection, that God would bring Isaac back to life from the dead if he really had to kill him, in order that the promise would remain intact.
So up the mountain Abraham and Isaac go alone. In v6 it says that Abraham carried the knife and the fire and that Isaac carried all the wood. You might think this is a small detail to call attention to but it is a very important detail. This lets us know that Isaac was physically stronger than Abraham. This is not a small amount of wood. It takes more than a few logs to create an altar intended to burn up an entire sacrificial animal. This was a lot of wood and in order to carry it Isaac would have to be strong, which means if Isaac wanted to he could have resisted his father, but he doesn’t, and is exemplary in humble submission to his fathers will.[4] As they travel up the mountain Isaac asks the obvious question. ‘Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ To which Abraham’s response in verse 8 is as loaded as it is beautiful. Abraham responded in verse 8 saying, “God will provide…” in Hebrew this word provide doesn’t just mean provide it means ‘to see.’ So another way to understand Abraham’s response in verse 8 is ‘God will see to our needs.’ As a father myself I don’t understand how Abraham could have said these words except through blinding tears. He doesn’t know how God will do it, but he trusts God to do it. He doesn’t see how it’s all going to happen but he trusts that God can see.
So they arrive at the top and Abraham builds the altar, gets the wood in order, binds Isaac, lays Isaac on top of the wood, grabs the knife, and raises it high into the air with the intention of killing his son, only to have the Angel of the Lord stay his hand. God was well pleased with Abraham for his willingness to give to God what was most precious to him, his own son whom he loved so dearly, and in whom was wrapped up all of Abraham’s hope for the future.[5] That the angel stops him from killing Isaac reveals he had passed the test, and that God approves of his faith. He directs Abraham’s attention to a ram behind him caught in a thicket. Which Abraham took and offered instead of his son. Church, see the God of this passage. Here is the God who tests His people, but here is also the God who provides for His people.[6] Because of the substitute ram who died in his place, Isaac will now live, the promise remains intact, and Abraham will indeed have a future legacy of blessing the nations. So, Abraham names this place the Lord will provide.
See now how the chapter concludes in our third heading…
The Blessing (v15-24)
“And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth 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. Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” (Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.”
As this chapter closes we see Abraham is truly blessed by God, with much of the same language he’s heard before, God multiplying him, his descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore. But now these descendants will not just inherit a land, they will destroy their enemies. And this time God mentions in v16 “By myself I have sworn…” as if to remind Abraham His promises are as sure and as lasting as God is. And see lastly see the explicit mention of obedience in v16, “…because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you…” He passes this test and is blessed for it. Church, allow me to remind you what you already know. A Christian’s godly and heartfelt obedience is a beautiful thing. The blessings that flow from it are abundant. Abraham enjoys it here, after the test not before. And so we not only see how obedience brings great blessing, we see how obedience brings great assurance into the soul, as one lives underneath the pleasure of God.[7]
This episode concludes as Abraham said it would, with he and Isaac both coming back down the mountain to return home.
Conclusion:
There are many ways to apply this chapter as we end…
We could focus on Isaac, the only son whom Abraham loved, and his humble submission. He didn’t know what was going on, and when he finally learned he didn’t run away or resist his father, he consented to be bound and laid on the wood to be killed…much like another beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, who could have resisted His Father’s will but didn’t and went up to another mountain, carrying the wood of His cross to bear the sins of many so all who believe would have eternal life.
We could also focus on Abraham and his faith in this test of great cost. Early in his life God called him to go to a land he didn’t know, and here near the end of his life God calls him to take his son and sacrifice him on Moriah…and in both instances he didn’t understand why but he did have great faith in the God of promise. Here he was willing to give his only son. In this Abraham shows us much of God the Father’s heart in giving up His only Son for us.
As wonderful as these truths are, I desire you be more impressed and stunned with God and what we learn of Him here in this chapter.[8]
Our God is a God who tests us His people, but He is also a God provides and sees to our needs. In a crowd of any size I’m sure there are some of you here right now who feel like you’re in a great test of faith. You don’t know why, you don’t understand the reasons, it seems dark, but you know God is doing something. Perhaps God is re-arranging something, perhaps God is calling you out to something new, or taking something away, or giving something new that seems to wonderful, or something else entirely unexpected…and you don’t understand why. Church, behold the Lord. He provides, sees to our needs. Our greatest need is redemption from sin and He’s seen to that in our substitute, the Lord Jesus. And then think of Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Be encouraged, take heart, God doesn’t test us and say ‘Do your best.’ No, He tests us, is with us, and provides for us. He can be trusted. His heart is to bless you, so in whatever your current season is, would you trust Him?
[1] Victor P. Hamilton, Genesis 18-50, NICOT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 105–6.
[2] Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2001), 303–4.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, Genesis, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2004), 301.
[4] Hughes, Genesis, 303.
[5] Waltke, Genesis, 308.
[6] Hughes, Genesis, 304.
[7] Derek Kidner, Genesis (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2008), 155.
[8] Hamilton, Genesis 18-50, 114.
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